ASP’s - 3

1) A program instituted in a particular state allows parents to prepay their children’s future
college tuition at current rates. The program then pays the tuition annually for the child at any
of the state’s public colleges in which the child enrols. Parents should participate in the
program as a means of decreasing the cost for their children’s college education.

Which of the following, if true, is the most appropriate reason for parents not to participate in
the program?

A. The parents are unsure about which public college in the state the child will attend.

B. The amount of money accumulated by putting the prepayment funds in an interest-bearing

account today will be greater than the total cost of tuition for any of the public colleges when
the child enrolls.

C. The annual cost of tuition at the state’s public colleges is expected to increase at a faster rate
than the annual increase in the cost of living.

D. Some of the state’s public colleges are contemplating large increases in tuition next year.

E. The prepayment plan would not cover the cost of room and board at any of the state’s public
colleges.

2) Company Alpha buys free travel coupons from people who are awarded the coupons by
Bravo Airlines for flying frequently on Bravo airplanes. The coupons are sold to people who
pay less for the coupons than they would pay by purchasing tickets from Bravo. This
marketing of coupons results in lost revenue for Bravo.

To discourage the buying and selling of free-travel coupons, it would be best for Bravo Airlines to
restrict the

A. Number of coupons that a person can be awarded in a particular year.

B. Use of the coupons to those who were awarded the coupons and members of their
immediate families.

C. Days that the coupons can be used from Monday to Friday.

D. Amount of time that the coupons can be used after they are issued.

E. Number of routes on which travellers can use the coupons.

3) Mourdet Winery: Danville Winery’s new wine was introduced to compete with our latest
popular wine, which is sold in a distinctive tall, black bottle. Danville uses a similar bottle.
Thus, it is likely that many customers intending to buy our wine will mistakenly buy theirs
instead.

Danville Winery: Not so, The two bottles can be readily distinguished the label on ours, but
not on theirs, is gold colored.

Which of the following, if true, most undermines Danville Winery’s response?

A. Gold is the background color on the label of many of the wines produced by Danville Winery.

B. When the bottles are viewed side by side, Danville Winery’s bottle is perceptibly taller than
Mourdet Winery’s.

C. Danville Winery, unlike Mourdet Winery, displays its wine’s label prominently in
advertisements.

D. It is common for occasional purchasers to buy a bottle of wine on the basis of a general
impression of the most obvious feature of the bottle.

E. Many popular wines are sold in bottles of a standard design.

4) After graduating from high school, people rarely multiply fractions or discuss ancient Rome,
but they are confronted daily with decisions relating to home economics. Yet whereas
mathematics and history are required courses in the high school curriculum, home economics
is only an elective, and few students choose to take it.
Which of the following positions would be best supported by the considerations above?

A. If mathematics and history were not required courses; few students would choose to take
them.

B. Whereas home economics would be the most useful subject for people facing the decisions
they must make in daily life, often mathematics and history can also help them face these
decisions.

C. If it is important to teach high school students subjects that relate to decisions that will
confront them in their daily lives, then home economics should be made an important part of
the high school curriculum.

D. Mathematics, history, and other courses that are not directly relevant to person’s daily life
should not be a required part of the high school curriculum.

E. Unless high schools put more emphasis on non-academic subjects like home economics,
people graduating from high school will never feel comfortable about making the decisions that
will confront them in their daily lives.
5) Houses built during the last ten years have been found to contain indoor air pollution at
levels that are, on average, much higher than the levels found in older houses. The reason air
pollution levels are higher in the newer houses is that many such houses are built near the
sites of old waste dumps or where automobile emissions are heavy.

Which of the following, if true, calls into question the explanation above?

A. Many new houses are built with air-filtration systems that remove from the house pollutants
that are generated indoors.

B. The easing of standards for smokestack emissions has led to an increase in air-pollution levels
in homes.

C. New houses built in secluded rural areas are relatively free of air pollutants.

D. Warm-weather conditions tend to slow down the movement of air, thus keeping pollution
trapped near its source.

E. Pressboard, an inexpensive new plywood substitute, now often used in the construction of
houses, emits the pollutant formaldehyde into the house.

6) Since 1975 there has been in the United States a dramatic decline in the incidence of
traditional childhood disease such as measles. This decline has been accompanied by an
increased incidence of Peterson’s disease, a hitherto rare viral infection among children. Few
adults, however, have been affected by the disease.

Which of the following, if true, would best help to explain the increased incidence of Peterson’s
disease among children?

A. Hereditary factors determine in part the degree to which a person is susceptible to the virus
that cause Peterson’s disease.

B. The decrease in tradition childhood disease and the accompanying increase in Peterson’s
disease have not been found in any other country.

C. Children who contract measles develop immunity to the virus that causes Peterson’s disease.

D. Persons who did not contract measles in childhood might contract measles in adulthood, in
which case the consequence of the disease would generally be more severe.

E. Those who have contracted Peterson’s disease are at increased risk of contracting chicken
pox.
7) From June through August 1987, Premiere Airlines had the best on-time service of 10
United States airlines. From January through March 1988, Premiere Airlines had the worst on-
time service of the 10 Airlines. The on-time performance ranking of the other nine airlines
relative to each other remained unchanged.

Which of the following, if true, would most contribute to an explanation of the facts above?

A. Although Premiere Airlines only revoked its policy of routinely holding flights for late
passengers in the fall of 1987, the other nine airlines never had the policy.

B. Premiere Airlines reduced its business by 10 percent when it raised its rates in the fall of 1987
to compensate for rising gasoline costs.

C. Premiere Airlines bought five new planes in the fall of 1987 that proved to have fewer
mechanical problems that the one they replaced.

D. Premiere Airlines serves New England, which has heavy winter snowfalls, whereas the other
airlines do most of their business in warmer regions of the country.

E. Although all 10 airlines strive to keep their flights of schedule, overcrowded airports increases
flight delays for all 10 airlines in January 1988 as compared with June 1987.

8) In the last decade there has been a significant decrease in coffee consumption. During this
same time, there has been increasing publicity about the caffeine in coffee’s adverse long-
time effects on health. Therefore, the decrease in coffee consumption must have been caused
by consumer’s awareness of the harmful effects of caffeine.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the explanation above?

A. On average, people consume 30 percent less coffee today than they did 10 years ago.

B. Heavy coffee drinkers may have mild withdrawal symptoms, such as headaches, for a day or
so after significantly decreasing their coffee consumption.

C. Sales of specialty types of coffee have held steady as sales of regular brands have declined.

D. The consumption of fruit juices and caffeine-free herbal teas has increased over the past
decade.

E. Coffee prices increased steadily in the past decade because of unusually severe frost in
coffee-growing nations.
9) An absence or decline in competition characterizes monopoly. The ABC company realizes
that its operations are in competitive industries.

Which of the following conclusions may be inferred from the above?

A. ABC’s market is not monopolistic.

B. Monopoly is defined as one seller in a market.

C. The ABC company has no domestic competitors.

D. The ABC company is publicly owned.

E. Monopoly exist only in competitive industry.

10) Farmers in the North have observed that heavy frost is usually preceded by a full moon.
They are convinced that the full moon somehow generates the frost.

Which of the following, if true, would weaken the farmers’ conviction?

A. The temperature must fall below 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) for frost to
occur.

B. Absence of a cloud cover cools the ground which causes frost.

C. Farmers are superstitious.

D. No one has proven that the moon causes frost.

E. Farmers are scared of the full moon.

11) Advertisement: For sinus pain, three out of four hospitals give their patients Novex. So
when you want the most effective painkiller for sinus pain, Novex is the one to choose.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the advertisement’s argument?

A. Some competing brands of painkillers are intended to reduce other kinds of pain in addition
to sinus pain.
B. Many hospitals that do not usually use Novex will do so for those patients who cannot
tolerate the drug the hospitals usually use.

C. Many drug manufacturers increase sales of their products to hospitals by selling these
products to the hospitals at the lowest price the manufacturers can afford.

D. Unlike some competing brands of painkillers, Novex is available from pharmacies without a
doctor’s prescription.

E. In clinical trials Novex has been found to be more effective than competing brands of
painkillers that have been on the market longer than Novex