GMAT Sample Questions

GMAT Verbal Section : GMAT Sample Critical Reasoning Questions

31. Using computer techniques, researchers analyze layers of paint that lie buried beneath the surface layers of old paintings. They claim, for example, that additional mountainous scenery once appeared in Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, which was later painted over. Skeptics reply to these claims, however, that X-ray examinations of the Mona Lisa do not show hidden mountains.

    Which of the following, if true, would tend most to weaken the force of the skeptics' objections?

    1. There is no written or anecdotal record that Leonardo da Vinci ever painted over major areas of his Mona Lisa.
    2. Painters of da Vinci's time commonly created images of mountainous scenery in the backgrounds of portraits like the Mona Lisa
    3. No one knows for certain what parts of the Mona Lisa may have been painted by da Vinci's assistants rather than by da Vinci himself.
    4. Infrared photography of the Mona Lisa has revealed no trace of hidden mountainous scenery.
    5. Analysis relying on X-rays only has the capacity to detect lead-based white pigments in layers of paint beneath a painting's surface layers.

    Answer : E

32. While Governor Verdant has been in office, the state's budget has increased by an average of 6 percent each year. While the previous governor was in office, the state's budget increased by an average of 11.5 percent each year. Obviously, the austere budgets during Governor Verdant's term have caused the slowdown in the growth in state spending.

    Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion drawn above?

    1. The rate of inflation in the state averaged 10 percent each year during the previous governor's term in office and 3 percent each year during Verdant's term.
    2. Both federal and state income tax rates have been lowered considerably during Verdant's term in office.
    3. In each year of Verdant's term in office, the state's budget has shown some increase in spending over the previous year.
    4. During Verdant's term in office, the state has either discontinued or begun to charge private citizens for numerous services that the state offered free to citizens during the previous governor's term.
    5. During the previous governor's term in office, the state introduced several so-called "austerity" budgets intended to reduce the growth in state spending.

    Answer : A

33. Technological education is worsening. People between eighteen and twenty-four, who are just emerging from their formal education, are more likely to be technologically illiterate than somewhat older adults. And yet, issues for public referenda will increasingly involve aspects of technology.

    Which of the following conclusions can be properly drawn from the statements above?

    1. If all young people are to make informed decisions on public referenda, many of them must learn more about technology.
    2. Thorough studies of technological issues and innovations should be made a required part of the public and private school curriculum.
    3. It should be suggested that prospective voters attend applied science courses in order to acquire a minimal competency in technical matters.
    4. If young people are not to be overly influenced by famous technocrats, they must increase their knowledge of pure science.
    5. On public referenda issues, young people tend to confuse real or probable technologies with impossible ideals.

    Answer : A

34. In a political system with only two major parties, the entrance of a third-party candidate into an election race damages the chances of only one of the two major candidates. The third-party candidate always attracts some of the voters who might otherwise have voted for one of the two major candidates, but not voters who support the other candidate. Since a third-party candidacy affects the two major candidates unequally, for reasons neither of them has any control over, the practice is unfair and should not be allowed.

    If the factual information in the passage above is true, which of the following can be most reliably inferred from it?

    1. If the political platform of the third party is a compromise position between that of the two major parties, the third party will draw its voters equally from the two major parties.
    2. If, before the emergence of a third party, voters were divided equally between the two major parties, neither of the major parties is likely to capture much more than one-half of the vote.
    3. A third-party candidate will not capture the votes of new voters who have never voted for candidates of either of the two major parties.
    4. The political stance of a third party will be more radical than that of either of the two major parties.
    5. The founders of a third party are likely to be a coalition consisting of former leaders of the two major parties.

    Answer : B

35. Companies considering new cost-cutting manufacturing processes often compare the projected results of making the investment against the alternative of not making the investment with costs, selling prices, and share of market remaining constant.

    Which of the following, assuming that each is a realistic possibility, constitutes the most serious disadvantage for companies of using the method above for evaluating the financial benefit of new manufacturing processes?

    1. The costs of materials required by the new process might not be known with certainty.
    2. In several years interest rates might go down, reducing the interest costs of borrowing money to pay for the investment.
    3. Some cost-cutting processes might require such expensive investments that there would be no net gain for many years, until the investment was paid for by savings in the manufacturing process.
    4. Competitors that do invest in a new process might reduce their selling prices and thus take market share away from companies that do not.
    5. The period of year chosen for averaging out the cost of the investment might be somewhat longer or shorter, thus affecting the result.

    Answer : D