While diabetes does not interfere with digestion, on the other hand, it does prevent the body from converting an important product of digestion, glucose, which is commonly known as sugar
Trang 118 The most important issue relating to computer technology and the Internet is the right of individual
privacy, this includes the privacy of our personal data and our actions in cyberspace
a Internet is the right of individual privacy, this includes the privacy
b Internet is the right of individual privacy, being the privacy
c Internet is the right of individual privacy, including the privacy
d Internet is the right of individuals to have privacy, and included in this consideration is the privacy
e Internet is an individual’s right to privacy Including the privacy
19 While diabetes does not interfere with digestion, on the other hand, it does prevent the body from
converting an important product of digestion, glucose, which is commonly known as sugar, into
energy
a While diabetes does not interfere with digestion, on the other hand, it does prevent the body from
converting an important product of digestion, glucose, which is commonly known as sugar, into energy
b Diabetes does not interfere with digestion, but it does prevent the body from using glucose, which
is commonly known as sugar, which is a product of digestion and which is converted into energy
c Commonly known as sugar, glucose is an important product of digestion, which is prevented from
being converted by the body into energy by diabetes, although diabetes does not interfere with digestion
d Diabetes does not interfere with digestion, but it does prevent the body from converting an
impor-tant product of digestion, glucose (commonly known as sugar), into energy
e Diabetes does not interfere with digestion, but glucose (commonly known as sugar) is an
impor-tant product of digestion and is unable to be converted into energy by the body because of the disease
20 With an increasing amount of vegetarians, more stores are beginning to stock their shelves with
stan-dard vegetarian fare, such as soy milk and tofu
a With an increasing amount of vegetarians
b With the number of vegetarians on the rise
c With the number of vegetarians, which is on the rise
d Increasingly, there are more and more vegetarians, so
e Increasing in number are vegetarians, so
A n s w e r E x p l a n a t i o n s
1 c The author is critical of utilitarianism, but she also includes evidence that it is a useful theory.
LeGuin’s story, for example, shows how the sacrifice of one can create the happiness of many The author also notes that “many useful social policies and much legislation are founded on” utilitarian-ism, demonstrating that it is a useful ethical theory The word choice throughout also indicates that
Trang 2the author feels that this ethical theory has both positive and negative aspects For example, she calls it
“problematic,” but not “wrongheaded” or “faulty.” She calls the problem of the suffering of the few for the happiness of the many a “dilemma,” not a “flaw” or “failure.” She asks questions rather than
mak-ing statements about the immorality of utilitarian choices Choice a is incorrect because it simply
states a fact from the essay; it does not express an opinion The author clearly states that “there are
sev-eral serious problems with utilitarianism as a basis for morality,” so choice b is incorrect Although the
statements in choices d and e are true and clearly stated in the text, these are specific criticisms of
utili-tarianism and do not sum up the author’s opinion of this ethical theory.
2 e In the second paragraph, the author states that “only the consequences of [people’s] actions are
morally relevant, because only the consequences determine how much happiness is produced.”
3 d LeGuin’s story illustrates the problem with utilitarianism by describing how one person (the child)
lives in misery so that others can be happy The author explains that “utilitarianism puts the burden of the happiness of the masses on the suffering of the few” and then states that this problem is “so
bril-liantly illustrated in LeGuin’s story.” Choice a is incorrect because the author does not comment on or
make any inferences about the overall quality of the story; she only comments on it in relation to its demonstration of the dilemma of utilitarianism Readers may be interested in the story after reading
this passage (choice b), but again, the purpose of including the story is made evident by the last
sen-tence in the passage The author does not quote directly from the story, and she is clearly not
summa-rizing it to illustrate the power of words, so choice c is incorrect.
4 a The author is critical of utilitarianism and admits it has several problems, but she does not reject it
as an ethical theory In fact, she concedes that it is useful in creating social policies and legislation Therefore, the most logical inference is that she may use utilitarianism occasionally but not as a
guid-ing moral principle Choices b and c are therefore incorrect Choice d is incorrect because nothguid-ing in
the passage indicates how she feels about utilitarianism as a basis for social policy The passage does
not state that she believes most people do not really understand utilitarianism, so choice e is incorrect.
5 a The author states that “most people stay in Omelas” after they have visited the child This indicates
that they understand and have accepted the utilitarian nature of their society Only a few walk away
and reject the society, so choice b is incorrect The summary clearly states that everyone except the
child and the ones who are “unable to bear the fact that they are responsible for the suffering of that
child” are happy, so choice c is incorrect No evidence indicates that the child willingly sacrifices him-self for others (choice d) The passage makes no reference to LeGuin’s popularity or success as a sci-ence-fiction writer, so choice e is incorrect.
6 d The basic principle of utilitarianism as explained in the passage is that people should do “that
which will bring about the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people.” There-fore, humans should choose actions that will have more happy consequences (Y) than unhappy con-sequences (Z); Y must be greater than () Z
7 c In order for the two administrations to be compared, the socioeconomic variables must be
com-parable If Winston County’s economy had relied largely upon a factory that closed down during the previous administration, then the unemployment rate would necessarily rise considerably following that event The state of the national, state, and local economies and the demographic makeup of
Trang 3Winston County (e.g., no significant increase or decrease in population) need to be nearly identical for the speaker to make a fair comparison and claim that his or her policies are more effective If
Winston County’s population dropped significantly (choice a), it could explain why the
unemploy-ment rate dropped as well—but it does not support the speaker’s claim that his or her policies “are
far more effective.” Choice b, which reflects the state of the national economy, also offers an
explana-tion for the change in unemployment rates in Winston County, again contradicting the speaker’s claim that his or her economic policies made the difference If the speaker had implemented key
pol-icy changes (choice d) or tax incentives (choice e), they could have significantly reduced
unemploy-ment However, the unemployment rates still cannot be compared unless other variables are
comparable
8 d The owner’s plan—to lower prices to attract customers—assumes that some customers will choose the lower price (choice a), that the quality of Morning Glory’s products is comparable to its competi-tor (choice b), that Morning Glory can afford to offer lower prices (choice c), and that its competicompeti-tor will also not lower its prices (choice e) The plan does not rest on any assumptions about the loyalty
of Morning Glory customers (choice d) Indeed, there is evidence that the customers are not loyal,
because Morning Glory has already lost 50% of its business
9 a The significant increase in sales after the relocation of the books indicates that customers are more likely to buy books at the front of the store (choice b) and that the display may have caught the inter-est of people who might not otherwise purchase a romance novel (choice c) It is also logical to
con-clude that sales would further increase if the books were moved even farther toward the front of the
store (choice e) Choices b and e and the increase in sales all suggest that customers believe the best books are near the front of the store (choice d) The only conclusion that cannot logically be drawn from this scenario is that customers will come back to purchase more romance novels (choice a) The
data does not indicate repeat purchases for customers
10 b All of the choices except b offer reasons why online degree programs are problematic, suggesting that resources should not be focused on developing online degree programs Choice b offers support
for the argument by stating that the flexibility of online classes will attract students who would not normally be able to attend regular classes
11 b The direct rail line is the most logical explanation for an increase in property values The proxim-ity to New York Cproxim-ity in itself (choice a) would not necessarily increase property values, but the
addi-tion of public transportaaddi-tion that provides direct access to the city would make the town a more
desirable place to live When a place becomes more desirable, real-estate values increase Choice c, the
addition of housing units, is likely an effect of the direct rail line and an increase in the desirability of
the location The improvement of the schools and the renovation of the downtown (choice d) may or
may not be related to the increase in property values It would be logical to conclude that funds for improving the schools and downtown could be gleaned from additional resources from increased
property taxes, another effect of increased property values The relocation of a major corporation to a
neighboring town (choice e) could account for the increased desirability of property in South
Orange, but the direct access to the city is a more compelling reason Perhaps a few hundred persons may work in the corporation, but many thousands are likely to want an easy commute to the city
Trang 412 a Statistics can be very deceiving In this case, based only on the numbers, St Mary’s seems like a
safer place to undergo heart surgery But what you do not know about St Mary’s and St Vincent’s can lead you to make a poor choice If St Vincent’s specializes in heart surgery for elderly and
high-risk patients (choice a), then it is logical that it would have a higher rate of mortality among its
patients Indeed, given this fact, the difference in mortality rates may make a case for going to St Vin-cent’s instead of St Mary’s Assuming you are not an elderly or high-risk patient, to make an
informed choice, you would need statistics about St Vincent’s mortality rates for surgery on patients
who are not elderly or high risk Up-to-date equipment is important (choice b), but the condition of
the patients prior to surgery and the skill of the surgeons are more important considerations The
fact that St Vincent’s has the best heart surgeon in the country (choice c) is compelling, but it does not contradict the statistics The payment options (choice d) are irrelevant if you do not survive the
surgery, and there can be many reasons why the doctors who worked at St Mary’s are now at St
Vin-cent’s (choice e), so you cannot consider this factor without more information.
13 c The fact that would most strengthen this argument is the percentage of cases in which DNA
evi-dence overturned prior convictions If half of all cases resulted in erroneous convictions that were later cleared by DNA evidence, then that should certainly draw other convictions into doubt The fact that one in three of today’s convictions rest on DNA evidence has no bearing on prior convictions, so
choice a is incorrect Similarly, the admissibility of DNA evidence (choice b) has no bearing on the quality of prior convictions That DNA evidence is accurate (choice d) and difficult to tamper with (choice e) strengthens the argument for the use of DNA evidence in court, but it does not directly
strengthen the argument that prior convictions should be called into doubt
14 d Despite growing evidence of global warming is a dependent clause that should be followed by a comma when preceding an independent clause (34 different states ) Choice a is incorrect because
a semi-colon should not be used between a dependent and independent clause Choice b creates a sentence fragment because the dependent clause is set off as a separate sentence Choice c incorrectly uses a colon, which should only be used to introduce lists, quotations, or explanations Choice e
cre-ates an illogical sentence that uses both despite and for, confusing the relationship between the two
clauses
15 d This version states the idea clearly, correctly, and concisely, using parallel structure Choice a is
bulky and awkward with its opening phrase suggested by new research is the fact that; it also has
sev-eral superfluous commas Choice b incorrectly uses that instead of who to refer to people, and while it
is not wordy, it is not as fluent as choice d Choice c is wordy, relying on bulky passive constructions and prepositional phrases Choice e is incorrect because it lacks parallel structure.
16 b This version is the most active and direct, starting with the agent of action (the Truman Doctrine) and clearly and concisely stating the effects of the doctrine Choices a and c awkwardly put the action before the subject, and choice c also breaks up the two actions, interrupting the fluency of the
sen-tence Choice d uses two bulky which clauses, rather than the more concise parenthetical phrases of
choice b Choice e begins with a passive construction and is both wordy and redundant.
Trang 517 a This is the most concise, precise, and correct choice Choice b is wordy, using the phrase in a mas-terful way instead of masmas-terfully Choice c uses awkward word order that requires the addition of a verb (considers) because explores is moved to before the subject Choice d is wordy as the result of moving social and moral from their position directly before the noun they modify Choice e
awk-wardly places what are after explores and deletes the important idea of possibility conveyed by of what might happen.
18 c Choice a is a run-on sentence and is therefore incorrect Choice b uses being in an awkward and
grammatically incorrect manner Choice d is unnecessarily wordy, and choice e replaces the comma
with a period and creates a sentence fragment
19 d This is the most concise and fluent version Choice a incorrectly uses the transitional phrase on the
other hand, and because it puts which is commonly known as sugar into a nonrestrictive clause
imme-diately after the appositive glucose, the sentence may be confusing Choice b is grammatically correct but quite awkward, using which three times in one sentence Choice c inverts the sentence, making it
less direct and therefore less clear Choice e is correct but less direct and slightly more wordy than d
because it uses the passive construction (converted by the body).
20 b Choice b presents the most concise and fluent version Choice a incorrectly uses amount instead
of number Choice c is unnecessarily wordy, using the nonrestrictive phrase which is on the rise instead of on the rise Choice d is also unnecessarily wordy and less direct Choice e is awkward, with
an inverted word order
P r e t e s t A s s e s s m e n t
How did you do on the pretest? If you answered nearly all of the questions correctly, congratulations If you missed more than three questions, chances are most of your incorrect answers were in one category Perhaps your reading comprehension skills are strong, but you need to focus on building your critical-reasoning skills Clearly, the more questions you got wrong in each section, the more time you should devote to your review
of that material
It is difficult to scale your performance on this pretest to its actual GMAT equivalent because the GMAT CAT factors in both the number of questions answered and the level of difficulty of each question to deter-mine your score However, a simple percentage of correct answers in each category should give you a good indication of how you might perform on the Verbal section If you missed three or more questions in any sec-tion, you will probably need several weeks of concentrated study to do well on those questions during the actual exam
Trang 6Based on the title “Verbal section,” you might expect this portion of the exam to measure your oral commu-nication skills or your ability to express yourself effectively in writing But that is not quite what the Verbal section is about It is designed to measure three rather different groups of skills The questions on the GMAT Verbal section can be divided into the following categories:
■ reading comprehension questions that test your ability to read and understand sophisticated written
texts
■ critical reasoning questions that test your reasoning skills and ability to evaluate arguments
■ sentence correction questions that test your knowledge of standard written English and the elements
of effective writing
The 41 multiple-choice questions in the Verbal section are divided evenly among these three types Each category contains approximately 13—14 questions, and you will have 75 minutes to complete this portion of the test
What to Expect
on the GMAT Verbal Section
The GMAT®Verbal section actually covers a rather varied and com-plex set of knowledge and skills In this chapter, you will learn all about the Verbal section, including what types of questions it includes and what kinds of skills it measures
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