GMAT Section 3 Verbal Ability

GMAT Section 3 Verbal Ability practice questions, page 23 of 30, with answer review and explanations.

Question 111

Eclampsia in pregnancy is especially prevalent among women who are seriously malnourished. In order to achieve early detection of eclampsia in these individuals, public health officials distributed pamphlets explaining the importance of early detection of this potentially fatal disease. Which of the following, if true, is the best criticism of the use of the pamphlet as a method of achieving the public health officials goal?

  1. Many prenatal diseases produce symptoms that cannot be detected by the patient.
  2. Once Eclampsia has been detected; the effectiveness of treatment can vary from person to person.
  3. The pamphlet was sent to all town residents, including those individuals who are not pregnant.
  4. Eclampsia is much more common in very young and very old mothers, rather than in those at the height of their productive years.
  5. Pregnant women who are seriously malnourished are often homeless and thus unlikely to receive and read the pamphlet

Question 112

Technological improvements have made electric cars far more cost-efficient in the last decade. However, the threshold of economic viability for electric cars (that is, the cost of running an electric car compared to a gasoline powered car) has remained unchanged. Which of the following, if true, does most to help explain why the increased cost-efficiency of electric cars has not decreased its threshold of economic viability?

  1. The cost of manufacturing gasoline-powered cars has fallen dramatically.
  2. The reduction in the cost of manufacturing electric cars has occurred despite increased raw material costs for those cars.
  3. Technological changes have increased the efficiency of gasoline-powered cars.
  4. Most electricity is generated by coal-fired or nuclear, rather than oil-fired, power plants.
  5. When the price of oil increases, reserves of oil not previously worth exploiting become economically viable.

Question 113

Generally, marine biologists enter their field with the goal of doing important new research. They expect their colleagues to have similar goals. Therefore, when any marine biologist becomes a household name in the field of documentary nature films, most other scientists conclude that this biologist should no longer be regarded as a true colleague. The explanation offered above for the low esteem in which marine biologists who make documentary films are held by research scientists assumes that

  1. Serious scientific research is not a solitary activity, but relies on active cooperation among a group of colleagues
  2. Research scientists tend not to regard as colleagues those scientists whose renown they envy
  3. A scientist can become famous as a marine biologist who makes documentary films without having completed any important research
  4. Research scientists believe that those who are well known as marine biologists who make documentary films are not motivated to do important new research
  5. No important new research can be accessible to or accurately assessed by those who are not themselves scientists

Question 114

New stores financed by investors have a much lower failure rate than stores financed by other means. Source of financing, therefore, must be a more important causative factor in the success of a new store than are such factors as the location of the store, the quality of the staff, or the choice of merchandise. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

  1. Investors tend to be more responsive than others to changes in a new store’s financial needs.
  2. The strategic planning of a new store is a less important factor in the long-term success of the business than are the personal characteristics of the owner.
  3. More than half of all new stores close within three years.
  4. The management of new stores is generally less formal than the management of ongoing stores.
  5. Investors base their decisions to fund new stores on such factors as the personal characteristics of the owner, location of the store, and marketing goals.

Question 115

The proportion of Afro-American students enrolled in Gilmore Community College has increased over the past decades. This is partly shown by the fact that in 1965, only 6 percent of Afro-American between twenty and twenty-three in the town of Gilmore were enrolled in college, while in 1997, 13 percent of the Afro- Americans between twenty and twenty-three were enrolled in Gilmore Community College. To evaluate the argument above, it would be most useful to compare 1965 and 1997 with regard to which of the following characteristics

  1. The percentage of Afro-American students between twenty and twenty-three who were not enrolled in Gilmore Community College
  2. The percentage of Afro-American students between twenty and twenty-thirty who graduated from Gilmore Community College
  3. The percentage of Afro-American students who, after attending Gilmore Community College, entered highly paid professions
  4. The non-Afro-American students between twenty and twenty-three who were enrolled in Gilmore Community College
  5. The percentage of -Afro-American students who graduated from high school