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A ten-year comparison between the United States and the Soviet Union in terms of crop yields per acre revealed that when only planted acreage is compared, Soviet yields were equal to 68 percent of United States yields. When total agricultural acreage (planted acreage plus fallow acreage) is compared, however, Soviet yield was 114 percent of United States yield.

1. From the information above, which of the following can be most reliably inferred about United States and Soviet agriculture during the ten-year period?

A. A higher percentage of total agricultural acreage was fallow in the United States than in the Soviet Union.

B. The United States had more fallow acreage than planted acreage.

C. Fewer total acres of available agricultural land were fallow in the Soviet Union than in the United States.

D. The Soviet Union had more planted acreage than fallow acreage.

E. The Soviet Union produced a greater volume of crops than the United States produced.

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New methods developed in genetic research have led taxonomists to revise their views on the evolutionary relationships between many species. Traditionally the relatedness of species has been ascertained by a close comparison of their anatomy. The new methods infer the closeness of any two species’ relationship to each other directly from similarities between the species’ genetic codes.

2. Which of the following conclusions is best supported by the information?

A. The apparent degree of relatedness of some species, as determined by anatomical criteria, is not borne out by their degree of genetic similarity.

B. When they know the differences between two species’ genetic codes, taxonomists can infer what the observable anatomical differences between those species must be.

C. The degree to which individuals of the same species are anatomically similar is determined more by their genetic codes than by such environmental factors as food supply.

D. The traditional anatomical methods by which taxonomists investigated the relatedness of species are incapable of any further refinement.

E. Without the use of genetic methods, taxonomists would never be able to obtain any accurate information about species’ degrees of relatedness to one another.

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Years ago, consumers in Frieland began paying an energy tax in the form of two Frieland pennies for each unit of energy consumed that came from nonrenewable sources. Following the introduction of this energy tax, there was a steady reduction in the total yearly consumption of energy from nonrenewable sources.

3. If the statements in the passage are true, then which of the following must on the basis of them be true?

A. There was a steady decline in the yearly revenues generated by the energy tax in Frieland.

B. There was a steady decline in the total amount of energy consumed each year in Frieland.

C. There was a steady increase in the use of renewable energy source in Frieland.

D. The revenues generated by the energy tax were used to promote the use of energy from renewable sources.

E. The use of renewable energy sources in Frieland greatly increased relative to the use of nonrenewable energy sources.

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Normally, seeds of Emmenathe penduliflora stay dormant for years and germinate only when a fire burns through their habitat. Nitrogen dioxide in the smoke induces the seeds to germinate. Fires clear the bush, allowing germinating seeds to receive the sunlight they need to grow. The plants mature quickly, produce seeds, and then die. In areas with heavy automobile traffic, however, the seed germinates in the absence of fire, with automobile exhaust supplying the required nitrogen dioxide.

4. The information given, if accurate, most strongly supports which of the following hypotheses?

A. Fires in the habitat of E. penduliflora do not entirely destroy the plant's seeds even in the places where the fires burn most intensely.

B. The nitrogen dioxide in automobile exhaust cannot harm plants of E. penduliflora after germination.

C. If human intervention decreases the number of fires in the habitat of E. penduliflora, automobile exhaust can replicate the conditions the plant requires in order to thrive.

D. Within the habitat of E. penduliflora, natural fires are significantly more frequent in areas with heavy automobile traffic than they are in other areas.

E. Unless E. penduliflora seeds that have germinated can survive in the shade, automobile exhaust threatens the long-term survival of the plant in areas with heavy automobile traffic.

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The manuscript of a previously unknown ragtime piano piece recently been discovered. The manuscript is unsigned and has the notation “New York City, 1899” written on it. In 1899 Ben Harney was the New York musician most closely associated with ragtime. The style of the piece, however, is closer to that of Scott Joplin, but scholars believe that Joplin did not visit New York before 1906.

5. Form the information given, which of the following can properly be concluded?

A. If Scott Joplin wrote the piece, either he did visit New York before 1906 or the notation on the manuscript does not reflect the place and date of composition of the piece.

B. Ben Harney was stylistically influenced by Scott Joplin’s music before Joplin ever visited New York.

C. If Scott Joplin did not visit New York before 1906, then neither Ben Harney nor Scott Joplin composed the work.

D. The notation on the manuscript was intended to signify something other than the place and date of composition of the piece.

E. If the dating on the manuscript accurately reflects when and where the piece was composed, then Scott Joplin visited New York earlier than scholars have believed.

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Monarch butterflies lay their eggs hundreds of miles away from their places of origin. Each caterpillar that emerges feeds exclusively on milkweed, absorbing the glycosides that milkweed contains. Butterflies contain the glycosides they absorb as caterpillars. Research on monarch butterflies whose migration has been tracked shows that the combination of glycosides in a butterfly always exactly matches the distinctive combination of glycosides that exists in the species of milkweed in the butterfly’s place of origin.

6. If the information provided is true, which of the following is most strongly supported on the basis of it?

A. The glycosides present in a monarch caterpillar will generally match those that were present in the butterfly that laid the egg from which the caterpillar emerged.

B. Glycosides play an essential role in the biological mechanism that guides a monarch butterfly in its migration.

C. The monarch butterflies present in a given region will all contain the same specific combination of glycosides

D. A monarch butterfly does not absorb and accumulate glycosides from the milkweed of regions it reaches as a result of migration.

E. Glycosides are the only identifiable substances from milkweed that accumulate in a monarch caterpillar and are retained in the body of the butterfly after metamorphosis.

AAAEAD