Hej! Jade hade tänkt posta lite ELF liknande texter.

Texterna är träningsfrågor inför LSAT/GRE och GMAT som jag har samlat på mig. Om det är tillräckligt intressant, så hade jag tänkt att fortsätta posta texter. Det hade också varit kul att eventuellt kunna diskutera varför just vissa svar är rätt om det finns oklarheter. Själv kommer jag att nöta dessa vid sidan av gamla prov när tid finns.

Här kommer första:

The fossil remains of the first flying vertebrates, the pterosaurs, have intrigued paleontologists for more than two centuries. How such large creatures, which weighed in some cases as much as a piloted hang-glider and had wingspans from 8 to 12 meters, solved the problems of powered flight, and exactly what these creatures were—reptiles or birds—are among the questions scientists have puzzled over.

Perhaps the least controversial assertion about the pterosaurs is that they were reptiles. Their skulls, pelvises, and hind feet are reptilian. The anatomy of their wings suggests that they did not evolve into the class of birds. In pterosaurs a greatly elongated fourth finger of each forelimb supported a wing-like membrane. The other fingers were short and reptilian, with sharp claws. In birds the second finger is the principal strut of the wing, which consists primarily of feathers. If the pterosaurs walked on all fours, the three short fingers may have been employed for grasping. When a pterosaur walked or remained stationary, the fourth finger, and with it the wing, could only turn upward in an extended inverted V-shape along each side of the animal’s body.

The pterosaurs resembled both birds and bats in their overall structure and proportions. This is not surprising because the design of any flying vertebrate is subject to aerodynamic constraints. Both the pterosaurs and the birds have hollow bones, a feature that represents a savings in weight. In the birds, however, these bones are reinforced more massively by internal struts.

Although scales typically cover reptiles, the pterosaurs probably had hairy coats. T. H. Huxley reasoned that flying vertebrates must have been warm-blooded because flying implies a high rate of metabolism, which in turn implies a high internal temperature. Huxley speculated that a coat of hair would insulate against loss of body heat and might streamline the body to reduce drag in flight. The recent discovery of a pterosaur specimen covered in long, dense, and relatively thick hairlike fossil material was the first clear evidence that his reasoning was correct.

Efforts to explain how the pterosaurs became airborne have led to suggestions that they launched themselves by jumping from cliffs, by dropping from trees, or even by rising into light winds from the crests of waves. Each hypothesis has its difficulties. The first wrongly assumes that the pterosaurs’ hind feet resembled a bat’s and could serve as hooks by which the animal could hang in preparation for flight. The second hypothesis seems unlikely because large pterosaurs could not have landed in trees without damaging their wings. The third calls for high waves to channel updrafts. The wind that made such waves however, might have been too strong for the pterosaurs to control their flight once airborne.

1. It can be inferred from the passage that scientists now generally agree that the
(A) enormous wingspan of the pterosaurs enabled them to fly great distances
(B) structure of the skeleton of the pterosaurs suggests a close evolutionary relationship to bats
(C) fossil remains of the pterosaurs reveal how they solved the problem of powered flight
(D) pterosaurs were reptiles
(E) pterosaurs walked on all fours

2. The author views the idea that the pterosaurs became airborne by rising into light winds created by waves as
(A) revolutionary
(B) unlikely
(C) unassailable
(D) probable
(E) outdated

3. According to the passage, the skeleton of a pterosaur can be distinguished from that of a bird by the
(A) size of its wingspan
(B) presence of hollow spaces in its bones
(C) anatomic origin of its wing strut
(D) presence of hooklike projections on its hind feet
(E) location of the shoulder joint joining the wing to its body

4. The ideas attributed to T. H. Huxley in the passage suggest that he would most likely agree with which of the following statements?
(A) An animal’s brain size has little bearing on its ability to master complex behaviors.
(B) An animal’s appearance is often influenced by environmental requirements and physical capabilities.
(C) Animals within a given family group are unlikely to change their appearance dramatically over a period of time.
(D) The origin of flight in vertebrates was an accidental development rather than the outcome of specialization or adaptation.
(E) The pterosaurs should be classified as birds, not reptiles.

5. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is characteristic of the pterosaurs?
(A) They were unable to fold their wings when not in use.
(B) They hung upside down from branches as bats do before flight.
(C) They flew in order to capture prey.
(D) They were an early stage in the evolution of the birds.
(E) They lived primarily in a forest-like habitat.

6. Which of the following best describes the organization of the last paragraph of the passage?
(A) New evidence is introduced to support a traditional point of view.
(B) Three explanations for a phenomenon are presented, and each is disputed by means of specific information.
(C) Three hypotheses are outlined, and evidence supporting each is given.
(D) Recent discoveries are described, and their implications for future study are projected.
(E) A summary of the material in the preceding paragraphs is presented, and conclusions are drawn.

7. It can be inferred from the passage that some scientists believe that pterosaurs
(A) lived near large bodies of water
(B) had sharp teeth for tearing food
(C) were attacked and eaten by larger reptiles
(D) had longer tails than many birds
(E) consumed twice their weight daily to maintain their body temperature.

Facit: DBCBABA

Det hade varit bra om man kunde dölja facit på något sätt, men jag hittar ingen sån funktion här på sidan

Trevlig idé!

Jag tror du kan dölja facit genom att skriva det med vit text.

Det låter väldigt bra!
Uppskattar att du tar dig att posta såna värdefulla övningstexter, posta gärna fler :)Skulle man kunna få
länkar till sidor som innehåller dessa engelska
övningstexter om så finns eller har du samlat på
det lite överallt? Skulle vara oerhört tacksam

Åsnefisk skrev:Trevlig idé!

Jag tror du kan dölja facit genom att skriva det med vit text.

Tackar! Bra förslag. Fixat

barbaram skrev:Det låter väldigt bra!
Uppskattar att du tar dig att posta såna värdefulla övningstexter, posta gärna fler :)Skulle man kunna få
länkar till sidor som innehåller dessa engelska
övningstexter om så finns eller har du samlat på
det lite överallt? Skulle vara oerhört tacksam

Jag har samlat från flera olika forum, fast främst från gmatclub.com. Det finns hur mycket som helst att hitta där bara man letar. Många var dock utan facit, fast är väldigt olika. Ska försöka posta fler här allt eftersom, om folk vill. Tänker att det vore bra att ha en tråd där man kan diskutera just dessa texter och svaren om något är oklart och om folk är intresserade.

Dagens text:

Two recent publications offer different assessments of the career of the famous British nurse Florence Nightingale. A book by Anne Summers seeks to debunk the idealizations and present a reality at odds with Nightingale's heroic reputation. According to Summers Nightingale's importance during the Crimean War has been exaggerated: not until near the war's end did she become supervisor of the female nurses. Additionally, Summers writes that the contribution of the nurses to the relief of the wounded was at best marginal. The prevailing problems of military medicine were caused by army organizational practices, and the addition of a few nurses to the medical staff could be no more than symbolic. Nightingale's place in the national pantheon, Summers asserts, is largely due to the propagandistic efforts of contemporary newspaper reporters.

By contrast, the editors of a new volume of Nightingale's letters view Nightingale as a person who significantly influenced not only her own age but also subsequent generations. They highlight her ongoing efforts to reform sanitary conditions after the war. For example, when she learned that peacetime living conditions in British barracks were so horrible that the death rate of enlisted men far exceeded that of neighboring civilian populations, she succeeded in persuading the government to establish a Royal Commission on the Health of the Army. She used sums raised through public contributions to found a nurses' training hospital in London. Even in administrative matters, the editors assert her practical intelligence was formidable: as recently as 1947 the British Army's medical services were still using the cost-accounting system she had devised in the 1860's.

I believe that the evidence of her letters supports continued respect for Nightingale's brilliance and creativity. When counseling a village schoolmaster to encourage children to use their faculties of observation she sounds like a modern educator. Her insistence on classifying the problems of the needy in order to devise appropriate treatments is similar to the approach of modern social workers. In sum, although Nightingale may not have achieved all other goals during the Crimean War, her breadth of vision and ability to realize ambitious projects have earned her an eminent place among the ranks of social pioneers.

1. The passage is primarily concerned with evaluating
(A) the importance of Florence Nightingale's innovations in the field of nursing
(B) contrasting approaches to the writing of historical biography
(C) contradictory accounts of Florence Nightingale's historical significance
(D) the quality of health care in nineteenth-century England
(E) the effect of the Crimean War on developments in the field of health care

2. According to the passage, the editors of Nightingale's letters credit her with contributing to which of the following?
(A) Improvement of the survival rate for soldiers in British Army hospitals during the Crimean War
(B) The development of a nurses' training curriculum that was far in advance of its day
(C) The increase in the number of women doctors practicing in British Army hospitals
(D) Establishment of the first facility for training nurses at a major British university
(E) The creation of an organization for monitoring the peacetime living conditions of British soldiers

3. The passage suggests which of the following about Nightingale's relationship with the British public of her day?
(A) She was highly respected, her projects receiving popular and governmental support.
(B) She encountered resistance both from the army establishment and the general public.
(C) She was supported by the working classes and opposed by the wealthier classes.
(D) She was supported by the military establishment but had to fight the governmental bureaucracy.
(E) After initially being received with enthusiasm, she was quickly forgotten.

4. The passage suggests which of the following about sanitary conditions in Britain after the Crimean War?
(A) While not ideal, they were superior to those in other parts of the world.
(B) Compared with conditions before the war, they had deteriorated.
(C) They were more advanced in rural areas than in the urban centers.
(D) They were worse in military camps than in the neighboring civilian populations.
(E) They were uniformly crude and unsatisfactory throughout England.

5. With which of the following statements regarding the differing interpretations of Nightingale's importance would the author most likely agree?
(A) Summers misunderstood both the importance of Nightingale's achievements during the Crimean War and her subsequent influence on British policy.
(B) The editors of Nightingale's letters made some valid points about her practical achievements but they still exaggerated her influence on subsequent generations.
(C) Although Summers' account of Nightingale's role in the Crimean War may be accurate, she ignored evidence of Nightingale's subsequent achievement that suggests that her reputation as an eminent social reformer is well deserved.
(D) The editors of Nightingale's letters mistakenly propagated the outdated idealization of Nightingale that only impedes attempts to arrive at a balanced assessment of her true role.
(E) The evidence of Nightingale's letters supports Summers' conclusions both about Nightingale's activities and about her influence.

6. Which of the following is an assumption underlying the author's assessment of Nightingale's creativity?
(A) Educational philosophy in Nightingale's day did not normally emphasize developing children's ability to observe.
(B) Nightingale was the first to notice the poor living conditions in British military barracks in peacetime.
(C) No educator before Nightingale had thought to enlist the help of village schoolmasters in introducing new teaching techniques.
(D) Until Nightingale began her work, there was no concept of organized help for the needy in nineteenth-century Britain.
(E) The British army's medical services had no cost- accounting system until Nightingale devised one in the 1860's.

7. In the last paragraph, the author is primarily concerned with
(A) summarizing the arguments about Nightingale presented in the first two paragraphs
(B) refuting the view of Nightingale's career presented in the preceding paragraph
(C) analyzing the weaknesses of the evidence presented elsewhere in the passage
(D) citing evidence to support a view of Nightingale's career
(E) correcting a factual error occurring in one of the works under review

Facit: CEADCAD

Här kommer en tung!

Utilitarian models of the state, subordinating individual rights to a calculus of maximum social welfare, have long been a de facto orthodoxy among political philosophers. Yet they run counter to the basic liberal concept of fairness, which deeply characterizes the intuitive American response to injustice, and provide succor to those who espouse radical solutions to social problems—socialism on the one hand and the new conservatism on the other. Those comfortable with these dogmas should take note of the philosophical revival of the once discarded notion of the social contract. This idea receives its fullest exposition in John Rawls's "A Theory of Justice."

Rather than adopt Rousseau's vision of naturalman—a picture almost impossible to conjure up in the face of more recent scientific knowledge—the new contractarians postulate a group of rational men and women gathered for the purpose of elucidating a concept of justice which will guide their affairs. They further assume that these people make their decision behind a veil of ignorance; that is, they are totally ignorant for now of their position in society—their race, their gender, their place in the social order. Yet the principles at which they arrive will bind them once the veil is lifted.

Starting from this original position, it can be logically demonstrated that rational beings would arrive at a decision ensuring the maximum possible justice and liberty for even the meanest member of society. Thus, freedom of speech, for example, would be inviolable, whereas the utilitarian could easily justify its abridgment for a greater social good. Second, social and economic inequality, which are the inevitable result of the lottery of birth, should be arranged such that they inhere in offices and stations in life available to all and thus are, by consensus, seen to be to everyone's advantage. Injustice, then, is defined as an unequal distribution of good things, with liberty being first among them.

While it can be and has been argued that the blind choosers envisioned by the new contractarians might well choose to gamble on the outcome of the social order, such arguments are ultimately lacking in interest. The point of the contractarian view does not lie in what real people "would" do in an admittedly impossible situation. Rather, it is to provide an abstract model that is intuitively satisfactory because, in fact, it corresponds to the ideas of "fairness" so deeply rooted in the American national psyche.

1. The author most likely wrote this passage primarily to
(A) outline and defend a contractarian view of justice
(B) propose an alternative to radical solutions to social problems
(C) compare the utilitarian and contractarian theories
(D) explore the political theory of John Rawls
(E) resurrect the idea of the social contract

2. Which of the following is an assumption of the contractarian model, as presented by the author?
(A) The decision makers act before acquiring any place in the social order.
(B) All members of the contracting group will place a high value on personal liberty.
(C) Justice can only be secured by ensuring that all positions in the social order have equal power and status.
(D) The contracting parties will seek to safeguard their own liberties at the expense of the rights of others.
(E) The members of society will accept restrictions on personal autonomy in order to gain peace and security.

3. The author implies that a party to the social contract who "chose to gamble on the outcome of the social order" would select a principle of justice
(A) allowing an unequal access to liberty and other social goods
(B) based on equalization of material conditions and unequal personal liberty
(C) based on the greatest possible equalization of both personal freedom and material circumstances
(D) that explicitly denied inherent inequalities among the members of society
(E) that valued the benefit of society in the aggregate over the freedom of the individual

4. It can be inferred that the author feels the ideas of John Rawls are relevant today because
(A) they represent an assault on an entrenched academic orthodoxy
(B) they present, in contrast to utilitarianism, an ethically-based concept of justice
(C) they outline a view of justice which results in the maximum possible liberty for all
(D) utilitarian ideas have led to social philosophies with which the author disagrees
(E) new evidence has strengthened the idea of the social contract

Facit: AAAC

Engineer Hans Monderman (1945-2008) became well-known for his 2001 project in the Dutch city of Drachten.
At the town center, in a crowded four-way intersection, Monderman removed not only the traffic lights but almost
every other traffic control. Instead of a space cluttered with poles, lights, “traffic islands,” and restrictive arrows,
he installed a radical type of roundabout—vaguely resembling a town square—marked only by a central, raised circle
of grass, several fountains, and discreet traffic indicators required by law. A year later, not only had congestion
decreased—buses spent less time waiting to get through, for example—but there were half as many accidents, even
though total car traffic was up by a third. Instead of a mechanistic stop-and-go process, the movement of traffic
and pedestrians in the circle was more cooperative and smooth, and studies showed that bothdrivers and cyclists
were signaling more often.

While Monderman conceded that such systems could only be installed after careful study of traffic volume, intersection
geometry, and the mix of pedestrians, cyclists, and cars, he believed the best way to change people's driving behavior
was to change their conception of time, and the best way to do that was to change context. In the mid-1980s, he was
dispatched to the Dutch town of Oudehaske to check traffic speed through the small town's center, which had become
extremely dangerous. Rather than installing traffic lights or traffic calming devices such as speed bumps, warning signs,
or other highly visible interventions, Monderman suggested that Oudehaske's center simply be made more villagelike.

The interventions were subtle. Signs were removed, curbs were torn out, and asphalt was replaced with red paving brick
and gray gutters on either side that were slightly concave but usable by cars. The plan worked; drivers slowed.
Rather than clarity and segregation, Monderman had created confusion and ambiguity.
Unsure what space belonged to them, drivers became more accommodating. Rather than give drivers a simple behavioral
mandate, he had, through the new road design, subtly suggested the proper course of action. The main road now looked
like a narrow lane in a village, not a trafficway through some anonymous town.

1. By stating that Monderman created “confusion and ambiguity” (see highlighted text), the author primarily seeks to
A. acknowledge a popular criticism of Monderman's design for the town
B. contrast the means by which Monderman accomplished his goals in Drachten and Oudehaske
C. sum up a major aspect of Monderman's approach in his roadway design for the town
D. identify a tendency of drivers that Monderman sought to overcome in his design for the town
E. explain why Monderman thought that changing people's “conception of time” was the best way to change people's
driving behavior

2. The passage is primarily concerned with
A. arguing for particular changes to long-standing practices in traffic planning
B. examining the approach of a particular person to particular problems in traffic planning
C. illustrating how recent findings have influenced practices in traffic planning
D. describing how the work of a particular person radically changed the way traffic planning is conducted
E. acknowledging the shortcomings of current practices in traffic planning

3. The passage mentions that, while car traffic had increased significantly a year after Monderman redesigned the
intersection in Drachten,
A. drivers perceived the area surrounding the intersection to be more villagelike
B. fewer cyclists and pedestrians found the need to use the intersection
C. most people felt safer while negotiating the intersection
D. buses were able to get through the intersection more quickly
E. motorists drove more slowly while negotiating the intersection

4. The passage most strongly suggests that Monderman did which of the following?
A. Worked to have certain traffic laws changed to accommodate some of his projects
B. Tried to reduce the amount of total traffic at the sites of his projects
C. Carefully studied on-site traffic-flow dynamics prior to proceeding with any of his projects
D. Placed more emphasis on the concerns of cyclists and pedestrians than on motorists in the design of his projects
E. Took into account the stated preferences of users of the roads involved in his projects

Facit: CBDC

New observations about the age of some globular
clusters in our Milky Way galaxy have cast doubt on a
long-held theory about how the galaxy was formed.
The Milky Way contains about 125 globular clusters (com-
(5) pact groups of anywhere from several tens of thousands
to perhaps a million stars) distributed in a roughly
spherical halo around the galactic nucleus. The stars in
these clusters are believed to have been born during the
formation of the galaxy, and so may be considered relics
(10) of the original galactic nebula, holding vital clues to the
way the formation took place.
The conventional theory of the formation of the galaxy
contends that roughly 12 to 13 billion years ago the
Milky Way formed over a relatively short time (about
(15) 200 million years) when a spherical cloud of gas col-
lapsed under the pressure of its own gravity into a disc
surrounded by a halo. Such a rapid formation of the
galaxy would mean that all stars in the halo should be
very nearly the same age.
(20) However, the astronomer Michael Bolte has found
considerable variation in the ages of globular clusters.
One of the clusters studied by Bolte is 2 billion years
older than most other clusters in the galaxy, while
another is 2 billion years younger. A colleague of Bolte
(25) contends that the cluster called Palomar 12 is 5 billion years
younger than most other globular clusters.
To explain the age differences among the globular
clusters, astronomers are taking a second look at
“renegade” theories. One such newly fashionable theory,
(30) first put forward by Richard Larson in the early 1970's,
argues that the halo of the Milky Way formed over a
period of a billion or more years as hundreds of small
gas clouds drifted about, collided, lost orbital energy,
and finally collapsed into a centrally condensed elliptical
(35) system. Larson's conception of a “lumpy and turbulent”
protogalaxy is complemented by computer modeling
done in the 1970's by mathematician Alan Toomre,
which suggests that closely interacting spiral galaxies
could lose enough orbital energy to merge into a single
galaxy.

1. The passage is primarily concerned with discussing
(A) the importance of determining the age of globular clusters in assessing when the Milky Way galaxy was formed
(B) recent changes in the procedures used by astronomers to study the formation of the Milky Way galaxy
(C) current disputes among astronomers regarding the size and form of the Milky Way galaxy
(D) the effect of new discoveries regarding globular clusters on theories about the formation of the Milky Way galaxy
(E) the origin, nature, and significance of groups of stars known as globular clusters

2. According to the passage, one way in which Larson's theory and the conventional theory of the formation of the Milky Way galaxy differ is in their assessment of the
(A) amount of time it took to form the galaxy
(B) size of the galaxy immediately after its formation
(C) the particular gases involved in the formation the galaxy
(D) importance of the age of globular clusters in determining how the galaxy was formed
(E) shape of the halo that formed around the galaxy

3. Which of the following, if true, would be most useful in supporting the conclusions drawn from recent observations about globular clusters?
(A) There is firm evidence that the absolute age of the Milky Way galaxy is between 10 and 17 billion years.
(B) A survey reveals that a galaxy close to the Milky Way galaxy contains globular clusters of ages close to the age of Palomar 12.
(C) A mathematical model proves that small gas clouds move in regular patterns.
(D) Space probes indicate that the stars in the Milky Way galaxy are composed of several different types of gas.
(E) A study of over 1,500 individual stars in the halo of the Milky Way galaxy indicates wide discrepancies in their ages.

4. If Bolte and his colleague are both correct, it can be inferred that the globular cluster Palomar 12 is approximately
(A) 5 billion years younger than any other cluster in the galaxy
(B) the same age as most other clusters in the galaxy
(C) 7 billion years younger than another cluster in the galaxy
(D) 12 billion years younger than most other clusters in the galaxy
(E) 2 billion years younger than most other clusters in the galaxy

5. The passage suggests that Toomre's work complements Larson's theory because it
(A) specifies more precisely the time frame proposed by Larson
(B) subtly alters Larson's theory to make it more plausible
(C) supplements Larson's hypothesis with direct astronomical observations
(D) provides theoretical support for the ideas suggested by Larson
(E) expands Larson's theory to make it more widely applicable

6. Which of the following most accurately states a finding of Bolte's research, as described in the passage?
(A) The globular clusters in the Milky Way galaxy are 2 billion years older than predicted by the conventional theory.
(B) The ages of at least some globular clusters in the Milky Way galaxy differ by at least 4 billion years.
(C) One of the globular clusters in the Milky Way galaxy is 5 billion years younger than most others.
(D) The globular clusters in the Milky Way galaxy are significantly older than the individual stars in the halo.
(E) Most globular clusters in the Milky Way galaxy are between 11 and 15 billion years old.

7. The author of the passage puts the word "renegade" (line 29) in quotation marks most probably in order to
(A) emphasize the lack of support for the theories in question
(B) contrast the controversial quality of the theories in question with the respectable character of their formulators
(C) generate skepticism about the theories in question
(D) ridicule the scientists who once doubted the theories in question
(E) indicate that the theories in question are no longer as unconventional as they once seemed

Facit: DAECDBE