GMAT · full test
GMAT practice section 2: Verbal Reasoning
Verbal Reasoning is one of the three sections of the GMAT Focus Edition: 23 questions in 45 minutes, mixing short Critical Reasoning arguments with three Reading Comprehension passages. Each passage question repeats the passage so it stands alone. On the real test you may review and change up to 3 answers per section.
Exam mode: timed, answers at the end, like the real test. Practice mode: untimed, the answer and explanation after each question.
What is in this test
| Multiple choice, one answer | 23 questions | instant marking |
Covers: critical reasoning (13) · reading comprehension (10)
A sample question
Ecologists long assumed that the larvae of reef fish, which spend their first weeks drifting in open water, find their way back to reefs largely by chance, carried by currents. Over the past two decades, however, experiments have shown that many larvae are far from passive. Larvae caught near reefs can swim against moderate currents for days, and in tank experiments they move toward recordings of reef noise, such as the crackle of snapping shrimp and the calls of resident fish, while ignoring recordings of open water. These findings have raised a concern. On reefs damaged by bleaching or overfishing, the soundscape is quieter and less varied. If larvae rely on sound to locate suitable habitat, damaged reefs may attract fewer young fish, making their recovery slower still. Some researchers have therefore tested whether playing recordings of healthy reefs through underwater speakers can draw fish to damaged reefs. In one field trial, patches of dead coral fitted with speakers attracted roughly twice as many young fish as silent patches. The researchers caution against treating such results as a remedy. Attracting fish to a reef that cannot feed or shelter them may simply increase their mortality. Acoustic enrichment, they suggest, is likely to help only where the underlying causes of damage have been addressed and the habitat can support the fish that arrive. According to the passage, tank experiments showed that fish larvae
- could swim against currents indefinitely
- preferred the sound of snapping shrimp to the calls of fish
- moved toward recordings of reef sounds but not toward recordings of open water
- could not tell the sounds of healthy reefs from those of damaged reefs
- settled on reefs at random when no sound was played
Marked when you take the test; the explanation appears in your review.