Complete ISAT Mock Test
100 questions
Answers with complete explanations
Covers both critical & quantitative reasoning
Specially catered for pre-university students aiming to get into medicine and dentistry in Australian universities
1. Every motorist pays the same amount for road tax, regardless of how much they use the
roads: someone who covers as little as 1 000 miles pays the same as someone who covers 20
000. This is unfair. Road tax should be scrapped and the money raised by an increase in the
tax on car fuel. Making this change would ensure that those who use the roads more would
pay more. This would not only be a fairer system, but could also bring in more revenue.
Which of the following best illustrates the principle underlying the argument above?
People should receive free medical treatment only if they cannot afford to pay for it.
People who travel to work every day by train should pay a lower fare than those who
travel only occasionally.
People who earn more than double the average wage should be made to pay much
higher charges for dental treatment.
Television channels should be paid for by subscription so that only those people who
watch them should be made to pay.
Telephone charges should be higher for business customers than for domestic
customers because they are using the system only to make money.
Correct Answer: D
Explanation:
The argument recommends getting rid of the road tax on the grounds that the tax is unfair.
The way in which it is unfair is explained in the first sentence, which points out that all
motorists pay the same amount even though some may use the roads much less than others. It
suggests replacing the road tax with an extra tax on fuel, in order to ensure that those who use
the roads more would pay more. So, the principle underlying the argument is that the amount
that users pay for a service should be based on the amount of use they make of that service, in
that the more they use it, the more they should pay.
The statement that also depends on this principle is D. It suggests that instead of a flat‐rate
license fee for all television channels, there should be separate subscriptions for each channel,
so that viewers will pay only for those channels that they watch.
Option A recommends that only those who cannot afford to pay for a service should be
allowed to use it for free, so it is based on the principle of ability to pay, not on the amount of
use.
Option B recommends that people who use a service more often should pay less for each use,
so it is based on a principle that contradicts the principle in the argument.
Option C, like A, is based on the principle of ability to pay, as it recommends that higher
earners should pay higher charges for dental treatment.
,Option E recommends differential charges for domestic and business use of telephone
services on the grounds of the purpose of use (making money for business customers), and
not on the amount of use.
Question 2
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2. The chart below shows the employment status of British male and female adults.
A person is employed if they are in full-time or part-time employment or if they are self-
employed.
The difference between the percentage of men in employment and women in employment is:
8.8
14.8
15.9
27.0
, 66.5
Correct Answer: B
Explanation:
As the question asks about the difference between employed men and women, only the
‘employees: full‐time’, ‘employees part‐time’ and ‘self‐employed’ categories are relevant; all
other information can be ignored.
Be careful to include ‘self‐employed’. It is tempting to assume that only the figures above the
pie charts relate to employed people, leading to the answer 8.8 (57.7 – 48.9).
The percentage of men in employment is:
55.4 (full‐time) + 2.3 (part‐time) + 8.8 (self‐employed) = 66.5.
The percentage of women in employment is:
28.4 (full‐time) + 20.5(part‐time) + 2.8 (self‐employed) = 51.7.
The difference between the percentage of men in employment and women in employment is
therefore 66.5 – 51.7 = 14.8.
The correct answer is B.
Question 3
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Every year in Britain there are nearly 25 000 car fires, yet it is estimated that only five per
cent of motorists travel with a fire extinguisher in their car. If more motorists could be
encouraged to carry fire extinguishers then the number of car fires could be considerably
reduced.
3. Which of the following is the best statement of the flaw in the argument above?
It ignores the fact that millions of motorists never experience a car fire.
It assumes that carrying a fire extinguisher will enable fires to be put out.
It implies that the occurrence of car fires is related to the lack of an extinguisher.
It overlooks the possibility that fires might not be put out with an extinguisher.
It ignores the fact that there are different extinguishers for different kinds of fires.
Correct Answer: C
Explanation:
From the evidence in the first sentence that only five per cent of motorists travel with a fire
extinguisher in the car, the argument draws the conclusion that if more motorists carried
, extinguishers, there would be fewer fires. But this conclusion would follow only if it were
true that the presence of an extinguisher in the car could prevent fires from occurring. The
argument does not state that this is true, nor is it a reasonable assumption, so the conclusion
does not follow from the evidence.
states the flaw by pointing out the unreasonable assumption that car fires occur because
there is no extinguisher in the car.
Option A does not identify a flaw, because the fact that millions of motorists never
experience a car fire is irrelevant to an argument about the way in which the number of
fires that occur can be reduced.
Neither B nor D identifies a flaw, because the conclusion of the argument focuses upon
reducing the number of fires that occur, and not on the effectiveness of extinguishers
when fires have occurred.
Option E does not identify a flaw, because it is reasonable to assume that the argument
is referring to only those extinguishers that are used to put out fires in cars.
Question 4
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4. School examination results in England this year reinforce the trend in improving pass rates.
There is, however, no other evidence of improvements in school leavers' abilities - such as
the data coming from employers or universities. One can reasonably conclude, therefore, that
teachers are simply succeeding in coaching their pupils better for examinations than in
previous years.
Which one of the following is an underlying assumption of the above argument?
School examination results are a reliable indicator of pupils' abilities.
The level of difficulty of examinations has not been falling.
Employers' expectations of school leavers are unrealistic.
Teachers in previous years did not attempt to coach pupils for examinations.
Abilities of school pupils vary from year to year.
Correct Answer: B
Explanation:
The argument seeks to explain why examination pass rates are improving even though
evidence from employers and universities suggests that there is no improvement in school
leavers’ abilities. It concludes that the reason why pupils are performing better in
examinations is that teachers are coaching them better. In drawing this conclusion, the
argument is discounting other possible explanations for rising pass rates.
One possible explanation is that the difficulty of the examinations is falling, so B must be
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