GRE GRE General Test Question and Answers

In 1755 British writer Samuel Johnson published .in acerbic letter to Lord Chesterfield rebuking his patron for neglect and declining further support. Johnson's rejection of his patron's belated assistance has often been identified as a key moment in the history of publishing, marking the end of the culture of patronage. However, patronage had been in decline for 50 years, yet would survive, in attenuated form, for another 50. Indeed. Johnson was in 1762 awarded a pension by the Crown—a subtle form of sponsorship, tantamount to state patronage. The importance of Johnson's letter is not so much historical as emotional: it would become a touchstone for all who repudiated patrons and for all who embraced the laws of the marketplace.

Which of the following best describes the function of the highlighted phrase in the context of the passage as a whole?

Despite the general_________of Roman archaeological studies toward the major cities and their

monuments, archaeology has contributed much to a better understanding of rural developments in Roman territory.

Many environmentalists who revere nature would find the intellectual traditions of Rousseau. Kropotkin. and Jefterson much more compatible with their vision than that of Marx, who_________the domination of nature by humans.

Recent research has identified_________bats' navigational tool, echolocation: smooth, vertical surfaces

such as the metal or glass plates on buildings can trick a bat into thinking it is flying in open air.

In the present climate about half the atmospheric greenhouse effect comes from water vapor, about a quarter from clouds, and a fifth from carbon dioxide. According to Vallis. these numbers are necessarily) (i)_________because the effects of the greenhouse gases are not always (ii)_________. If the atmosphere is dry. then adding CO^ makes a big difference to the greenhouse effect, but if there is a large amount of water vapor in the atmosphere already producing a greenhouse effect, then adding CO (iii)_________.

In the past, the region's literacy support programs had been_________distributed—abundant in places where literacy rates were relatively high, absent in places where rates were low.

Because they require abstraction and generalization, many theories end up_________practical relevance as they tail to capture the richness and complexity of phenomena encountered in real settings.

One difficulty in convincing early scientists that craters fanned as a result of impacts from space is that most craters are circular. Impacts could come in at any angle, and experiments firing projectiles in the laboratory show that low-angle impacts lead to elliptical craters, not circular ones. Furthermore, while there was rarely evidence of any impacting object, there was often silicate melt around, suggesting that craters were caused by volcanic processes. The breakthrough in understanding crater origin was the recognition that the shock caused by the impacting object—not the object itself—creates a circular crater some twenty Times larger than the diameter of the impactor. The impact also generates enough heat to largely vaporize the impactor and melt the native rock.

Based on the passage, it can be inferred that research focused on "a classical case of bilingualism"

The relevance of the literary personality—a writer's distinctive attitudes, concerns, and artistic choices—to the analysis of a literary work is being scrutinized by various schools of contemporary criticism. Deconstmctionists view the literary personality, like the writer's biographical personality, as irrelevant. The proper focus of literary analysis, they argue, is a work's intertextuality (interrelationship with other texts), subtexts (unspoken, concealed. or repressed discourses), and metatexts (self-referential aspects), not a perception of a writer's verbal and aesthetic "fingerprints." New historicists also devalue the literary personality, since, in their emphasis on a work's historical context, they credit a writer with only those insights and ideas that were generally available when the writer lived. However, to readers interested in literary detective work—say scholars of classical (Greek and Roman! literature who wish to reconstruct damaged texts or deduce a work's authorship— the literary personality sometimes provides vital clues.

It can be inferred from the passage that on the issue of how to analyze a literary work, the new historic its would most likely agree with the deconstructionists that

Even if the merits of the proposal are (i)_________, faculty members may be reluctant to (ii)_________given their fear of offending the group that champions it.

Recent research has questioned the long-standing view of pearly mussels as exclusively suspension feeders (animals that strain suspended particles from water) that subsist on phytoplankton (mostly algae). Early studies of mussel feeding were based on analyses of gut contents, a method that has three weaknesses. First, material in mucus-bound gut contents is difficult to identify and quantify. Second, material found in the gut may pass undigested out of the mussel, not contributing to its nutrition. Finally, examination of gut contents offers limited insight into the mechanisms and behaviors by which mussels acquire food. Modem studies suggest that pearly mussels feed on more than just algae and may use other means than suspension feeding. Pedal feeding (sweeping up edible material with a muscular structure called the foot) has been observed in juvenile pearly mussels.

Besides the phytoplankton pearly mussels capture from the water column, their guts also contain small animals, protozoans, and detritus (nonliving particulate organic material). Recent studies show that mussels can capture and assimilate bacteria as well, a potentially important source of food in many fresh waters. Another potential source of food for mussels is dissolved organic matter. Early studies showing that pearly mussels could take up simple organic compounds were largely discounted because such labile (unstable) compounds are rarely abundant in nature. Nevertheless, recent work on other bivalves suggests that dissolved organic matter may be a significant source of nutrition.

Of this complex mix of materials that pearly mussels acquire, what is actually required and assimilated? Stable-isotope analyses of mussels taken from nature and of captive-reared mussels are beginning to offer some insight into this question. Nichols and Garling showed that pearly mussels in a small river were omnivorous, subsisting mainly on particles less than 2S micrometers in diameter, including algae, detritus, and bacteria. Bacterially derived carbon was apparently the primary source of soft-tissue carbon. However, bacteria alone cannot support mussel growth, because they lack the necessary long-chain fatty acids and sterols and are deficient in some amino acids. Bacteria may supplement other food resources, provide growth factors, or be the primary food In habitats such as headwater streams, where phytoplankton is scarce. Juvenile mussels have been most successfully reared m the laboratory on diets containing algae high in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Thus, it appears that the pearly mussel diet in nature may consist of algae, bacteria, detritus, and small animals and that at least some algae and bacteria may be required as a source of essential biochemicals.

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the research findings of Nichols and Garling?

The importance of the Bill of Rights in twentieth-century United States law and politics has led some historians to search for the "original meaning" of its most controversial clauses. This approach. known as "originalism." presumes that each right codified in the Bill of Rights had au independent history that can be studied in isolation from the histories of other rights, and its proponents ask how formulations of the Bill of Rights in 1791 reflected developments in specific areas of legal thinking at that time. Legal and constitutional historians, for example, have found originalism especially useful in the study of provisions of the Bill of Rights that were innovative by eighteenth-century standards, such as the Fourth Amendment's broadly termed protection against "unreasonable searches and seizures." Recent calls in the legal and political arena for a return to a "jurisprudence of original intention." however, have made it a matter of much more than purely scholarly interest when originalists insist that a clause's true meaning was fixed at the moment of its adoption, or maintain that only those rights explicitly mentioned in the United States Constitution deserve constitutional recognition and protection. These two claims seemingly lend support to the notion that an interpreter must apply fixed definitions of a fixed number of rights to contemporary issues, for the claims imply that the central problem of rights in the Revolutionary era was to precisely identity, enumerate, and define those rights that Americans felt were crucial to protecting their liberty.

Both claims, however, are questionable from the perspective of a strictly historical inquiry, however sensible they may seem from the vantage point of contemporary jurisprudence. Even though originalists are correct in claiming that the search for original meaning is inherently historical, historians would not normally seek.

The passage suggests that a historian conducting a strictly historical inquiry would make which of the following assumptions when studying the Bill of Rights?

Laws protecting intellectual properly are intended to stimulate creativity, yet some tonus of creative work have never enjoyed legal protection—a situation that ought to be of great interest. If we see certain forms of creative endeavor (1)_________as a result of uncontrolled copying, we might decide tot (ii )_________intellectual property law. Conversely, if unprotected creative work (iii)_________in the absence of legal rules against copying, we would do well to know how such flourishing is sustained.

Robert Philip argues that the advent of recorded music has directed performance style into a search for greater precision and perfection, with a consequent loss of spontaneity and warmth. Various expressive devices once common in classical music have been almost outlawed, including portamento (sliding from one note to another on a stringed instrument), playing the piano with the hands not quite synchronized, and flexibility of tempo. Philip fully documents these changes. However, other forces independent of recording were also at work. For example, the freedom of tempo so valued by Philip was. in its time, both a necessary expedient and disastrously abused. Recording alone did not cause the reaction against it. although hearing a particularly unintelligent use of it on disc may have reinforced the prejudice.

A criticism of Philip implied by the passage is that he

Given the_________of archival materials related to her subject, it is not surprising that the author is unable to

marshal much detailed documentary evidence to support some of her claims.

As originally formulated, the selfish-herd theory of prey species aggregation assumed that predatory attacks were equally likely to be launched from any position within the environment. In some circumstances (e.g.. avian predators attacking prey from above), such an approach is appropriate. However, as James et al. argue, in many predator-prey associations, attacks are unlikely to occur from positions within the group. For example, it is likely that an ambushing predator waiting in the path of a group would be detected before the group moves over its position. Hence, in many ecological situations, predatory attacks on grouped prey will occur exclusively from outside the group. In such circumstances, there is a strong premium to a group member in being in the interior of the group.

James would most likely describe the original formulation of the selfish-herd theory as

Responsibility for the nation's decline rests squarely with a people who take for granted their claims to preeminence but do not_________interest in or commitment to actually maintaining it.

Nature's Metropolis was Cronon's effort to show that the idea of a boundary between natural and unnatural is profoundly_________. that neither the city of Chicago nor its hinterland can be understood independently of the other.

In a survey of 150 computer owners, 98 owned a primer. 72 owned a digital camera, and all of them owned either a printer or a digital camera or both.

The average (arithmetic mean) and the median of a set of 5 numbers is 0. and the set contains at least one number that is not equal to 0. Which of the following statements must be true?

Of the 67 children residing on a certain street, 52 children enjoy biking and 21 children enjoy roller-skating. If all but 5 of the children enjoy biking or roller-skating or both, how many of the children enjoy either biking or roller-skating, but not both biking and roller-skating?

Al. Ben. Carl, Dina. and Edna are to be seated in a row of 5 adjoining chairs, with 1 person sitting in each chair. If Dina and Edna must each be seated m the first chair in the row or the last chair in the row. in how many different seating arrangements can the 5 people be seated"1

Exhibit.

Greg's income last year was $45,000. The graph above shows the distribution of his income, by income source. Based on the information given, which of the following statements about his income last year are true?

Indicate all such statements.

In sets A and B shown, I < v < y < z. Which of the following statement is about .1 and H must be true? Indicate all such statements.

For which of the following values of v must x'-.x be divisible by 10?

Indicate all such values.

The sequence a1, a2, a3 ,,,,an is defined by

Al a certain high school. 90 percent of seniors who take physics also take calculus and 60 percent of seniors who take calculus also take physics. If 30 percent of seniors at the school take physics, what percent of seniors take calculus?

-5, -3, -1, 0, 10, 20

How many different sums can be obtained by adding two different numbers from the list shown?

In the figure shown, what is the length of line segment BD ?

A)

B)

C)

D)

Exhibit.

In the figure shown, AC = 5, BC = 2, and AE = 8- What is the area of rectangle ABDF?

Exhibit.

A continuous random variable R has a mean of 77 and a standard deviation of 8. What is the value of R that is 2.5 standard deviations above the mean?

Exhibit.

Hezekiah has a whole number of dollars to purchase fish for his fish tank. He has less than S100. and the cost of each type offish is shown in the table. If he purchases as many fish of type A as he can and no other fish, he will have S4 remaining. If he purchases as many fish of type B as he can and 1 fish of type C. he will have SO remaining. How many dollars does Hezekiah have?

The sales tax on clothing items in Country A is 25 percent of the purchase price of the item, and the sales tax on clothing items in Country B is 20 percent of the purchase price of the item. If the two countries have the same currency and if the price of a certain clothing item is the same in both countries, what percent greater is the amount of sales tax on the clothing item purchased in Country A than the amount of sales tax on the clothing item purchased in Country B ?

A)

B)

C)

D)

E)

In a sequence of 300 numbers, the first number is 3. the second is 5. and each succeeding number is equal to the sum of the previous two numbers in the sequence. If a number is to be randomly selected from the sequence, what is the probability that the number selected will be odd?

A)

B)

C)

D)

E)

The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a Batavia newspaper

"The department of agriculture in Batavia reports that the number of dairy farms throughout the country is now 25 percent greater than it was 10 years ago. Dunne this same time period, however, the price of milk at the local Excello Food Market has increased from SI.50 to over S3.00 per gallon. To prevent farmers from continuing to receive excessive profits on an apparently increased supply of milk, the Batavia government should begin to regulate retail milk prices Such regulation is necessary to ensure fair prices for consumers."

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation

The following appeared in a letter from the owner of the Sunnyside Towers apartment complex to its manager.

"Last week, all the showerheads in the first three buildings of the Sunnyside Towers complex were modified to restrict maximum water flow to one-third of what it used to be. Although actual readings of water usage before and after the adjustment are not yet available, the change will obviously result in a considerable savings for Sunnyside Corporation, since the corporation must pay for water each month. Except for a few complaints about low water pressure, no problems with showers have been reported since the adjustment. Clearly, modifying showerheads to restrict water flow throughout all twelve buildings in the Sunnyside Towers complex will increase our profits further."

Write a response in which you examine the stated and or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.

Claim: Governments must ensure that their major cities receive the financial support they need in order to thrive.

Reason: It is primarily in cities that a nation's cultural traditions are preserved and generated.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based.

Colleges and universities should require their students to spend at least one semester studying in a foreign country.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with (lie claim. In developing and supporting your position- be sure to address the most compelling reasons and or examples that could be used to challenge your position.

The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a Batavia newspaper

"The department of agriculture in Batavia reports that the number of dairy farms throughout the country is now 25 percent greater than it was 10 years ago. During this same time period, however, the price of milk at the local Excello Food Market has increased from SI.50 to over $3.00 per gallon. To prevent farmers from continuing to receive excessive profits on an apparently increased supply of milk, the Batavia government should begin to regulate retail milk prices Such regulation is necessary to ensure fair prices for consumers."

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation

No act is done purely for the benefit of

Claim: others

All actions—even those that seem to be done

for other people—are based on self-interest.

Reason-

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based.

The following appeared as a letter to the editor from the owner of a skate shop in Central Plaza.

"Two years ago the city council voted to prohibit skateboarding in Central Plaza. They claimed that skateboard users were responsible for litter and vandalism that were keeping other visitors from coming to the plaza. In the past two years, however, there has been only a small increase in the number of visitors to Central Plaza. and litter and vandalism are still problematic. Skateboarding is permitted in Monroe Park, however, and there is no problem with litter or vandalism there. In order to restore Central Plaza to its former glory, then, we recommend that the city lift its prohibition on skateboarding in the plaza."

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.

The following appeared in a memo from the president of Bower Builders, a company that constructs new homes.

"A nationwide survey reveals that the two most-desired home features are a large family room and a large, well-appointed kitchen. A number of homes in our area built by our competitor Domus Construction have such features and have sold much faster and at significantly higher prices than the national average. To boost sales and profits, we should increase the size of the family rooms and kitchens in all the homes we build and should make state-of-the-art kitchens a standard feature. Moreover, our larger family rooms and kitchens can come at the expense of the dining room, since many of our recent buyers say they do not need a separate dining room for family meals."

Write a response in which you examine the stated and or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.