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(C) indignant anger

(D) complete disbelief
(E) guarded skepticism
4. According to the passage, which of the following are separated by a plate that is
growing on both sides?
(A) The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan
(B) The South Atlantic Ridge and the North Sea Ridge
(C) The Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic Ridge
(D) The Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Indian Ocean Ridge
(E) The Black Sea and the Sea of Japan
5. Which of the following, if it could be demonstrated, would most support the
traditional view of ocean formation?
(A) Convection usually occurs along lines.
(B) The upper mantle behaves as a dense solid.
(C) Sedimentation occurs at a constant rate.
(D) Sinking plates cool the mantle.
(E) Island arcs surround enclosed seas.
6. According to the passage, the floor of the Black Sea can best be compared to a
(A) rapidly moving conveyor belt
(B) slowly settling foundation
(C) rapidly expanding balloon
(D) violently erupting volcano
(E) slowly eroding mountain
7. Which of the following titles would best describe the content of the passage?
(A) A Description of the Oceans of the World
(B) Several Theories of Ocean Basin Formation
(C) The Traditional View of the Oceans
(D) Convection and Ocean Currents
(E) Temperature Differences among the Oceans of the World

Passage 4 (4/63)

The fossil remains of the first flying vertebrates, the pterosaurs, have intrigued
paleontologists for more than two centuries. How such large creatures, which weighed in some
cases as much as a piloted hang-glider and had wingspans from 8 to 12 meters, solved the
problems of powered flight, and exactly what these creatures were—reptiles or birds—are
among the questions scientists have puzzled over.
Perhaps the least controversial assertion about the pterosaurs is that they were reptiles.
 GMAT 9

Their skulls, pelvises, and hind feet are reptilian. The anatomy of their wings suggests that they
did not evolve into the class of birds. In pterosaurs a greatly elongated fourth finger of each
forelimb supported a wing-like membrane. The other fingers were short and reptilian, with
sharp claws. In birds the second finger is the principal strut of the wing, which consists
primarily of feathers. If the pterosaurs walked on all fours, the three short fingers may have
been employed for grasping. When a pterosaur walked or remained stationary, the fourth finger,
and with it the wing, could only turn upward in an extended inverted V-shape along each side of
the animal’s body.
The pterosaurs resembled both birds and bats in their overall structure and proportions.
This is not surprising because the design of any flying vertebrate is subject to aerodynamic
constraints. Both the pterosaurs and the birds have hollow bones, a feature that represents a
savings in weight. In the birds, however, these bones are reinforced more massively by internal
struts.
Although scales typically cover reptiles, the pterosaurs probably had hairy coats. T. H.
Huxley reasoned that flying vertebrates must have been warm-blooded because flying implies a
high rate of metabolism, which in turn implies a high internal temperature. Huxley speculated
that a coat of hair would insulate against loss of body heat and might streamline the body to
reduce drag in flight. The recent discovery of a pterosaur specimen covered in long, dense, and
relatively thick hairlike fossil material was the first clear evidence that his reasoning was correct.
Efforts to explain how the pterosaurs became airborne have led to suggestions that they
launched themselves by jumping from cliffs, by dropping from trees, or even by rising into light
winds from the crests of waves. Each hypothesis has its difficulties. The first wrongly assumes
that the pterosaurs’ hind feet resembled a bat’s and could serve as hooks by which the animal
could hang in preparation for flight. The second hypothesis seems unlikely because large
pterosaurs could not have landed in trees without damaging their wings. The third calls for high
waves to channel updrafts. The wind that made such waves however, might have been too
strong for the pterosaurs to control their flight once airborne.

1. It can be inferred from the passage that scientists now generally agree that the
(A) enormous wingspan of the pterosaurs enabled them to fly great distances
(B) structure of the skeleton of the pterosaurs suggests a close evolutionary
relationship to bats
(C) fossil remains of the pterosaurs reveal how they solved the problem of
powered flight
(D) pterosaurs were reptiles
(E) pterosaurs walked on all fours
2. The author views the idea that the pterosaurs became airborne by rising into light
winds created by waves as
(A) revolutionary
(B) unlikely
(C) unassailable
(D) probable
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(E) outdated
3. According to the passage, the skeleton of a pterosaur can be distinguished from
that of a bird by the
(A) size of its wingspan
(B) presence of hollow spaces in its bones
(C) anatomic origin of its wing strut
(D) presence of hooklike projections on its hind feet
(E) location of the shoulder joint joining the wing to its body
4. The ideas attributed to T. H. Huxley in the passage suggest that he would most
likely agree with which of the following statements?
(A) An animal’s brain size has little bearing on its ability to master complex
behaviors.
(B) An animal’s appearance is often influenced by environmental requirements
and physical capabilities.
(C) Animals within a given family group are unlikely to change their appearance
dramatically over a period of time.
(D) The origin of flight in vertebrates was an accidental development rather than
the outcome of specialization or adaptation.
(E) The pterosaurs should be classified as birds, not reptiles.
5. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is characteristic of
the pterosaurs?
(A) They were unable to fold their wings when not in use.
(B) They hung upside down from branches as bats do before flight.
(C) They flew in order to capture prey.
(D) They were an early stage in the evolution of the birds.
(E) They lived primarily in a forest-like habitat.
6. Which of the following best describes the organization of the last paragraph of
the passage?
(A) New evidence is introduced to support a traditional point of view.
(B) Three explanations for a phenomenon are presented, and each is disputed by
means of specific information.
(C) Three hypotheses are outlined, and evidence supporting each is given.
(D) Recent discoveries are described, and their implications for future study are
projected.
(E) A summary of the material in the preceding paragraphs is presented, and
conclusions are drawn.
7. It can be inferred from the passage that some scientists believe that pterosaurs
(A) lived near large bodies of water
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(B) had sharp teeth for tearing food

(C) were attacked and eaten by larger reptiles
(D) had longer tails than many birds
(E) consumed twice their weight daily to maintain their body temperature

Passage 5 (5/63)

How many really suffer as a result of labor market problems? This is one of the most critical
yet contentious social policy questions. In many ways, our social statistics exaggerate the
degree of hardship. Unemployment does not have the same dire consequences today as it did
in the 1930’s when most of the unemployed were primary breadwinners, when income and
earnings were usually much closer to the margin of subsistence, and when there were no
countervailing social programs for those failing in the labor market. Increasing affluence, the
rise of families with more than one wage earner, the growing predominance of secondary
earners among the unemployed, and improved social welfare protection have unquestionably
mitigated the consequences of joblessness. Earnings and income data also overstate the
dimensions of hardship. Among the millions with hourly earnings at or below the minimum
wage level, the overwhelming majority are from multiple-earner, relatively affluent families.
Most of those counted by the poverty statistics are elderly or handicapped or have family
responsibilities which keep them out of the labor force, so the poverty statistics are by no
means an accurate indicator of labor market pathologies.
Yet there are also many ways our social statistics underestimate the degree of
labor-market-related hardship. The unemployment counts exclude the millions of fully
employed workers whose wages are so low that their families remain in poverty. Low wages
and repeated or prolonged unemployment frequently interact to undermine the capacity for
self-support. Since the number experiencing joblessness at some time during the year is several
times the number unemployed in any month, those who suffer as a result of forced idleness can
equal or exceed average annual unemployment, even though only a minority of the jobless in
any month really suffer. For every person counted in the monthly unemployment tallies, there is
another working part-time because of the inability to find full-time work, or else outside the
labor force but wanting a job. Finally, income transfers in our country have always focused on
the elderly, disabled, and dependent, neglecting the needs of the working poor, so that the
dramatic expansion of cash and in-kind transfers does not necessarily mean that those failing in
the labor market are adequately protected.
As a result of such contradictory evidence, it is uncertain whether those suffering seriously
as a result of labor market problems number in the hundreds of thousands or the tens of
millions, and, hence, whether high levels of joblessness can be tolerated or must be countered
by job creation and economic stimulus. There is only one area of agreement in this
debate—that the existing poverty, employment, and earnings statistics are inadequate for one
their primary applications, measuring the consequences of labor market problems.

1. Which of the following is the principal topic of the passage?

(A) What causes labor market pathologies that result in suffering
(B) Why income measures are imprecise in measuring degrees of poverty
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(C) Which of the currently used statistical procedures are the best for estimating
the incidence of hardship that is due to unemployment
(D) Where the areas of agreement are among poverty, employment, and earnings
figures
(E) How social statistics give an unclear picture of the degree of hardship caused
by low wages and insufficient employment opportunities
2. The author uses “labor market problems” in lines 1-2 to refer to which of the
following?
(A) The overall causes of poverty
(B) Deficiencies in the training of the work force
(C) Trade relationships among producers of goods
(D) Shortages of jobs providing adequate income
(E) Strikes and inadequate supplies of labor
3. The author contrasts the 1930’s with the present in order to show that
(A) more people were unemployed in the 1930’s
(B) unemployment now has less severe effects
(C) social programs are more needed now
(D) there now is a greater proportion of elderly and handicapped people among
those in poverty
(E) poverty has increased since the 1930’s
4. Which of the following proposals best responds to the issues raised by the
author?
(A) Innovative programs using multiple approaches should be set up to reduce the
level of unemployment.
(B) A compromise should be found between the positions of those who view
joblessness as an evil greater than economic control and those who hold the
opposite view.
(C) New statistical indices should be developed to measure the degree to which
unemployment and inadequately paid employment cause suffering.
(D) Consideration should be given to the ways in which statistics can act as
partial causes of the phenomena that they purport to measure.
(E) The labor force should be restructured so that it corresponds to the range of
job vacancies.
5. The author’s purpose in citing those who are repeatedly unemployed during a
twelve-month period is most probably to show that
(A) there are several factors that cause the payment of low wages to some
members of the labor force
(B) unemployment statistics can underestimate the hardship resulting from
joblessness
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(C) recurrent inadequacies in the labor market can exist and can cause hardships
for individual workers
(D) a majority of those who are jobless at any one time to not suffer severe
hardship
(E) there are fewer individuals who are without jobs at some time during a year
than would be expected on the basis of monthly unemployment figures
6. The author states that the mitigating effect of social programs involving income
transfers on the income level of low-income people is often not felt by
(A) the employed poor
(B) dependent children in single-earner families
(C) workers who become disabled
(D) retired workers
(E) full-time workers who become unemployed
7. According to the passage, one factor that causes unemployment and earnings
figures to overpredict the amount of economic hardship is the
(A) recurrence of periods of unemployment for a group of low-wage workers
(B) possibility that earnings may be received from more than one job per worker
(C) fact that unemployment counts do not include those who work for low wages
and remain poor
(D) establishment of a system of record-keeping that makes it possible to compile
poverty statistics
(E) prevalence, among low-wage workers and the unemployed, of members of
families in which others are employed
8. The conclusion stated in lines 33-39 about the number of people who suffer as a
result of forced idleness depends primarily on the point that
(A) in times of high unemployment, there are some people who do not remain
unemployed for long
(B) the capacity for self-support depends on receiving moderate-to-high wages
(C) those in forced idleness include, besides the unemployed, both
underemployed part-time workers and those not actively seeking work
(D) at different times during the year, different people are unemployed
(E) many of those who are affected by unemployment are dependents of
unemployed workers
9. Which of the following, if true, is the best criticism of the author’s argument
concerning why poverty statistics cannot properly be used to show the effects of
problems in the labor market?
(A) A short-term increase in the number of those in poverty can indicate a
shortage of jobs because the basic number of those unable to accept
employment remains approximately constant.
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(B) For those who are in poverty as a result of joblessness, there are social
programs available that provide a minimum standard of living.
(C) Poverty statistics do not consistently agree with earnings statistics, when each
is taken as a measure of hardship resulting from unemployment.
(D) The elderly and handicapped categories include many who previously were
employed in the labor market.
(E) Since the labor market is global in nature, poor workers in one country are
competing with poor workers in another with respect to the level of wages
and the existence of jobs.

Passage 6 (6/63)

In the eighteenth century, Japan’s feudal overlords, from the shogun to the humblest
samurai, found themselves under financial stress. In part, this stress can be attributed to the
overlords’ failure to adjust to a rapidly expanding economy, but the stress was also due to
factors beyond the overlords’ control. Concentration of the samurai in castle-towns had acted
as a stimulus to trade. Commercial efficiency, in turn, had put temptations in the way of buyers.
Since most samurai had been reduced to idleness by years of peace, encouraged to engage in
scholarship and martial exercises or to perform administrative tasks that took little time, it is not
surprising that their tastes and habits grew expensive. Overlords’ income, despite the increase
in rice production among their tenant farmers, failed to keep pace with their expenses.
Although shortfalls in overlords’ income resulted almost as much from laxity among their tax
collectors (the nearly inevitable outcome of hereditary office-holding) as from their higher
standards of living, a misfortune like a fire or flood, bringing an increase in expenses or a drop
in revenue, could put a domain in debt to the city rice-brokers who handled its finances. Once in
debt, neither the individual samurai nor the shogun himself found it easy to recover.
It was difficult for individual samurai overlords to increase their income because the
amount of rice that farmers could be made to pay in taxes was not unlimited, and since the
income of Japan’s central government consisted in part of taxes collected by the shogun from
his huge domain, the government too was constrained. Therefore, the Tokugawa shoguns
began to look to other sources for revenue. Cash profits from government-owned mines were
already on the decline because the most easily worked deposits of silver and gold had been
exhausted, although debasement of the coinage had compensated for the loss. Opening up
new farmland was a possibility, but most of what was suitable had already been exploited and
further reclamation was technically unfeasible. Direct taxation of the samurai themselves would
be politically dangerous. This left the shoguns only commerce as a potential source of
government income.
Most of the country’s wealth, or so it seemed, was finding its way into the hands of city
merchants. It appeared reasonable that they should contribute part of that revenue to ease the
shogun’s burden of financing the state. A means of obtaining such revenue was soon found by
levying forced loans, known as goyo-kin; although these were not taxes in the strict sense,
since they were irregular in timing and arbitrary in amount, they were high in yield.
Unfortunately, they pushed up prices. Thus, regrettably, the Tokugawa shoguns’ search for
solvency for the government made it increasingly difficult for individual Japanese who lived on