1. Historical research suggests economic hardship is the main cause of most extreme social catastrophes. People are able to commit serious crimes when their lives are at stake. The French Revolution of 1789 took place after bad harvests and a sharp increase in food prices. The driving force of the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 was city dwellers, stricken by economic hardship. In addition, impoverished people are very susceptible to various kinds of propaganda and can be persuaded to breach basic norms and values for the sake of an allegedly better society. The rise of extreme dictatorships in various countries was usually preceded by extreme economic hardship, as was the case in Germany in the 1930s. Which one of the following, if true, most weakens the above argument?
2. What is it that guides our behaviour in day-to-day life – that keeps us all in line? Some might say it was the law, since if you are caught breaking the law you can be punished. But how many of our actions are so determined? Is it illegal to shove in front of someone in a queue? To laugh at a stranger’s haircut? To cheat on your boyfriend? In actual fact, relatively few areas of our lives are affected by the law. Most behavioural decisions are guided by a sense of social norms and conventions. It is how we are likely to be judged on this level – and not a legal one – that causes us to act as we do. Which one of the following best expresses the main conclusion of the above argument?
3. In many countries stocks of the flu drug Tamiflu are reaching their ‘use by’ date, and will be expensive to replace. Some critics suggest that there is not enough evidence of the effectiveness of Tamiflu to justify replacing stocks. But countries should replenish their stocks in case there is another pandemic of deadly flu. During the 2009 swine flu pandemic, the greater the stocks of Tamiflu a country held, the fewer people in the country died from flu. Of 168,000 people worldwide who were admitted to hospital with flu 15,000 died. Medical records show that those who received Tamiflu within two days of falling ill were only half as likely to die as those who received it later or not at all. Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the above argument?
4. It used to be thought that a dog’s genetic make-up determined its behaviour, such that certain breeds were more likely to be aggressive than others. However, a recent study of over 300 cocker spaniels and their owners casts doubts upon this explanation. It showed that owners of aggressive dogs were more likely to be tense, emotionally unstable, shy and undisciplined than owners of dogs that were low in aggression. Given that the dogs were not aggressive before they went to their owners, the dogs’ aggression must be a response to their owners’ anxieties and neuroses. Therefore, since the personality of the dog’s owner has been shown to be the key to the dog’s behaviour, we should abandon any attempt to define dangerous breeds of dogs. Which one of the following is an underlying assumption of the argument above?
5. It is evident that the increasing prominence of women in higher education has contributed to the changing nature of academia. Academic research has become an increasingly collaborative affair. Recent decades have witnessed a trend towards collective authorship in almost all scientific disciplines. Women and feminine styles of working recognise the importance of collaboration and more innovative ways of communicating research. Such practices challenge the individualist and competitive culture of higher education, and the standard practices of publishing research. Which one of the following best expresses the main conclusion of the above argument?
6. A study has predicted that the world will warm more slowly in the future than we thought. This prediction was based on evidence of a reduction in the rate of temperature increase in recent years. But politicians must not use this as a signal to delay action on reduction of carbon emissions, because the need to reduce emissions is as urgent as ever. The study did not mention the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), a cyclical pattern of temperature change in the Pacific Ocean. When the cool cycle of the PDO ends in the mid 21st century, there is likely to be a rapid increase in world temperatures, such as occurred in the later decades of the 20th century. Which one of the following is an assumption underlying the above argument?
7. Modern compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are much less harmful to the environment than traditional incandescent light bulbs. CFLs consume a fifth of the energy required to operate a traditional bulb of the same brightness. Moreover, their lifespan is ten times as long as that of incandescent light sources. Which one of the following, if true, most weakens the above argument?
8. Most people think that sleeping can only have a good impact on fertility, but recent research found that women who slept for nine hours or more a night were 25% less likely to get pregnant than those who slept between seven and eight hours. Therefore, women who are having trouble conceiving should make sure they don’t sleep for more than eight hours a night in order to increase their chances of getting pregnant. Which one of the following is the best statement of the flaw in the above argument?
9. In a survey in the UK, only 8% of those questioned said they would be happy to eat genetically modified (GM) foods, even though people in the USA have been eating them for a few years without any ill effects having been discovered. Any serious effects – such as cancer and damage to the immune system – would take a very long time to become evident. No systematic studies of the effects of GM foods have been carried out. Without such studies, it would be difficult to discover whether an increase in the incidence of cancer was due to eating GM foods, or to some other feature of lifestyles or of the environment. Which one of the following is a conclusion that can be drawn from the above passage?
10. James Randi, an American magician and escape artist, has a certified €1 million fund on offer to anyone who can legitimately demonstrate paranormal ability under test conditions. The prize has grown from just $1,000 since it was established more than 40 years ago. In this time, many hundreds of people have attempted the challenge – and yet the prize money has yet to be claimed. What further proof is needed to prove something so obvious? There is no such thing as psychic power, and anyone claiming to have such a gift is either mistaken or a faker. Which of the following is NOT an assumption underlying the above argument?
11. My Uncle Tom is devising games to be played at his 60th birthday party. One of them involves a big hexagon drawn on his lawn. It is marked out as shown below:
Non rispondere
12. Harold earns his living doing odd jobs for people. In July he earned a total of €750. On August 1st he increased his charge per hour from €5 to €6, and as a result he found that the demand for his services was 12% less during August than it had been in July. How much more did Harold earn in August than in July?
13. Ryan shaves every Saturday and Sunday. He then shaves on Tuesday and Thursday one week and Monday, Wednesday and Friday the next week, then back to Tuesday and Thursday the following week and so on. He buys packs containing three disposable razors, and manages to make one razor last for nine shaves before starting with a new razor. He opens a pack of razors and shaves on Monday 13th May. On what day will Ryan have to open the next pack of razors?
14. When I joined the company that I work for my starting salary was €24,800. Each of my 4 salary increases have been 5% of my previous salary rounded up to the next multiple of €200. What is my current salary?
15. Gertrude has miscalculated the amount of feed and bedding she requires to overwinter her animals and needs to sell the surplus. She decides to place an advertisement to run for 8 weeks in her local newspaper.
Non rispondere
16. Thomas is trying to decide what subjects to study next year. His school has asked him to choose one subject from each column in the following table:
Non rispondere
17. The following table shows the London 2012 Olympic Games Medals Table for the top 5 countries:
Non rispondere
18. A sheet of paper is folded along the horizontal line and then along the vertical lines.
19. The drawings below show an incomplete jigsaw and three jigsaw pieces:
Non rispondere
20. The tap in my garden started to leak yesterday. I placed the container shown below underneath it so that water wouldn’t be wasted. Water dripped into the container at a steady rate and it was full before I had a chance to repair the tap.
Non rispondere
21. Which one of the following pairs of scholar/scientific discovery is NOT correct?
1 di 4 23. Which of the following molecules contain a carboxyl group?
Amino acid Glycerol Saturated fatty acid Unsaturated fatty acid Non rispondere 24. The family tree shows the inheritance of a condition in one family. The condition is not sex-linked.
Non rispondere
25. One of the smallest viruses is the polio virus, with a diameter of approximately 30 nm.
In 2003, the Mimivirus was discovered with a diameter of approximately 680 nm. Non rispondere
26. Which processes may allow movement of substances into and out of a cell?
Active transport Diffusion Facilitated diffusion Osmosis Non rispondere 27. Which of the following healthy cells would contain mitochondria with an enzyme that can synthesise ATP?
Mature photosynthetic plant cell Mature human red blood cell Mature bacterial cell Non rispondere 28. During which processes does phosphorylation occur?
Facilitated diffusion Anaerobic respiration Light-dependent reaction in photosynthesis Formation of nucleotides Non rispondere 29. Which statement(s) can be used to describe a tRNA molecule found in a healthy human muscle cell?
It contains hydrogen bonds between bases. It is formed by condensation reactions. It is made up of two polynucleotide chains. Non rispondere 30. The graph below shows the quantity of DNA in a healthy mammalian liver cell during different stages of the cell cycle. Between which two letters would anaphase occur?
It contains hydrogen bonds between bases. It is formed by condensation reactions. It is made up of two polynucleotide chains. Non rispondere 31. Which of the following ALWAYS occurs during the processes of mitosis, meiosis I and meiosis II in healthy human cells?
Semi-conservative replication of DNA Lining up of chromosomes at the equator of cell Increase in cell membranes for cytokinesis DNA molecules are moved by spindle fibres Non rispondere 32. In a eukaryotic cell, a section of a mature non-mutated mRNA molecule has a total of 145 bases. Analysis of this section of the molecule found that there were 36 nucleotides containing cytosine, 49 nucleotides containing guanine and 23 nucleotides containing adenine. How many nucleotides containing thymine would be found in this molecule?
33. Which of the following would NOT be directly used when scientists use bacterial cells to produce human insulin on a large scale?
34. Which of the following statements describe the possible effect on the rate of cell division in a human organ due to a mutation in the DNA?
35. In a healthy human, if a single inspiration takes two seconds and a single expiration takes 50% longer, what is the breathing rate per minute?
36. Which one of the following occurs to enable the pupil in a human eye to become wider?
37. Which one of the following is a consequence of an increase in the release of ADH from the pituitary gland, in a healthy human?
38. In a healthy human at rest, which is the correct order (reading from left to right) of SOME of the events that occur during a heartbeat?
The ventricles contract. The atrioventricular node (AVN) delays the electrical impulse. Atria contract. The sinoatrial node (SAN) transmits the electrical impulse. Purkinje (Purkyně) fibres transmit the electrical impulse. Blood leaves the heart in the aorta and pulmonary artery. Non rispondere 3, 1, 5
5, 2, 3
3, 4, 1
2, 5, 6
1, 2, 6
None 39. A person with cystic fibrosis is told that they have inherited alleles that code for a non-functional CFTR protein. This means that chloride ions are unable to diffuse out of the epithelial cells through this protein. Chloride ions accumulate within the cells, altering the water potential in the cytoplasm. This change in water potential will affect the mucus in the airways and lead to coughing and increased risk of chest infection. Which of the following statements describe the effects of a non-functional CFTR protein in the epithelial cells in the lungs?
The water potential in the epithelial cells is higher than in similar cells with a functional CFTR protein. The mucus in the lungs becomes thick and sticky and it is difficult for cilia to sweep it up towards the mouth. Water is unable to move by osmosis out of the epithelial cells into the mucus coating the cells. Non rispondere 40. The graph shows the antibody concentration in human blood serum following a measles vaccination and following exposure to the measles pathogen 28 days later.
Non rispondere
2 di 4 41. Which of the following species have the same number of neutrons?
42. The following statements refer to water or solutions in water.
At high altitude where pressure is less than 1.0 atm, the boiling point of water is below 100°C. The freezing point of a solution of sodium chloride in water is below 0°C (at a The average kinetic energy of steam molecules at a pressure of 200 atm is greater than at 1.0 atm (at the same temperature). Which of these statements is / are correct?
Non rispondere 43. A student obtained data from a catalysed reaction that formed a gaseous product. The gas formed was collected by displacing water and its total volume measured at regular intervals (data measured at constant temperature and pressure). The graph shows their results. Which one of the following options correctly explains what has happened at X seconds?
44. Which of the following is a correct statement about the molecule NH₃?
45. The structure of the pain-killer paracetamol is shown below. Which one of the following functional groups is present in paracetamol?
46. In which one of the following five species does nitrogen have the highest (most positive) oxidation state?
47. The molecule cyclohexane, C₆H₁₂, can be drawn as the skeletal structure shown.
Non rispondere
48. A buffer solution can be made by mixing ethanoic acid (CH3COOH) with sodium ethanoate (CH3COONa) in water.
Ethanoic acid is a weak acid which in water sets up an equilibrium mixtureNon rispondere
49. Atoms of element X have the electron configuration 1s²2s²2p⁶3s¹. Atoms of element Y have the electron configuration 1s²2s². Which of the following statements is/are correct?
The first ionisation energy of element X is larger than that of element Y. The electronegativity value of X is larger than that of element Y. Element X is more reactive with water than element Y Non rispondere 50. Which one of the following changes will cause the greatest increase in pressure of an ideal gas?
51. What is the concentration (mol/L) of a solution formed when 7.15 g of washing soda, Na₂CO₃. 10H₂O, is dissolved in water to form 250 mL of solution?
52. A sample of element T is composed of two isotopes of relative atomic masses of 20.0 and 22.0 in the proportions 80 : 20 respectively. What is the relative atomic mass of this sample of element T?
3 di 4 54. A sector, which is part of a circle of radius 3 cm, has an area of π cm². Calculate the perimeter of the sector.
55. In a particular game, the player whose turn it is rolls two standard fair dice, with faces numbered 1 to 6, and can choose the result from either die or the sum of the two results as the score for that turn. It is Luigi’s turn to play and he needs to score exactly 5 to win the game. What is the probability that Luigi can win the game at this turn?
56. The function f is defined as f (x) = x² + 1, where –2 ≤ x ≤ 1. What is the full range of f?
57. The watt is a unit of power. How is the watt unit expressed in fundamental units?
58. An aircraft originally flying at 160 m/s due east changes course and speed so that it flies at 120 m/s due south. What is the magnitude of the change in velocity of the aircraft?
59. The total mass of a skier is 60.0 kg. He starts from rest and slides down a slope without exerting any effort. After he has descended through a total vertical displacement of 50.0 m, he is travelling at a velocity of 30.0 m/s. How much work has been done against resistive forces experienced by the skier as his velocity increases from 0 to 30.0 m/s?
60. The electric current in a heater is 2.0 A. In 600 seconds 15 000 J of electrical energy are converted into other forms of energy by the heater. Which expression gives the voltage across the electric heater?
4 di 4 
