2

The Nile Delta of Egypt was invaded and ruled from 1650 to 1550 B.C. by a people called Hyksos. Their origin is uncertain, but archaeologists hypothesize that they were Canaanites. In support of this hypothesis, the archaeologists point out that excavations of Avaris, the Hyksos capital in Egypt, have uncovered large numbers of artifacts virtually identical to artifacts produced in Ashkelon, a major city of Canaan at the time of the Hyksos invasion.

In order to evaluate the force of the archaeologists' evidence, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?

(A) Whether there were some afritifacts found at Avaris that were unlike those produced in Ashkelon but that date to before 1700 B.C.
(B) Whether the Hyksos ruled any other part of Egypt besides the Nile Delta in the period from 1650 to 1550 B.C.
(C) Whether Avaris was the nearest Hyksos city in Egypt to Canaan
(D) Wheter Ashkelon after 1550 B.C. continued to produce artifacts similar to those found at Avaris
(E) Wheter many of the artifacts found at Avaris that are similar to artifacts produced in Ashkelon date to well before the Hyksos invasion.

3

Technically a given category of insurance policy is under priced if, over time, claims against it plus expenses associated with it exceed total income from premiums. But premium income can be invested and will then yield returns of its own. Therefore, an under priced policy does not represent a net loss in every case. 

The argument above is based on which of the following assumptions? 

(A) No insurance policies are deliberately under priced in order to attract customers to the insurance company offering such policies. 
(B) A policy that represents a net loss to the insurance company is not an under priced policy in every case. 
(C) There are policies for which the level of claims per year can be predicted with great accuracy before premiums are set. 
(D) The income earned by investing premium income is the most important determinant of an insurance company's profits. 
(E) The claims against at least some under priced policies do not require paying out all of the premium income from those policies as soon as it is earned.

4

An unusually severe winter occurred in Europe after the continent was blanketed by a blue haze resulting from
the eruption of the Laki Volcano in the Europeans republic of Iceland in the summer of 1984. Thus, it is evident
that major eruptions cause the atmosphere to become cooler than it would be otherwise.
Which of the following statements, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?
(A) The cooling effect triggered by volcanic eruptions in 1985 was counteracted by an unusual warming of
Pacific waters.
(B) There is a strong statistical link between volcanic eruptions and the severity of the rainy season in India.
(C) A few months after EI Chichon's large eruption in April 1982, air temperatures throughout the region
remained higher than expected, given the long-term weather trends.
(D) The climatic effects of major volcanic eruptions can temporality mask the general warming trend resulting
from an excess of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
(E) Three months after an early springtime eruption in South America during the late 19th century, sea surface
temperatures near the coast began to fall.