GRE Test: General Test.

Section 2: Verbal Reasoning
Question 1

GRE Test: General Test. Although among currently available models Mestel’s provides the most ________ account of how white dwarfs evolve, it captures the essentials of the physics of white dwarf evolution.

• cited
• realistic
• corroborated
• simplified
• comprehensive

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Question 2

She was never (i)________: she was nothing if not discreet, so she (ii)________ for the present to declare her passion.

Blank (i)

• precipitate
• tactful
• thoughtful

Blank (ii)

• pretended
• decided
• forbore

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Question 3

The label “melodrama” tends to have (i)________ implications when used to describe a film with historical subject matter. Melodrama is widely perceived as antithetical to cinematic realism and thus, from a perspective that seeks (ii)________ rendering of the historical past, incapable of delivering the necessary (iii)________.

Blank (i)

• modest
• pejorative
• conflicting

Blank (ii)

• an unabashedly colorful
• a largely heroic
• a seemingly unmediated

Blank (iii)

• dynamism GRE Test: General Test.
• enchantment
• objectivity

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Question 4

The primary purpose of the passage is to

• describe a notion and present a view that suggests its deficiency
• introduce a common assumption and give an account of its origin
• define a concept and explain its significance in a given context
• summarize an argument and discuss a potential objection to it
• question an established theory and propose an alternative

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Question 5

The passage suggests that Edna Lewis would probably agree with which of the following statements about the concept of “soul food”?

• It failed to instill a sense of unity among African Americans across different regions.
• It was associated with recipes and ingredients that were not popular in the South.
• It represented a somewhat arbitrary selection of southern foods.
• It was invented by people who prioritized culinary sophistication over authenticity.
• It described foods that were prepared differently in the North or the West than in the South.

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Question 6

Selling a product with no known or even ________ substitute and with an ever-growing demand for it seems as if it would be quite lucrative, but in fact the three biggest private-sector water companies in the world are eager to get out of the business.

• recognized
• practicable
• profitable
• acknowledged
• imaginable
• conceivable

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Question 7

The ________ of native South American textiles at the time of the Spanish conquest should not be surprising: it represented the apogee of one of the world’s oldest and most sophisticated weaving and dyeing traditions.

• splendor
• eccentricity
• diversity
• brilliance
• practicality
• popularity

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Question 8

The author argued that the industrial agricultural system that prevails in the United States is unsustainable and, therefore, anything that ________ it should be questioned.

• streamlines
• reinforces
• encumbers
• buttresses
• endangers
• hampers

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Question 9

At first, most of the famous fairy tales seem so implausible and so irrelevant to contemporary life that their ________ is hard to understand.

• universality
• persistence
• appeal
• ephemerality
• survival
• transience

Question 11

The passage suggests that which of the following is true of most nineteenth-century paintings before Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère?

• They employed some techniques that had not been used in pre-nineteenth-century painting.
• They employed a single perspective rather than multiple perspectives.
• They adhered to artistic conventions refined by Courbet.
• They were painted by artists who lacked academic training.
• They were exhibited in places other than museums.

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Question 12

The author of the passage suggests that Courbet hoped that Funeral at Ornans would have which of the following effects on viewers?

• It would lead them to conclude that artworks that adhere to artistic conventions were aesthetically more satisfying than artworks that defied them.
• It would prepare them to accept the innovations of such later painters as Manet.
• It would prevent them from judging artworks on the basis of the artworks’ adherence to artistic conventions.
• It would increase their esteem for such products of popular culture as political illustrations and painted signs.
• It would prompt them to think about the artistic conventions to which they expected an artwork to adhere.

Section 3: Quantitative Reasoning

Question 1

x3y=106 y>1

• Quantity A: x
• Quantity B: 102

Correct Answer: Quantity B is greater.

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Question 2

There were 5 different new houses for sale in a certain town last month. This month the prices of 3 of these houses were decreased by $45,000 each, while the other 2 prices remained the same.

• Quantity A: The standard deviation of the original 5 prices
• Quantity B: The standard deviation of the resulting 5 prices after the 3 prices were decreased

Correct Answer: The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.

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Question 3

Point D lies inside equilateral triangle ABC and is equidistant from each vertex of the triangle.

• Quantity A: The sum of the lengths of line segments AB and BC
• Quantity B: The sum of the lengths of line segments AD, BD, and CD

Correct Answer: Quantity A is greater.

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Question 4

The number of books that Feng bought last year was less than 20, and the number of books that Liza bought last year was 5 more than 2 times the number that Feng bought. Which of the following statements must be true? Indicate all such statements.

• The number of books that Feng bought last year was less than 15.
• The number of books that Liza bought last year was less than 45.
• The total number of books that Feng and Liza bought last year was less than 60.

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Question 5

The deficit for any year is equal to the total government outlays minus the total government income. The deficit in 1989 was approximately 44 percent of the deficit in 1999. In1979 was approximately 18 percent of the deficit in 1989. The deficit in 1979 was approximately how many dollars?

• $18 billion
• $24 billion
• $36 billion
• $54 billion
• $110 billion

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Question 6

In 1999, the total government outlays exceeded the total government income by approximately what percent?

• 27%
• 24%
• 21%
• 19%
• 15%

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Question 7

In 1999, the ratio of the government outlays for Social Security and Medicare to the government income from Social Security and Medicare taxes was closest to which of the following?

• 2 to 1
• 3 to 2
• 4 to 3
• 5 to 4
• 6 to 5

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Question 8

A decorative tile is in the shape of a semicircle with diameter 27 centimeters. The straight side of the tile is partitioned into 3 sections of equal length, each of which is the diameter of a smaller semicircle, as shown in the figure. Approximately what is the area, in square centimeters, of the part of the tile represented by the shaded region?

• 96
• 143
• 191
• 286
• 382

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Question 9

In the figure shown, ABCD is a square and E,F,G, and H are the midpoints of the respective sides. If AD=1, what is the sum of the areas of the shaded regions? Give your answer as a fraction.

Correct Answer: 1/2

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Question 10

In the list shown, a is a positive integer and the difference between the greatest number and the least number in the list is 11/5. What is the value of a? List: a/5,1,7/5

• 4
• 7
• 12
• 16
• 18

Question 11

The operation \diamond$ is defined by r \diamond s = 12r^{-1}(s + 3) for all positive numbers $r$ and $s$. If x \diamond 3 = 18, what is the value of x?

• 1/4
• 1/2
• 3/2
• 2
• 4

Section 4: Verbal Reasoning

Question 2

Often, developing new methods for scientific research demands a willingness to reach across disciplinary boundaries, something that is notoriously difficult to carry out. Therefore, even though interdisciplinarity is often proclaimed to be (i)________, there are many structural reasons why it remains (ii)________.

Blank (i)

• a laudable goal (Correct)
• an uncertain enterprise
• a formidable undertaking

Blank (ii)

• feasible
• admirable
• exceptional (Correct)

Note: In the context of the passage, “exceptional” is the correct choice for Blank (ii) because it highlights that despite being praised, interdisciplinarity remains a rare occurrence due to structural barriers. “A laudable goal” is the correct choice for Blank (i) as it fits the “even though it is praised” structure.

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Question 3

In the age of new media technologies, the (i)________ an event and its recording appears to have been (ii)________: rather than referring to a concert in which both performers and audience members are (iii)________, “live” is increasingly used to identify the way in which a performance was recorded or transmitted.

Blank (i)

• revenue from
• distinction between (Correct)
• quality of

Blank (ii)

• maximized
• erased (Correct)
• misunderstood

Blank (iii)

• emotionally engaged
• physically present (Correct)
• culturally sophisticated

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Question 4

The multipanel work Aspects of Negro Life, painted by Aaron Douglas in 1934, appears to (i)________ an uncomplicated trajectory of African American progress only if one (ii)________ certain features of the paintings that (iii)________ the apparently uplifting narrative.

Blank (i)

• subvert
• endorse (Correct)
• intensify

Blank (ii)

• fails to recognize (Correct)
• begins to compare
• attempts to authenticate

Blank (iii)

• bolster GRE Test: General Test.
• disturb (Correct)
• camouflage

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Question 5

The author would likely include which of the following evidence in the “facts of chronology”? (Select all that apply)

• The number of centuries separating the earliest transitions to agriculture from those observed by anthropologists
• The earliest dates for which evidence of farming practices has been established (Correct)
• The known dates, if any, of extinctions of prey species that formed an important part of the diet of ancient human societies (Correct)

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Question 6

Agricultural historians theorize that farming originated when the pressures of growing populations or shrinking resources imposed the need to find new species to adapt for food. This hypothesis is supported by impressive work by anthropologists who have observed transitions to agriculture that happened in recent times. But, as an explanation for why agriculture arose in the first place, it seems ill matched to the facts of chronology. Extinctions—or even significant diminutions—in hunters’ prey species cannot be shown to have happened in any of the right places at any of the right times. Populations certainly grew in the most dedicated farming cultures—but, in most places, more probably as a consequence than as a cause.

The author of the passage would be most likely to disagree with the “agricultural historians” over whether

• preagricultural societies frequently adapted new species for food
• preagricultural societies were vulnerable to fluctuations in the populations of species they hunted
• the earliest transitions to agriculture resulted in population growth (Correct) GRE Test: General Test.
• recent transitions to agriculture and the earliest such transitions were triggered by similar conditions
• the first adoption of agriculture immediately created dramatic changes in social structure

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Question 7

The primary purpose of the passage is to

• challenge an assertion about whether the stories used in Ceremony can be considered traditional
• dispute a claim about the ethical implications of publishing traditional stories in Ceremony (Correct)
• establish that most of the traditional stories used in Ceremony existed in print long before the novel was written
• contest the fidelity of the transcription of the traditional stories used in Ceremony
• present two contradictory views of the proper role of traditional stories in novels such as Ceremony

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Question 8

The author notes that the Laguna stories Silko uses in Ceremony are taken “sometimes verbatim” from ethnographic print texts most likely in order to

• help distinguish between those stories that Silko took directly from ethnographic print texts and those that she remembered from earlier oral performances
• indicate that there were certain ethnographic print texts that Silko was especially interested in
• support the notion that Silko relied more on existing documents than on memories of oral performance for these stories (Correct)
• help distinguish between instances in which Silko might have used clan material improperly and those instances in which she clearly did not
• make the point that print texts generally provide more accurate versions of the stories than do memories of oral performances of the stories

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Question 9

The passage suggests that ostensible support for Gunn Allen’s claim about the Laguna stories that Silko used in Ceremony is provided by which of the following?

• Comments that Silko herself has made
• Silko’s unusual treatment of the stories in the novel
• The fact that print versions of the stories existed well before Silko was born
• The fact that all but two of the stories are taken directly from ethnographic print texts
• The unlikelihood that Silko could have recalled anything more than the gist of such stories when writing Ceremony (Correct)

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Question 10

Philosophy cannot model itself on science, because it does not share science’s model of relentless ________; philosophy is always circling back to its own assumptions and casting them in different lights. (Select two)

• skepticism
• empiricism
• progress (Correct)
• revision
• advancement (Correct)
• reconsideration

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Question 11

The explorer wandered on foot over much of our country and found ________ value in it, something more than merely raw material for pecuniary exploitation. (Select two)

• inherent (Correct)
• economic
• financial
• intrinsic (Correct)
• aesthetic
• organic

Question 12

Scientists have recently confirmed that Mercury possesses a lot of ice, ________ discovery for a place that ranks among the hottest in the solar system. (Select two)

• a controversial
• a stunning
• a doubtful
• a counterintuitive (Correct)
• a dubious
• an unexpected (Correct)

Question 13

Normally, seeds of Emmenanthe penduliflora stay dormant for years and germinate only when a fire burns through their habitat. Nitrogen dioxide in the smoke induces the seeds to germinate. Fires clear the brush, allowing germinating seeds to receive the sunlight they need to grow. The plants mature quickly, produce seeds, and then die. In areas with heavy automobile traffic, however, the seed germinates in the absence of fire, with automobile exhaust supplying the required nitrogen dioxide.

The information given, if accurate, most strongly supports which of the following hypotheses?

• Fires in the habitat of E. penduliflora do not entirely destroy the plant’s seeds even in the places where the fires burn most intensely.
• The nitrogen dioxide in automobile exhaust cannot harm plants of E. penduliflora after germination.
• If human intervention decreases the number of fires in the habitat of E. penduliflora, automobile exhaust can replicate the conditions the plant requires in order to thrive.
• Within the habitat of E. penduliflora, natural fires are significantly more frequent in areas with heavy automobile traffic than they are in other areas.
• Unless E. penduliflora seeds that have germinated can survive in the shade, automobile exhaust threatens the long-term survival of the plant in areas with heavy automobile traffic. (Correct)

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Question 14

Regarding life beyond Earth, the author of the passage implies that (Select all that apply):

• life could be dependent on a source of energy other than light from the nearest star (Correct)
• life might exist in an environment that did not provide everything that is needed for life on Earth to exist (Correct)
• life might take a form radically different from that of any life that is found on Earth

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Question 15

The discovery of subsurface life on Earth, surviving independently from surface life, refuted the belief that biological processes require not only liquid water but sunlight as well, thus greatly enhancing the possibility of life beyond Earth. Take Jupiter’s moon Europa. Space probes show a body covered with a thick layer of ice. As Europa orbits its planet, however, it flexes due to the gravitational tug-of-war between it, its sister moons, and Jupiter. Through friction, this flexing heats Europa’s interior to the temperature capable of melting ice. Indeed, observations suggest liquid water exists beneath Europa’s icy crust. Photosynthetic life is impossible there because sunlight is completely absent, but life such as the microbes that flourish deep within Earth may still be possible.”

The highlighted sentence (“Take Jupiter’s moon Europa.”) serves to introduce

• an instance that allows a hypothesis to be tested
• speculation grounded in empirical discovery (Correct)
• a deduction from a newly advanced hypothesis
• a large-scale effect of an apparently insignificant contingency
• the derivation of a contradiction to refute a claim

Section 5: Quantitative Reasoning

Question 2

A group of n people is standing in line to purchase theater tickets. The line is a straight line with more than 10 people. Meg is the 4th person behind the person at the front of the line, and Cory is the 4th person in front of the person at the back of the line.

Quantity A: The number of people in the line between Meg and Cory Quantity B: n – 10

• Quantity A is greater.
• Quantity B is greater.
• The two quantities are equal.
• The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.

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Question 3

3x – 2k = 7 9x – 6k = 21

Quantity A: x Quantity B: k

• Quantity A is greater.
• Quantity B is greater.
• The two quantities are equal.
• The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.

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Question 4

x + y = 5 2x + 2y = 8

Quantity A: The shortest distance between the graphs of the two equations Quantity B: 1

• Quantity A is greater.
• Quantity B is greater.
• The two quantities are equal.
• The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.

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Question 5

Square ABCD and parallelogram AEFD lie in the same plane, and AB = AE.

Quantity A: The area of region ABCD Quantity B: The area of region AEFD

• Quantity A is greater.
• Quantity B is greater.
• The two quantities are equal.
• The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.

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Question 6

Value	Frequency
10	6
20	7
30	2
40	5

What is the average (arithmetic mean) of the 20 values indicated in the frequency distribution?

• 20
• 23
• 25
• 28
• 31

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Question 7

On a certain trip, Carlos, Kim, and Tom shared the driving. Carlos drove 70 miles more than 1/4 of the total distance and Kim drove 30 miles less than 1/4 of the total distance. If Tom drove 300 miles, how many miles did they drive on the trip?

• 680
• 660
• 640
• 620
• 520

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Question 8

A total of 72,000 was invested for one month in a new savings account that paid simple annual interest at the rate of r percent. If the investment earned 360 in interest for the month, what is the value of r? GRE Test: General Test.

• 5.0
• 6.0
• 6.5
• 7.0
• 7.5

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Question 9

The circle above has center O and circumference 16π. If the eight points indicated on the circle are equally spaced, what is the perimeter of the shaded region?

• 8 + 4π
• 8 + 6π
• 16 + 4π
• 16 + 6π
• 16 + 8π

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Question 10

When positive integers k and n are each divided by 9, the remainders are 2 and 5, respectively. If k > n, what is the remainder when k – n is divided by 9?

• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6

Question 11

The solution set of which of the following inequalities is graphed on the number line shown?

(The graph shows a solid line from -12 to -2, including the endpoints.)

• |x| ≤ 12
• 2 ≤ |x| ≤ 12
• |x – 2| ≤ 10
• |x + 7| ≤ 5
• |x – 7| ≤ 5

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Question 12

The graph above shows the annual sales, in thousands of dollars, for a certain product sold at three different stores for the years 2011 to 2015. Of the following sales, which had the greatest percent increase?

• Sales at Store A from 2012 to 2013
• Sales at Store A from 2014 to 2015
• Sales at Store B from 2012 to 2013 GRE Test: General Test.
• Sales at Store B from 2014 to 2015
• Sales at Store C from 2014 to 2015

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Question 13

If a, b, and c are integers greater than -10 and less than 10, and if c ≠ 0, what is the least possible value of (a – b) / c?

-18