1. People who are vegetarian or vegan tend to live longer than meat eaters. If we want to live longer, we should give up eating meat. Which one of the following best expresses a flaw in the above argument?
2. The UK government continues to spend more than it raises through taxation. The shortfall is made up through borrowing in the form of bonds paid for by tax revenues in the future. But, since it is unfair to saddle future generations with our debts, we must streamline public finances and only fund institutions and programmes that promise a financial return. In light of this, government should drastically reduce spending on the arts. Every year about £450 million of taxpayers’ money is given to artists and art programmes to encourage creativity. Many of these applicants and beneficiaries probably can’t find anyone to buy their modern sculptures or installations. Arts funding represents an indulgence we can no longer afford in the age of austerity. Which one of the following, if true, most weakens the above argument?
3. Internet abuse directed at female journalists has received a great deal of attention recently. There is a common assumption that the targets of such vile behaviour are overwhelmingly women abused because they are women. However, there was little reaction to recent reports that male public figures get more online abuse than their female counterparts. Male politicians fare especially badly, receiving more than six times as much abuse as female politicians. The only occupational category in which women get more online abuse than men is journalism: abusive messages account for over five per cent of those sent to female journalists and TV presenters and fewer than two per cent of those sent to male journalists. Which one of the following is a conclusion that can be drawn from the above passage?
4. There is increasing evidence that sitting for long periods can be associated with a number of health problems. It can lead to obesity and diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases are twice as likely to affect people with sedentary jobs as those who stand while working. People with sedentary jobs should thus do everything they can to minimise these risks. Although daily exercise alleviates the problem, it is not sufficient. Researchers believe that this is because periods of intense exercise after work cannot counteract the damage caused by sitting without interruption all day. Those with sedentary jobs should interrupt sitting whenever possible, doing light exercise at hourly intervals, both inside and outside the workplace. Which one of the following best expresses the main conclusion of the above argument?
5. There are two reasons to argue: one is to score a victory at all costs, the other to reach some agreement even if that means a respectful agreement to differ. Politicians instinctively argue to win, to the extent that anything an opponent says must be interpreted as wrong or stupid or both. But this is the opposite of good, honest debate. The right way to respond to an opponent’s argument, even when your aim is to oppose it, is to acknowledge its best and strongest points, because that is how you would wish your arguments to be received and interpreted by your opponents. Only on that basis can a fair outcome be achieved, whoever wins. Which one of the following applies the same general principle as the above argument?
6. A recent study on runners in Denmark has provided new evidence that we should do all things in moderation. The research tracked health outcomes for 800 runners divided into three categories: 500 who regularly jogged slowly for modest distances; 250 who achieved moderate exercise levels through running; and 50 endurance runners who had exercised strenuously for many years. Ten years into the study, the researchers found that two of the endurance runners had died. This death rate was much higher than for the groups who took light and moderate exercise. Cardiologists explain that, while light to moderate exercise is extremely beneficial, decades of very strenuous exercise can actually damage the heart. Which one of the following expresses the flaw in the above argument?
7. A study of the language in a million reviews of 6,500 US restaurants and their menus found that the length of words in menus and reviews directly correlate with the prices of food offered. Upmarket places filled their menus with terms such as 'tonnarelli' and 'bastilla'. While cheaper places had 'decaf' and 'sides', the finer restaurants used 'decaffeinated' and 'accompaniments'. The study also found that reviews of expensive establishments used longer words and expressions like 'delightful' and 'extraordinary', while when describing cheaper places people would use shorter words, like 'nice' and 'cool'. Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the above argument?
8. Anyone who has played poker can appreciate how difficult it is to detect a liar. Technology doesn't help very much, and few experts have confidence in the polygraph (the 'lie-detector' machine). When it was first invented in the twentieth century, the polygraph was quickly popularised by newspapers and novels. However, what it detects is fear, not lying. The physiological responses that it measures (usually heart rate, skin conductivity, and rate of respiration) don't necessarily accompany dishonesty. Which one of the following can be drawn as a conclusion from the above passage?
9. Doing things which are motivated simply by a concern for others is one clear way in which mankind distinguishes itself from animals. Morally, then, we should help others less fortunate than ourselves. People in rich countries, for example, can provide aid for people in poorer countries who face hardships and injustice, often caused or compounded by the actions and decisions of rich countries themselves. This duty supersedes any temporary financial problems richer countries face, or any cynical calculation of why it might be in the richer countries' interests to help. Rich countries should always help poorer countries. Which one of the following is an assumption underlying the above argument?
10. Crash tests have shown that bigger cars are more robust and are thus more likely to protect their passengers in an accident. It is also widely known that bigger cars usually have much bigger engines than smaller ones. This means that the size of the engine positively affects the safety of a car. Which one of the following expresses the flaw in the above argument?
11. I live in London, but my brother lives in New York, where the local time is 5 hours behind British time. My sister lives in Hong Kong, where the local time is 8 hours ahead of British time. I spoke to both of them on the telephone today. My brother told me it was 9 am in New York when he rang me, and my sister said it was 9 pm in Hong Kong when she called. What was the time interval between the start of the two calls?
12. I am a member of a book club from which I buy books by mail order. At the start of last year, I owed the club €10. I paid €50 during the course of that year. At the end of last year, I owed €8. Apart from the price of the books, no additional charges are made. What was the value of the books I bought from the book club last year?
13. The village hall has just set up a toy library where parents can borrow toys for their children for a certain period of time. It is only open on Saturday mornings and parents may borrow toys from their stock of 50 for 1, 2 or 3 weeks. On the first four weeks, the toy library lends 40, 13, 8 and 12 toys. No toys were returned late. What is the lowest number of toys the library could have in stock at the end of the fourth Saturday?
14. Two people were asked to think about their ages, add them together and then give the sum as the answer. The younger one gave the answer as 11 and the older one gave the answer as 102. Both were incorrect: one of these two people had subtracted one age from the other, while the other had multiplied them together. What is the age of the older person?
15. The table below gives information about five different types of vehicle. Which type of vehicle can travel the furthest distance on a full tank of fuel before needing to refuel?
16. To decide which House at Three Oaks School should be awarded the annual House Competitive Shield, the results of the Winter and Summer Sports Competitions were added to the results of the Track and Field Competitions on Sports Day. The winning team in each category was awarded 30 marks, the second 20 marks, and the third 10 marks. The last team got nothing. In an attempt to improve student behaviour, the Principal decided that good and bad conduct marks would be included in the calculation for the House Shield, with bad conduct marks being subtracted from their overall score. The results were as follows. What difference did the inclusion of good and bad conduct marks make to the result of the competition?
17. A care home needs to have regular carpet cleaning throughout the year. Some areas of the home need a more frequent clean. Carpet cleaning can only be scheduled for the months of January, April, July and October. During the month of July, the carpet cleaning-company has a discounted price for carpet cleaning. The aim is to schedule cleaning so that the lowest possible cost for the year can be achieved. What is the lowest yearly cost of cleaning the carpets in the care home?
18. The diagram below shows an example of how a square can be divided into two equal halves:
Non rispondere
19. This table shows a summary of the amounts paid into, and the withdrawals from, my savings account during each of the last six months.
Non rispondere
20. I have a very old die. It WAS a conventional die, in which the total of the spots on opposite faces is always seven, but a number of spots are now missing. These are three views of the die as it is now. How many spots are missing from my die?
21. In geological terms, what does the term 'Ring of Fire' commonly refer to?
22. Which one of the following politicians was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature?
1 di 3 23. Which of the following statements about monoclonal antibodies are correct?
They react against a single specific region of an antigen. They are secreted by descendants of single B cells. They are secreted by descendants of single T cells. They are produced artificially in a laboratory. Non rispondere 24. Which statement about biological processes is correct?
25. Which of the following types of cells contain both DNA molecules and a nucleolus?
Mature red blood cell Motor neuron Staphylococcus aureus Non rispondere 26. During which cell cycle phase does DNA replication occur?
27. A polysaccharide (X) is formed by the joining of individual sub-units (Y) through the formation of bonds (Z). Which row correctly identifies polysaccharide X, sub-unit Y and bond Z?
28. Which chart correctly illustrates the glucose concentration in the ascending limb of the loop of Henlé and the distal convoluted tubule of a nephron from a healthy human?
29. A student described three different microscopic structures distinguished by their nucleic acid.
Structure 1 contains nucleic acid inside a capsid. This structure has no ribosomes and no cytoplasm. Structure 2 has one circular chromosome made of a double strand of DNA. This structure also has a cell wall, ribosomes and mitochondria. Structure 3 has many coiled chromosomes made of double strands of DNA and protein. This structure also has mitochondria, ribosomes and endoplasmic reticulum. The student made one error when writing the description.
Which of the following is the error?
Non rispondere 30. Which of the following enzymes are NOT found in a retrovirus such as HIV?
DNA ligase Protease Reverse transcriptase Restriction enzyme Non rispondere 31. In a series of five experiments, plant cells containing cell sap of different concentrations were placed in contact with each other as shown in the diagrams. Which of the following statements about movement of liquid between the cells is correct?
32. Which of the following occur in the light-dependent reactions in a healthy wheat plant?
NAD⁺ is converted to NADH ADP + Pᵢ are converted to ATP CO₂ and H₂O are used Non rispondere 33. A student wrote the following statements about reproduction of organisms. Which of these statements is/are correct?
Some plants and animals can reproduce both sexually and asexually. Sexual reproduction produces offspring which usually maintain the diploid number. Gametes show variation as a result of mitosis. Non rispondere 34. Some human conditions, inherited on the sex chromosomes, are described as sex-linked. Which of the following statements about human conditions involving the X chromosomes is INCORRECT?
35. Which of the following processes require complementary base pairing to take place?
The making of copies of existing DNA molecules. The use of an mRNA transcript to produce a polypeptide. The formation of an mRNA transcript using a DNA copy sequence. The use of reverse transcriptase to make a copy of viral RNA Non rispondere 36. In London, there is one kind of mosquito that may be undergoing speciation. It has a population that lives and breeds in the underground railway tunnels, and a separate population that lives and breeds above ground. Which of the following research results indicates that the underground mosquitoes should be considered a different species from the surface mosquitoes?
37. Which of the following releases the most molecules of water?
38. A wide variety of animals have haemoglobin in their blood. Different haemoglobins have properties related to the animal’s level of activity and the partial pressure of oxygen in their surroundings. Small mammals have a higher metabolic rate than humans. Animals that live in conditions of low partial pressure of oxygen have haemoglobin with a greater affinity for oxygen.
The graph shows the oxygen dissociation curve for human haemoglobin.
a mouse a llama from high altitude (5000 m above sea level) a lugworm which spends its life in a U-shaped burrow in muddy sand on a seashore Which row of the table correctly indicates the position of the curve for each animal relative to the human oxygen dissociation curve?
[Assume that temperature and concentrations of carbon dioxide are the same for all three.]
Non rispondere 39. In a human skeletal muscle how will the appearance of a contracted sarcomere compare to its appearance when it is relaxed?
A-band is narrower H-band / H-zone are the same width I-band is narrower Z-lines are closer together Non rispondere 40. Which statement about characteristics of a healthy human male is correct?
2 di 3 41. After fermentation and filtration, the final stage in the production of bioethanol isolates the ethanol from the aqueous solution. Which two processes happen during this stage?
42. The boiling point of hydrogen, H₂, is –253 °C. The boiling point of hydrogen chloride, HCl, is –85 °C. Which statement explains the difference in boiling point of these two substances?
43. The structure of three different polymers is given below. Which of the following statements about the polymers X, Y and Z is/are correct?
All three polymers can be broken down by hydrolysis. Polymer X and Z are each usually formed from two different monomers. Only polymer Z has hydrogen bonding between its molecules. Non rispondere 44. Which of the following molecules have at least one bond angle of 90°?
XeF₄ PF₅ CF₄ [C is in Group IV, F is in Group VII, P is in Group V, Xe is in Group VIII.]
Non rispondere 45. Which of the following equations represent redox reactions?
Cd + 2NiO(OH) + 2H₂O → Cd(OH)₂ + 2Ni(OH)₂ (NH₄)₂Cr₂O₇ → N₂ + Cr₂O₃ + 4H₂O 2KI + Pb(NO₃)₂ → PbI₂ + 2KNO₃ Non rispondere 46. The solubility of anhydrous calcium chloride at 20°C is 74.5 g per 100 g of water. 100 g of solid lumps of calcium chloride, CaCl₂, is added to 100 g of water at 20°C and the mixture is allowed to reach equilibrium. Which of the following changes will have the effect of reducing the mass of undissolved calcium chloride in the equilibrium mixture?
Adding solid sodium chloride to the equilibrium mixture Adding water to the equilibrium mixture Crushing the calcium chloride Non rispondere 47. Carboxylic acids react with alcohols to produce esters. A reaction producing an ester is shown in the equation. What are the structural formulae of the reactants in this equation?
48. 0.1 mol of each of the following compounds is dissolved separately in water to make 1 L of a solution of each acid.
CH₃CH₂CH₂COOH Non rispondere
49. An ion X⁻ has 20 neutrons and its lowest energy electron configuration ends in 3s²3p⁶. What is the mass number of the atom X?
50. Which of the following elements has the highest first ionisation energy?
Li, electron configuration 2,1
Ne, electron configuration 2,8
Ar, electron configuration 2,8,8
Al, electron configuration 2,8,3
Na, electron configuration 2,8,1
None 51. 100 cm³ of an alkane gas reacts completely with exactly 500 cm³ of oxygen gas to form carbon dioxide and water only. The volume of each gas was measured at the same temperature and pressure. What is the molecular formula of the alkane?
52. 560 g of iron reacts with an excess of oxygen. Assume that iron(III) oxide is the only product. What mass of iron(III) oxide is produced if the yield is 60%?
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