MCAT verbal test (21)

Passage II Questions 7–12 In 1979, a team of scientists from Berkeley working near Gubbio, Italy, discovered a layer of clay that revolutionized theories concerning the disappearance of

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Verbal Reasoning

Time: 85 Minutes Questions 1-60

DO NOT BEGIN THIS SECTION UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO.

GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE

VERBAL REASONING

DIRECTIONS: There are nine passages in the Verbal Reasoning test

Each passage is followed by several questions After reading a passage, select the best answer to each question If you are not certain of an answer, eliminate the alternatives that you know to be incorrect and then select an answer from the remaining alternatives Indicate your selection

by blackening the corresponding oval on your answer document

Passage I (Questions 1-6)

Some writers have so confounded society with

government, as to leave little or no distinction between

them; whereas they are not only entirely different, but have

different origins Society is a blessing brought forth

naturally by our wants, uniting our affections and

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promoting our happiness Government is a necessary evil

originating from the need to restrain our vices

Considering the slavish times in which it developed

the form of government known as “constitutional

monarchy” is granted to have been a noble creation When

10

the world was overrun with tyranny, the least remove

therefrom was a glorious rescue However, government, if

unchecked, evolves over time to a form so complex that a

nation may suffer for years without being able to discover

in which part the fault lies; and every political physician

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will advise a different medicine

In order to discern the essential origin and end of

government, suppose a small number of persons

representing the first peopling of any country, or of the

world In this state of natural liberty, a thousand motives

20

will excite them to society: The strength of one is so

unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for

perpetual solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek

assistance and relief of another, who in turn requires the

same Four or five united would be able to raise a

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dwelling, but one might labor out the period of life

without accomplishing anything Disease or misfortune

could soon reduce an individual to a state in which he

could easily perish As time passes, however, in proportion

as they surmount their early difficulties, the people will

30

inevitably relax in their duty and attachment to each other;

and this laxity will point out the necessity for each to

surrender up a part of his property in order to establish

some form of government to protect the rest

At first, the whole community may assemble to

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deliberate on public matters However, as the community

expands public concerns will increase and the distance at

which the members are separated may render it

inconvenient for all to meet on every occasion Thus the

members may consent to leave the legislative part to be

40

managed by a number of chosen representatives, who are

supposed to have the same concerns as those who

appointed them, and who will act in the same manner as the whole would, if present That the interest of every part

of the colony may be attended to, the whole may be

45 divided into convenient parts, each part sending its proper number And so that there be assured a common interest with every part of the community, on which the strength of government depends, prudence will point to the need for frequent elections, thereby assuring that the elected return

50 and mix often with the community

Here then is the origin of government: the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here, too, is the design and end of government: freedom and security And since that the more simple anything is, the less liable it is to be

55 disordered and the more easily repaired when disordered, it unanswerably follows that whatever form of government which appears most likely to ensure the protection which constitutes government’s essential purpose, with the least expense, is preferable to all others

60

1 The primary purpose of the passage is to:

A chronicle the development of a particular form

of government

B advocate a simple form of representative

government

C contrast society and government

D distinguish representative government from

constitutional monarchy

the word “society” as used in the passage?

A social relationships, customs, and practices

B the socially dominant members of a community

C established organizations or foundations

D political practices and institutions

3 In concluding that the essential purpose of

government is protection of property, the author

assumes that:

I there actually existed a time in which the

disparity between an individual’s needs and wants motivated cooperation, and not transgressions against property

II the part of property surrendered up to

establish some form of government is less than that which would be lost if it were left unprotected

III the moral laxity resulting from reduction

in hardship results in acts against property, rather than failure to assist those experiencing disease or misfortune

A I, II, and III

B II and III only

C I and II only

D I and III only

4 In the second paragraph, the author implies that

constitutional monarchy is a form of government

that:

I is better than the form that immediately

preceded it

II could be improved by more disciplined

examination of the problems which it has evolved

III has outlived its usefulness

A I, II, and III

B I and II only

C I and III only

would most probably respond to the view that the resources of government should be employed to relieve the effects of poverty by stating that:

A since the strength of an individual must be

recognized to, at times, be unequal to his needs,

it is natural for government, once it has evolved, to perform such functions

B these activities should be performed by

individuals or associations outside of government

C since poverty is correlated with crime against

property government must perform these functions if non-governmental efforts are not fully effective

D this should be decided by the representatives

elected by the people as a whole

6 A contemporary of the author wrote: “Government

is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants Men have a right that these wants should be provided for by this wisdom.” Based entirely on this quotation and the passage above it can be inferred that the two authors would probably agree with respect to:

A what constitutes the essential purpose of the

government

B whether government is justified because it is

necessary or because it is beneficial

C whether the best form of government is the

simplest

D whether certain rights of an individual should

be recognized in relation to the state

Passage II (Questions 7–12)

In 1979, a team of scientists from Berkeley working

near Gubbio, Italy, discovered a layer of clay that

revolutionized theories concerning the disappearance of

the dinosaur, which had centered on the assumed gradual

climatic change Beneath the two-centimeter-thick layer

5

lay limestone containing fossil organisms from the late

Cretaceous, while above it was limestone with early

Cenozoic fossils Positionally, then, the clay could be

placed in a period roughly contemporaneous with the

disappearance of the dinosaur approximately 63 million

10

years ago

The Berkeley group found that the clay stratum

contained an iridium level thirty times greater than that of

clays in adjacent strata As iridium is distributed fairly

evenly over time through micrometeoritic impact, the

15

researchers knew that the anomalous matter in the clay

must have originated extra-terrestrially; the high iridium

level, moreover, indicated a sudden deposition in an

exceptional, catastrophic event The subsequent finding of

similarly enriched marine rocks from the end of the

20

Cretaceous in Spain, Denmark, and New Zealand has led

the Berkeley group to the conclusion that 500 billion tons

of material was suddenly deposited on the earth in the

period of less than 150 years represented by the

two-centimeter-thick stratum

25

Scientists are sharply divided on the possible

causes of so cataclysmic an event The possibility that the

deposition occurred as an aftereffect of a supernova has

been discounted: radioactive isotope Pu-244 was absent

from the clay, and neither Ir-191 nor Ir-193 were present

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in significant proportions Those who maintain that the

material came from within the solar system contend that

the earth must have collided during the late Cretaceous

with an astral body large enough to have distributed the

iridium-rich material over the globe

35

An asteroid of the required mass would have been

approximately ten kilometers in diameter; a comet would

have to have been twice as large, since comets are largely

composed of ice water To the argument that there is no

geological evidence of the impact of such massive objects,

40

Richard Grieve has replied that the clay layer could have

resettled after the impact in the form of fallout Frank Kyte

of UCLA asserts that a comet, if disrupted by the earth’s

gravitational field, would have exposed the surface to a

deluge of debris that would not have created major craters

45

Alternatively, the Berkeley group suggests that an asteroid

may have landed in the sea; such a collision would have

produced tidal waves eight kilometers high, swamping

large areas of the earth

Whatever the type of body and mode of impact,

Walter Alvarez of the Berkeley team argues that the

primary effect of the catastrophe was to disrupt the

planetary ecology through the suspension of vast clouds of

matter in the stratosphere The effects of the initial impact would have been greatly multiplied, Alvarez argues, as photosynthesis was impeded by the blockage of sunlight; there would then have been a massive disruption at the base of the dinosaur’s food chain

7 It can be inferred that the discovery described in the passage may “revolutionize” (line 3) which aspect

of current theories about dinosaurs?

A the geographical extent of the presumed

habitation of the dinosaur

B the approximate date at which dinosaurs are

thought to have become extinct

C the assumption that dinosaurs became extinct

because of a change in their natural environment

D the rate at which the extinction of the dinosaur

is thought to have occurred

8 According to the passage, the Berkeley group used which of the following to support their hypothesis

on the disappearance of the dinosaur?

I a comparison of the fossil records of various marine strata

II a comparison of different clay strata near

9 According to the passage, scientists used the

analysis of the isotopes present in the clay

(paragraph 3) to:

A estimate the age of the stratum more exactly

B determine the extent of meteoritic impact upon

the earth

C derive a hypothesis concerning the effect of the

impact of an extraplanetary body on the earth’s

ecology

D eliminate a possible theory concerning the

enriched clay’s formation

10 It can be inferred from the passage that scientists

assessing the possible causes of the deposition of

iridium-rich material are most divided over:

A the manner in which deposition of the clay

would have caused extinction of the dinosaurs

B whether the iridium originated from within or

outside the solar system

C whether the debris was deposited as a result of

the impact of a comet or an asteroid

D whether a collision of the required magnitude

could have occurred without leaving primary

evidence of impact

11 Judging from the information in the passage, the theory of Walter Alvarez concerning the extinction

of the dinosaur would be most strengthened by:

A discovery of plentiful dinosaur fossils in strata

older than the clay layer

B the absence of plant fossils in Cenozoic

deposits that were plentiful in Cretaceous strata

C discovery of elevated levels of iridium in rocks

above and below the Spanish and Danish clay strata

D the development of a consensus among

scientists on the probability of cometary impact

12 Based on the information in the passage, which of the following correctly states the relationship between the hypotheses of cometary impact, asteroid impact, and stratospheric suspension (paragraphs 4 and 5)?

A The hypothesis of stratospheric suspension is

consistent with both of the others and helps explain how either might have led to the extinction of the dinosaur

B The three hypotheses are mutually exclusive

and each adequately explains the extinction of the dinosaur

C The theory of stratospheric suspension is

consistent with asteroid, not cometary, impact, and necessary to explain how it could have led

to the extinction of the dinosaur

D The three hypotheses taken together provide a

possible explanation of the extinction of the dinosaur

Passage III (Questions 13–18)

American historians have argued that the myth of the

Great American Desert dominated the pre-Civil War view

of the Great Plains It was this conception of the plains as

Desert, according to the traditional interpretation, that

caused the American folk migration westward to leap over

5

the region during the 1840’s and the 1850’s This

conventional understanding is neither completely invalid

nor necessarily incorrect; but it is too simplistic to be fully

satisfying To claim the universal acceptance of

stereotyped images of the Great Plains is to ignore the

10

presence of a considerable array of data to the contrary

In spite of the conventional interpretation that, by

1825, most Americans viewed the Great Plains as Desert,

a survey of source material reveals that the image of the

plains as Desert was restricted to certain portions of the

15

country and to certain segments of the population

Analysis of newspapers and periodical literature indicates

that the Desert image was strongest in the rural areas of

the Northeast and weakest in the rural areas of the South

and trans-Appalachian West Acceptance of the Desert

20

concept was more likely among the well-educated elite,

particularly in the Northeast, and acceptance of a “Garden”

notion was greater among the rural populations,

particularly in the South and West

By the middle of the 1840’s, the concept of the plains

25

as Desert had become prevalent, but even then the Desert

image was not the exclusive one The year 1845 is

critical, for it marked the beginning of the migration of

Americans across the Plains of Oregon and California An

examination of the sources of American images of the

30

plains in that year does not support the contention that the

folk migration failed to halt on the Great Plains because

that region was viewed unfavorably by the migrants By

1845 the American frontier was bursting with what one

Missouri newspaper editor called “perfect Oregon fever.”

35

But those who encouraged migration to Oregon did not

deny the agricultural potential of the Plains They simply

made Oregon the logical and desirable culmination of the

American drive to the Pacific To substantiate the point

that the folk elements of American society did not see the

40

plains as Desert, one need only look at the records of those

who crossed the Plains on their way to Oregon or

California A survey of the diaries from the years

preceding the Civil War uncovers only 17 references to

Desert conditions in the Great Plains

D were misinformed by newspaper stories

14 Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the diaries left by American migrants

in the mid-nineteenth century?

I They described the transformation of the Great Plains into productive farmland

II Their contents have been ignored or overlooked by some historians

III They contain little useful information about the Great Plains

A a contrast between the views of Americans who

lived in different regions

B a comparison of written and oral accounts of

the migration experience

C a general description of people who believed

the Great Plains to be a Desert

D an indication as to when westward migration

activities increased in scope

16 Which of the following best summarizes the

author’s attitude toward the traditional view that

most Americans regarded the Great Plains as

Desert?

A It ignores conflicting evidence

B It is irrelevant to historical understanding

C It is substantially correct

D Its importance has been unappreciated

17 The passage suggests that the image of the Great

Plains as Desert:

A led to mass migration to the shores of the

Pacific

B developed in the aftermath of the Civil War

C was more common in the 1840s than in the

1820s

D contributed to population growth in the South

18 According to the passage, which of the following

individuals was most likely to think of the Great

Plains as Desert?

A a banker in the Northeast in 1825

B a farmer in the South in the 1820s

C a Mormon migrant in the late 1840s

D a gold miner in California in the 1850s

Passage IV (Questions 19-25)

The early scientific career of Johannes Kepler

(1571-1630) is especially interesting because the ideas that

seemed to him to be the most significant, and which he

tried to exploit for the rest of his life, appear to a modern

reader to be almost completely mad It was the fact that he

5

could never get them to work that drove him to make the

series of astronomical discoveries that appear to us to be

so significant From the beginning, he was convinced that

the basic astronomical verities must have a geometrical

interpretation This conviction has been shared by all the

10

great natural philosophers, from Pythagoras to Einstein—

the conviction that the cosmos was laid out according to a

mathematical design and that this design is "simple" and

accessible to human intelligence For Kepler, mathematics

meant the pure geometry of the Greeks God was for him a

15

master Greek geometer, and the "book of the world" must

therefore be contained among the theorems of Euclid One

of them that there are only five "perfect solids." A perfect

solid (the most familiar example is the cube) is a solid all

of whose faces are "perfect" plane figures (In the cube,

20

these figures are squares.) The other perfect solids are

tetrahedron, the octahedron, the dodecahedron, and the

icosahedron There were known to be six planets -

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, in order

of increasing distance from the sun, around which, Kepler

25

believed, the planets moved in circular orbits Carrying on

with his geometry, he considered a universe in which a

cube, a tetrahedron, a dodecahedron, an icosahedron, and

an octahedron would be arranged concentrically, one

inside another; the orbit of Mercury would be fitted within

30

the first of these perfect solids, the orbit of Venus outside

it, and outside each of the other solids the orbit of another

planet This, he thought, might make it possible to

calculate the interplanetary distances and also explain why

there were no more than six planets

35

With the superior vision of hindsight, it is all too easy

for us to pass judgment on the weakness of Kepler's

youthful notion (Apart from anything else, we know that

there are nine planets.) In fact, however, if Kepler's

mysticism had not also been coupled with a fanatic

40

obsession to make his theory fit the observed facts

quantitatively, he might as well have gone down in

scientific history as just another visionary crank, along

with the more unenlightened alchemists who abounded at

that time (It is interesting to note that Newton also

45

devoted his "spare" time to alchemy.) This combination of

mysticism and devotion to the "facts" as he knew them was

Keplers' great strength Einstein characterized the

interrelation between mystic intuition and the need to deal

with hard facts in the formula that "Science without

50

religion is lame Religion without science is blind."

19 Which of the following most nearly captures the

author’s central argument in the passage?

A The originality of Kepler’s early scientific

work can be fully appreciated by studying its influence on the mature work of Newton and Einstein

B Kepler's early beliefs were often erroneous, but

his mysticism coupled with an attachment to scientific fact led to many of his later, key discoveries

C Kepler laid the groundwork for our current

understanding of the universe in his early studies of the pure geometry of the Greeks

D An investigation of Kepler's youthful work

yield relatively few clues about the method he employed in his most remarkable work

20 The passage suggests that which of the following scientific beliefs held by Kepler in his youth was, in fact, correct?

A The planets are arranged concentrically, within

perfect solids

B The orbit of the planets are circular

C There are only five "perfect solids."

D There is an underlying order to the cosmos

which is accessible to the human intelligence

21 It can be inferred from the passage that Kepler and most alchemists shared which of the following?

A opposition to a union of science and religion

B skepticism about the value of quantitative

C disbelief in the idea that the cosmos

corresponds to a mathematical design

D reliance on the intuitive powers of the mind

22 According to the passage, which of the following is true about the "five perfect solids" (lines 19-23)?

A They have inspired the work of all great natural

philosophers

B They are each formed by plane figures with

four equal sides

C They were originally posited in a Euclidean

theorem

D They yielded important measurements of

distances among six planets

23 As it is used in the passage, the phrase "the book of

the world"' is probably meant to refer to:

A a mathematical account of the plan of the

universe

B a treatise written by Kepler explaining the pure

geometry of the Greeks

C a comprehensive history of human knowledge

D a text presumed to have been of divine origin

24 The author's primary purpose in quoting Einstein in

the second paragraph is to:

A suggest that Kepler's thought was misconstrued

D emphasize a particular attribute of Kepler's

own method and outlook

25 Which of the following statements is implied by the

author in the last paragraph?

A The history of science is full of scientists who

have failed to esteem what was of greatest

significance in their own work

B It is during periods of youthful enthusiasm that

the fundamental guidelines to the most

important scientific discoveries nearly always

emerge

C Such is the paradox of the human personality

that, despite such problems, Kepler became one

of the most determined seekers of cosmic

harmony in history

D Kepler, too, was aware of the dangers of pure

speculation conducted without taking into

consideration observed phenomena