GRE RC for Practice- 3 | Verbal Reasoning for GRE PDF Download

Passage 1

Evolutionary psychology takes as its starting point the
   uncontroversial assertion that the anatomical and
    physiological features of the human brain have arisen
    as a result of adaptations to the demands of the
5   environment over the millennia. However, from this
    reasonable point of departure, these psychologists make
    unreasonable extrapolations. They claim that the behavior
    of contemporary man (in almost all its aspects) is a
    reflection of features of the brain that acquired their
10  present characteristics during those earliest days of our
    species when early man struggled to survive and multiply.
    This unwarranted assumption leads, for example, to
    suggestions that modern sexual behavior is dictated by
    realities of Pleistocene life. These suggestions have a
15  ready audience, and the idea that Stone Age man is alive
    in our genome and dictating aspects of our behavior has
    gained ground in the popular imagination. The tabloids
    repeatedly run articles about 'discoveries' relating to
    'genes' for aggression, depression, repression, and
20  anything for which we need a readymade excuse. Such
    insistence on a genetic basis for behavior negates the
    cultural influences and the social realities that
    separate us from our ancestors.
    The difficulty with pseudo science of this nature is just
25  this popular appeal. People are eager to accept what is
    printed as incontrovertible, assuming quite without foundation,
    that anything printed has bona fide antecedents. We would do
    well to remember that the phrenologists of the nineteenth
    century held sway for a considerable time in the absence of
30  any evidence that behavioral tendencies could be deduced from
    the shape of the skull. The phrenologists are no more, but
    their genes would seem to be thriving.

Q1: The author apparently believes that the journalists writing for the tabloids
(a) are more concerned with popular appeal than with authenticity
(b) believe that human behavior has a genetic basis
(c) run the same articles over and over again
(d) are victims of the human desire to excuse inexcusable behavior
(e) are highly irresponsible in their efforts to pander to the public
Ans: (a)
The last paragraph informs us that people accept what is printed without any evidence. This links to the mention of the tabloids in the previous paragraph. We are told that these articles have a ready audience. The use of the inverted commas around the words 'discoveries' and 'genes' confirms that the author thinks the matter is not authentic. Making (a) the right choice. But calling these journalists "highly irresponsible" would be too strong. There is no evidence that the journalists believe or do not believe what they write.

Q2: The author's primary purpose in the passage is to
(a) argue for the superiority of a particular viewpoint
(b) attack the popular press
(c) ridicule a particular branch of science
(d) highlight an apparently erroneous tendency in an area of social science
(e) evaluate a particular theory of human behavior in all its ramifications
Ans: (d)
The extract is polemical in nature the author wishes to show that the evolutionary psychologists go too far in their claims. This is expressed in general terms in (d). (We is not really arguing FOR anything, nor is he attacking the press. 'Ridiculing' is far too strong as are the words 'evaluating' and 'all'.)

Q3: The author mentions phrenologists as
(a) pseudo scientists who are the logical antecedents of evolutionary psychologists
(b) a group with inherent appeal to the followers of evolutionary psychologists
(c) a warning against blind acceptance of ideas
(d) scientists with whom evolutionary psychologists share common assumptions
(e) behavioral scientists who have spawned a variety of wrong ideas
Ans: (c)
The words "We would do well to remember" confirm that the author is warning us about something. He is reminding us that the phrenologists gained prominence without any evidence for their beliefs, and so warns us against blind acceptance of ideas.

Passage 2

    The pioneers of the teaching of science imagined that its
    introduction into education would remove the conventionality,
    artificiality, and backward-lookingness which were characteristic;
    of classical studies, but they were gravely disappointed. So, too, in
5   their time had the humanists thought that the study of the classical
    authors in the original would banish at once the dull pedantry and
    superstition of mediaeval scholasticism. The professional
    schoolmaster was a match for both of them, and has almost
    managed to make the understanding of chemical reactions as dull
10  and as dogmatic an affair as the reading of Virgil's Aeneid.

    The chief claim for the use of science in education is that it
    teaches a child something about the actual universe in which he is
    living, in making him acquainted with the results of scientific
15  discovery, and at the same time teaches him how to think logically
    and inductively by studying scientific method. A certain limited
    success has been reached in the first of these aims, but practically
    none at all in the second. Those privileged members of the
    community who have been through a secondary or public school
20  education may be expected to know something about the
    elementary physics and chemistry of a hundred years ago, but they
    probably know hardly more than any bright boy can pick up from
    an interest in wireless or scientific hobbies out of school hours.
    As to the learning of scientific method, the whole thing is palpably
25  a farce. Actually, for the convenience of teachers and the
    requirements of the examination system, it is necessary that the
    pupils not only do not learn scientific method but learn precisely
    the reverse, that is, to believe exactly what they are told and to
    reproduce it when asked, whether it seems nonsense to them or
30  not. The way in which educated people respond to such quackeries
    as spiritualism or astrology, not to say more dangerous ones such
    as racial theories or currency myths, shows that fifty years of
    education in the method of science in Britain or Germany has
    produced no visible effect whatever. The only way of learning the
35  method of science is the long and bitter way of personal
    experience, and, until the educational or social systems are altered
    to make this possible, the best we can expect is the production of a
    minority of people who are able to acquire some of the techniques
    of science and a still smaller minority who are able to use and
40  develop them.

Q4: If the author were to study current education in science to see how things have changed since he wrote the piece, he would probably be most interested in the answer to which of the following questions?
(a) Do students know more about the world about them?
(b) Do students spend more time in laboratories?
(c) Can students apply their knowledge logically?
(d) Have textbooks improved?
(e) Do they respect their teachers?
Ans: (c)
Lines 11-16 show what the author expects science education to do. He goes on to say that practically no progress has been made towards the aim of helping the student to think logically. The last sentence confirms that he would expect good science education to enable students to use scientific knowledge.

Q5: The author implies that the "professional schoolmaster" (line 7) has
(a) no interest in teaching science
(b) thwarted attempts to enliven education
(c) aided true learning
(d) supported the humanists
(e) been a pioneer in both science and humanities.
Ans: (b)
The author says that the professional schoolmaster was a match for people who tried to bring new ideas and attitudes into education. This means that the schoolmaster succeeded in making the new subjects dull. And so (b) is the best answer.

Q6: Answer this question based on the information in the paragraph below.

On the basis of the Big Bang theory scientists predicted levels of Helium-3 in the universe that are ten times greater than the levels actually observed. According to the original model, Helium-3 is produced when low-mass stars burn up hydrogen and become 'red giants', as well as being produced in the Big Bang itself. Researchers have now produced a new model in which the Helium-3 produced by a red giant is pushed to the star's interior and burnt up. Hence the Big Bang theory is no longer undermined by Helium-3 data.
The two portions in bold-face are related to each other in which of the following ways?
(a) The first highlights an observation that tends to undermine a particular theory. The second is that theory.
(b) The first is a fact that undermines a theory. The second is context for accepting that theory.
(c) The first points to an inconsistency in a particular model; the second is the author's main conclusion.
(d) The first is a challenge to a classic theory; the second resolves that challenge.
(e) The first is a position that the author does not accept; the second is the author's position.
Ans: (c)
Study each sentence carefully and decide whether it is a fact, and assumption or a conclusion. The first part in bold is a factual statement of a certain prediction. The second part in bold is a statement of the author's view or position on the situation. A view or a position is another way of thinking about a conclusion. So, start with looking for answers that say the second is a conclusion. Now we can have a closer look at (c) and (e). Since the first part is a factual statement, we cannot say that the author does not accept it, and we are left with (c). The word "inconsistency" is fine as the predicted amounts do not match with the observations.

Q7: All of the following can be inferred from the text except
(a) at the time of writing, not all children received a secondary school education
(b) the author finds chemical reactions interesting
(c) science teaching has imparted some knowledge of facts to some children
(d) the author believes that many teachers are authoritarian
(e) it is relatively easy to learn scientific method
Ans: (e)
In an 'except' question we are looking for something that is wrong. The word 'relatively' in answer (e) clearly makes this statement wrong.

Q8: The author's apparently believes that secondary and public school education in the sciences is
(a) severely limited in its benefits
(b) worse than that in the classics
(c) grossly incompetent
(d) a stimulus to critical thinking
(e) deliberately obscurantist
Ans: (a)
The author tells us that some pupils might have learned some facts but that they would not have learned anything of the scientific method. He expresses himself very forcefully but still not strongly enough to make (b), (c) or (e) the correct answers. The correct answer, (a), is best' strong without being excessive.