Verbal Practice Exercise-06
Flaw or Discrepancy:
Black Tahitian Natural Pearls are extremely expensive because of their rarity. Men in age group 30 to 55 are more likely to purchase these pearls sets than are any other demographic group. Thus, the popular belief that more women than men prefer Black Tahitian Natural Pearls, must not be entirely true.
1. What is the flaw in this argument?
A. Does not take into consideration women generally prefer any jewelry more than men especially when it is discounted.
B. Depends on popular belief rather than on surveys or research findings.
C. Does not take into account that more women aged 25 to 45 purchase Black Tahitian Cultured Pearls that look like replicas of Natural Pearls of the same type.
D. Does not explain the fact that men are interested in the Black Tahitian Natural Pearls more as an investment than as an jewelry.
E. Equates buying pearls with preferring pearls.
The history of our galaxy, the Milky Way, contains events that have impacted the shape, mass, and orientation of the galaxy. These events usually impact a large collection of stars at the center of the galaxy. The most significant of these events occurred 500 million years ago when a sudden drop in temperature along with interstellar winds from the neighboring galaxy significantly reduced the rate of star formation. Klipse, a prominent astronomer, concluded that the interstellar winds must have caused the temperature drop that impacted star formation.
2. Klipse’s reasoning is subject to scrutiny on the ground that he:
A. Draws a general conclusion about a phenomena based on a singular event.
B. Assumes that his explanation will not violate any of the other establish principles of physics.
C. From two coincidental events, infers that one caused the other.
D. Assumes that the reduced rate of star formation is a bad thing for the galaxy.
E. Does not consult with other astronomers to understand whether they agree or not.
A farmer in Japan grows three varieties of rice Nihonbare, Hinohikari and Domannaka in 3 acres each. The average yield of Nihonbare and Hinohikari has been around 10k pounds each whereas that of Domannaka has been only 6k pounds. It goes without saying that over the years, farmer is least profited by the yield of Dommannaka rice.
3. Which of the following indicates a flaw in the reasoning above?
A. There have been a few years when Dommannaka rice has yielded more than 12k pounds.
B. The difference in the average yields of the three rice varieties is not significant.
C. Average yield is not the same as average profit.
D. It is possible for Nihonbare and Hinohikari to yield more than 12k pounds per acre.
E. The phrase “least profit” does not mean a loss.
Evaluate answer:
Trainton Builders are in the business of building homes in many southern towns including towns of Frentonsburg and Greensburg. The cost of purchasing similar homes from Trainton in Frentonsburg and Greensburg is almost the same. But land in Frentonsburg is extremely cheap compared to that in Greensburg. Therefore, the news article should be accurate in claiming that the Trainton Builders are getting a comparatively higher profit/house by selling homes in Frentonsburg.
4. Which of the following is most pertinent to evaluate the accuracy of the claim made in the article?
A. The number of upgrades in an average home in Frentonsburg vs Greensburg.
B. The number of homes Trainton plans to build in Frentonsburg with the number of homes it plans to build in Greensburg .
C. The quality of the builders competing with Trainton Builders in Frentonsburg and in Greensburg .
D. The difference in land price between Frentonsburg and Greensburg .
E. The difference in cost of building construction in Greensburg compared to the cost of building construction in Frentonsburg
The body has two lines of defense against invaders such as bacteria, viruses and fungi: innate immunity and adaptive immunity. The first can destroy invaders partly by triggering inflammation that helps block the assault. If germs breach that line of defense, adaptive immunity kicks in. Hence, it is possible to tackle cancer if adaptive immunity can be stimulated through an external mechanism, such as by artificially injecting a stimulating agent.
5. Which of the following will be most relevant to investigating the author’s claim in the argument above?
A. Whether the most common stimulating mechanisms can trigger adaptive immunity
B. Whether once triggered, the body’s adaptive immunity is strong enough to tackle cancer.
C. Whether other deadly diseases such as AIDS, diabetes, etc be tackled in the same manner as cancer.
D. Whether tackling cancer would have a significant enough impact on overall health care costs to offset the expense to develop the stimulant.
E. Whether is it possible to strengthen innate immunity to tackle cancer.
With increasing costs of hospital visits and increased availability of sophisticated home equipment, it is expected that more and more people will receive post-operative care or treatment of chronic conditions at home. A recent survey however says otherwise. The survey discovered that majority of respondents who recently received equipment for treatment at home reported no reduction in the number of hospital visits.
6. Which additional information, if true should be taken into account to evaluate whether providing sophisticated home equipment for long term post-operative care and treatment of chronic diseases will lead to a net decrease in corresponding treatment costs?
A. Survey participants stated that they visited the hospital to get initial training on the equipment that was delivered to them.
B. Most insurance companies will subsidize the equipment such that it will be available at little or no cost to the consumers.
C. More and more companies that produce sophisticated post-operative care equipment for hospitals are planning to produce the same for in home usage.
D. Survey participants were able to work longer hours as they felt more energized.
E. Overall treatment costs for deadly diseases (diseases that lead to death in a short term) like influenza, cholera have reduced since the machines have been introduced.
As the percentage of undergrads taking opting for a BBA degree increase, the enrollment in engineering programs was expected to decline. The stats collected by universities point to the contrary. As the number of students opting for BBA has increased, the enrollment for first year foundation engineering classes has been increasing.
7. Which of the following would it be most useful to determine in order to evaluate the argument?
A. Whether undergraduate engineering programs cost less than undergraduate business programs.
B. Whether the job prospects for those with an undergraduate engineering degree are better than those for BBA degree.
C. Whether students who take BBA in their initial years are allowed to transfer their major to engineering in the later years.
D. Whether a significant proportion of BBA candidates choose to enroll in introductory engineering courses to broaden their foundation.
E. Whether most students who enroll in BBA are swayed in later years towards computer science by the recent boom in the social networking climate in Silicon Valley.
Consumer advocate: Ephedra is a naturally occurring compound that some people use as a weight-loss aid. Recently, the government prohibited the sale of dietary supplements containing ephedra on the grounds that ephedra has been shown to have grave side effects. This prohibition is unreasonable. Echinacea is another natural compound that has been shown to have side effects, yet Echinacea is widely available at health food stores.
8. Which of the following will be useful in assessing the consumer advocate’s accusation?
A. Whether, before the prohibition, ephedra had been available in health food stores.
B. Whether all natural compounds are safe for human consumption.
C. Whether the side effects of Echinacea and Ephedra are comparably serious.
D. Whether the government has prohibited other natural compounds in the past.
E. Whether Echinacea provides the same benefits as Ephedra.
China, the primary supplier of Rare Earth Elements, a key component of military hardware and electric cars, has gradually reduced its export quotas as part of an effort to retain more of these minerals for domestic manufacturers. To ease reliance on China for REE, Toyota, Renault, Nissan and other world leaders on electric vehicles have now switched to a new technology called ‘permanent magnets’ which consumes a much less REE per unit of production. In addition, most countries have now re-started the key mines. These measures will thus help the world to reduce its dependence on China for REE.
9. Which of the following would it be most useful to establish in evaluating the argument?
A. When, if ever, will production of electric cars outstrip production of military hardware?
B. Has any electric car model such as Toyota Prius been converted using ‘permanent magnets’?
C. Are Toyota, Renault and Nissan among the electric car manufacturers that rely mostly on Chinese REE?
D. What proportion of world’s total REE needs is met by rare earth minerals such as neodymium and lithium?
E. Is the amount of REE used each year around the world for military hardware and electric vehicles increasing?
Most CEO’s have either sales or marketing experience prior to becoming the CEO. Data shows that, over the past decade, 30% of CEO’s who have prior sales experience have successfully transformed the strategy of a company and taken a company into a completely new direction whereas only 20% of CEO’s with prior Marketing experience have done the same. Therefore, it can be argued that CEO’s with prior sales experience are more successful in transforming the strategy of company than those with Marketing experience.
10. In evaluating the argument, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?
A. Whether there have been more CEO’s with sales experience than marketing experience in the past decade.
B. What skills does a prior Sales experience impart to a CEO that a marketing job does not.
C. Whether a greater percentage of CEO’s with Sales experience were required to transform the strategy of a company than the percentage of marketing CEO’s.
D. Whether the shareholder returns provided by the CEO’s with Sales experience were greater than those provided by CEO’s with marketing experience.
E. Whether CEO’s with Sales experience cost the organization more than CEO’s with marketing experience.
Although miniaturization in electronics, the creation of ever-smaller scales for mechanical, optical and electronic products and devices, saves power, it may not always provide higher value as can be seen in the case of state of art 32nm and 22nm processors from Intel which consume 30% less power but do not last as long. Comparable AMD processors produced with Immersion Lithography technology at 45nm or larger last longer as they prevent electrical disturbances from damaging the processor thus reducing the need to replace them ever so often. Therefore, datacenters who seek to get maximum value out of the purchase are well advised to go with the AMD chipset.
11. Which of the following must be studied in order to evaluate whether AMD processors are truly beneficial over corresponding processors from Intel?
A. The degree to which the energy savings from the Intel processor offset cost of replacing them more frequently.
B. The performance difference between top of the line AMD processors and corresponding Intel processors.
C. The environmental impact of the extra power consumed by AMD processors compared to that of Intel processors.
D. The degree to which 45nm processors produced with the Immersion Lithography technology are more carefully manufactured than ordinary replacements.
E. The amount by which 45nm processors produced with the Immersion Lithography technique will drop in cost as the production procedures become standardized and applicable on a larger scale.
The Confederation of Medical Device Manufacturers (CMDM) has raised a red flag in response to 19,000 reports of adverse events involving in-home medical devices such as dialysis machines, ventilators, infusion pumps, and IV machines. The CMDM is calling for full compliance certified training of patients, family members, and other minimally trained caregivers who operate in-home medical devices.
12. What must be evaluated in order to avoid unnecessary restrictions on the use of such devices?
A. Whether the requirement for certified training will be implemented right away.
B. Whether the confederation members who favor this training manufacture the devices that have caused the most accidents.
C. Whether the devices that come under the proposed training program have the potential to cause accidents.
D. Whether the accidents caused by misuse of these devices are fatal.
E. Whether the confederation members see the training as an additional profit making opportunity.
Answer Sheet:
1. E
2. C
3. C
4. E
5. B
6. A
7. D
8. C
9. E
10. C
11. A
12. C