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Does anyone has a collection of short and difficult RCs? 14 Dec 2009, 21:17
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Does anyone has a collection of short and difficult RCs?
Most of the RCs in 1000 RC doc ones are lengthy ones. In the real test, most RCs I faced were short (and were trap infested I think) 2 short paragraphs, needs no scrolling... but questions makes you go back and re-read.

so if anyone has such collection to share for practice, would much appreciate.



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Does anyone has a collection of short and difficult RCs? 16 Dec 2009, 20:50
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one problem which I faced in the test was that I wasn't really sure if I should spend more than 3-4 mins to completely understand the short RC (and thought that it is right there and I can go back anytime). I guess that was a mistake and now I make it a point to first understand the passage properly before attacking the question...
Here is one... not very intricate but tricky at places

As the economic role of multinational, global corporations expands, the international economic environment will be shaped increasingly not by governments or international institutions, but by the interaction between governments and global corporations, especially in the United States, Europe, and Japan. A significant factor in this shifting world economy is the trend toward regional trading blocs of nations, which has a potentially large effect on the evolution of the world trading system. Two examples of this trend are the United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and Europe 1992, the move by the European Community (EC) to dismantle impediments to the free flow of goods, services, capital, and labor among member states by the end of 1992. However, although numerous political and economic factors were operative in launching the move to integrate the EC’s markets, concern about protectionism within the EC does not appear to have been a major consideration. This is in sharp contrast to the FTA; the overwhelming reason for that bilateral initiative was fear of increasing United States protectionism. Nonetheless, although markedly different in origin and nature, both regional developments are highly significant in that they will foster integration in the two largest and richest markets of the world, as well as provoke questions about the future direction of the world trading system.

1. The primary purpose of the passage as a whole is to
(A) describe an initiative and propose its continuance
(B) chronicle a development and illustrate its inconsistencies
(C) identify a trend and suggest its importance
(D) summarize a process and question its significance
(E) report a phenomenon and outline its probable future

2. According to the passage, all of the following are elements of the shifting world economy EXCEPT
(A) an alteration in the role played by governments
(B) an increase in interaction between national governments and international regulatory institutions
(C) an increase in the formation of multinational trading alliances
(D) an increase in integration in the two richest markets of the world
(E) a fear of increasing United States protectionism

3. The passage suggests which of the following about global corporations?
(A) Their continued growth depends on the existence of a fully integrated international market.
(B) Their potential effect on the world market is a matter of ongoing concern to international institutions.
(C) They will have to assume quasi-governmental functions if current economic trends continue.
(D) They have provided a model of economic success for regional trading blocs.
(E) Their influence on world economics will continue to increase.

4. According to the passage, one similarity between the FTA and Europe 1992 is that they both
(A) overcame concerns about the role of politics in the shifting world economy
(B) originated out of concern over unfair trade practices by other nations
(C) exemplify a trend toward regionalization of commercial markets
(D) place the economic needs of the trading bloc ahead of those of the member nations
(E) help to ensure the continued economic viability of the world community

5. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the European Community prior to the adoption of the Europe 1992 program?
(A) There were restrictions on commerce between the member nations.
(B) The economic policies of the member nations focused on global trading issues.
(C) There were few impediments to trade between the member nations and the United States.
(D) The flow of goods between the member nations and Canada was insignificant.
(E) Relations between multinational corporations and the governments of the member nations were strained.

6. The author discusses the FTA and Europe 1992 most likely in order to
(A) point out the similarities between two seemingly disparate trading alliances
(B) illustrate how different economic motivations produce different types of trading blocs
(C) provide contrasting examples of a trend that is influencing the world economy
(D) identify the most important characteristics of successful economic integration
(E) trace the history of regional trading blocs

7. Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage?
(A) An argument is put forth and evidence for and against it given.
(B) An assertion is made and opposing evidence presented.
(C) Two hypotheses are described and shown to inconsistent with one another.
(D) A phenomenon is identified and illustrations of this phenomenon offered.
(E) A specific case of a phenomenon is discussed a generalization drawn.

OA:
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CBECACD
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Does anyone has a collection of short and difficult RCs? 17 Dec 2009, 19:30
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OMG! This was hard, is it just me or do ppl find it hard....i got 3/7 in 15 mins.
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Does anyone has a collection of short and difficult RCs? 19 Dec 2009, 06:55
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Another one (source: GMAT prep 2)

When a large body strikes a planet or moon, material is ejected, thereby creating a hole in the planet and a local deficit of mass. This deficit shows up as a gravity anomaly: the removal of material that has been ejected to make the hole results in an area in slightly lower gravity than surrounding areas. One would therefore expect that all of the large multi-ring impact basins on the surface of earth's moon would show such negative gravity anomalies, since they are, essentially, large holes in lunar surface. Yet data collected in 1994 by the Clemenstine spacecraft show that many of these Clementine basins have no anomalously low gravity and some even have anomalously high gravity. Scientists speculate that early in lunar history, when large impactors struck the moon's surface, causing millions of cubic kilometers of crustal debris to be ejected, denser material from the moon's mantle rose up beneath the impactors almost immediately, compensating for the ejected material and thus leaving no gravity anomaly in the resulting basin. Later, however, as moon grew cooler and less elastic, rebound from large impactors would have been only partial and incomplete. Thus today such gravitational compensation probably would not occur: the outer layer of moon is too cold and stiff.

According to the passage, the gravitational compensation referred to in the highlighted text is caused by which of the following?
A) A deficit of mass resulting from the creation of hole in lunar surface
B) The presence of material from the impactor in the debris created by its impact
C) The gradual cooling and stiffening of the Moon's outer surface
D) The ejection of massive amounts of debris from the moon's crust
E) The rapid upwelling of material from the lunar mantle

The Passage suggests that if the scientists mentioned in the highlighted text are correct in their speculations, the large multi-ring impact basins on the Moon with the most significant negative gravity anomalies probably
A) were not formed early in the Moon's history
B) were not formed by the massive ejection of crustal debris
C) are closely surrounded by other impact basins with anomalously low gravity
D) were created by the impact of multiple large impactors
E) were formed when the moon was relatively elastic

The passage is primarily concerned with
A) analyzing data from a 1994 exploration of lunar surface
B) reconciling two opposing theories about the origin of lunar impact basins
C) presenting a possible explanation of a puzzling finding about lunar impact basins
D) discussing how impact basins on the Moon's surface are formed
E) examining the claim that the moon's impact basins show negative gravity anomalies


OA:
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EAC
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Does anyone has a collection of short and difficult RCs? 19 Dec 2009, 07:06
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and another one, for practice... (this one from GMAT prep 2 also)


Is it possible to decrease inflation without causing a recession
and its concomitant increase in unemployment? The orthodox answer is “no.” whether
they support the “inertia” theory of inflation (that today’s inflation rate is caused
by yesterday’s inflation, the state of the economic cycle, and external influences
such as import prices) or the “rational expectations” theory (that inflation is
caused by workers’ and employers’ expec- tations, coupled with a lack of credible
monetary and fiscal policies), most economists agree that tight monetary and
fiscal policies, which cause recessions, are necessary to decelerate
inflation. They point out that in the 1980’s, many European countries and the
United States conquered high (by these countries’ standards) inflation, but only
by applying tight monetary and fiscal policies that sharply increased
unemployment. Nevertheless, some governments’ policymakers insist that direct
controls on wages and prices, without tight monetary and fiscal policies, can
succeed in decreasing inflation. Unfortunately, because this approach fails to
deal with the underlying causes of inflation, wage and price controls eventually
collapse, the hitherto-repressed inflation resurfaces, and in the meantime,
though the policymakers succeed in avoiding a recession, a frozen structure of
relative prices imposes distortions that do damage to the economy’s prospects
for long-term growth.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the author’s conclusion about the use of wage and price controls?
A) Countries that repeatedly use wage and price controls tend to have lower long-term economic growth rates than do other countries.
B) Countries that have extremely high inflation frequently place very stringent controls on wages and prices in an attempt to decrease the inflation.
C) Some countries have found that the use of wage and price controls succeeds in decreasing inflation but also causes a recession.
D) Policymakers who advocate the use of wage and price controls believe that these controls will deal with the underlying causes of inflation.
E) Policymakers who advocate the use of wage and price controls are usually more concerned about long-term economic goals than about short-term economic goals.

The passage suggests that the high inflation in the United States and many European countries in the 1980’s differed from inflation elsewhere in which of the following ways?
A) It fit the rational expectations theory of inflation but not the inertia theory of inflation.
B) It was possible to control without causing a recession.
C) It was easier to control in those countries by applying tight monetary and fiscal policies than it would have been elsewhere.
D) It was not caused by workers’ and employers’ expectations.
E) It would not necessarily be considered high elsewhere.

The primary purpose of the passage is to
A) apply two conventional theories.
B) examine a generally accepted position
C) support a controversial policy
D) explain the underlying causes of a phenomenon
E) propose an innovative solution


OA:
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AEB
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Does anyone has a collection of short and difficult RCs? 19 Dec 2009, 07:09
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ss12345
OMG! This was hard, is it just me or do ppl find it hard....i got 3/7 in 15 mins.


try writing short notes while you read. If you read it carefully and understand it, you will be able to answer a question in less than minute... READING CAREFULLY is the most important part of RC.

I spent almost 7 minutes reading it and I got them all right in less than 10 minutes.
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Does anyone has a collection of short and difficult RCs? 19 Dec 2009, 07:14
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serbiano
ss12345
OMG! This was hard, is it just me or do ppl find it hard....i got 3/7 in 15 mins.


try writing short notes while you read. If you read it carefully and understand it, you will be able to answer a question in less than minute... READING CAREFULLY is the most important part of RC.

I spent almost 7 minutes reading it and I got them all right in less than 10 minutes.

I agree with this. For people w/o photographic memory, writing down helps a lot. I do it even for very short passages now. They can fool you by starting with simple sentence and making it complicated further down, so have to keep the shield on at all time!
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Does anyone has a collection of short and difficult RCs? 21 Dec 2009, 06:00
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yet another one.. might be of of help to someone looking for similar practice (these are from 1000RC):

Traditionally, the first firm to commercialize a new technology has benefited from the unique opportunity to shape product definitions, forcing followers to adapt to a standard or invest in an unproven alternative. Today, however, the largest payoffs may go to companies that lead in developing integrated approaches for successful mass production and distribution.
Producers of the Beta format for videocassette recorders (VCR’s), for example, were first to develop the VCR commercially in 1975, but producers of the rival VHS (Video Home System) format proved to be more successful at forming strategic alliances with other producers and distributors to manufacture and market their VCR format. Seeking to maintain exclusive control over VCR distribution, Beta producers were reluctant to form such alliances and eventually lost ground to VHS in the competition for the global VCR market.
Despite Beta’s substantial technological head start and the fact that VHS was neither technically better nor cheaper than Beta, developers of VHS quickly turned a slight early lead in sales into a dominant position. Strategic alignments with producers of prerecorded tapes reinforced the VHS advantage. The perception among consumers that prerecorded tapes were more available in VHS format further expanded VHS’s share of the market. By the end of the 1980’s, Beta was no longer in production.

1. The passage is primarily concerned with which of the following?
(A) Evaluating two competing technologies
(B) Tracing the impact of a new technology by narrating a sequence of events
(C) Reinterpreting an event from contemporary business history
(D) Illustrating a business strategy by means of a case history
(E) Proposing an innovative approach to business planning

2. According to the passage, today’s successful firms, unlike successful firms in the past, may earn the greatest profits by
(A) investing in research to produce cheaper versions of existing technology
(B) being the first to market a competing technology
(C) adapting rapidly to a technological standard previously set by a competing firm
(D) establishing technological leadership in order to shape product definitions in advance of competing firms
(E) emphasizing the development of methods for the mass production and distribution of a new technology

3. According to the passage, consumers began to develop a preference for VCR’s in the VHS format because they believed which of the following?
(A) VCR’s in the VHS format were technically better than competing-format VCR’s.
(B) VCR’s in the VHS format were less expensive than competing-format VCR’s.
(C) VHS was the first standard format for VCR’s.
(D) VHS prerecorded videotapes were more available than Beta-format tapes.
(E) VCR’s in the Beta format would soon cease to be produced.

4. The author implies that one way that VHS producers won control over the VCR market was by
(A) carefully restricting access to VCR technology
(B) giving up a slight early lead in VCR sales in order to improve long-term prospects
(C) retaining a strict monopoly on the production of prerecorded videotapes
(D) sharing control of the marketing of VHS-format VCR’s
(E) sacrificing technological superiority over Beta-format VCR’s in order to remain competitive in price

5. The alignment of producers of VHS-format VCR’s with producers of prerecorded videotapes is most similar to which of the following?
(A) The alignment of an automobile manufacturer with another automobile manufacturer to adopt a standard design for automobile engines.
(B) The alignment of an automobile manufacturer with an automotive glass company whereby the manufacturer agrees to purchase automobile windshields only from that one glass company.
(C) The alignment of an automobile manufacturer with a petroleum company to ensure the widespread availability of the fuel required by a new type of engine developed by the manufacturer.
(D) The alignment of an automobile manufacturer with its dealers to adopt a plan to improve automobile design.
(E) The alignment of an automobile dealer with an automobile rental chain to adopt a strategy for an advertising campaign to promote a new type of automobile.

6. Which of the following best describes the relation of the first paragraph to the passage as a whole?
(A) It makes a general observation to be exemplified.
(B) It outlines a process to be analyzed.
(C) It poses a question to be answered.
(D) It advances an argument to be disputed.
(E) It introduces conflicting arguments to be reconciled.

OA:
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DEDDCA
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Does anyone has a collection of short and difficult RCs? 29 Dec 2009, 00:56
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Good stuff - thanks for the passages!
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Does anyone has a collection of short and difficult RCs? 12 Mar 2022, 08:29
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