SAT Prep Test 83 - Logical Reasoning 2 – Questions + Answers

Advertisement: Most nutritionists recommend eating fish twice a week. Eating tilapia fillets is a perfect choice for those who want the benefits of eating fish but do not care for the taste of fish. Tilapia fillets lack the strong fishy taste that many people find objectionable.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the advertisement’s argument?

Domestication of animals is a cooperative activity, and cooperative activities require a sophisticated means of communication. Language provides just such a means. It is likely, therefore, that language developed primarily to facilitate animal domestication.
A flaw in the argument is that the argument

Many employers treat their employees fairly. Thus, using others as a means to one’s own ends is not always morally reprehensible or harmful to others.
The argument requires the assumption that

Editorial: It is common to find essays offering arguments that seem to show that our nation is in decline. There is no cause for alarm, however. The anxious tone of these essays shows that the problem is with the psychological state of their writers rather than with the actual condition of our nation.
Which one of the following most accurately describes a flaw in the editorial’s reasoning?

Eating turmeric, a spice commonly found in curries, probably helps prevent Alzheimer's disease. More turmeric is consumed per capita in India than in the rest of the world, and the incidence of Alzheimer's disease is much lower there than it is worldwide. Furthermore, Alzheimer's disease is characterized by the buildup of amyloid protein plaques in the brain, and studies on animals found that curcumin-a compound found in. turmeric-reduces the accumulation of amyloid proteins.
Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

Forestry official: Many people think that if forest fires are not extinguished as quickly as possible, the Forestry Department is not doing its job properly. But relatively frequent, small fires clear out small trees and forest debris, which, if allowed to accumulate, would create the conditions for large, devastating fires. Therefore, it's best to let small fires burn.
The statement that relatively frequent, small fires clear out small trees and forest debris plays which one of the following roles in the official's argument?

Gerald: Unless a consumer secures his or her home wireless Internet service, anyone strolling by is able to access that person’s service with certain laptop computers or smartphones. Such use cannot be considered illegal under current laws: it’s no more like trespassing than is enjoying music playing on someone’s radio as you walk down the street.
Kendra: But unlike hearing music while walking by, accessing wireless service requires stopping for a considerable length of time. And that could be considered loitering or even harassment.
Gerald’s and Kendra’s positions indicate that they disagree over whether accessing someone’s wireless Internet service while walking down the street

Over the last thousand years, plant species native to islands have gone extinct at a much faster rate than have those native to mainland regions. Biologists believe that this is because island plants have not adapted the defenses against being eaten by large land mammals that mainland plants have. Ordinarily, populations of large land mammals are not established on islands until after the island is colonized by humans.
Which one of the following, if true, most strongly supports the biologist’s explanation cited above?

As regards memory, the brain responds best to repeated patterns, such as the melodic and rhythmic patterns of music. This is why we can remember long strings of information or text, which would normally be impossible to memorize, when they are put to music. Given that music aids memory, it might seem that funny jokes would be easy to remember, since, like music, they normally elicit an emotional response in us. However, jokes are usually very difficult to remember, since ___________.
Which one of the following most logically completes the passage?

The prehistoric fish Tiktaalik is the earliest known animal with fingers. Since variations were so great among prehistoric fish species, Tiktaalik would not have stood out as unusual at the time. However, Tiktaalik’s fingers were an important development in animal evolution because it is likely that Tiktaalik is an ancestor to the many land animals with fingers.
The statements above, if true, most strongly support which one of the following?

Gabriella: By raising interest rates, the government has induced people to borrow less money and therefore to spend less, thereby slowing the country’s economy.
Ivan: I disagree with your analysis. The country’s economy is tied to the global economy. Whatever happens to the global economy also happens here, and the global economy has slowed. Therefore, the government’s action did not cause the economy’s slowdown.
Gabriella and Ivan disagree about whether

In a scene in an ancient Greek play, Knights, the character Demosthenes opens a writing tablet on which an oracle had written a prophecy, and while looking at the tablet, he continuously expresses his amazement at its contents. His companion presses him for information, whereupon Demosthenes explains what the oracle had written.
Of the following claims, which one can most justifiably be rejected on the basis of the statements above?

Science cannot adequately explain emotional phenomena such as feeling frustrated, falling in love, or being moved by a painting. Since they cannot be explained by physics, chemistry, or neurophysiology, human emotions must not be physical phenomena. The conclusion follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?

Several Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons found in North America contain tooth marks that only a large carnivore could have made. At the time T. rex lived, it was the only large carnivore in North America. The tooth marks could have resulted only from combat or feeding. But such tooth marks would have been almost impossible to inflict on the skeleton of a live animal.
The information above most strongly supports which one of the following?

There is a popular view among literary critics that a poem can never be accurately paraphrased because a poem is itself the only accurate expression of its meaning. But these same critics hold that their own paraphrases of particular poems are accurate. Thus, their view that poetry cannot be accurately paraphrased is false.
The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to the criticism that the argument

The tax bill passed 2 years ago provides substantial incentives for businesses that move to this area and hire 50 or more employees. Critics say the bill reduces the government’s tax revenues. Yet clearly it has already created many jobs in this area. Last year, Plastonica qualified for incentives under the bill by opening a new plastics factory here that hired 75 employees.
The argument’s reasoning,depends on which one of the following assumptions?

When a chain of service stations began applying a surcharge of $0.25 per purchase on fuel paid for by credit card, the chain’s owners found that this policy made their customers angry. So they decided instead to simply raise the price of fuel a compensatory amount and give a $0.25 discount to customers paying with cash. Customers were much happier with this policy.
Which one of the following generalizations does the situation described above most clearly illustrate?

Herbalist: Many herbal medicines work best when they have a chance to influence the body gently over several months. However, many of these herbal medicines have toxic side effects when taken daily for such long periods. Therefore, at least some people who use herbal medicines daily should occasionally skip their usual dose for a day or two, to give the body a chance to recuperate.
Which one of the following is an assumption required by the herbalist’s argument?

Business owner: Around noon in one section of the city, food trucks that sell lunch directly to customers on the sidewalk occupy many of the limited metered parking spaces available, thus worsening already bad traffic congestion. This led the city council to consider a bill to prohibit food trucks from parking in metered spaces in any commercially zoned area. This bill should be rejected since . there is plenty of available parking and little traffic congestion in most areas of the city.
Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the business owner’s argument?

Michele: In my professional experience, it’s usually not a good idea for a company to overhaul its databases. The rewards rarely exceed the problems experienced along the way, and I’d suggest that anyone considering a database overhaul think twice before proceeding.
Alvaro: But the problems are always caused by a failure to recode the database properly. The best advice for a company considering a database overhaul is to do the job right.
Michele and Alvaro disagree with each other about which one of the following?

In an experiment, subjects were shown a series of images on a computer screen, appearing usually at the top but occasionally at the bottom. Subjects were asked to guess each time where the next image would appear on the screen. They guessed correctly less than half of the time. The subjects all reported that they based their guesses on patterns they believed they saw in the sequence. Instead, if they had simply guessed that the next image would always appear at the top, they would have been correct most of the time.
If all of the statements above are true, which one of the following must also be true?

The temperature in Taychester is always at least 10 degrees lower than the temperature in Charlesville. However, the average resident of Charlesville spends 10 to 20 percent more on winter heating expenses than does the average resident of Taychester.
Each of the following, if true, helps to resolve the apparent paradox described above EXCEPT:

Each new car in the lot at Rollway Motors costs more than $18,000. Any car in their lot that is ten or more years old costs less than $5,000. Thus, if a car in Rollway’s lot costs between $5,000 and $18,000, it is a used car that is less than ten years old.
The pattern of reasoning in which one of the following arguments is most similar to that in the argument above?

Meteorologist: The number of tornadoes reported annually has more than doubled since the 1950s. . But their actual number has probably not increased. Our ability to find tornadoes has improved, so we’re probably just finding a higher percentage of them than we used to.
Which one of the following, if true, provides the most support for the meteorologist’s argument?

Salesperson: If your vacuuming needs are limited to cleaning small areas of uncarpeted floors, an inexpensive handheld vacuum cleaner is likely to be sufficient. After all, most are easy to use and will likely satisfy all your vacuuming needs on wood and tile floors.
The conclusion of the salesperson’s argument is most strongly supported if which one of the following is assumed?

Decreased reliance on fossil fuels is required if global warming is to be halted. The current reliance would decrease if economic incentives to develop alternative energy sources were present. So ending global warming requires offering economic incentives to develop alternative energy sources.
The flawed pattern of reasoning exhibited by the argument above most closely parallels that exhibited by which one of the following?