GRE Sample Questions From Analytical Section

I. The company should not be held responsible for failing to correct the control-panel problem that caused the accident. Although the problem had been mentioned earlier in
a safety inspector's report, companies receive hundreds of reports of such problems
and Industry Standard No.42 requires action on these problems only when an accident
is foreseeable.

If the second sentence in the paragraph above is factually correct, the answer to which of the following questions is most relevant in helping to determine whether or not the company violated Industry Standard No.42 when it failed to correct the control-panel problem.

(A) Was the accident serious?

(B) Was the control-panel problem of a type that is known
to indicate that an accident is likely?

(D) Did the safety inspector mention more than one problem in
the same report?

(E) How long was the control panel in use before the problem
was discovered?

Explanation:
Industry standard no. 42 requires action of the company on the problems only when an accident is foreseeable. The only test to apply is whether the company received a problem of a type that is known to indicate that an accident is likely to occur.

(A) Wrong: Does not talk about the problem that caused the accident.
(B) Correct.
(C) Wrong: this pertains to post accident action and is irrelevant here.
(D) Wrong: does not talk about a problem indicating that an accident is likely to occur.
(E) Wrong: this is irrelevant .

II. In a game, exactly six inverted cups stand side by side in a straight line, and each has exactly one ball hidden under it. The cups are numbered consecutively1 through 6. Each of the balls is painted a single solid color. The colors of the balls are green, magenta, orange, purpose, red and yellow. The balls have been hidden under the cups in a manner that conforms to the following conditions:

The purple ball must be hidden under a lower-numbered cup than the orange ball.
The red ball must be hidden under a cup immediately adjacent to the cup under which the magenta ball is hidden.
The green ball must be hidden under cup 5.

1.Which of the following could be the colors of the balls under the cups, in order from 1 through 6?

(A) Green, yellow, magenta, red, purple, orange
(B) Magenta, green, purple, red, orange ,yellow
(C) Magenta, red, purple, yellow, green, orange
(D) Orange, yellow, red, magenta, green, purple
(E) Red, purple, magenta, yellow, green, orange

Explanation:
Inverted cups are numbered 1 through 6 consecutively. Six balls of different colors are hidden under them. The colors are G, M, O, P, R, Y using the first alphabet of each color. We use the letter B for ball. For example PB stands for purple colored ball.
The given conditions are
(i) PB < OB ('<' indicates that this purple ball is hidden in a lower numbered cup than orange ball)
(ii) RB, MB are adjacent .
(iii) GB = 5 (this means that the green ball is hidden under cup No. 5)
No restrictions given for yellow colored ball.

(A) Wrong. Green Ball is not under Cup 5.
(B) Wrong. Green Ball is not under Cup 5.
(C) Correct: All three above conditions satisfied.
(D) Wrong : Purple Ball is not before orange Ball.
(E) Wrong : RB and MB are not adjacent.

Explanation:
Inverted cups are numbered 1 through 6 consecutively. Six balls of different colors
are hidden under them. The colors are G, M, O, P, R, Y using the first alphabet of
each color. We use the letter B for ball. For example PB stands for purple colored
ball.
The given conditions are
(i) PB < OB
('<' indicates that this purple ball is hidden in a lower numbered cup than orange ball)
(ii) RB, MB are adjacent .
(iii) GB = 5
(this means that the green ball is hidden under cup No. 5)
No restrictions given for yellow colored ball.

Here MB = 4. Since GB = 5, RB which is to be adjacent to MB must occupy place 3.

Inverted cups are numbered 1 through 6 consecutively. Six balls of different colors
are hidden under them. The colors are G, M, O, P, R, Y using the first alphabet of each color. We use the letter B for ball. For example PB stands for purple colored ball.
The given conditions are
(i) PB < OB
('<' indicates that this purple ball is hidden in a lower numbered cup than orange ball)
(ii) RB, MB are adjacent .
(iii) GB = 5
(this means that the green ball is hidden under cup No. 5)
No restrictions given for yellow colored ball.

(A) Wrong: GB is 5 and cannot be 6.
(B) Wrong: RB cannot be 5 and so MB, RB cannot be adjacent.
(C) Wrong: If PB = 6, there is no place for OB and so PB < OB fails.
(D) Wrong: If RB = 6, then MB cannot be 5 as GB = 6. So the condition RB, MB adjacent fails.
(E) Correct: No restriction for yellow Ball.

Explanation:
Inverted cups are numbered 1 through 6 consecutively. Six balls of different colors
are hidden under them. The colors are G, M, O, P, R, Y using the first alphabet of
each color. We use the letter B for ball. For example PB stands for purple colored
ball.
The given conditions are
(i) PB < OB
('<' indicates that this purple ball is hidden in a lower numbered cup than orange ball)
(ii) RB, MB are adjacent .
(iii) GB = 5
(this means that the green ball is hidden under cup No. 5)
No restrictions given for yellow colored ball.

PB = 4
(A), (B), (C) are wrong as orange Ball should be after 4.
(D) is wrong because Green Ball should be at 5.
(E) is correct.

(A) The green ball is under a lower-numbered cup than the yellow ball.
(B) The orange ball is under a lower-numbered cup than the green ball.
(C) The purple ball is under a lower-numbered cup than the green ball.
(D) The purple ball is under a lower-numbered cup than the red ball.
(E) The red ball is under a lower-numbered cup than the yellow ball.

Explanation:
Inverted cups are numbered 1 through 6 consecutively. Six balls of different colors
are hidden under them. The colors are G, M, O, P, R, Y using the first alphabet of
each color. We use the letter B for ball. For example PB stands for purple colored
ball.
The given conditions are
(i) PB < OB
('<' indicates that this purple ball is hidden in a lower numbered cup than orange ball)
(ii) RB, MB are adjacent .
(iii) GB = 5
(this means that the green ball is hidden under cup No. 5)
No restrictions given for yellow colored ball.

(A) Wrong: It can happen as number 6 slot is vacant. But it is not a must.
(B) Wrong: Orange Ball can be event at Number 6.
(C) Correct: Purple Ball cannot be at Number 6 as it should be before Orange Ball as per the initial condition.
Since GB=5, PB must be less than Green Ball number.
(D) and (E) are also not a must.

III. Riothamus, a fifth-century king of the Britons, was betrayed by an associate, fought bravely against the Goths but was defeated, and disappeared mysteriously. Riothamus' activities, and only those of Riothamus, match almost exactly those attributed to King Arthur. Therefore, Riothamus must be the historical model for the legendary King Arthur.

The argument above requires at least one additional premise. Which of the following could be such a required premise?

(A) Modern historians have documented the activities of Riothamus better than those of any other fifth-century king.

(B) The stories told about King Arthur are not strictly fictitious but are based on a historical person and historical events.

(D) Legends about the fifth century usually embellish and romanticize the actual conditions of the lives of fifth-century nobility.

(E) Posterity usually remembers legends better than it remembers the actual historical events on which they are based.

Explanation:
In the paragraph, Riothamus was a historical figure. But King Arthur was a legendary king. But, it was mentioned that only Riothamus' activities match almost exactly those attributed to the legendary king Arthur. To accept that Riothamus must be the historical model for the legendary king Arthur, we should have additional premise that king Arthur's activities were not fiction but were based on a historical person and historical events.

(A) Wrong: This does not tell us that King Arthur's activities were based on historical person and historical events.
(B) Correct.
(C) Wrong: This does not indicate that Riothamus must be the historical model.
(D) and (E) are irrelevant to the issue.

IV. A worldwide ban on the production of certain ozone-destroying chemicals would provide only an illusion of protection. Quantities of such chemicals, already produced, exist as coolants in millions of refrigerators. When they reach the ozone layer in the atmosphere, their action cannot be halted. So there is no way to prevent these chemicals from damaging the ozone layer further.

(A) It is impossible to measure with accuracy the quantity of ozone-destroying chemicals that exist as coolants in refrigerators.

(B) In modern societies, refrigeration of food is necessary to prevent unhealthy and potentially life-threatening conditions.

(C) Replacement chemicals that will not destroy ozone have not yet been developed and would be more expensive than the chemicals now used as coolants in refrigerators.

(D) Even if people should give up the use of refrigeration, the coolants already in existing refrigerators are a threat to atmospheric ozone.

(E) The coolants in refrigerators can be fully recovered at the end of the useful life of the refrigerators and reused.

Explanation:
The paragraph states that ozone-destroying chemicals already exist as coolants in millions of refrigerators. When they reach the ozone layer in the atmosphere, their action cannot be halted. So, the conclusion is that there is no way to prevent these chemicals from damaging the ozone layer further. This argument gets weakened if we can halt the harmful coolants from reaching the ozone layer.

(A) Wrong: Irrelevant.
(B) Wrong: This aggravates the problem of destroying ozone layer.
(C) Wrong: Irrelevant.
(D) Wrong: This supports the conclusion.
(E) Correct: If all the coolants are recoverable for reuse, then ozone layer is not damaged.