Practice Test 5 - GRE Verbal Reasoning

20 questions. Answer them in any order, then submit to see your score and every explanation.

Select the answer choice that best completes the sentence. Though famously _____, the investor spent lavishly on the gala, astonishing friends who knew her habits.
In "The critic's review was less a rebuke than a gentle admonition," how does "admonition" relate to "rebuke"?
In "The reviewer's measured praise stopped well short of endorsement," the word "measured" most nearly means
A health columnist claims: "People who take daily vitamin supplements report fewer colds each winter than people who do not. Therefore, vitamins prevent colds, and employers should provide free supplements to reduce sick days." Which of the following best describes the reasoning employed in the argument?
For each blank, choose the word or phrase that best contributes to a clear, logical sentence. Choose one answer for each blank: the choices for the first blank are labeled A–C; the choices for the second blank are labeled D–F. Despite her reputation as an unflinching critic, the reviewer's assessment of the debut novel was surprisingly (i), for she praised its prose while gently noting that the plot, though promising, remained (ii).
Read the passage and answer the question. A transportation agency evaluated a pilot program that replaced some curbside parking with protected bicycle lanes on Alder Avenue. The pilot covered a 1.6-mile segment between 3rd Street and 19th Street and was implemented in May 2021. According to the agency's report, the project removed 112 on-street parking spaces and added 0.8 miles of protected bike lane (counting one direction only). The report also stated that average weekday bicycle counts at a mid-segment counter increased from 420 in June 2020 to 690 in June 2021. However, the agency noted that traffic signal timing was also adjusted in April 2021 to reduce vehicle speeds, and it did not claim that the bike lane alone caused the increase in cycling. The report did not include weekend bicycle counts. The passage states that…
The historian dismissed the memoir as _____, noting that its author wrote it decades later and stood to profit from a heroic self-portrait.
The critic called the report's conclusion _____, since none of the data it cited actually bore on the question it claimed to answer.
Read the passage and answer the question. Some conservation biologists now advocate "assisted migration," the deliberate relocation of species to habitats expected to remain suitable under climate change. The proposal is frequently presented as a pragmatic alternative to watching populations decline in place. Still, the confidence with which assisted migration is sometimes promoted can obscure how contingent its success is on ecological particulars that are difficult to forecast. Transplanted species may become invasive, introduce pathogens, or disrupt mutualisms that are not apparent in pre-move surveys. Proponents often reply that inaction carries risks as well, which is true; yet this retort can function as a rhetorical shortcut, substituting urgency for careful comparison of alternatives such as habitat corridors or targeted management of local stressors. The most persuasive case for assisted migration, then, is not as a general remedy but as a tightly circumscribed tool deployed when the relevant uncertainties are explicitly acknowledged and monitored over time. The passage conveys an attitude that is primarily…
Passage: Some music theorists claim that listeners perceive musical structure primarily through hierarchical tonal relationships: certain chords and notes feel stable, others create tension that seeks resolution. This account fits well with many Western classical traditions. Ethnomusicologists, however, document musical systems in which tonal hierarchy is less central. In some traditions, rhythmic cycles and timbral changes provide the primary cues for segmentation and expectation. Listeners trained in these traditions can accurately anticipate transitions based on rhythmic patterning even when pitch materials remain relatively constant. Cognitive psychologists studying enculturation find that exposure shapes perception. Participants unfamiliar with a musical tradition often struggle to predict its phrase boundaries, but their performance improves after training that highlights the relevant structural cues—whether tonal, rhythmic, or timbral. Meanwhile, computational researchers building music-prediction algorithms report that models trained only on pitch sequences perform poorly on repertoires where rhythm carries more information. Adding rhythmic and timbral features improves prediction, but increases the amount of data needed for training. Question: Which statement is best supported by synthesizing information throughout the passage?
Passage: Urban economists often claim that dense cities are more productive because proximity facilitates knowledge spillovers: workers learn from one another through formal collaboration and informal encounters. This view predicts that industries relying on tacit knowledge should benefit especially from clustering. Yet some remote-work studies during recent years found that certain teams maintained output after shifting to distributed arrangements, particularly when tasks were modular and well documented. In these cases, collaboration relied heavily on written communication and standardized processes, reducing dependence on spontaneous in-person exchange. A different strand of research examines innovation outcomes rather than short-run output. Patent analyses suggest that while routine production may be sustained remotely, the generation of novel ideas can decline when workers lack opportunities for unplanned interaction across departments. Firms attempting to offset this effect invested in periodic in-person retreats and redesigned digital platforms to encourage cross-team visibility. Finally, sociologists note that remote work can widen inequality within cities: high-income workers may leave expensive centers while service workers remain tied to location-specific jobs. This can alter the urban tax base and reduce funding for public amenities that also support informal interaction. Question: Which of the following is most strongly supported by information from the passage taken as a whole?
Passage: In debates about whether microfinance reduces poverty, some evaluations focus on average income changes among borrowers. A multi-country meta-analysis reported that mean income effects were small and often statistically indistinguishable from zero, especially in studies with short follow-up periods. The authors cautioned that borrowers use loans for varied purposes, including smoothing consumption rather than expanding businesses. A separate set of field studies examined volatility rather than averages. In several rural regions, households with access to microloans reported fewer months of severe food shortage and were less likely to sell productive assets after a bad harvest. Yet these same studies found no consistent increase in long-term business profits among the median borrower. Finally, qualitative interviews suggested that participants valued microfinance partly for non-income reasons: greater ability to handle medical expenses and reduced reliance on informal lenders who charged unpredictable rates. Interviewers also noted that the most successful business expansions tended to occur among a minority of borrowers who already had some market access. Question: The passage as a whole suggests which of the following?
Read the passage and answer the question. A linguist analyzing changes in coastal dialects compiled a corpus of recorded interviews from the town of Greyhaven. The corpus consisted of 96 interviews: 48 recorded in 1975 and 48 recorded in 2015. Each interview lasted exactly 30 minutes, and all speakers were lifelong residents of Greyhaven. The linguist focused on the pronunciation of the vowel in words like "boat" and coded each instance as either a "raised" or "non-raised" variant. In the 1975 recordings, 31% of coded instances were raised; in the 2015 recordings, 54% were raised. The study explicitly noted that the 2015 speakers had a higher average level of formal education than the 1975 speakers, but it did not provide the education averages. The linguist also stated that the interviews were conducted by different fieldworkers in the two years. According to the passage, which of the following is true?
Select the answer choice that best completes the sentence. The historian initially dismissed the diary as unreliable, but the discovery of matching shipping records later _____ its account of the voyage.
In "To bolster her motion, the attorney adduced three prior rulings," the word "adduced" most nearly means:
Select the answer choice that best completes the sentence. The author's argument appears rigorous at first, but its key claim is ____ by a single counterexample that directly contradicts the supposed rule.
For each blank, choose the word or phrase that best contributes to a clear, logical sentence. Choose one answer for each blank: the choices for the first blank are labeled A–C; the choices for the second blank are labeled D–F. The diplomat's memoir, ostensibly a candid confession of past diplomatic failures, is in fact so carefully (i)_____ that every apparent admission serves to (ii)_____ his reputation, transforming each confessed error into further evidence of sound judgment and self-awareness.
For each blank, choose the word or phrase that best contributes to a clear, logical sentence. Choose one answer for each blank: the choices for the first blank are labeled A–C; the choices for the second blank are labeled D–F. The diplomat's memoir is notable less for its (i)_____ account of the negotiations—details that any archive could supply—than for its (ii)_____ portrait of the delegates' private doubts, a dimension no official record preserves.
A restaurant group tested a smaller menu at one location and found that food waste fell by 18% while customer ratings for food quality rose slightly. The manager explains that a smaller menu allows the kitchen to focus on fewer ingredients, improving freshness and reducing spoilage. Since the streamlined menu did not reduce total revenue at the test location, the group should simplify menus at its other restaurants to reduce waste without sacrificing sales. Which statement is the author primarily trying to establish?
The committee's newly released report offered ______ overview of national climate policy options, touching on economic, social, and environmental dimensions rather than focusing narrowly on emissions targets alone.

Practice tests