Question 1

Critical reading – improving school lunches The passage says cafeterias long mimicked fast food, but districts now add simple, inexpensive options to make lunches healthier while still appealing to students. What statement is best supported?

Accepted Answer

Introduction / Context: The paragraph contrasts past practice (fast-food-like fare) with a current approach (simple, inexpensive changes) that keep lunches appealing while improving healthfulness. We must select the claim most directly supported. Given Data / Assumptions: Cafeterias once mimicked fast food to appeal to students. Districts are now addressing the trend. They are incorporating simple and inexpensive options. These options aim to make lunches healthier while remaining appealing. Concept / Approach: Prefer the option that mirrors “simple and inexpensive” and “still appealing,” avoiding new specifics (vegetarian menus) or exaggerated claims (“major new initiatives”). Step-by-Step Solution: Extract the core: healthier + appealing + low cost + modest changes.Match to option D exactly.Eliminate options that contradict history (A), speculate preferences (B), add “major” initiatives (C), or inject vegetarian specifics (E). Verification / Alternative check: Rephrasing the text leads to D without adding content beyond what is stated. Why Other Options Are Wrong: A: Opposite of the first sentence. B: No comparison of preferences. C: “Major new initiatives” is stronger than “simple and inexpensive.” E: Vegetarian options are never mentioned. Common Pitfalls: Choosing an answer that sounds health-focused but introduces unmentioned specifics. Final Answer: it is possible to make school lunches both healthier and appealing without spending a great deal of money and undertaking a radical transformation.

Question 2

Critical reading – forest fires and old-growth stands The passage explains crown fires leap across treetops in thickets, but in old-growth forests, shade suppresses saplings and lower branches are too high to ignite. What statement is best supported?

Accepted Answer

Introduction / Context: The paragraph contrasts conditions that enable crown fires (dense young growth) with structural features of old-growth stands (high canopies, shade that suppresses understory) that impede treetop spread. Given Data / Assumptions: Crown fires are devastating when they jump treetop to treetop. Old-growth shade prevents thickets of small trees. Lower branches in mature trees are too high to catch flames easily. Concept / Approach: Select the option that directly reflects the described fire behavior in old growth: reduced potential for crown fire spread implies reduced damage relative to younger stands. Step-by-Step Solution: Link cause and effect: fewer ladder fuels and higher branches → harder for fire to crown.Conclude: damage is reduced in old-growth conditions.Reject options that prescribe actions (cutting or thinning) or contradict the described protection. Verification / Alternative check: If crown fires are the most devastating and old growth resists crowning, it follows that damage is mitigated in old growth. Why Other Options Are Wrong: B/C: Prescriptions not stated. D: Opposite of the point. E: Debris accumulation is not asserted. Common Pitfalls: Confusing management recommendations with textual support; the passage is descriptive, not prescriptive. Final Answer: forest fire damage is reduced in old-growth forests.

Question 3

Critical reading – growth of healthcare managers vs. physicians Data given: practicing physicians +20% over six years; healthcare managers +600% over the same period. Result: many doctors lost authority over schedules, fees, and treatments. What sta…

Accepted Answer

Introduction / Context: This question measures your ability to connect statistics with a stated consequence. The passage links a surge in healthcare managers with physicians losing control over key professional decisions. Given Data / Assumptions: Physicians increased ~20%. Healthcare managers increased >600%. Many doctors lost authority to set schedules, fees, and treatments. Concept / Approach: “Losing authority” implies reduced independence. Select the option that restates that effect without adding motive or unrelated claims. Step-by-Step Solution: Identify the explicit effect: loss of control.Map to answer language: “less independent than they used to be.”Eliminate emotive or extraneous claims (resentment, training, patient concern, income). Verification / Alternative check: If you cannot set your schedule, fees, or treatments, your professional independence has decreased; this is tautologically aligned with the correct choice. Why Other Options Are Wrong: Resentment is not stated. Training and compassion are not discussed. Income effects are not provided. Common Pitfalls: Confusing causation details with the supported conclusion; the question asks what is supported, not why it occurred. Final Answer: are less independent than they used to be.

Question 4

Critical reading – motor skills in adulthood The text notes that by adulthood most people can perform many motor-skill activities (e.g., riding a bicycle, threading a needle, cooking), all of which depend on precise, well-timed muscular movements. W…

Accepted Answer

Introduction / Context: The paragraph provides examples of motor skills and defines their common feature: dependence on precision and timing. A supported answer will rest directly on this definition and the examples given. Given Data / Assumptions: By adulthood, most people can perform many motor activities. Examples include riding a bicycle, threading a needle, cooking a dinner. All such activities depend on precision and timing of muscular movement. Concept / Approach: Since threading a needle is explicitly listed as a motor-skill example, and motor skills are defined as precise, it follows that threading a needle is a precise motor skill. Step-by-Step Solution: Identify the example: threading a needle.Apply the general definition: motor skills depend on precision and timing.Conclude: threading a needle is a precise motor skill. Verification / Alternative check: Any example included in the set inherits the set’s defining property; therefore the conclusion is secure. Why Other Options Are Wrong: A: Contradicts “most people can perform many activities.” B: “All adults ride” is stronger than “most can perform many.” C/D: The passage does not compare adults to children nor limit precision to adults. Common Pitfalls: Over-generalizing beyond the text (e.g., “all adults,” comparisons with children). Final Answer: threading a needle is a precise motor skill.

Question 5

Critical reading – motivations behind Reality TV participation The passage says Reality TV centers on fame and money; ordinary people become household names, and the luckiest gain large financial rewards. What statement is best supported?

Accepted Answer

Introduction / Context: The author frames Reality TV around two motivators—fame and money—and illustrates how contestants can become famous and sometimes earn significant payouts. Given Data / Assumptions: Two common motivators: fame and money. Participants from ordinary jobs can become household names. Some parlay brief exposure into celebrity; some win huge financial rewards. Concept / Approach: Choose the option that restates the author’s explicit claim about motives: interest in being rich and famous. Step-by-Step Solution: Extract key phrase: “centers on two common motivators: fame and money.”Map to answer A: “interested in being rich and famous.”Reject options that evaluate quality, longevity of fame, or industry trends—none are stated. Verification / Alternative check: Replace “motivators” with “interests” and re-read; the statement remains faithful to the passage. Why Other Options Are Wrong: B/D/E: Subjective judgments or industry-wide claims not in the text. C: The passage mentions “fifteen minutes,” but does not assert fame always ends with the show. Common Pitfalls: Allowing personal opinions about Reality TV to influence selection instead of sticking to the text. Final Answer: the stars of Reality TV are interested in being rich and famous.

Question 6

Critical reading – profiling today’s knitters The paragraph argues that knitting is popular across ages, places, and even genders, making it “incredibly difficult” to create an accurate profile to replace the old stereotype. What statement is best s…

Accepted Answer

Introduction / Context: The writer dismantles a narrow stereotype (an elderly woman with yarn basket) by showing the diversity of modern knitters across age, location, and gender, concluding that an accurate replacement profile would be “incredibly difficult.” Given Data / Assumptions: Knitters may be 18, 28, 40, or 65; live in cities or suburbs; be college students, seniors, and even men. They knit in shops, cafés, dorms, and church halls. The range of traits is wide, so a single profile is hard. Concept / Approach: Generalize the author’s reasoning: profiling a group is practical only when members share identifiable common traits. The paragraph shows such commonality is lacking for modern knitters. Step-by-Step Solution: Recognize the central claim: great diversity → no single accurate profile.Convert to the supported principle: profiles require shared characteristics.Reject options about motives (simpler times), skill levels, or “record numbers,” none of which are stated. Verification / Alternative check: If a population is heterogeneous across key dimensions, any single stereotype will be inaccurate—this matches option C. Why Other Options Are Wrong: A/E: Speculate about motives or “record” growth; not in text. B: The passage mentions groups and individual settings; it does not claim a shift to group activity. D: No claim about skill levels. Common Pitfalls: Picking an appealing but unstated social explanation instead of the text-based inference. Final Answer: creating an accurate profile of a particular type of person depends on the people in this group having traits and characteristics in common.

Question 7

Critical reading – what do Mariner 9 images imply about Mars? The passage: Mariner 9 saw valley networks like Earth’s stream beds, implying Mars once had a thicker, heat-trapping atmosphere; if true, something stripped it away billions of years ago.…

Accepted Answer

Introduction / Context: The paragraph links surface features to past climate, then reasons that if a thick atmosphere once existed, it must have been removed long ago. The best-supported claim will reflect the implied present state. Given Data / Assumptions: Valley networks resemble stream beds on Earth. This suggests a past atmosphere thick enough to retain heat. Something stripped Mars’s atmosphere billions of years ago. Concept / Approach: If the atmosphere was thick and then stripped, the current atmosphere must be greatly reduced (little or none). The text does not quantify Earth–Mars comparisons, first photos, orbital positions, or topography. Step-by-Step Solution: From “once thick” + “stripped away” ⇒ present state is thin or nearly absent.Map to option A precisely.Eliminate options that add comparisons or facts not stated (thicker than Earth, first pictures, orbital distance, mountains). Verification / Alternative check: Restate: If X existed and was removed, X is now minimal—this is the only conclusion tied directly to the text. Why Other Options Are Wrong: B: The passage claims “thick enough,” not “thicker than Earth.” C/D/E: Unmentioned facts; not inferable. Common Pitfalls: Over-reading comparisons with Earth or inventing “first” claims; stick to the explicit implication about the current atmosphere. Final Answer: Mars now has little or no atmosphere.

Question 8

Critical reading — Pyramid scheme passage: identify the best-supported inference Originating in the 1920s, the pyramid scheme is described as a con in which early joiners may profit, persuading friends and relatives, while the originator pockets mon…

Accepted Answer

Introduction / Context: This reading-comprehension item asks you to choose the inference that is most directly supported by the passage. The paragraph outlines how a pyramid scheme works, who gets drawn in, and how the scam ends. The correct choice must align closely with these details without adding new claims or speculations not present in the text. Given Data / Assumptions: Pyramid schemes date back at least to the 1920s. Honest people are often drawn in, believing the scheme is legitimate. The first participant may make money and then convinces others to join. The organizer pockets the funds rather than investing them and then vanishes. The scheme ultimately collapses, leaving later participants with losses. Concept / Approach: Select the statement that mirrors the passage’s explicit claims or unavoidable implications. Discard options that make claims about ease of detection, historical trends, or naming origins that are not discussed. Step-by-Step Solution: Identify who is targeted: the text says “honest people are often pulled in.”Identify the mechanism: early success leads to social persuasion of friends and family.Identify the organizer’s behavior: pockets money and disappears, confirming deceptive intent.Therefore, the scammer’s ability to deceive honest people is directly supported. Verification / Alternative check: Cross-check each option against the text. Only the claim that organizers fool honest people is explicitly supported; others add details not mentioned. Why Other Options Are Wrong: It is fairly easy to spot…: The passage never says detection is easy.The first customer is most gullible: The text notes the first customer profits; gullibility is not asserted.Peaked in 1920s / comeback: No trend data are provided.Name derived from structure: The origin of the name is not addressed. Common Pitfalls: Choosing an answer that sounds reasonable but is not stated. Stick to what the paragraph actually supports. Final Answer: The people who set up pyramid schemes are able to fool honest people.

Analyzing Arguments Questions