Many governments that regularly transfer money to individuals—to provide supplemental
incomes for senior citizens, for example—have long done so electronically, but other countries
typically have distributed physical money and have only recently developed electronic transfer
infrastructure. Researchers studied the introduction of an electronic transfer system in one such
location and found that recipients of electronic transfers consumed a different array of foods
than recipients of physical transfers of the same amount did. One potential explanation for this
result is that individuals conceive of and allocate funds in physical money differently than they
conceive of and allocate funds in electronic form.
Which finding from the study, if true, would most directly weaken the potential explanation?
A) Recipients of electronic transfers typically spent their funds at a slower rate than recipients
of physical transfers did.
B) Nearly every recipient of an electronic transfer withdrew the entire amount in physical
money shortly after receiving the transfer.
C) Recipients of physical transfers tended to purchase food about as frequently as recipients of
electronic transfers did.
D) Some recipients of physical transfers received small amounts of money relatively frequently,
while others received large amounts relatively infrequently.
Given that stars and planets initially form from the same gas and dust in space, some
astronomers have posited that host stars (such as the Sun) and their planets (such as those in
our solar system) are composed of the same materials, with the planets containing equal or
smaller quantities of the materials that make up the host star. This idea is also supported by
evidence that rocky planets in our solar system are composed of some of the same materials as
the Sun.
Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the astronomers’ claim?
A) Most stars are made of hydrogen and helium, but when cooled they are revealed to contain
small amounts of iron and silicate.
B) A nearby host star is observed to contain the same proportion of hydrogen and helium as that
of the Sun.
C) Evidence emerges that the amount of iron in some rocky planets is considerably higher than
the amount in their host star.
D) The method for determining the composition of rocky planets is discovered to be less
effective when used to analyze other kinds of planets.
In the 1970s, a roughly 60,000-year-old piece of hyena bone marked with nine notches was
discovered at a site in western France once inhabited by Neanderthals. Although many believe
that only modern humans developed systems for notating numbers, one archaeologist asserts
that this artifact may be a sign that Neanderthals also recorded numerical information. The
notches on the bone are unevenly spaced but approximately parallel, and microscopic analysis
reveals that they were made with a single stone tool; according to the archaeologist, this
suggests that the notches were all made at one time by one individual as a means of counting
something.
Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the underlined claim?
A) Parallel lines are a common feature in modern humans’ early systems for recording
numerical information.
B) More than nine approximately parallel notches made with a different stone tool are present
on another artifact found at a site in western France.
C) It would have taken careful effort to make evenly spaced lines on bone with the stone tools
typically used by Neanderthals.
D) Decorative art discovered at another Neanderthal site in western France primarily features
patterns of unevenly spaced parallel lines.
