MOST DIFFICULT CR QUESTIONS OF GMAT CLUB TESTS

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I bought the GMAT Club tests, with which we receive access to 8 Verbal Computer-Adaptive tests. Here are the most difficult of the Verbal questions, as I have made a list of the difficult CR questions.

A negative review of a popular restaurant claimed that the wait staff was rude and the food was overpriced. This review caused sales to drop precipitously which, in turn, forced the original owners to sell the business. The new owners revised the menu and dismissed most of the wait staff. After three months, however, sales had improved by less than 1%.
Which of the following, if true, forms the best basis for at least a partial explanation of why sales at the restaurant have not improved?

The new owners could not determine who were the rudest members of the wait staff.

New menu items offered by the new owners are now more affordable.

The new owners neglected to advertise the fact that the restaurant is now under new management.

The new owners began managing the restaurant during the summer, when sales are unusually high.

Another restaurant with similarly-priced menu items opened across the street.



Some people believe that gaining wealth is due to luck. However, research from many institutions worldwide indicates a strong correlation between gaining wealth and high educational levels. Thus research supports the view that gaining wealth is largely the result of making informed career and business choices.
The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that the argument ______________

presumes, without providing justification that only highly educated people make informed career and business choices.

overlooks the possibility that people who make informed career and business choices may nonetheless belong to a poor family.

presumes, without providing justification, that informed career and business choices are available to everyone.

overlooks the possibility that the same thing may causally contribute both to education and to gaining wealth.

does not acknowledge that some people who fail to make informed career and business choices have gained wealth



Twenty years ago, Bangladesh put in place regulations requiring operators of surface mines to pay for the reclamation of mined-out land. Since then, reclamation technology has not improved. Yet, the average reclamation cost for a surface coal mine being reclaimed today is only four takas per ton of coal that the mine produced, less than half what it cost to reclaim surface mines in the years immediately after the regulations took effect. Which of the following, if true, most helps to account for the drop in reclamation costs described?

Even after Bangladesh began requiring surface mine operators to pay reclamation costs, coal mines in Bangladesh continued to be less expensive to operate than coal mines in almost any other country.

In the twenty years since the regulations took effect, the use of coal as a fuel has declined from the level it was at in the previous twenty years.

Mine operators have generally ceased surface mining in the mountainous areas of Bangladesh because reclamation costs per ton of coal produced are particularly high for mines in such areas.

Even after Bangladesh began requiring surface mine operators to pay reclamation costs, surface mines continued to produce coal at a lower total cost than underground mines.

As compared to twenty years ago, a greater percentage of the coal mined in Bangladesh today comes from surface mines.



Mark-to-market accounting, a bookkeeping technique by which estimated future revenue is counted as money in hand, can be used to make a company appear more profitable. This is especially true for large corporations in the utility and energy sectors, where multi-million dollar contracts are often signed for services that will not be delivered for several years. Corporate executives are then able to quote large annual revenue figures to stockholders, even when actual cash flow is almost nonexistent.
Based on the information above, which of the following could most properly be concluded about companies that use mark-to-market accounting?

Executives routinely exaggerate the net worth of these companies by millions of dollars a year.

Mark-to-market accounting, though dangerous, is a necessity in corporations which contract for services that will not be delivered until a later date.

Executives of these companies are all dishonest and seek to deceive shareholders.

Information in addition to quoted annual revenue figures is needed in order to tell how profitable a company really is.

These companies will eventually collapse when the difference between reported annual revenue and cash flow has grown too great.



Our lethargic city center will not be adequately revitalized simply by expanding residential space in the form of high-priced condominiums, but must be aided by incentives for investment in small businesses. The revenue generated by condominium sales may indeed be helpful, but our expectations for economic growth can not be one-sided, nor can the residents of these so called "luxury living spaces" be expected to subsist without service industries operating within a reasonable distance. The city council must be aggressive in drawing new restaurants, laundries, childcare facilities, and the like to the city center - or the revitalization project will certainly fail.
Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the argument that incentives for small businesses must be part of the city's revitalization project?

A case study of a similarly-sized city that traces the positive contributions of small businesses to urban renewal.

A petition from a citizens' group supporting incentives for small business in the city center.

A 100% sale rate for the most expensive condominiums in city center neighborhoods.

An article arguing that abundant, comfortable housing for young professionals is necessary for urban renewal.

A professor at a local university argues that encouraging small business in the city center will drain the resources available for renewal.



In an experiment involving taste, researchers had participants try two versions of a cola, one regular and another, called "cola extra," to which a secret ingredient had been added. The researchers found that, when the tasters did not know that the secret ingredient was white vinegar, they preferred "cola extra" by a margin of almost two to one. However, when tasters were told the identity of the secret ingredient before drinking, they preferred the cola without vinegar 98% of the time.
Which of the following, if true, forms the best basis for an explanation of this outcome?

Most consumers are excited by the possibility of tasting a "secret ingredient" and will always prefer that choice.

For most consumers, expectation strongly influences the ability to accurately distinguish flavors.

Most cola drinkers prefer beverages without vinegar, even when they do not know vinegar is present.

Researchers skewed results by telling participants in the second group what the secret ingredient was.

The first group of taste testers was disproportionately composed of people who enjoy the taste of vinegar