A group of four women and three men have tickets for seven adjacent seats in one row of a theatre. If the three men will not sit in three adjacent seats, how many possible different seating arrangements are there for these 7 theatre-goers?

When the positive integer x is divided by 9, the remainder is 5. What is the remainder when 3x is divided by 9?

What is the sum of the first 10 prime numbers?

If |a| = 1/3 and |b| = 2/3, which of the following CANNOT be the result of a + b?

Bob bikes to school every day at a steady rate of x miles per hour. On a particular day, Bob had a flat tire exactly halfway to school. He immediately started walking to school at a steady pace of y miles per hour. He arrived at school exactly t hours after leaving his home. How many miles is it from the school to Bob's home?

A certain city with population of 132,000 is to be divided into 11 voting districts, and no district is to have population that is more than 10 percent greater than the population of any other district. What is the minimum possible population that the least population district could have?

Bob just filled his car's gas tank with 20 gallons of gasohol, a mixture consisting of 5% ethanol and 95%

gasoline. If his car runs best on a mixture consisting of 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline, how many gallons of ethanol must he add into the gas tank for his car to achieve optimum performance?

75% of the guestrooms at the Stagecoach Inn have a queen-sized bed, and each of the remaining rooms has a king-sized bed. Of the non-smoking rooms, 60% have a queen-sized bed. If 10% of the rooms at the Stagecoach Inn are non-smoking rooms with king-sized beds, what percentage of the rooms permit smoking?

If x is a positive integer, is x! + (x + 1) a prime number?

(1) x < 10

(2) x is even

If r + s > 2t, is r > t?

(1) t > s

(2) r > s

x, y, and z are consecutive integers, and x < y < z. What is the average of x, y, and z?

(1) x = 11

(2) The average of y and z is 12.5

In 2003 Acme Computer priced its computers five times higher than its printers. What is the ratio of its gross revenue for computers and printers respectively in the year 2003?

(1) In the first half of 2003 it sold computers and printers in the ratio of 3:2, respectively, and in the

second half in the ratio of 2:1.

(2) It sold each computer for $1000.

In 1994, Company X recorded profits that were 10% greater than in 1993, and in 1993 the company’s profits were 20% greater than they were in 1992. What were the company’s profits in 1992?

(1) In 1994, the company’s profits were $100,000 greater than in 1993.

(2) For every $3.00 in profits earned in 1992, Company X earned $3.96 in 1994.

XYZ, a large philanthropic organization, has the following policy regarding requests for XYZ funds.

1. Any organization that has submitted a request for funds to XYZ must receive a response no later than 4 months after receipt of the request by XYZ.
2. The response must take the form of a granting of the request, a rejecting of the request, or a solicitation for further information.
3. Such further information, when solicited, must be received by XYZ no later than 5 months after receipt of the solicitation by the organization; otherwise the request for funds will be rejected.
4. Once such further information has been received by XYZ, XYZ will reconsider the request as if it were a new submission, beginning with Step 1 above.

For a request for funds that has been granted in accord with this policy, select the maximum amount of time between receipt of the initial request by XYZ and the granting of the request, given that no solicitation for further information was made by XYZ, and select the maximum amount of time, given that exactly one solicitation for further information was made by XYZ. Decide whether "No solicitations for further information" or "One solicitations for further information":

A. 4 months

B. 13 months

E-mail #1: from Marketing Manager to Research Staff

With ABC Oil currently the most profitable corporation in the country, followed closely by XYZ Oil, how valid is the image of the United States as dependent on foreign oil? What proportion of American energy needs can be met through domestic production? How do current production levels compare with previous years? What do we know about trends in demand? And if we must import, how much of that need can be answered by Canada? Positioning the company as an American energy company would be the most positive stance but only if we can support it by showing that our product comes from if not U.S. wells at least North American sources.

E-mail #2: from Researcher #1 to Marketing Manager

Domestic production is healthy, but while it may be true that U.S.-based companies now produce more than the United States imports, we certainly don’t produce as much as we consume, as you can see in the following graph.

E-mail 3: from Researcher #2 to Marketing Manager
ABC Oil’s headquarters may be in Texas, but it sources crude from 21 countries, including both relatively stable nations like Kazakhstan and nations with periodic violent crisis like Chad. XYZ Oil’s practices are similar. We’re a global society now, and an “American” company just means where the company pays taxes, not necessarily where it produces. The United States consumes more than 18 million barrels of crude per day, but our local fields produce less than half that. The difference has to come from fields somewhere else, no matter what company owns them. This isn’t local farming where you eat what’s grown close to home. We may be able to focus attention on our ties to American plants and American workers, but the product is an international mix.

Consider each of the following statements. Does the information in the three sources support the inference as stated?

A. The United States must import oil because U.S. oil production does not meet the demand

B. All U.S. oil imports come from Middle East sources

C. The closing of the gap between U.S. consumption and U.S. production is entirely due to increased domestic production

The table shows all the mutual funds in a fund family. Each fund invests in a combination of assets, such as stocks and bonds, according to the fund’s investment philosophy. Each fund’s total return for a given year shows the total performance of the assets in the fund’s portfolio during that year, minus the fund’s expenses. A fund’s expenses are reflected in the fund’s Expense Ratio. So, if a fund’s portfolio gained 5.00% in one year and the fund’s expense ratio was 1.00%, then the fund’s total return for the year was 4.00%. In the table, the 1-Year, 3-Year, 5-Year, and 10-Year columns show each fund’s average annual total returns over the corresponding number of years. This average does not imply the same return for every year in that span.

For each of the following statements, select Inferable if the statement is reasonably inferable from the given information. Otherwise, select Not inferable.

A. If today an investor invests $10,000 in Edward I and the fund’s portfolio gains 10% over the next year, then in one year the value of the investor’s assets in the fund will be $10,850

B. If three years ago an investor invested a certain amount in Charles II, then the current value of his assets is greater than it would be if he had invested the same amount in William

C. The range of 10-Year Average Annual Returns is greater for Mid-Cap funds than for Large-Cap funds

Choose the correct option below:

Dinosaur expert: Some paleontologists have claimed that birds are descendants of a group of dinosaurs called dromeosaurs. They appeal to the fossil record, which indicates that dromeosaurs have characteristics more similar to birds than do most dinosaurs. But there is a fatal flaw in their argument; the earliest bird fossils that have been discovered date back tens of millions of years farther than the oldest known dromeosaur fossils. Thus the paleontologists' claim is false'.

The expert's argument depends on assuming which one of the following?

For each of the past two years, major department stores have reported a nearly 50% increase in their sales of men's clothing manufactured by Zachary, Inc., a result that is all the more surprising because the sales of most other brands of men's clothing have been depressed over the same period. Nevertheless, even Zachary, Inc. does not appear to have emerged unscathed from the overall trend: despite the aforementioned increase, Zachary, Inc. has reported a slight decline in overall sales in each of the past two years.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the surprising result above?

In Australia the population that is of driving age has grown large over the last five years, but the annual number of traffic fatalities has declined. This leads to the conclusion that, overall, the driving-age population of Australia consists of more skillful drivers now than five years ago.
Each of the statements below, if true, weakens the argument EXCEPT:

. Audiences find a speaker more convincing if the speaker begins a speech by arguing briefly against his or her position before providing reasons for accepting it. The reason this technique is so effective is that it makes the speaker appear fair-minded and trustworthy. Therefore, candidates for national political office who wish to be successful in winning votes should use this argumentative technique in their speeches.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously limits the effectiveness of adopting the argument's recommendation?

Seeking a competitive advantage, some professional service firms (for example, firms providing advertising, accounting, or health care services) have considered, offering unconditional guarantees of satisfaction. Such guarantees specify what clients can expect and what the firm will do if it fails to fulfil these expectations. Particularly with first-time clients, an unconditional guarantee can be effective marketing tool if the client is very cautious, the firm’s fees are high, the negative consequences of bad service are grave, or business is difficult to obtain through referrals and word-of-mouth.

However, an unconditional guarantee can sometimes hinder marketing efforts. With its implication that failure is possible, the guarantee may, paradoxically, cause clients to doubt the service firm’s ability to deliver the promised level of service. It may conflict with a Firm’s desire to appear sophisticated, or may even suggest that a firm is begging for business. In legal and health care services, it may mislead clients by suggesting that lawsuits or medical procedures will have guaranteed outcomes. Indeed, professional service firm with outstanding reputations and performance to match have little to gain from offering unconditional guarantees. And any firm that implements an unconditional guarantee without undertaking a commensurate commitment quality of service is merely employing a potentially costly marketing gimmick.

The passage most clearly implies which of the following about the professional service firms mentioned in the second paragraph?

Seeking a competitive advantage, some professional service firms (for example, firms providing advertising, accounting, or health care services) have considered, offering unconditional guarantees of satisfaction. Such guarantees specify what clients can expect and what the firm will do if it fails to fulfil these expectations. Particularly with first-time clients, an unconditional guarantee can be effective marketing tool if the client is very cautious, the firm’s fees are high, the negative consequences of bad service are grave, or business is difficult to obtain through referrals and word-of-mouth.

However, an unconditional guarantee can sometimes hinder marketing efforts. With its implication that failure is possible, the guarantee may, paradoxically, cause clients to doubt the service firm’s ability to deliver the promised level of service. It may conflict with a Firm’s desire to appear sophisticated, or may even suggest that a firm is begging for business. In legal and health care services, it may mislead clients by suggesting that lawsuits or medical procedures will have guaranteed outcomes. Indeed, professional service firm with outstanding reputations and performance to match have little to gain from offering unconditional guarantees. And any firm that implements an unconditional guarantee without undertaking a commensurate commitment quality of service is merely employing a potentially costly marketing gimmick.

Which of the following hypothetical situations best exemplifies the potential problem noted in the second sentence of the second paragraph?

Seeking a competitive advantage, some professional service firms (for example, firms providing advertising, accounting, or health care services) have considered, offering unconditional guarantees of satisfaction. Such guarantees specify what clients can expect and what the firm will do if it fails to fulfil these expectations. Particularly with first-time clients, an unconditional guarantee can be effective marketing tool if the client is very cautious, the firm’s fees are high, the negative consequences of bad service are grave, or business is difficult to obtain through referrals and word-of-mouth.

However, an unconditional guarantee can sometimes hinder marketing efforts. With its implication that failure is possible, the guarantee may, paradoxically, cause clients to doubt the service firm’s ability to deliver the promised level of service. It may conflict with a Firm’s desire to appear sophisticated, or may even suggest that a firm is begging for business. In legal and health care services, it may mislead clients by suggesting that lawsuits or medical procedures will have guaranteed outcomes. Indeed, professional service firm with outstanding reputations and performance to match have little to gain from offering unconditional guarantees. And any firm that implements an unconditional guarantee without undertaking a commensurate commitment quality of service is merely employing a potentially costly marketing gimmick.

The passage’s description of the issue raised by unconditional guarantees for health care or legal services most clearly implies that which of the following is true?

Seeking a competitive advantage, some professional service firms (for example, firms providing advertising, accounting, or health care services) have considered, offering unconditional guarantees of satisfaction. Such guarantees specify what clients can expect and what the firm will do if it fails to fulfil these expectations. Particularly with first-time clients, an unconditional guarantee can be effective marketing tool if the client is very cautious, the firm’s fees are high, the negative consequences of bad service are grave, or business is difficult to obtain through referrals and word-of-mouth.

However, an unconditional guarantee can sometimes hinder marketing efforts. With its implication that failure is possible, the guarantee may, paradoxically, cause clients to doubt the service firm’s ability to deliver the promised level of service. It may conflict with a Firm’s desire to appear sophisticated, or may even suggest that a firm is begging for business. In legal and health care services, it may mislead clients by suggesting that lawsuits or medical procedures will have guaranteed outcomes. Indeed, professional service firm with outstanding reputations and performance to match have little to gain from offering unconditional guarantees. And any firm that implements an unconditional guarantee without undertaking a commensurate commitment quality of service is merely employing a potentially costly marketing gimmick.

The primary function of the passage as a whole is to