Astronomer: Earlier estimates of the distances of certain stars from Earth would mean that these stars are about 1 billion years older than the universe itself, an impossible scenario. My estimates of the distances indicate that these stars are much farther away than previously thought. And the farther away the stars are, the greater their intrinsic brightness must be, given their appearance to us on Earth. So the new estimates of these stars’ distances from Earth help resolve the earlier conflict between the ages of these stars and the age of the universe.
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why does knowing these stars are farther from Earth resolve the discrepancy between their age and the age of the universe?
Objective
Any hypothesis explaining why this conflict is resolved must imply that the stars are younger than previously estimated or that the universe is older than previously estimated. Correcting the distances of these stars from Earth was enough to resolve the conflict, so the correct answer must imply that more distant stars imply an older universe or that knowing stars are more distant allows scientists to know they are younger.
A
The stars are the oldest objects yet discovered in the universe.
This does not state that the universe is older than previously estimated, nor does it provide a reason for concluding so. It remains unexplained why updating the stars’ distances resolves the apparent conflict between the age of the stars and the age of the universe.
B
The younger the universe is, the more bright stars it is likely to have.
This makes the resolution more surprising. Since the stars are more distant, they have a greater inherent brightness to achieve the same apparent brightness here on Earth. Therefore, this suggests the universe should be younger than previously estimated, not older.
C
The brighter a star is, the younger it is.
This explains why correcting the stars’ distances resolves the conflict. If the stars are more distant than believed, they must have a greater intrinsic brightness to achieve the same apparent brightness. This means they are younger than the earlier estimates suggest.
D
How bright celestial objects appear to be depends on how far away from the observer they are.
This is not enough information to explain why the conflict is resolved. It is a generalization of the astronomer’s claim that farther stars must have a greater intrinsic brightness to achieve the same apparent brightness on Earth.
E
New telescopes allow astronomers to see a greater number of distant stars.
This is irrelevant information. Improved telescopes may explain how the stars’ distances were corrected, but not how that correction resolves the conflict regarding their age.
Large nurseries -most-> guarantee disease-free plants.
If Wally’s plants is a large nursery, it probably broke its guarantee.
A
If Johnson is a commercial raspberry grower and Wally’s Plants is not a large nursery, then the shipment of raspberry plants that Johnson received was probably guaranteed to be disease-free.
B
Johnson is probably not a commercial raspberry grower if the shipment of raspberry plants that Johnson received from Wally’s Plants was not entirely as it was guaranteed to be.
C
If Johnson is not a commercial raspberry grower, then Wally’s Plants is probably not a large nursery.
D
Wally’s Plants is probably not a large, well-run nursery if it sells its raspberry plants primarily to commercial raspberry growers.
E
If Wally’s Plants is a large nursery, then the raspberry plants that Johnson received in the shipment were probably not entirely as they were guaranteed to be.
A
The drug company has invested heavily in its newest product, and losses due to this product would be harmful to the company’s profits.
B
Many new products fail whether or not they are supported by marketing campaigns.
C
The drug company should not undertake a new marketing campaign for its newest product if the campaign has no chance to succeed.
D
Undertaking a new marketing campaign would endanger the drug company’s overall position by necessitating cutbacks in existing marketing campaigns.
E
Consumer demand for the drug company’s other products has been strong in the time since the company’s newest product was introduced.
Legal commentator: The goal of a recently enacted law that bans smoking in workplaces is to protect employees from secondhand smoke. But the law is written in such a way that it cannot be interpreted as ever prohibiting people from smoking in their own homes.
Summary
A recently enacted law bans smoking in workplaces.
The law was created in order to protect employees from secondhand smoke.
The law does not ever prohibit people from smoking in their homes, and it cannot be interpreted as doing such.
Notable Valid Inferences
The law does not protect people from secondhand smoke when they are in someone else’s home.
A
The law will be interpreted in a way that is inconsistent with the intentions of the legislators who supported it.
Could be true. While we know one way that the law will not be interpreted (it will not prohibit people from smoking in their own homes), we know nothing about how it will be interpreted.
B
Supporters of the law believe that it will have a significant impact on the health of many workers.
Could be true. We have no information about what supporters of the law believe, so we can’t reach any valid conclusions about that.
C
The law offers no protection from secondhand smoke for people outside of their workplaces.
Could be true. We know that the law protects people from secondhand smoke in their workplaces, and that could very well be the only place where it offers protection.
D
Most people believe that smokers have a fundamental right to smoke in their own homes.
Could be true. The stimulus gives us no information about what most people believe, so we can’t draw any valid conclusions about that.
E
The law will protect domestic workers such as housecleaners from secondhand smoke in their workplaces.
Must be false. The law doesn’t prohibit people from smoking in their own homes, and that’s the workplace of domestic workers. So it must be false that the law will protect domestic workers from secondhand smoke in their workplaces.
Why does the author think this?
Because one possible explanation for the shrinking applicant pool is that tuition and fees are too low. It’s possible that prospective students and their parents see the low tuition/fees and think that the education they receive is not as good that provided by a university with higher tuition/fees.
A
the proposed explanation for the decline in applications applies in this case
B
the quality of a university education is dependent on the amount of tuition charged by the university
C
an increase in tuition and fees at the university would guarantee a larger applicant pool
D
there is no additional explanation for the university’s shrinking applicant pool
E
the amount charged by the university for tuition has not increased in recent years
A
One hypothesis about why fish living near coral reefs exhibit such bright colors is that the fish are camouflaged by their bright colors.
B
The fact that many species use camouflage to avoid predators is one reason to believe that brightly colored fish living near reefs do too.
C
The suggestion that the fish living around coral reefs exhibit bright colors because they are camouflaged by the reefs is mistaken.
D
A reef stripped of its fish is relatively monochromatic.
E
It turns out that the corals in a coral reef are mostly dull hues of brown and green.