GRE Verbal Reasoning Test 1
Practice test for GRE verbal reasoning covering text completion, critical reasoning, and reading comprehension
Questions
Directions: For the given question, select one entry for the blank from the given choices, to best complete the text.
For most of them, in the end, what the university offers is not skills or knowledge but ________: a diploma that signals employability and basic work discipline.
- education
- exposure
- credentials
- opportunity
- escapism
Directions: For the given question, select one entry for the blank from the given choices, to best complete the text.
At the political and existential level, Camus felt ________ the absurd predicament of the young Jewish state. It was a political bond insofar as many on the French left, from whom Camus was estranged, had grown deeply anti-Zionist in the wake of the Suez War.
- a visceral connection
- a strange fascination for
- a lack of feeling for
- like laughing at
- a sense of vindication given
Which of the following, if true, best explains the discrepancy in the argument?
Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:
In 2010, when private airlines in Alstonia were first allowed to operate in the country, the average domestic fares were three times the average train fares to the cities connected both by air and rail network. In the immediately following years, due to the increasing number of flights, the air fares slipped till they were just twice the train fares. Since then, the domestic airfares have reached a level that is again three times the train fare for corresponding cities even though the number of domestic flights has not changed.
- More foreign tourists are choosing to come to Alstonia to enjoy their vacations.
- The boom in the economy has lead to more Alstonians taking vacations
- An increase in population has increased the number of passengers.
- Trains have not been able to keep up with the flow of passengers in the last few years.
- An industrial boom has lead to many top managers traveling by air often.
Fact 2 would be most likely to contribute to an explanation of fact 1 if which of the following were also true?
Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:
Fact 1: Government has been unable to control food inflation which has touched 13% and is expected to go up further.
Fact 2: Speculators have been borrowing money at low rates of interest and investing in the agricultural commodities market for quick profits.
- The inflation index is composed of nearly all the major exports of the nation.
- High prices of consumer goods have pushed down the demand for commodities.
- A severe drought in the nation last year had adversely impacted the yield of agricultural commodities.
- Sensing a fall in the crop yield, commodity traders have been buying futures contracts of agricultural commodities at a premium.
- Prices of agricultural commodities have peaked due to holiday demand.
All of the following, if given as additional premise, make the argument logical, EXCEPT:
Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:
Premise 1: Bruce Willis is more popular than Russell Crowe
Premise 2: Mel Gibson is more popular than Richard Gere
Conclusion: Bruce Willis is more popular than Richard Gere
- Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson are equally popular.
- Mel Gibson and Russell Crowe are equally popular.
- Bruce Willis is less popular than Mel Gibson.
- Russell Crowe is more popular than Mel Gibson.
- Richard Gere is less popular than Russell Crowe.
Which of the following reasoning scenarios is most similar to the reasoning given above?
Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:
I do not trust the Senator at all. He plans to bring a law into force that will impose heavy penalties on all the polluting industries in the State, yet, he owns a conglomerate that alone is one of the biggest polluters in the State.
- Doctor Higgins should not be made the President of the citizens' council. He will bring forth legislations that will benefit doctors.
- The prisoner should not be granted parole. The last time he was granted parole, he committed a robbery the next day.
- Cassius Clay is not a suitable candidate for promoting enlistment in the army. He refused to enroll in the army during the Vietnam War.
- The witness's damning testimony should be expunged from the record. Her son was one of the perpetrators of the crime.
The author uses the sentence, 'You might like to chew gum, but a cow will still prefer to chew the cud' in order to?
Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:
For a creative writer, the most important part of the entire process from conception to fructification starts even before conception itself. Just as the human embryo needs a certain set of favorable circumstances before it can even begin to exist, the writer’s muse requires inspiration. Once inspiration strikes, and it can sometimes happen in the middle of sleep, the next step involves holding on to the idea lest it be lost in the rough house of everyday life. This process involves allowing the idea to ferment and hopefully turn into a culture that will deliver heady literary wine. The writer needs to let his subconscious work on the germ, knead it, tweak it, and evaluate it. Many ideas are stillborn, many more are worthy, and still the author fails to take them to the logical conclusion. Only a few survive the tumult and make it to the next stage which involves the channelizing of the idea towards the building up of an atom around the nucleus. While the author needs to nurture the idea, woe betides the one who gets too attached to it, especially if his livelihood depends on it. You might like to chew gum, but a cow will still prefer to chew the cud.
- Stress the importance of varying tastes and preferences.
- Emphasize that the other side of the coin is more important than the viewed side.
- Failure is more likely than success in a literary venture.
- Elucidate that animals and humans have different needs.
Each of the following, if true, would weaken the argument, EXCEPT:
Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:
China and India have a similarly large pool of human resources. However, China is surging ahead of India in terms of achievements in the sporting arena. For every medal that India won in the last Olympic Games, China won seven. India, like always, failed to win any Gold medals while China won 40. The difference can clearly be attributed to the proliferation of State run sporting academies in China. These academies identify young children with sporting talent, and take these children under their wing. For the next decade or so, these children live, breathe, eat, and sleep their respective sport. It is no wonder that they turn into prodigies. India needs to pout in place a similar system if it is to achieve some level of international recognition as a sporting power.
- The Chinese, thanks to the gene pool originating from Huns and Mongols, are naturally stronger and faster.
- The authoritarian government in China can issue draconian diktats but the democratically elected government in India cannot.
- Indians traditionally pursue academic studies with a single-minded devotion.
- Corruption in sports in India is far more rampant than it is in China.
- Talent scouts in China are retired world champions in their respective sport who know talent when they see it.
As used in the passage, ‘culture’ in sentence 5 most nearly means:
Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:
For a creative writer, the most important part of the entire process from conception to fructification starts even before conception itself. Just as the human embryo needs a certain set of favorable circumstances before it can even begin to exist, the writer’s muse requires inspiration. Once inspiration strikes, and it can sometimes happen in the middle of sleep, the next step involves holding on to the idea lest it be lost in the rough house of everyday life. This process involves allowing the idea to ferment and hopefully turn into a culture that will deliver heady literary wine. The writer needs to let his subconscious work on the germ, knead it, tweak it, and evaluate it. Many ideas are stillborn, many more are worthy, and still the author fails to take them to the logical conclusion. Only a few survive the tumult and make it to the next stage which involves the channelizing of the idea towards the building up of an atom around the nucleus. While the author needs to nurture the idea, woe betides the one who gets too attached to it, especially if his livelihood depends on it. You might like to chew gum, but a cow will still prefer to chew the cud.
- taste
- sophistication
- education
- cultivation
- ethos
Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the argument?
Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:
A recent report in an animal health magazine stated that the big breeds of domestic dogs suffer from an unusually high incidence of hip dysplasia, a disease in which the animal loses cartilage around the bones fitting into the hip joint, and which can result in arthritis and painful osteoporosis. The study also pointed out that wild wolves rarely, if ever, suffer from hip dysplasia. Hence, it is in the interest of dog lovers to replicate, as far as possible, the living conditions that the dogs would face in the wild.
- Smaller breeds of dogs, having almost non-existent instances of falling prey to hip dysplasia, are more genetically similar to wolves than are the bigger breeds of dogs.
- Dogs trained to protect livestock on big ranches reportedly have very low incidence of hip dysplasia.
- The incidence of hip dysplasia in wolves living in enclosures in zoos is quite high.
- Hunting dogs have relatively lower incidence of hip dysplasia.
- Wolves eat raw, unprocessed meat while domestic dogs eat processed dog food.
What is a necessary assumption in the argument above?
Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:
A recent report in an animal health magazine stated that the big breeds of domestic dogs suffer from an unusually high incidence of hip dysplasia, a disease in which the animal loses cartilage around the bones fitting into the hip joint, and which can result in arthritis and painful osteoporosis. The study also pointed out that wild wolves rarely, if ever, suffer from hip dysplasia. Hence, it is in the interest of dog lovers to replicate, as far as possible, the living conditions that the dogs would face in the wild.
- The uneven ground encountered in the wild, as against the smooth floors of human homes, help in regeneration of cartilage.
- The lifestyle of the wolves in the wild is the overriding factor behind their healthier bones and joints.
- Living in conditions replicating those found in the wild helps dogs to be as strong as wolves.
- Hunting for food helps the wolves stay limber and gives them stronger bones and joints.
- The small breeds of dogs do not get hip dysplasia because they get adequate exercise even in small urban homes.