| Critical Reasoning Butler: September 2025 |
| September 19 | CR 1 | CR 2 |
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CR 1 History has shown that severe and sudden political instability strikes country Y roughly once every 50 years. The most recent example was the attempt on the president's life in 1992. The reaction of average investors in country Y to crisis situations in the country cannot be predicted in advance. The government's fiscal affairs department has introduced an electronic protection mechanism into the stock market of country Y in the hopes of avoiding a prolonged large-scale selloff. The mechanism is triggered in specific instances based on estimations of how average investors will react to changes in corporate data and economic indicators.
If the statements above are true, which of the following conclusions can be drawn regarding the electronic protection mechanism?
(A) Sometime within the next 50 years an attempt on the president's life will trigger the protection mechanism.
(B) Whether the protection mechanism will function appropriately in response to a sudden political event depends on whether the event is seen by investors as positive or negative.
(C) It is unclear how well the protection mechanism would work in the event of a sudden political coup if such an event is partially or wholly unrelated to changes in corporate data and economic indicators.
(D) There would be no way for the protection mechanism to differentiate between market fluctuations resulting from economic factors and those that are caused by political instability.
(E) The protection mechanism would be purposely destroyed by political insurgents if they were able to infiltrate the government's fiscal affairs department.
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CR 2 In the years 1971 to 1980, the population of the state prison system was on average about 82 percent of maximum occupancy. During those years, the average number of prisoners entering the system each year was equivalent to 9.1 percent of maximum occupancy. From the years 1981 to 1984, the average number of prisoners entering the system each year fell to 7.3 percent of maximum occupancy, yet the population of the state prison system rose to almost 89 percent of maximum occupancy.
Which of the following, if true, helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy?
(A) The average sentence of a prisoner in the state system increased from 1981 to 1984.
(B) Beginning in 1981, many of those entering the state prison system had been transferred from prisons in other states.
(C) Between 1981 and 1984, the percentage of prisoners incarcerated for violent crimes increased by 26 percent.
(D) In 1981, a legislative fact-finding committee proposed a revision of the state's parole and work release programs.
(E) Between 1971 and 1984, the proportion of active criminals actually caught and incarcerated in the state prison system has steadily increased.