GMAT VA PREP - One to One Mentorship online - Whatsapp 09674548313
1. The Starbeans cafe has recently hired a new manager. The manager, within a few days of
joining, made some drastic changes as a result of which the number of people visiting
Starbeans every day fell by almost 40%. However, the revenue during this same period
almost doubled.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain how the revenues of Starbeans
increased despite the falling footfalls?
(A) The manager appointed a new coffee bean supplier who charges much lower rates
than did the earlier supplier, resulting in substantial cost savings.
(B) The manager changed the interior of the cafe, making the seats much more comfortable
than the earlier seats and adding more color to the walls.
(C) The manager’s monthly salary is directly linked to the revenue; the more the revenue
the more salary he gets.
(D) The manager increased the average price of every item on the menu, in some cases
even doubling the original price.
(E) The manager fired some of the staff, thereby cutting down Starbean’s salary cost by
half.
2. With less than 20 per cent market share, Cherico Airline has been steadily losing ground to
other competing airlines. However, the recent addition of the Dreamliner aircraft to its fleet
might just turn the tide for Cherico. The Dreamliner claims 15 per cent more fuel efficiency
than competing similar aircrafts and cheaper maintenance costs. With the induction of these
planes, Cherico will get a competitive advantage over its more aggressive rivals, which will be
saddled with older aircrafts and get deliveries of their own Dreamliners only after one year.
Which of the following would be most useful to determine in order to evaluate the argument?
(A) Whether it is possible for Cherico to cut costs even more by reducing the number of
stewards in the air plane
(B) Whether it is possible for Cherico to improve the Dreamliner’s fuel efficiency even
further by restricting the amount of luggage passengers can carry
(C) Whether Cherico can increase its revenues by charging for the meals it serves in its
aircrafts
(D) Whether the Dreamliner’s maintenance costs will be substantially lower than those
of Cherico’s rivals’ aircrafts
(E) Whether it will be possible for Cherico’s rivals to somehow get deliveries of their own
Dreamliners expedited
3. Which of the following best completes the passage below?
When mobile phone companies, used to reporting several million new customers
in a month, do the opposite and report a sharp fall in that number, you know that the
country’s most dynamic industry has entered a new, more troubled phase. However,
this statistic may not necessarily be as much of a cause for concern as it looks because
________________________.
(A) mobile phone companies have huge cash reserves so they will not face the problem of
cash flow for a few months at least
(B) inflated claims about new customer acquisition have been very much a part of the
industry story so far
(C) the sales of mobile phone handsets hasn’t fallen down appreciably
(D) other competitors have not entered the market in huge numbers
(E) mobile phone companies are making huge investments in widening their network
coverage
4. The prime principle of economics is that prices are determined by supply and demand, not
by costs. Some products may cost 90 cents and sell for a dollar, while others go for a dollar
yet cost only a cent to make. The second producer is neither a profiteer nor an exploiter, and
the first producer is neither a benefactor nor a patron. Both producers merely respond to
market signals based on supply and demand.
If the statements above are true, which of the following must be true?
(A) How much it costs to manufacture a product is not the primary determinant of its
selling price.
(B) A product with a low manufacturing cost is more likely to succeed than a product
with a high manufacturing cost.
(C) A manufacturer who sells a product with a low manufacturing cost at a high price to
the customer is deceiving the customer.
(D) If a product costs a lot to manufacture then its manufacturer must ensure that he does
not sell the product at a high price.
(E) A manufacturer who uses manufacturing costs of a product as a basis to determine
the selling price of the product is bound to fail.
5. The country has recently been shaken by the increase in incidents of corruption amongst
the political class and the bureaucracy. The solution clearly is to appoint an independent
investigating body headed by a person of repute who can investigate such cases of corruption
and punish those found guilty.
The conclusion above would be more reasonably drawn if which of the following were
inserted into the argument as an additional premise?
(A) The appointment of the independent body is the only way to combat corruption.
(B) The independent agency will itself not fall prey to corruption.
(C) Corruption is not present outside the political class and the bureaucracy.
(D) The punishment meted out by the investigating agency will not act as a deterrent for
people/agencies susceptible to corruption.
(E) If not controlled immediately, the problem of corruption can spiral out of control.
6. Switzerland’s national rail company has accused Apple of stealing the iconic look of its
station clocks for Apple’s new operating system. According to the rail company, both
designs have a round clock face with black indicators except for the second hand, which is
red.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?
(A) Apple has never been accused of copying by any other person or organization in the
past.
(B) Apple is known the world over for its unique product designs.
(C) The designer who created the watch design for Apple’s operating system has never
visited Switzerland or, for that matter, any other European country.
(D) All round face clocks across the globe are created out of the same design philosophy.
(E) The Switzerland National Rail Company has itself been accused in the past of
copying the platform design of a neighbouring country’s rail platform.
7. The Langova National park is a breeding ground for several migratory birds. Of late, the
Spot-breasted Laughing Thrush, an extremely rare species of bird, has been sighted only in
the Langova National park. The people who have sighted this bird in the park have claimed
that it is possible to sight this bird only through the use of binoculars. Barry is visiting the
Langova National Park next week and he will be carrying an extremely powerful pair of
binoculars with him. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that, as long as Barry has his binoculars
on him, he will most definitely manage to sight the Spot-breasted Laughing Thrush.
Which of the following indicates a flaw in the reasoning above?
(A) It fails to take into account the possibility of sighting the Spot-breasted Laughing
Thrush at places other than the Langova National Park.
(B) It mistakes a necessary condition for a sufficient condition.
(C) It is based on a series of assumptions, rather than on facts.
(D) It does not take into account the possibility that Barry could lose or damage his
binoculars on the way to the park.
(E) It does not take into account the possibility that Barry may sight some other equally
rare species of bird.
8. I do not agree that wage disparity still exists between men and women. Almost all salaried
individuals today are paid based on their qualification and experience and not their sex. It is
only the lower labour class where the disparity still exists, but this is justified because there
are certain tasks requiring physical strength, such as carrying heavy construction material,
that can only be performed by men.
If the above statements are true, which of the following is an example of a wage disparity
on the basis of gender?
(A) A company pays its management trainees, most of whom are females and have just
passed out from business schools, a lower salary than it pays to its senior partners,
most of whom are males.
(B) A male labourer who does not do any physically taxing work is paid a lower wage
than a male labourer who does physically taxing work.
(C) A female employee at a managerial level in a company gets a lower salary than a
female employee who has joined the company as a trainee but whose uncle is a
partner in the company.
(D) A male labourer who does not do any physical work is paid a higher wage than a
female labourer who does not do any physical work.
(E) A male manager working for Company X gets paid a higher salary than does a female
manager with similar experience working for Company Z.
9. The government has recently been severely criticized for its decision to block access to
a few websites on which malicious information and photographs were being posted. The
government has responded to this criticism by stating that while it believes in freedom of
speech and expression, this was an emergency and in such situations, you have to cut off
the source of the problem.
In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?
(A) The first describes a reaction to an action and the second describes an action taken in
response to this reaction.
(B) The first is a criticism that the argument disagrees with; the second is the point of
view that the argument supports.
(C) The first is the point of view of a group of people and the second attacks this point of view.
(D) The first provides a counterpoint to the argument’s conclusion; the second is that
conclusion.
(E) The first provides the criticism of an action and the second provides justification for
the necessity of taking that action.
10. There has been a sudden spurt in the cases of suicide amongst teenagers in Tango city.
On investigation, a public interest group discovered that all of these teenagers had been
listening to songs by an alternative rock group, The Demons, at the time of committing
suicide. When the public interest group listened to the songs by this rock group, they were
aghast to hear lyrics that encouraged people to kill themselves. Accordingly, the city mayor
has decided to ban the sale and download of all alternative rock band albums in Tango city
with immediate effect.
Which of the following, if true, would most strongly support the position above?
(A) Songs with lyrics that encourage people to kill themselves can actually lead to people
killing themselves.
(B) Alternative rock groups other than The Demons also contain lyrics that encourage
people to kill themselves.
(C) It is not required to impose a similar ban on movies containing large scale violence
and bloodshed.
(D) If people don’t listen to songs by The Demons, they will not kill themselves.
(E) It is the responsibility of a mayor to protect the citizens of his city.
11. Historical data for all the elections held in Gangnam City shows that all winning candidates
have canvassed for at least 100 hours. In fact, candidates who have canvassed for fewer than
100 hours have never ever won. Out of all the candidates contesting in the upcoming
elections in Gangnam City, Candidate A has canvassed for 120 hours, Candidate B has
canvassed for 150 hours, and Candidate C has canvassed for 90 hours.
If the statements above are true, which of the following conclusions is most strongly
supported by them?
(A) Candidate B will most likely win the election.
(B) Candidate C will most likely lose the election.
(C) The winner of the election will either be Candidate A or Candidate B.
(D) The results of an election cannot be solely dependent on how many hours a candidate
canvasses for.
(E) If no other Candidate has canvassed for more than 150 hours, then Candidate B will
win the election.
12. Most people erroneously believe that airplanes are dangerous modes of transport. Statistics
clearly reveal that more people are killed every year in road accidents than in air crashes. So
traveling by airplanes is in fact safer than traveling by a car or a bus.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the above explanation?
(A) Airlines across the globe spend significant amounts of money every year on adding
new safety features to their airplanes.
(B) There is no country in the world in which the number of people killed in air crashes
exceeds the number of people killed in road accidents.
(C) In a recently conducted survey by an independent agency, a majority of the respondents
stated that they felt safer while traveling by air than while traveling by road.
(D) The number of people who travel by airplanes every year is roughly equal to the
number of people who travel by road.
(E) The technology used in modern aircrafts is much more sophisticated than that used
in most forms of road transport.
SOLN
GMAT VA PREP - One to One Mentorship online - Whatsapp 09674548313
1. The Starbeans cafe has recently hired a new manager. The manager, within a few days of
joining, made some drastic changes as a result of which the number of people visiting
Starbeans every day fell by almost 40%. However, the revenue during this same period
almost doubled.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain how the revenues of Starbeans
increased despite the falling footfalls?
(A) The manager appointed a new coffee bean supplier who charges much lower rates
than did the earlier supplier, resulting in substantial cost savings.
(B) The manager changed the interior of the cafe, making the seats much more comfortable
than the earlier seats and adding more color to the walls.
(C) The manager’s monthly salary is directly linked to the revenue; the more the revenue
the more salary he gets.
(D) The manager increased the average price of every item on the menu, in some cases
even doubling the original price.
(E) The manager fired some of the staff, thereby cutting down Starbean’s salary cost by
half.
2. With less than 20 per cent market share, Cherico Airline has been steadily losing ground to
other competing airlines. However, the recent addition of the Dreamliner aircraft to its fleet
might just turn the tide for Cherico. The Dreamliner claims 15 per cent more fuel efficiency
than competing similar aircrafts and cheaper maintenance costs. With the induction of these
planes, Cherico will get a competitive advantage over its more aggressive rivals, which will be
saddled with older aircrafts and get deliveries of their own Dreamliners only after one year.
Which of the following would be most useful to determine in order to evaluate the argument?
(A) Whether it is possible for Cherico to cut costs even more by reducing the number of
stewards in the air plane
(B) Whether it is possible for Cherico to improve the Dreamliner’s fuel efficiency even
further by restricting the amount of luggage passengers can carry
(C) Whether Cherico can increase its revenues by charging for the meals it serves in its
aircrafts
(D) Whether the Dreamliner’s maintenance costs will be substantially lower than those
of Cherico’s rivals’ aircrafts
(E) Whether it will be possible for Cherico’s rivals to somehow get deliveries of their own
Dreamliners expedited
3. Which of the following best completes the passage below?
When mobile phone companies, used to reporting several million new customers
in a month, do the opposite and report a sharp fall in that number, you know that the
country’s most dynamic industry has entered a new, more troubled phase. However,
this statistic may not necessarily be as much of a cause for concern as it looks because
________________________.
(A) mobile phone companies have huge cash reserves so they will not face the problem of
cash flow for a few months at least
(B) inflated claims about new customer acquisition have been very much a part of the
industry story so far
(C) the sales of mobile phone handsets hasn’t fallen down appreciably
(D) other competitors have not entered the market in huge numbers
(E) mobile phone companies are making huge investments in widening their network
coverage
4. The prime principle of economics is that prices are determined by supply and demand, not
by costs. Some products may cost 90 cents and sell for a dollar, while others go for a dollar
yet cost only a cent to make. The second producer is neither a profiteer nor an exploiter, and
the first producer is neither a benefactor nor a patron. Both producers merely respond to
market signals based on supply and demand.
If the statements above are true, which of the following must be true?
(A) How much it costs to manufacture a product is not the primary determinant of its
selling price.
(B) A product with a low manufacturing cost is more likely to succeed than a product
with a high manufacturing cost.
(C) A manufacturer who sells a product with a low manufacturing cost at a high price to
the customer is deceiving the customer.
(D) If a product costs a lot to manufacture then its manufacturer must ensure that he does
not sell the product at a high price.
(E) A manufacturer who uses manufacturing costs of a product as a basis to determine
the selling price of the product is bound to fail.
5. The country has recently been shaken by the increase in incidents of corruption amongst
the political class and the bureaucracy. The solution clearly is to appoint an independent
investigating body headed by a person of repute who can investigate such cases of corruption
and punish those found guilty.
The conclusion above would be more reasonably drawn if which of the following were
inserted into the argument as an additional premise?
(A) The appointment of the independent body is the only way to combat corruption.
(B) The independent agency will itself not fall prey to corruption.
(C) Corruption is not present outside the political class and the bureaucracy.
(D) The punishment meted out by the investigating agency will not act as a deterrent for
people/agencies susceptible to corruption.
(E) If not controlled immediately, the problem of corruption can spiral out of control.
6. Switzerland’s national rail company has accused Apple of stealing the iconic look of its
station clocks for Apple’s new operating system. According to the rail company, both
designs have a round clock face with black indicators except for the second hand, which is
red.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?
(A) Apple has never been accused of copying by any other person or organization in the
past.
(B) Apple is known the world over for its unique product designs.
(C) The designer who created the watch design for Apple’s operating system has never
visited Switzerland or, for that matter, any other European country.
(D) All round face clocks across the globe are created out of the same design philosophy.
(E) The Switzerland National Rail Company has itself been accused in the past of
copying the platform design of a neighbouring country’s rail platform.
7. The Langova National park is a breeding ground for several migratory birds. Of late, the
Spot-breasted Laughing Thrush, an extremely rare species of bird, has been sighted only in
the Langova National park. The people who have sighted this bird in the park have claimed
that it is possible to sight this bird only through the use of binoculars. Barry is visiting the
Langova National Park next week and he will be carrying an extremely powerful pair of
binoculars with him. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that, as long as Barry has his binoculars
on him, he will most definitely manage to sight the Spot-breasted Laughing Thrush.
Which of the following indicates a flaw in the reasoning above?
(A) It fails to take into account the possibility of sighting the Spot-breasted Laughing
Thrush at places other than the Langova National Park.
(B) It mistakes a necessary condition for a sufficient condition.
(C) It is based on a series of assumptions, rather than on facts.
(D) It does not take into account the possibility that Barry could lose or damage his
binoculars on the way to the park.
(E) It does not take into account the possibility that Barry may sight some other equally
rare species of bird.
8. I do not agree that wage disparity still exists between men and women. Almost all salaried
individuals today are paid based on their qualification and experience and not their sex. It is
only the lower labour class where the disparity still exists, but this is justified because there
are certain tasks requiring physical strength, such as carrying heavy construction material,
that can only be performed by men.
If the above statements are true, which of the following is an example of a wage disparity
on the basis of gender?
(A) A company pays its management trainees, most of whom are females and have just
passed out from business schools, a lower salary than it pays to its senior partners,
most of whom are males.
(B) A male labourer who does not do any physically taxing work is paid a lower wage
than a male labourer who does physically taxing work.
(C) A female employee at a managerial level in a company gets a lower salary than a
female employee who has joined the company as a trainee but whose uncle is a
partner in the company.
(D) A male labourer who does not do any physical work is paid a higher wage than a
female labourer who does not do any physical work.
(E) A male manager working for Company X gets paid a higher salary than does a female
manager with similar experience working for Company Z.
9. The government has recently been severely criticized for its decision to block access to
a few websites on which malicious information and photographs were being posted. The
government has responded to this criticism by stating that while it believes in freedom of
speech and expression, this was an emergency and in such situations, you have to cut off
the source of the problem.
In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?
(A) The first describes a reaction to an action and the second describes an action taken in
response to this reaction.
(B) The first is a criticism that the argument disagrees with; the second is the point of
view that the argument supports.
(C) The first is the point of view of a group of people and the second attacks this point of view.
(D) The first provides a counterpoint to the argument’s conclusion; the second is that
conclusion.
(E) The first provides the criticism of an action and the second provides justification for
the necessity of taking that action.
10. There has been a sudden spurt in the cases of suicide amongst teenagers in Tango city.
On investigation, a public interest group discovered that all of these teenagers had been
listening to songs by an alternative rock group, The Demons, at the time of committing
suicide. When the public interest group listened to the songs by this rock group, they were
aghast to hear lyrics that encouraged people to kill themselves. Accordingly, the city mayor
has decided to ban the sale and download of all alternative rock band albums in Tango city
with immediate effect.
Which of the following, if true, would most strongly support the position above?
(A) Songs with lyrics that encourage people to kill themselves can actually lead to people
killing themselves.
(B) Alternative rock groups other than The Demons also contain lyrics that encourage
people to kill themselves.
(C) It is not required to impose a similar ban on movies containing large scale violence
and bloodshed.
(D) If people don’t listen to songs by The Demons, they will not kill themselves.
(E) It is the responsibility of a mayor to protect the citizens of his city.
11. Historical data for all the elections held in Gangnam City shows that all winning candidates
have canvassed for at least 100 hours. In fact, candidates who have canvassed for fewer than
100 hours have never ever won. Out of all the candidates contesting in the upcoming
elections in Gangnam City, Candidate A has canvassed for 120 hours, Candidate B has
canvassed for 150 hours, and Candidate C has canvassed for 90 hours.
If the statements above are true, which of the following conclusions is most strongly
supported by them?
(A) Candidate B will most likely win the election.
(B) Candidate C will most likely lose the election.
(C) The winner of the election will either be Candidate A or Candidate B.
(D) The results of an election cannot be solely dependent on how many hours a candidate
canvasses for.
(E) If no other Candidate has canvassed for more than 150 hours, then Candidate B will
win the election.
12. Most people erroneously believe that airplanes are dangerous modes of transport. Statistics
clearly reveal that more people are killed every year in road accidents than in air crashes. So
traveling by airplanes is in fact safer than traveling by a car or a bus.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the above explanation?
(A) Airlines across the globe spend significant amounts of money every year on adding
new safety features to their airplanes.
(B) There is no country in the world in which the number of people killed in air crashes
exceeds the number of people killed in road accidents.
(C) In a recently conducted survey by an independent agency, a majority of the respondents
stated that they felt safer while traveling by air than while traveling by road.
(D) The number of people who travel by airplanes every year is roughly equal to the
number of people who travel by road.
(E) The technology used in modern aircrafts is much more sophisticated than that used
in most forms of road transport.
SOLN
GMAT VA PREP - One to One Mentorship online - Whatsapp 09674548313
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