Electric utilities pay less for low-quality coal per ton delivered than for high-quality coal. Yet more low-quality coal than high—quality coal must be burned to generate the same amount of electricity. Moreover, per ton of coal burned, low-quality coal generates more ash than does high-quality coal, and the disposal of ash is becoming more and more expensive.

The considerations above, if true, most strongly support which of the following claims?

Frobisher, a sixteenth-century English explorer, had soil samples from Canada's Kodlunarn Island examined for gold content. Because high gold content was reported, Elizabeth I funded two mining expeditions. Neither expedition found any gold there. Modern analysis of the island's soil indicates a very low gold content.Thus the methods used to determine the gold content of Frobisher's samples must have been inaccurate.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

Southington University's fund-raisers succeeded in getting donations from 80 percent of the potential donors they contacted this year. This rate would be the expected rate if the only potential donors contacted were those who have donated in the past. But good fund-raisers constantly contact less likely prospects in an effort to expand the donor base. Thus the high success rate, far from showing that the fund-raisers did a good job, shows insufficient canvassing effort.

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

Editorial in Krenlandian Newspaper:

Krenland's steelmakers are losing domestic sales because of lower-priced imports, in many cases because foreign governments subsidize their steel industries in ways that are banned by international treaties. But whatever the cause, the cost is ultimately going to be jobs in Krenland's steel industry. Therefore, it would protect not only steelmaking companies but also industrial employment in Krenland if our government took measures to reduce cheap steel imports.

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

Which of the following most logically completes the argument?

A recent poll found that over 80 percent of the residents of Nalmed Province favored a massive expansion of the commuter rail system as a means of significantly reducing congestion on the province's highways and were willing to help pay for the expansion through an increase in their taxes. Nevertheless, the poll results contain an indication that expansion of the rail system, if successfully completed, might be unlikely to achieve its goal of reducing congestion, because _______.

A product that represents a clear technological advance over competing products can generally command a high price. Surprisingly, perhaps, the strategy to maximize overall profit from a new product is to charge less than the greatest price the market will bear. Many companies charge the maximum possible price for such a product,because they want to make as much profit as they can and technological advances tend to be quickly surpassed. The drawback is that large profits on the new product give competitors a strong incentive to quickly match the new product's capabilities.

In the argument above, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

The percentage of households with an annual income of more than $40,000 is higher in Merton County than in any other county. However, the percentage of households with an annual income of $60,000 or more is higher in Sommer County.

If the statements above are true, which of the following must also be true?

Agricultural societies cannot exist without staple crops. Several food plants, such as kola and okra, are known to have been domesticated in western Africa, but they are all supplemental, not staple, foods. All the recorded staple crops grown in western Africa were introduced from elsewhere, beginning, at some unknown date, with rice and yams. Therefore, discovering when rice and yams were introduced into western Africa would establish the earliest date at which agricultural societies could have arisen there.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

Printwell's Ink Jet Division manufactures ink-jet printers and the ink cartridges they use. Sales of its ink-jet printers have increased. Monthly revenues from those sales, however, have not increased, because competition has forced Printwell to cut the prices of its printers. Unfortunately, Printwell has been unable to bring down the cost of manufacturing a printer. Thus, despite the increase in printer sales, the Ink Jet Division must be contributing less to the company's profits than it used to.

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

In 1992 outlaw fishing boats began illegally harvesting lobsters from the territorial waters of the country of Belukia. Soon after, the annual tonnage of lobster legally harvested in Belukian waters began declining; in 1996, despite there being no reduction in the level of legal lobster fishing activity, the local catch was 9,000 tons below pre-1992 levels. It is therefore highly likely that the outlaw fishing boats harvested about 9,000 tons of lobster illegally that year.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?