This page shows a recording of a live class. We're working hard to create our standard, concise explanation videos for the questions in this PrepTest. Thank you for your patience!
This page shows a recording of a live class. We're working hard to create our standard, concise explanation videos for the questions in this PrepTest. Thank you for your patience!
Summary
Gahagan’s Greenstore sells a large volume of plants. Most of these plants are sold wholesale to commercial buyers, who are mainly landscape contractors. Gahagan also sells gardening implements, which are mostly purchased by home gardeners.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
If someone bought a gardening implement from Gahagan, they are more likely to be a home gardener than a commercial buyer.
If someone bought plants from Gahagan, they were more likely a commercial buyer (or contractor) than a home gardener.
If someone bought plants from Gahagan, they were more likely a commercial buyer (or contractor) than a home gardener.
A
Gahagan’s makes a larger profit from the sale of plants than from the sale of all other products combined.
The stimulus does not provide any information about what aspect of Gahagan’s business is most profitable.
B
Most of those who make regular wholesale purchases from Gahagan’s have never purchased gardening implements from Gahagan’s.
The stimulus does not provide any information about whether customers purchase/don’t purchase different items.
C
There are more commercial buyers than home gardeners among Gahagan’s regular customers.
The stimulus gives information about those who buy plants and garden implements but does not provide information about which group is bigger.
D
Gahagan’s sells a few gardening implements wholesale to landscape contractors.
The stimulus explains that most gardening implements are sold to home gardeners but does not mention whether they are sold to contractors or not.
E
A plant purchased from Gahagan’s is more likely to have been purchased by a landscape contractor than by a home gardener.
The stimulus says that the vast majority of plants are sold wholesale to commercial buyers (contractors). Thus, it is more likely that it was purchased by a contractor than by a home gardener.
Ariel: I disagree. Because of businesses’ increasing need for computer-literate employees, companies will have to train nearly all workers in computer skills. This will lessen the division between the computer literate and the computer illiterate. So whatever might cause the economic gap between rich and poor to widen in the future, it won’t be the importance of computer literacy.
Speaker 1 Summary
The economic gap between rich and poor will widen due to the increasing importance of computer literacy. Why? Because the economic gap is partially responsible for the division between computer literate and computer illiterate people.
Speaker 2 Summary
The increasing importance of computer literacy will not cause the economic gap between rich and poor to widen. Why? Because companies will have to train nearly all workers in computer skills due to their increasing need for computer-literate employees. This will decrease the gap between the computer literate and computer illiterate.
Objective
We need a statement that James and Ariel disagree on. They disagree whether the need for computer literacy will cause the gap between rich and poor to widen. James thinks the need for literacy will widen the gap . Ariel thinks another factor, if anything, will widen the gap.
A
the economic gap between rich and poor will widen
Ariel does not express an opinion on this statement. Ariel does not explicitly express that the gap will widen. She only explicitly expresses that, if it does widen, it’s not the importance of computer literacy.
B
the economic gap between rich and poor is now partly responsible for causing the division between the computer literate and the computer illiterate
Ariel does not express an opinion on this statement. Ariel does not comment on why the division between the computer literate and computer literate exists in the first place.
C
businesses’ need for computer-literate employees will increase
James does not express an opinion on this statement. James’s comments do not address the needs of businesses at all.
D
the economic gap between rich and poor will widen as a result of the increasing importance of computer literacy
James and Ariel disagree on this statement. James agrees that the increased need for computer literacy is the cause of the gap to widen. Ariel disagrees and claims that it is likely some other factor to cause the gap to widen.
E
companies will have to train their employees in computer skills
James does not express an opinion on this statement. James’s comments do not address the needs of businesses at all.
The relationship between money and the things it allows one to purchase is like that between a tool and the tasks it enables its user to accomplish. Therefore, since tools are useless if there is no task that needs to be done, _______.
Summary
The relationship between money and purchases is comparable to the relationship between tools and tasks. Tools are useless if there is no task to be done.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
Therefore, money is useless when there is nothing to purchase.
A
money should be thought of as no more useful than a tool
This answer is unsupported. The stimulus does not make a value judgment regarding how we should or should not think of money. Rather, the stimulus makes the comparison between money and tools as a matter of fact.
B
any tool that enables its user to accomplish a task is valuable
This answer is unsupported. To say that this statement would be true of any tool is too extreme. Moreover, we don’t know from the stimulus the value of tools, we only know about the usefulness of tools.
C
money is valueless in a world where nothing is for sale
This answer is strongly supported. Since tools are useless if there are no tasks, then similarly money is valueless when there is nothing to purchase.
D
money should be regarded as a tool rather than a commodity
This answer is unsupported. The stimulus does not make a value judgment regarding how we should or should not think of money. Rather, the stimulus makes the comparison between money and tools as a matter of fact.
E
the value of money derives from the tasks it allows one to accomplish
This answer is unsupported. The stimulus is making an analogy between money and tools. This statement does not complete the analogy.
Summary
When polar ice gaps grow, greater concentrations of a heavy oxygen form are left in the ocean, which gets absorbed by marine life. When polar ice caps shrink, lower concentrations of this heavy oxygen are left in the ocean. So, we can predict whether ice caps were growing or shrinking by examining the concentrations of heavy oxygen in sea life during a time period. During one 30,000 year period, concentrations of heavy oxygen increased during the first 20,000 years, then decreased in the remaining 10,000 years.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
Polar ice caps were growing during the first 20,000 years of that period, then shrinking during the last 10,000 years.
A
Average global temperatures 10,000 years after the beginning of the period approximately equaled average global temperatures 20,000 years later.
Unsupported, because the stimulus doesn’t give us evidence concerning average global temperature. Even if you think ice caps are evidence of global temperature, the stimulus would suggest global temperatures shrank over the first 20,000 years, because the ice caps were growing.
B
Polar ice caps at the beginning of the period were larger than they were at the end of the period.
Unsupported, because we don’t know the rate of growth or shrinkage. Ice caps grew for 20k years, then shrank for 10k years. But they could have grown much more than they shrank. This would mean the ice caps were larger at the end of the period.
C
The beginning of the period coincided with the onset of an ice age that lasted approximately 20,000 years.
Unsupported, because we don’t have reason to think that the period began at the “onset” of an ice age. An ice age could have been in effect for much longer, and the 30k period just begins in the final 20k years of an ongoing ice age.
D
The polar ice caps grew for about 20,000 years after the period began, then began to shrink.
Strongly supported, because concentrations of heavy oxygen grew for 20k years, then decreased for 10k years. This is evidence the ice caps grew during the first 20k years, then shrank in the next 10k years.
E
An ice age was drawing to an end during the first 20,000 years of the period.
Unsupported, because an ice age might have started at the beginning of the period and ended in 20k years. There’s no evidence that the 30k period began just as an existing ice age was ending.