"Fast cycle time" is a strategy of designing a manufacturing organization to eliminate

bottlenecks and delays in production. Not only does it speed up production, but it also assures
quality. The reason is that the bottlenecks and delays cannot be eliminated unless all work is done
right the first time.

The claim about quality made above rests on a questionable presupposition that

1. any flaw in work on a product would cause a bottleneck or delay and so would be prevented
from occurring on a "fast cycle" production line
2. the strategy of "fast cycle time" would require fundamental rethinking of product design
3. the primary goal of the organization is to produce a product of unexcelled quality, rather than
to generate profits for stockholders
4. "fast cycle time" could be achieved by shaving time off each of the component processes in a
production cycle
5. "fast cycle time" is a concept in business strategy that has not yet been put into practice in a
factory
If the airspace around centrally located airports were restricted to commercial airliners and
only those private planes equipped with radar, most of the private-plane traffic would be
forced to use outlying airfields. Such a reduction in the amount of private-plane traffic would
reduce the risk of midair collision around the centrally located airports.

The conclusion drawn in the first sentence depends on which of the following assumptions?

1. Outlying airfields would be as convenient as centrally located airports for most pilots of
private planes.
2. Most outlying airfields are not equipped to handle commercial-airline traffic.
3. Most private planes that use centrally located airports are not equipped with radar.
4. Commercial airliners are at greater risk of becoming involved in midair collisions than are
private planes
5. A reduction in the risk of midair collision would eventually lead to increases in commercial
airline traffic.
According to the new office smoking regulations, only employees who have enclosed offices
may smoke at their desks. Virtually all employees with enclosed offices are at the professional level,
and virtually all secretarial employees lack enclosed offices. Therefore, secretaries who smoke
should be offered enclosed offices.

Which of the following is an assumption that enables the conclusion above to be properly drawn?

1. Employees at the professional level who do not smoke should keep their enclosed offices.
2. Employees with enclosed offices should not smoke at their desks, even though the new
regulations permit them to do so.
3. Employees at the secretarial level should be allowed to smoke at their desks, even if they do not
have enclosed offices.
4. The smoking regulations should allow all employees who smoke an equal opportunity to do so,
regardless of an employee's job level.
5. The smoking regulations should provide equal protection from any hazards associated with
smoking to all employees who do not smoke.
A compelling optical illusion called the illusion of velocity and size makes objects appear
to be moving more slowly the larger the objects are. Therefore, a motorist's estimate of
the time available for crossing a highway with a small car approaching is bound to be
lower than it would be with a large truck approaching.

The conclusion above would be more properly drawn if it were made clear that the

1. truck's speed is assumed to be lower than the car's

2. truck's speed is assumed to be the same as the car's
3. truck's speed is assumed to be higher than the car's
4. motorist's estimate of time available is assumed to be more accurate with cars
approaching than with trucks approaching
5. motorist's estimate of time available is assumed to be more accurate with trucks
approaching than with cars approaching
Networks of blood vessels in bats’ wings serve only to disperse heat generated in flight. This heat is
generated only because bats flap their wings. Thus paleontologists’ recent discovery that the winged
dinosaur Sandactylus had similar networks of blood vessels in the skin of its wings provides evidence
for the hypothesis that Sandactylus flew by flapping its wings, not just by gliding.

The argument in the passage relies on which of the following assumptions?

1. Sandactylus would not have had networks of blood vessels in the skin of its wings if these networks
were of no use to Sandactylus.
2. All creatures that fly by flapping their wings have networks of blood vessels in the skin of their
wings.
3. Winged dinosaurs that flapped their wings in flight would have been able to fly more effectively
than winged dinosaurs that could only glide.
4. If Sandactylus flew by flapping its wings, then paleontologists would certainly be able to find some
evidence that it did so.
5. Heat generated by Sandactylus in flapping its wings in flight could not have been dispersed by
anything other than the blood vessels in its wings.
If the county continues to collect residential trash at current levels, landfills will soon be
overflowing and parkland will need to be used in order to create more space. Charging each
household a fee for each pound of trash it puts out for collection will induce residents to
reduce the amount of trash they create; this charge will therefore protect the remaining county
parkland.

Which of the following is an assumption made in drawing the conclusion above?

1. Residents will reduce the amount of trash they put out for collection by reducing the
number of products they buy.
2. The collection fee will not significantly affect the purchasing power of most residents, even
if their households do not reduce the amount of trash they put out.
3. The collection fee will not induce residents to dump their trash in the parklands illegally.
4. The beauty of county parkland is an important issue for most of the county’s residents.
5. Landfills outside the county’s borders could be used as dumping sites for the county’s trash.
Although computers can enhance people’s ability to communicate, computer games are a cause
of underdeveloped communication skills in children. After-school hours spent playing computer
games are hours not spent talking with people. Therefore, children who spend all their spare time
playing these games have less experience in interpersonal communication than other children have.

The argument depends on which of the following assumptions?

1. Passive activities such as watching television and listening to music do not hinder the
development of communication skills in children.
2. Most children have other opportunities, in addition to after-school hours, in which they can
choose whether to play computer games or to interact with other people.
3. Children who do not spend all of their after-school hours playing computer games spend at least
some of that time talking with other people.
4. Formal instruction contributes little or nothing to children’s acquisition of communication skills.
5. The mental skills developed through playing computer games do not contribute significantly to
children’s intellectual development.
Although there is no record of poet Edmund Spenser’s parentage, we do know that as a youth Spenser
attended the Merchant Tailors’ School in London for a period between 1560 and 1570. Records from this
time indicate that the Merchant Tailors’ Guild then had only three members named Spenser: Robert
Spenser, listed as a gentleman; Nicholas Spenser, elected the Guild’s Warden in 1568; and John Spenser,
listed as a “journeyman cloth-maker.” Of these, the last was likely the least affluent of the three—and
most likely Edmund’s father, since school accounting records list Edmund as a scholar who attended the
school at a reduced fee.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
1. Anybody in sixteenth century London who made clothing professionally would have had to be a
member of the Merchant Tailors’ Guild.
2. The fact that Edmund Spenser attended the Merchant Tailors’ School did not necessarily mean that he
planned to become a tailor.
3. No member of the Guild could become Guild warden in sixteenth century London unless he was a
gentleman.
4. Most of those whose fathers were members of the Merchant Tailors’ Guild were students at the
Merchant Tailors’ School.
5. The Merchant Tailors’ School did not reduce its fees for the children of the more affluent Guild
members.
Economist: The most economically efficient way to reduce emissions of air pollutants is to
tax them in proportion to the damage they are likely to cause. But in Country Y, many
serious pollutants are untaxed and unregulated, and policy makers strongly oppose new
taxes. Therefore, the best way to achieve a reduction in air pollutant emissions in Country Y
would be to institute fixed upper limits on them.
Which of the following is an assumption of the economist’s argument?
1. Policy makers in Country Y oppose all new taxes equally strongly, regardless of any
benefits they may provide.
2. Country Y’s air pollutant emissions would not fall significantly if they were taxed in
proportion to the damage they are likely to cause.
3. Policy makers in Country Y strongly favor reductions in air pollutant emissions.
4. Country Y’s policy makers believe that air pollutant emissions should be reduced with
maximum economic efficiency.
5. Policy makers in Country Y do not oppose setting fixed upper limits on air pollutant
emissions as strongly as they oppose new taxes.
Airport official: Local residents have been complaining that night lights into Plainsville airport
disturb their sleep and should be sharply reduced in number. This complaint is completely
unreasonable— there have been night flights coming into the airport from the very beginning,
twenty years ago, and these residents should have taken that fact into account when buying
their homes.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the airport official’s argument depends?

• There are fewer night flights now than there were originally.
• The residents who are complaining have been in their current homes fewer than twenty
years.
• The residents who are complaining are ignoring the benefits they gain from the presence of
the airport.
• The economic success of the airport depends entirely on the existence of the night flights.
• People buying houses in Plainville all avoid buying houses near the airport if they can.