120. (C). The most important idea in the passage is that a small group of dolphins has been found to form social
networks, which is a first among non-human animals. One indication of this is that both the first and last sentences in
the passage highlight this fact. Answer choice (A) is stated in the passage, but is not the main idea; it explains the
behavior of the animals that form social networks. (B) is never stated in the passage, although this study did span a
relatively long time. (D) is a much bigger claim than the passage ever suggests; you are never given a motivation for
this study. Finally, choice (E) goes against the main idea of the passage as the passage discusses how dolphins can
form social networks.
121. I only. The passage states that other animals aside from the sponger dolphins often form groups based on
circumstances such as genetics or food sources. As the dolphins are the first to be categorized as "social networks," it
must be true that groups formed under the previous circumstances would not qualify as social networks. For the
second statement, the passage does not state that all spongers of Shark Bay form social networks, only the females. As
for the third statement, the passage does not comment on the location of spongers; it only mentions the spongers of
Shark Bay. Thus, you cannot infer that this is true.
122. (E). You are told that this belief is an "old canard." A canard is a "rumor," or "a false or baseless story." An "old
canard" is one that has been passed around for awhile — very much analogous to an "urban legend." You are then told
that the blind people in the study have "cerebral superpowers" and that the discovery that blind people can hear better
than sighted people is "a stunning example of the brain's plasticity." Thus, (E) is correct.
123. II only. You are told that Aristotle posited a holistic, non-corporeal mind and that he would have found
"shocking" the idea that "the mind is physically located in the brain." Thus, the first statement is not correct, since
Aristotle believed in a "non-corporeal" (not part of the body) mind. Since Aristotle believed in a "holistic" mind, he
did NOT think that the mind exists in parts or modules. Thus, the second statement is correct. As for the third
statement, you have no way to know what Aristotle might have thought about blind people's hearing.
124. III only. The last sentence tells you that the deportation of German-speaking citizens by the Allied powers is
excised from history books because history is written by the victors — this makes the first statement look attractive,
but the statement says during World War II. The passage is clear that the deportations took place almost two years
after the conclusion of the war. The third answer choice can be inferred from the claim that the United States hoped
to keep Eastern and Central European nations away from Soviet influence, meaning that the United States and the
Soviet Union were not fully aligned in their views. After you are told that the Allied powers, too, had something to
gain, the powers listed are the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States. Poland, however, is listed among
countries before the "too," which means you cannot infer that it was an Allied power. (Make sure not to bring outside
information into these types of questions. This is not a question about what you know about World War II — it's a
question about whether certain things are actually written down in the passage.)
125. I, II, and III. The second half of the first paragraph lists the reasons why the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United
States, respectively, had something to gain from the deportations. Each of the answer choices above undermines one
of these reasons. Note the "if true" in the question stem. You are being asked to momentarily take each answer choice
as a fact, and then determine whether that fact would weaken an argument from the passage. "If true" questions can
sometimes ask you imagine that wacky or unlikely things are true — don't let that distract you from the task at hand.
126. (C). The passage describes the theory of quantum mechanics, how it models particles as probabilistic waves, and
how it has been confirmed over the past 70 years. Answer choice (C) correctly incorporates all of these ideas into the
main idea of the passage. Answer choice (A) is incorrect, as it does not address the theory of quantum mechanics,
which is the overarching idea of the passage. (B) and (D) are both large claims that are out of the scope of the passage.
Finally, although it is obvious from the passage that tests can and have been designed to test quantum mechanics, (E)
does not express the main idea of the passage.
127. (A). The passage states that Einstein was deeply troubled by the theory of quantum mechanics, and thus his quote
must not be in support of the theory. Further, his reference to dice is to say that he did not believe the universe should
be controlled by probability, but should be set. Therefore, (A) best expresses his motivation; he argues with the theory
of quantum mechanics stating that particles should not be probabilistic in nature. (B) has no bearing on quantum
mechanics, and thus cannot express Einstein's motivation. (C) is out of scope because of the mention of causality. (D)
both mentions Einstein's religious beliefs, which are out of scope, and confuses Einstein's being troubled by quantum
mechanics with his lack of understanding. (E) makes a supposition you could not possibly know from the passage
about Einstein's religious beliefs.
128. I and III only. The first statement is a proper inference because passage states that A particle trapped in a
closed box has some finite probability of being at any location within the box, meaning the exact location of the
particle cannot be known. You know from the next sentence that opening the box will locate the particle, and thus you
can deduce that the location cannot be known for certain without observing the particle. The second statement is
incorrect, as the passage actually states the opposite: that measurements of position can be taken. The third choice is a
correct inference because the passage states that quantum mechanics describes particles as waves and that quantum
mechanics has been verified as true.
129. I and III only. According to the second paragraph, not knowing that they are seeing a theater piece allows
viewers to avoid the etiquette of theatergoing and engage with the action and concepts of an unfolding drama as
if these actions and concepts were real. This is a good match with the first statement. The third paragraph refers to
"scripted characters" in invisible theater, so you cannot infer that invisible theater is best described as improvised.
(It may be possible in real life for scripted characters to engage in improvised acting, but you cannot infer this from
the passage.) Another reference to dialogue … set up by invisible theater performers weighs against invisible
theater being improvisational. The third paragraph begins, Boal has documented various successful instances of
invisible theater in which non-performers … take unplanned public-minded action in response to the dialogue
and events set up by invisible theater performers. The last sentence of the passage also states that …the goal of
guerilla theater is to get people talking publicly. Thus, you can infer that actions taken by the audience once the
performance is over can be one measure of success of a theater piece, and thus the third statement is true.
130. (A). In the first sentence, the author calls invisible theater and guerrilla theater two forms of street theater with
similar origins but very different approaches. This is a good match with (A). (B) is incorrect because the passage
doesn't say which form is more effective. (C) is too broad and the evolution is not the focus. (D) fails because the
passage states clearly — and describes in great detail — the fact that "invisible theater conceals its performative
nature whereas guerrilla theater flaunts it." (E) is much too broad, as the passage does not cover all artistic life in
public places.
131. I and II only. The first statement is true, as the third paragraph goes into great detail about invisible theater's
goal of encouraging public-minded talk, and the passage ends with "the goal of guerrilla theater is to get people talking
publicly." The second statement is justified because you are told in the first paragraph that Both forms take place
exclusively in public places. The third choice is only explicitly stated in regard to guerilla theater; invisible theater is
only said to involve the audience.
132. (C). The professors gave diplomas to the people who were the least able to answer questions as a way to mock
the university's decision. (A) does not have to be true because the passage merely discusses the form of the
professors' protest. (B) cannot be justified since it doesn't have to be true that the professors believed that result
would follow. Similarly, (D) is wrong because it is not certain that the professors considered the legality of their
actions. (E) is not justifiable — no information is given about any particular polices the professors decried.
133. I and III only. The first statement, if true, would contradict the assumption of invisible theater that removing the
boundary between performer and audience encourages involvement. The second statement describes a very likely
result, and a goal, of invisible theater, and thus would not "undermine" the principle of invisible theater. The third
statement describes a situation where the goal of invisible theater — a lively debate about public issues — was already
happening, and invisible theater ruined it! This would definitely undermine the principle of invisible theater.
134. I, II, and III. You are told in this passage that widespread genomic changes would wreak physiological havoc,
such as cancer (statement I). You are also told in the second paragraph that many organisms have also adapted
beneficial mechanisms to induce genetic change. In short, some genetic changes are bad, but others are beneficial.
The third paragraph explains how genetic change is important to immune functioning (statement II), and the last line of
the passage tells you "this process is regulated by T cells to prevent harmful mutations," so the third statement is also
justified.
135. (C). The word seemingly indicates that the changes are not really haphazard. "Seemingly haphazard" refers to
"programmed genetic mutation." The "this" in this seemingly haphazard process of programmed genetic mutation
harks back to "genetic recombination," so you can be sure that (C) is a match. Some of the other answers may be true
— (D) certainly is — but do not answer the question.
136. I, II, and III. Pro-death signaling is given in a list of cellular mechanisms that stymie genetic changes. Stymie
means "hinder." Statement I is true. These cellular mechanisms are called ubiquitous, which means "existing
everywhere," so certainly they are "very common." Statement II is also true. In the final sentence of the paragraph, you
are told, malfunctions in molecular players that safeguard against mutagenesis, such as the protein p53, have
been implicated in diseases such as cancer. Since the malfunction of p53 may cause cancer, you can infer that p53,
when properly functioning, may work against cancer. That means Statement III is also true.
137. (A). You are told that T cells need a large repertoire of receptors in order to be able to recognize a wide variety
of pathogens. Then: Relying only on a genetically encoded repertoire would be disadvantageously limiting—
analogous to having only a few dozen language phrases with which to respond to the nearly infinite potential
combinations of words in a conversation. Instead, the repertoire is generated by a process of genetic
recombination… In this analogy, the language phrases are the repertoire of receptors; just as a speaker must respond
to a nearly infinite body of language combinations, T cells must also have a large repertoire so they can respond to a
wide variety of pathogens. You are told that the way this repertoire is increased is through genetic recombination.
Note that (B) is out of scope, (C) is the exact opposite of what is being described, (D) is a distortion based on another
analogy in the passage (also, an analogy on the GRE would not be "meant to elucidate" another analogy!), and (E)
refers to the first paragraph, not the analogy in question.
138. I only. In the analogy referenced, the "language phrases" are receptors that can respond to various pathogens. The
nearly infinite potential combinations of words is what a speaker must respond to — the reason a speaker needs a
wide repertoire of language. Similarly, the wide variety of pathogens is the reason T cells need such a wide variety of
receptors.
139. II and III only. You are told that Haberman focuses the brunt of his criticism on teachers who have been
insufficiently trained for the realities of the modern school environment and whose prejudices, lack of deep
content knowledge, and excessive focus on order and discipline profoundly limit their effectiveness. The word
compromise in the question stem means something like "hurt" or "limit." Note that Haberman thinks that too much
order and discipline is hurting teachers' effectiveness, so the first choice is the opposite of what you want. The other
two choices match up with lack of deep content knowledge and prejudices, respectively.
140. (D). The quotes are present to make the point that the students who are referenced — non-white, immigrant, or
non-English-speaking children — are NOT exceptions. Rather, they are the class the teacher is poorly prepared to
teach. Haberman's point is that the teacher is the problem, not the students. (E) seems to reflect a truth that Haberman
is railing against, but has nothing to do with the question ("exceptions" refers to students, not teachers).
141. I and II only. You are told that Decadent authors embraced artifice over nature, and that Huysmans's protagonist
in an example of Decadent writing surrounds himself with perfume, among other items. You can thus infer that at least
one follower of the Decadent movement considered perfume to be an example of artifice, and that he held it to have
surpassed, or be superior to, natural entities. But you do not know that Huysmans enjoyed surrounding himself with
the perfume—only that his character did so.
142. I, II, and III. All three of the features are listed as characteristic of the Naturalist movement. Vehicle for the
scientific method matches extending the scientific method, while focused on the effects of environment on shaping
character and elaborated on the way inherited traits influenced human behavior both match the passage's claim
that Naturalism stressed the influence of environment and heredity upon the individual psyche. If Decadent authors
embraced any of these literary practices, this would bring their work closer in line with Naturalism.
143. (C). In the first paragraph, you are told that one limitation of the classical method is the reliance on average
measurements: it is impossible to distinguish a uniform population of cells expressing intermediate quantities of
a molecule from a population composed of separate low and high expressers. This is a good match for choice (C).
Note that (A) is precisely what you want to measure (not a limitation), and (E) is a distortion — it is not preferable to
capture only average levels. This goes against the main point of both paragraph
s.
144. I and III only. According to the passage, flow cytometry and RNA FISH are examples of single-cell
measurement technology, so the first statement is true. Much of the wording in the second statement — it is
impossible to distinguish a uniform population of cells expressing intermediate quantities of a molecule — is
lifted from a sentence in the first paragraph, talking about classical methods — not the newer, single-celled
measurement technologies. Finally, you are told that flow cytometry and RNA FISH have made it possible to capture
… the distribution of the molecule's expression within the population, which is a good match for the wording in the
third statement.
145. (C). You are asked for the choice NOT in the passage. You are told that Portugal once mined Angola for slaves
and raw material, so (A) and (B) are out. The beginning of the passage concerns Portugal taking over Angola over a
period beginning in the 16th century and culminating in the 1920's, so kill (D). The passage refers to Angolan
independence in 1975 — since that date is during the 20th century (1900's = 20th century, 2000's = 21st century,
etc.), kill (E). You are told that a civil war in Angola lasted until 2002, not a war against the Portuguese, so (C) is the
answer.
146. (B). The grand stroke of irony the author refers to is Angola helping Portugal. Why is this ironic? You are told
that the country that once mined Angola for slaves and raw material is now virtually helpless… (B) is the best
match. (A) and (E) are not at all ironic. While (C) and (D) at least present some kind of contrast, they are not the
stroke of irony to which the author refers.
147. (E). You are told that Gage's physical injury affected his personality, that the part of his brain that was damaged
is now known to be related to morality, and that Gage literally lost one (or more) of the modules in his modular
brain system. (E) is a good match. (A) is the opposite of what is being argued. (B) is not indicated by the passage (and
really goes against common sense). (C) may be true but is not the reason the author presented the example. (D) relates
to the previous paragraph, not to Phineas Gage.
148. I only. The author is saying that, if the brain has a director, then that director would need its own director — and,
presumably, that director would need a director, etc. The expression "begging the question" isn't really about a
question; the other two choices are traps
.
149. II only. A "unitary entity" would NOT be split into parts, or modules. While Aristotle and Descartes believed that
the mind survived death, and lived long enough ago that they couldn't have been aware that certain aspects of
personality are known to be controlled by certain areas of the brain, the question is not only about Aristotle and
Descartes — it is about all advocates of a unitary view of the mind (you are told that, historically, that includes
"virtually every thinker"). You simply do not have enough information about these thinkers to know whether they think
the mind survives death, or whether some of them (more modern thinkers, presumably) are aware of current research
into the brain.
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