Individuals who heavily use social media tend to score more poorly on tests administered by psychologists to measure happiness than those who do not. It has been found that experiencing “status envy,” a state afflicting those who see themselves as being worse off than others—especially common among those who make use of social media—depletes the brain of chemicals responsible for feelings of joy and contentment. Obviously, there is a causal relationship: Extensive use of social media must be making people unhappy.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the force of the evidence given as support for the hypothesis that social media promotes unhappiness?

This year an unprecedented number of professorial positions were produced. Will next year continue the trend? A new professorship is created when an older professor leaves the workforce or when an academic department expands. Within universities, academic departments have been expanding at well below average rates. Concomitantly, statistics indicate that professors teaching currently will be no more likely to leave the workforce next year than they were this year, and surely the new professors who have begun teaching recently are unlikely to leave the workforce for some time. Clearly, we can surmise that the number of new professorial positions produced next year will be lower than this year’s unprecedented level.

In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

Tyromolaradenate, a type of chemical common in certain types of snack foods, is inert in adults and only toxic to children with a rare neurological disorder. Unfortunately, tyromolaradenate is produced as a byproduct of industrial processes necessary for the manufacture of these snack foods. The FDA intends to protect public health by mandating that all snack foods containing tyromolaradenate clearly state so on their packaging. However, many children with this neurological condition are undiagnosed and current screening methods are somewhat unreliable. And food labels will only prove effective at protecting children who know they have the disease.

Which of the following, if performed by the FDA, could logically be expected to help the FDA overcome the problem with their plan to protect children susceptible to tyromolaradenate?

In comparable restaurants with similar diner profiles, the total cost of a steak dinner has always been greater in Fairview than in Centerville, two towns of about equal populations. However, consumer studies indicate that steakhouses in Fairview process more meal transactions than steakhouses in Centerville. Therefore it is obvious that restaurant owners in Fairview are more successful than those in Centerville.

In evaluating the argument, it would be most useful to compare

According to an analysis by the Department of Justice, nearly 80 million Americans have arrest records listed in the FBI’s master criminal database, which is approximately equivalent to the earning of four-year college degrees.

Unlike huge conglomerates that process rubber from trees through a laborious industrial process to make various types of rubber-based products, recycling old rubber tires into new consumer goods has allowed smaller manufacturers to invest in more focused niches and maintain profitability.

Like Mondrian, the technique of Theo van Doesburg is stark, bold, and linear—marked by sharp geometric patterns as well as a tightly controlled palette of colors.

The baseball team celebrated strong postseason results that exceeded sports analysts’ expectations and announced the first in a series of key player trades intended to bolster their defensive lineup for the following season.

When ironed with water and steady heat, acrylic, a petroleum-based synthetic fiber, softens and drapes with an almost silken feel and staying this way whether or not the heat is gone and the water has dried.

According to its engineers, a new kind of self-driving car could, by using multiple sensors and formal logic–based algorithms, provide taxi services in major American cities within the next five years.

A lawyer charging a judge with misconduct may find it challenging to establish her argument if there is a lack of some other lawyer to corroborate about inappropriate legal proceedings.

The chief minister of Herod the Great wrote the first reliable description of the assassination of Julius Caesar in a biography of the emperor Augustus.

The Charles Hudson School has for years pursued a consistent strategy aimed at tutoring its weakest students and strengthening the effectiveness of its student support services.

Many psychologists believe that while some poor choices by parents can certainly damage their children’s social development, no family can truly be expected to check or limit all of the complicated social media that shape a child’s awareness of the world.

American citizens were not generally required to have passports for international travel until 1941; prior to that year Washington was reliant on specific immigration laws, such as the U.S. Chinese Exclusion Act, to regulate international travel.

Humans living in areas where the population of parasitic flies is particularly dense are at risk of contracting myiasis. Flies reproduce by laying their eggs in animal tissue, but not every animal is an equally suitable host. For most animals, larval infestation is relatively rare, but domestic sheep are unusually prone to infection by parasitic flies. And sheep are especially common in proximity to human populations, in areas where they are kept as livestock.

The information in the passage most strongly supports which of the following?

Although there are multiple methods for teaching young children to read, phonics instruction can make it difficult to transition to reading more difficult texts in adolescence and adulthood. Hours spent learning to read in a way specifically geared toward children are hours spent not learning to process written language like an adult. Thus, children who spend the earliest years of their education subject to phonics instruction will be at a disadvantage as they age.

The argument depends on which of the following assumptions?

Which of the following best completes the passage below?

When a group of individuals is incapable of passing on its genes, the theory of evolution predicts that the group will be unable to persist over a span of generations, being weeded out through genetic attrition. Therefore, if the theory of evolution is true, and given successful organisms’ tendency to reproduce at high rates, we should expect that _______.

The previous two years have witnessed a major proliferation of studies demonstrating the health benefits of egg consumption. During the same period, there has been a major decline in the number of eggs consumed by the public at large. Therefore, the majority of the public must be unaware of the findings of recent nutritional research.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the explanation above?

Which of the following best completes the passage below?

Consumer perceptions that mail-in rebates, a sales practice in which a retailer reimburses customers for a portion of a product’s price at a later date, constitute significant savings are substantially skewed. Most of the rebates offered are never redeemed. Thus, the benefit to consumers on the whole is quite small, because _______.