GMAT Critical Reasoning Tips and Strategies

The most common type of critical reasoning question asks you to weaken an argument.  The GMAT testers expect you to be able to identify one of the following 4 logic flaws:

1. Circular reasoning
2. Inaccurate cause-and-effect arguments
3. Sweeping generalizations
4. Unqualified "expert" opinions

These tips and strategies can help you answer these questions correctly:

1. Utilize process of elimination.  When the test taker is asked to identify the statement that does the best job of strengthening or weakening an argument, there is almost always at least one answer choice that will do the opposite. If you have read the question carefully, you will be able to quickly eliminate these choices.

2. Become comfortable at "working backwards" on these questions.  "Working backwards" – inserting each answer choice into the text and and seeing if the passage still makes sense – is an excellent technique to fall back on if you get stuck on a critical reasoning question. However, it can be time consuming. You may need to re-read a passage 5 times, inserting a different answer choice each time, before you find the choice that seems right to you.

3. Never choose an answer simply because it is true.  The answer choice must be a logical extension of the argument made in the passage.

4. Ignore decoys.  Often times, GMAT passages contain extraneous sentences and information. Learn to separate these decoys from the rest of the passage so they won't distract you from the content that is important.

5. Avoid answer choices that are emotionally charged or 'over the top.'  The correct GMAT answer choices are always emotionally neutral in tone, and moderate in reasoning.

6. Avoid answer choices that make absolute statements.  Absolute statements are those that use words such as "always" and "must." The test writers are very biased against these types of statements. Hence, when you encounter an answer choice that makes an absolute statement, you will know that it can be safely eliminated.

GMAT Critical Reasoning Section Sample Questions

Stock analyst: "We believe Company A's stock will appreciate at 35% a year for the next 5 to 7 years. Company A just became the leader in its industry and we expect its sales to grow at 8% a year."

Commentator: "But how can the stock's price be expected to grow more quickly than the company's underlying sales?"

1) Which of the following, if true, would best support the stock analyst's prediction?

1. The company's expenses will be declining over the next 5 to 10 years.
2. The company just won a patent on a new product.
3. Company A's stock is currently overvalued by a significant amount.
4. The 5 to 7 year time frame is too long for anyone to accurately forecast.
5. Company A's industry peer group is expected to experience stock appreciation rates of 30% over the same time horizon.

Acme brand aspirin claims to be the best headache relief available on the market today. To prove this claim, Acme called 10 people and asked them their thoughts on headache relief products. All 10 of them stated that they unequivocally use Acme brand aspirin on a regular basis and that they believe it to be the best headache relief available on the market today.

2) Which of the following would most weaken this argument?

1. Acme brand aspirin is highly addictive.
2. The 10 people called were spouses of Acme employees.
3. Most people choose to suffer silently through their headaches and take no medicines whatsoever.
4. The 10 people called own stock in a competing company.
5. The 10 people were selected at random.

My neighbor's dogs bark and howl every time their owner lets them outside. My CPA told me that dogs tend to bark and howl when they see birds resting in the top branches of their favorite trees. I personally believe they bark and howl because they enjoy disrupting my meditations.

3) Which of the following conclusions can be properly drawn from the preceding passage?

1. The dogs must be abused by their owners.
2. The dogs' owners do not make efforts to stop the dogs from barking and howling.
3. There are many pedestrians who walk by this neighbor's house, and the dogs are starving for attention.
4. The dogs frequently see birds in the tops of their favorite trees.
5. The dogs will bark and howl at 3 a.m. if they are outside at that time.

Most citizens are very conscientious about observing a law when they can see the reason behind it. For instance, there has been very little need to actively enforce the recently-implemented law that increased the penalty for motorists caught leaving a gas station without paying for gas they had pumped into their vehicles. This is because citizens are very concerned about the high cost of gasoline and they know that stealing gas will only further increase the price of gasoline for everyone.

4) With which of the following statements would the author of this passage be most likely to agree?

1. The increased penalty alone is a significant motivation for most citizens to obey the law.
2. There are still too many inconsiderate citizens in the local community.
3. High gasoline prices can be brought down if everyone does his or her part and pays for the gasoline they use at the pumps.
4. Society should make an effort to teach citizens the reasons for its laws.
5. People would be more likely to speed on a stretch of deserted highway than to not pay for gasoline.

GMAT Critical Reasoning

Read first, identify your boundaries second, and only then reason!

Remember our discussion of subject "boundaries" in the AWA section above? Both Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension constantly ask test-takers to locate and respect the boundaries set by a text. In a Critical Reasoning question, the very first boundary is the question stem itself.

Memorize this - an Assumption is the unstated but necessary logical link between an author's conclusion and evidence.

Now, let's look at a sample question:

The pharmaceutical industry argues that because new drugs will not be developed unless heavy development costs can be recouped in later sales, the current 20 years of protection provided by patents should be extended in the case of newly developed drugs. However, in other industries new-product development continues despite high development costs, a fact that indicates that the extension is unnecessary.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the pharmaceutical industry's argument against the challenge made above?
(A) No industries other than the pharmaceutical industry have asked for an extension of the 20-year limit on patent protection.
(B) Clinical trials of new drugs, which occur after the patent is granted and before the new drug can be marketed, often now take as long as 10 years to complete.
(C) There are several industries in which the ratio of research and development costs to revenues is higher than it is in the pharmaceutical industry.
(D) An existing patent for a drug does not legally prevent pharmaceutical companies from bringing to market alternative drugs, provided they are sufficiently dissimilar to the patented drug.
(E) Much recent industrial innovation has occurred in products---for example, in the computer and electronics industries---for which patent protection is often very ineffective.

The pharmaceutical industry’s argument is best supported by an explanation of why the patent period sufficient for other industries to recoup their development costs is insufficient for the pharmaceutical industry. Choice B is the best answer because it provides an explanation: required clinical trials prevent new drugs from being sold for much of the time they receive patent protection.

Choice A is incorrect: the fact that the pharmaceutical industry’s request is unique does nothing to justify that request. Choice C and E, if true, could undermine the pharmaceutical industry’s argument, so they are incorrect. Choice D indicates that alternative drugs might render patent protection worthless, but that is clearly no reason to extend the protection.