Aside from yielding cotton fiber, the cotton plant produces oil-rich seeds from which oil for human consumption is extracted. The seeds contain a natural poison, that must be carefully removed before the oil is extracted. The expense of removing the poison makes cottonseed oil relatively expensive. If biotechnological researchers succeed in engineering cotton whose seeds lack the poison, cottonseed oil could be made more cheaply and sales, therefore, would greatly expand.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

The range of the monthly numbers of customers at a certain store was 240 for the year 1999 and 320 for the year 2000. Which of the following is the smallest possible range of the monthly numbers of customers at the store for the two-year period 1999–2000?

Psychologists spent three months training volunteers in a meditation technique that centers on minimizing distractions, while other volunteers received no training. Then all the volunteers were asked to pick out numbers from a stream of distracting letters that appeared on a video screen. The volunteers who had undergone meditation training were much better than the others at detecting the numbers. The psychologists concluded that practicing the concentration required by the meditation technique improves overall focus and attention.

In order to assess the strength of the psychologist's argument, it would be most helpful to know which of the following?

Technisoft is a software company that provides a range of software solutions. Its founding members as well as employees come from reputed technology institutions in the country and carry rich experience of working on cutting edge technologies. Technisoft segregates each live project strictly into one of the three categories - Software Development Projects, Software Testing Projects, and Software Maintenance Projects.

Software Development Projects: Involve the process of end-to-end computer programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing required in creating and maintaining applications and frameworks entailed in a software release life cycle and resulting in a software product.

Software Testing Projects: Involve the process of executing a program or application with the intent of finding the software bugs. This process can also be stated as the process of validating and verifying that a software program or application or product works as expected.

Software Maintenance Projects: Involve modification of a software product after delivery to

correct faults and to improve performance or other attributes.

In Country C, some but not all eligible voters are required to vote. The particulars of the country's laws governing voting are as follows.

• Every citizen who is eligible must vote on election day.
• A person is eligible if (and only if) he or she meets the age requirement and either is a citizen or meets the residency requirement for noncitizens.
• The age requirement is that every voter must be at least 19 years old on election day.
• The residency requirement for noncitizens is that the voter must have been a resident of Country C for at least 5 years on election day.

Consider the following individuals:

Abigail: a citizen who is currently 19 years old

Barbara: a 7-year resident noncitizen who is currently 19 years old

Charles: a 7-year resident noncitizen who is currently 18 years old

For an election held today, select the individual or individuals who must vote, based on the information provided, and select the individual or individuals who must not vote, based on the information provided. Make only two selections, one in each column.­

If t is a positive integer and r is the remainder when t² + 5t + 6 is divided by 7, what is the value of r?

(1) When t is divided by 7, the remainder is 6.

(2) When t² is divided by 7, the remainder is 1.

­A certain jar has a capacity of 1284 jelly beans. How many minutes will it take to fill the jar to capacity?

(1) A person can fill the jar at a rate of 2 Jelly beans per second.

(2) It takes 6 times as long to fill the jas as it does to empty it, and it takes a total of 12 minutes and 29 seconds to do both.

The product is divisible by all of the following EXCEPT:

How many hours did Suresh travel yesterday?

(1) Yesterday, Suresh traveled from 1 A.M. to 1P.M. without a break.

(2) Yesterday, Suresh traveled half the total number of hours he traveled the day before yesterday.

The Chabberton Post-Gazette reported that the overall volume of retail sales in Chabberton was lower last year than it was the year before. The Post-Gazette based that conclusion on a survey of all retail stores that were in business in Chabberton throughout both of those years: these stores, taken together, had a smaller sales volume last year than the year before.

Which of the following, if true, casts the most serious doubt on the Post-Gazette's conclusion?