Free Admission Tests GMAT Practice Exam with Questions & Answers | Set: 2

Until the Apollo astronauts brought samples of lunar material to Earth during 196£-72, scientists believed that the Moon's surface was largely undisturbed, given its dry, airless environment. Examination of the samples has shown otherwise. Micrometeorites, many smaller than a pencil point, constantly rain onto the Moon at up to 100,000 kilometers per hour, chipping materials or forming microscopic craters. Some melt the soil and vaporize and recondense as glassy coats on other specks of dust. Impacts weld debris into lumps of heterogeneous matter called "agglutinates." Complicated interactions with solar particle streams convert iron into myriads of microscopic iron grains. The regdith—pebbles, sand, and dust-from these erosion processes blankets the Moon. Much of the top layer consists of a complex abrasive dust of microscopic glass shards that can grind machinery and sealing devices and damage human lungs.

The Apollo specimens held by the United States are doled out in ultra-small samples to scientists who demonstrate that nothing else will suffice for high-value experiments. Renewed interest In lunar exploration in the late 1980s meant that materials designed to simulate lunar regolith—simulants—were needed for research to develop schemes for lunar building and procedures for extracting elements such as oxygen found abundantly in regolith. That led to the development of JSC-1 in 1993, made of volcanic cinder cone from a quarry in Arizona in the U.S. The more than 22 metric tons made was in high demand. Efforts are now afoot to manufacture 16 metric tons of JSC-1 A, with 1 ton of fine grains, 14 tons of moderately fine, and 1 ton of coarse.

Which of the following can most reasonably be inferred from the passage?

A major manufacturer of outdoor clothing spends a significant portion of its overhead costs on transportation in its home markets. Everywhere the cost of fuels, including marine and aviation fuels, has been rising steeply for the last six months. But during this period the profits of the company have tripled.

Which of the following would, if true, most help explain why the phenomenon described above occurred?

The ensuing argument among the pundKs rs no likelier to end in a declared winnef than a long debate about Karl Marx's political philosophy against Ayn Rand's would be.

Because of the positive correlation across animal species between body size and home range size, researchers suspected that body size of female mallards (a species of duck) may influence their home range size. The researchers also reasoned that younger females may be forced into less suitable habitats by older females competing with them for optimal areas, with the younger females compensating by having larger home ranges. However, their research supported neither suspicion. The failure to detect variation of range size according to body size may be due to other, undetermined mallard attributes (for example, body condition) that may have been a significant factor affecting home range size. The fact that most yearling females can breed may help to explain why the expected age effect was not confirmed, since home range size may be affected by breeding capability.

The researchers did find, however, that home range size of females was Inversely related to the percentage of the study area composed of seasonal or semipermanent wetlands. This may have been because of reduced competition for breeding space within the species when more of the wetlands were present. They also found home range size to decrease somewhat as the percentage of wood-shrub habitat increased, suggesting that reduction in visual contact among mallard pairs may reduce interaction and thus reduce competition among breeding pairs.

Regarding female mallards, which of the following was a finding of the researchers' study described in the passage?

Art expert: If a painting is from the Hudson River School of the mid-nineteenth century United States, it will display a romantic reverence for landscape, portraying pastoral

scenes in which humans and nature coexist peacefully. The painting that was recently discovered in the attic of the old town hall dates from the 1850s and portrays a

pastoral landscape in which two couples are having a peaceful picnic. So the painting must be from the Hudson River School.

The critic’s argument is flawed in that it

Which of the following is a research shortcoming mentioned in the passage that is not addressed in the information provided about Sommer's study?

When fish or mammals ingest the chemical rotenone, enzymes In (he digestive tract metabolize most of it, rendering It harmless, but If enough rotenone enters the bloodstream, It can kill them. Wildlife managers who use rotenone in rivers or lakes to reduce fish populations claim that the practice is harmless to aquatic mammals, but clearly if enough rotenone is used to kill fish, mammals must be at risk too.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

Paleontologist: Dinosaurs belonged to two major taxonomic groups, the Saurischia and the Orlnithischia. Scientists have long known that the branch of the Saurischia from which birds are descended had primitive feathers. However, a recently discovered fossil of a previously unknown Orinithischia species also has feather-like structures. Thus, dinosaurs must have evolved feathers early in their history, before the Saurischia and Orinithischia diverged.

Which of the following is an assumption the paleontologist's argument requires?

According to the passage, which of the following calls Into question the analysis that uses the concept of structural inertia?

Having emerged as the United States' most popular tourist destination by mid-1997, Las Vegas was expecting to end that year hosting more than 32 million visitors, who were estimated to have spent in excess of $22.5 billion.