GMAT PREP

Verbal Review: Session 11

CRITICAL REASONING

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Autor: Edward Vialardi
 GMAT PREP
Verbal Review: Session 11

CRITICAL REASONING:

Other Types of Questions:

MIMIC THE REASONING

1. The productivity and efficiency of a company's employees are not independent of the character of the working
environment. Research shows that the number of common areas such as lounges, the particular arrangement of office
furniture used in decorating the workplace, and even the color scheme can have an impact on the attitude and industry of the
employees. For example, the output of one small firm increased nearly 40% after the firm moved to a new location that had
air conditioning and provided employees with a lunch-room.

Which of the following would most likely be an example of the principle expressed above?

(A) Recent studies show that the children of alcoholics are much more likely to become alcoholics than are the children of
non-alcoholics.
(B) Hunting birds born and raised in captivity turn out to be very poor providers when returned to their natural setting, while
those born and raised in the wild rarely adjust to life in captivity.
(C) Recording engineers have always believed, and recent research agrees, that recordings made on a particular machine
reproduce sound best when replayed on the same machine.
(D) The performance of a particular sports team can often be heightened by changes made in the stadium in which it plays,
such as decreasing the playing area or switching to artificial turf.
(E) Clocks with liquid crystal display are more easily seen in well-lit environs than in dimly lit environs, whereas clocks with
light-emitting diode display are more easily seen in dimly lit environs.

2. The fact that tobacco smoke inhaled by smokers harms the smokers does not prove that the much smaller amount of
tobacco smoke inhaled by nonsmokers who share living space with smokers harms the nonsmokers to some degree. Many
substances, such as vitamin A, are toxic in large quantities but beneficial in small quantities.
In which one of the following is the pattern of reasoning most similar to that in the argument above?

(A) The fact that a large concentration of bleach will make fabric very white does not prove that a small concentration of
bleach will make fabric somewhat white. The effect of a small concentration of bleach may be too slight to change the color
of the fabric.
(B) Although a healthful diet should include a certain amount of fiber, it does not follow that a diet that includes large amounts
of fiber is more healthful than one that includes smaller amounts of fiber. Too much fiber can interfere with proper digestion.
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(C) The fact that large amounts of chemical fertilizers can kill plants does not prove that chemical fertilizers are generally
harmful to plants. It proves only that the quantity of chemical fertilizer used should be adjusted according to the needs of the
plants and the nutrients already in the soil.
(D) From the fact that five professional taste testers found a new cereal product tasty, it does not follow that everyone will like
it. Many people find broccoli a tasty food, but other people have a strong dislike for the taste of broccoli.
(E) Although watching television for half of every day would be a waste of time, watching television briefly every day is not
necessarily even a small waste of time. After all, it would be a waste to sleep half of every day, but some sleep every day is
necessary.

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 RESOLVE THE PARADOX

3. Plant Y thrives in environments of great sunlight and very little moisture. Desert X is an environment with constant,
powerful sunlight, and next to no moisture. Although plant Y thrives in the areas surrounding Desert X, it does not exist
naturally in the desert, nor does it survive long when introduced there.

Which of the following, if true, would be most useful in explaining the apparent discrepancy above?

(A) Desert X's climate is far too harsh for the animals that normally feed on Plant Y.
(B) For one week in the fall, Desert X gets consistent rainfall.
(C) The environment around Desert X is ideally suited to the needs of Plant Y.
(D) Due to the lack of sufficient moisture, Desert X can support very little plant life.
(E) Plant Y cannot survive in temperatures as high as those normally found in Desert X.

CONCLUSION QUESTIONS

4. Achieving just the right amount of product recognition is a difficult undertaking. Companies like their products' names to
become "household words," but if people forget that the name indicates the brand name of a specific company that company
could lose its trademark. Then the name can be used by any company. Such was the case with "aspirin" and, more recently,
the "Murphy bed”.

If the above statements are true, which one of the following must also be true?

(A) Companies should not choose catchy, memorable names for products so as to avoid confusing the public.
(B) Makers of household products need to be especially careful about protecting their products' trademarks.
(C) Companies whose products are not meant for household use suffer less risk of losing their trademarks.
(D) It is more difficult to remind the public that a product name is a company's brand name than to turn a product name into a
"household word”
(E) Companies that want to protect a trademark should try to make the public aware of the product name as a brand name.

5. Familiarity with medical ethics is on the decline. New medical school graduates are even less likely to have been trained in
medical ethics than are their older colleagues. This, despite the fact that ever greater strides technology will add to a growing
number of ethical questions concerning how this technology should be applied.

Which of the following conclusions can be properly drawn from the statement above?
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(A) Courses devoted to medical ethics should be made part of the required curriculum for all first-year medical students.
(B) In order to cope with the ethical questions raised by new medical technology, doctors may need training in medical
ethics.
(C) Hospitals should decline to purchase new medical technologies that raise complicated ethical questions.
(D) If doctors are to make ethical decisions about new medical technology, they must increase their knowledge of new
technology.
(E) Due to their greater experience, older doctors generally show more concern for the ethical questions raised by new
medical technology.

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 6. Ern sold more cars than Frank.
Frank sold fewer cars than Glinda.
Carl sold more cars than Dennis.
Dennis and Glinda sold exactly the same number of cars.

lf the statements above are true, which of the following must also be true?

(A) Ern sold more cars than Glinda.

(B) Carl sold more cars than Ern.
(C) Dennis sold fewer cars than Ern.
(D) Carl sold more cars than Frank.
(E) Dennis sold fewer cars than Frank.

7. People cannot devote themselves to the study of natural processes unless they have leisure, and people have leisure
when resources are plentiful, not when resources are scarce. Although some anthropologists claim that agriculture, the
cultivation of crops, actually began under conditions of drought and hunger, the early societies that domesticated plants must
first have discovered how the plants they cultivated reproduced themselves and grew to maturity. These complex discoveries
were the result of the active study of natural processes.
The argument is structured to lead to the conclusion that
(A) whenever a society has plentiful resources, some members of that society devote themselves to the study of natural
processes
(B) plants cannot be cultivated by someone lacking theoretical knowledge of the principles of plant generation and grew
(C) agriculture first began in societies that at some time in their history had plentiful resources
(D) early agricultural societies knew more about the natural sciences than did early nonagricultural societies
(E) early societies could have discovered by accident how the plants they cultivated reproduced and grew

IDENTIFYING THE CONCLUSION QUESTIONS

8. Some scholars claim that virtually all behavioral differences between men and women are a result of socialization; others
hold that these differences are a reflection of biological determinants. In fact, we can ignore neither women's unique ability to
bear children nor the different treatment accorded to boys and girls from the moment they are assigned a pink or blue
blanket. What cannot yet be determined is the relative importance of each factor in determining behavioral differences:

Which of the following best expresses the author's main point?

(A) Human behavior is a result of both socialization and genetic factors.

(B) Human behavior is the specific result of the child's individuality.
(C) The primary determinant of an individual's behavior is the peer pressure exerted on the child.
(D) The greater part of human behavior is directly caused by sexual stereotyping during childhood.
(E) Human behavior finds its specific causes in parental expectations during childhood and adolescence.

COMPLETING THE PASSAGE

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9. Which of the following best completes the passage below?

Although recently introduced with a wave of publicity, the new combined audio/ video receivers are giving their
manufacturers headaches because they have proven tough to sell. As a result, the makers keep advertising, and offering
handsome discounts. What the manufactures have yet to see is that the public's reluctance isn't due to the price of the
product; the public is still debating the even more fundamental question of _ _ _ __ .

(A) whether or not the product is worth its price.

(B) whether or not there is a use for such a product
(C) whether or not the models will not soon become obsolete
(D) whether or not the uses for such a product outweigh its high cost.
(E) whether or not more stylishly designed models will appear in the future.

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 AND MORE!!!

10. Board meetings for company M are held around a circular table with six evenly-spaced seats. Five seats are occupied by
board members A, B, C, D, and E; and one seat is empty. If A is directly across from E, and if A is not next to the empty
chair, where must the empty chair be?

(A) next to A
(B) next to B
(C) next to C
(D) next to D
(E) next to E

11. The conflict between an artist's work and the context in which it is placed is a traditional problem, in aesthetics. Recent
exhibits have given it a new urgency. Too often a painter's canvases have been hung in an improper context because the
gallery managers haven't had a clue as to what the painter envisioned as the work's proper environment.
As an attempt to solve the problem described above, it would be most reasonable to

(A) bring artists and gallery managers into closer contact so as to increase the artist's input in the way the exhibit is held
(B) provide brochures at the exhibit that describe the artist and what he or she intended the work to be
(C) redesign galleries so that their decor contains nothing of significance to distract the audience from the works themselves
(D) provide a uniform environment for all the works in an exhibition so that they appear within the same context
(E) instruct gallery managers in the fine points of aesthetic theory so that they will be able to tell what, if anything, a painting
means.

12. The case of the French Revolution is typically regarded as the best evidence for the claim that societies can reap more
benefit than harm from a revolution. But even the French Revolution serves this role poorly, since France at the time of the
Revolution had a unique advantage. Despite the Revolution, the same civil servants and functionaries remained in office,
carrying on the day-to-day work of government, and thus many of the disruptions that revolutions normally bring were
avoided.
Which one of the following most accurately characterizes the argumentative strategy used in the passage?

(A) demonstrating that the claim argued against is internally inconsistent

(B) supporting a particular position on the basis of general principles
(C) opposing a claim by undermining evidence offered in support of that claim
(D) justifying a view through the use of a series of persuasive examples
(E) comparing two positions in order to illustrate their relative strengths and weaknesses
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 Questions 13-14
Economist: Some policymakers believe that our country’s continued economic growth requires a higher level of personal
savings than we currently have. A recent legislative proposal would allow individuals to set up savings accounts in which
interest earned would be exempt from taxes until money is withdrawn from the account. Backers of this proposal claim that
its implementation would increase the amount of money available for banks to loan at a relatively small cost to the
government in lost tax revenues. Yet, when similar tax-incentive programs were tried in the past, virtually all of the money
invested through them was diverted from other personal savings, and the overall level of personal savings was unchanged.
13. The passage as a whole provides the most support for which one of the following conclusions?
(A) Backers of the tax-incentive proposal undoubtedly have some motive other than their expressed aim of increasing
the amount of money available for banks to loan.
(B) The proposed tax incentive is unlikely to attract enough additional money into personal savings accounts to make
up for the attendant loss in tax revenues.
(C) A tax-incentive program that resulted in substantial loss of tax revenues would be likely to generate a large
increase in personal savings.
(D) The economy will be in danger unless some alternative to increased personal savings can be found to stimulate
growth.
(E) The government has no effective means of influencing the amount of money that people are willing to put into
savings accounts.
14. The author criticizes the proposed tax-incentive program by
(A) challenging a premise on which the proposal is based
(B) pointing out a disagreement among policymakers
(C) demonstrating that the proposal’s implementation is not feasible
(D) questioning the judgment of the proposal’s backers by citing past cases in which they had advocated programs that
have proved ineffective
(E) disputing the assumption that a program to encourage personal savings is needed

15. Although all birds have feathers and all birds have wings, some birds do not fly. For example, penguins and ostriches
use their wings to move in a different way from other birds. Penguins use their wings only to swim under water at high
speeds. Ostriches use their wings only to run with the wind by lifting them as if they were sails.
Which one of the following is most parallel in its reasoning to the argument above?
(A) Ancient philosophers tried to explain not how the world functions but why it functions. In contrast, most
contemporary biologists seek comprehensive theories of how organisms function, but many refuse to speculate
about purpose.
(B) Some chairs are used only as decorations, and other chairs are used only to tame lions. Therefore, not all chairs
are used for sitting in despite the fact that all chairs have a seat and some support such as legs.
(C) Some musicians in a symphony orchestra play the violin, and others play the viola, but these are both in the same
category of musical instruments, namely string instruments.
(D) All cars have similar drive mechanisms, but some cars derive their power from solar energy, whereas others burn
gasoline. Thus, solar-powered cars are less efficient than gasoline-powered ones.
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(E) Sailing ships move in a different way from steamships. Both sailing ships and steamships navigate over water, but
only sailing ships use sails to move over the surface.

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Questions 16-17
Jones: Prehistoric wooden tools found in South America have been dated to 13,000 years ago. Although scientists attribute
these tools to peoples whose ancestors first crossed into the Americas from Siberia to Alaska, this cannot be correct. In order
to have reached a site so far south, these peoples must have been migrating southward well before 13,000 years ago.
However, no such tools dating to before 13,000 years ago have been found anywhere between Alaska and South America.
Smith: Your evidence is inconclusive. Those tools were found in peat bogs, which are rare in the Americas. Wooden tools in
soils other than peat bogs usually decompose within only a few years.
16. The point at issue between Jones and Smith is
(A) whether all prehistoric tools that are 13,000 years or older were made of wood
(B) whether the scientists’ attribution of tools could be correct in light of Jones’s evidence
(C) whether the dating of the wooden tools by the scientists could be correct
(D) how long ago the peoples who crossed into the American from Siberia to Alaska first did so
(E) whether Smith’s evidence entails that the wooden tools have been dated correctly

17. Smith responds to Jones by

(A) citing several studies that invalidate Jones’s conclusion
(B) accusing Jones of distorting the scientists’ position
(C) disputing the accuracy of the supporting evidence cited by Jones
(D) showing that Jones’s evidence actually supports the denial of Jones’s conclusion
(E) challenging an implicit assumption in Jones’s argument

18. The great medieval universities had no administrators, yet they endured for centuries. Our university has a huge
administrative staff, and we are in serious financial difficulties. Therefore, we should abolish the positions and salaries of
the administrators to ensure the longevity of the university.
Which one of the following arguments contains flawed reasoning that most closely parallels the flawed reasoning in the
argument above?
(A) No airplane had jet engines before 1940, yet airplanes had been flying since 1903. Therefore, jet engines are not
necessary for the operation of airplanes.
(B) The novelist’s stories began to be accepted for publication soon after she started using a computer to write them.
You have been having trouble getting your stories accepted for publication, and you do not use a computer. To
make sure your stories are accepted for publication, then, you should write them with the aid of a computer.
(C) After doctors began using antibiotics, the number of infections among patients dropped drastically. Now, however,
resistant strains of bacteria cannot be controlled by standard antibiotics. Therefore, new methods of control are
needed.
(D) A bicycle should not be ridden without a helmet. Since a good helmet can save the rider’s life, a helmet should be
considered the most important piece of bicycling equipment.
(E) The great cities of the ancient world were mostly built along waterways. Archaeologists searching for the remains of
such cities should therefore try to determine where major rivers used to run.
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19 Marianna: The problem of drunk driving has been somewhat ameliorated by public education and stricter laws.
Additional measures are nevertheless needed. People still drive after drinking, and when they do, the probability is
greatly increased that they will cause an accident involving death or serious injury.
David: I think you exaggerate the dangers of driving while drunk. Actually, a driver who is in an automobile accident is
slightly less likely to be seriously injured if drunk than if sober.
In responding to Marianna’s argument, David makes which one of the following errors of reasoning?
(A) He contradicts himself.
(B) He assumes what he is seeking to establish.
(C) He contradicts Marianna’s conclusion without giving any evidence for his point of view.
(D) He argues against a point that is not one that Marianna was making.
(E) He directs his criticism against the person making the argument rather than directing it against the argument itself.

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 20. From a magazine article: Self-confidence is a dangerous virtue: it often degenerates into the vice of arrogance. The
danger of arrogance is evident to all who care to look. How much more humane the twentieth century would have been
without the arrogant self-confidence of a Hitler or a Stalin.
The author attempts to persuade by doing all of the following EXCEPT:
(A) Using extreme cases to evoke an emotional response
(B) Introducing value-laden terms, such as “vice”
(C) Illustrating the danger of arrogance
(D) Appealing to authority to substantiate an assertion
(E) Implying that Hitler’s arrogance arose from self-confidence

21. Scientists are sometimes said to assume that something is not the case until there is proof that it is the case. Now
suppose the question arises whether a given food additive is safe. At that point, it would be neither known to be safe nor
known not to be safe. By the characterization above, scientists would assume the additive not to be safe because it has
not been proven safe. But they would also assume it to be safe because it has not been proven otherwise. But no
scientist could assume without contradiction that a given substance is both safe and not safe: so this characterization of
scientists is clearly wrong.
Which one of the following describes the technique of reasoning used above?
(A) A general statement is argued to be false by showing that it has deliberately been formulated to mislead.
(B) A statement is argued to be false by showing that taking it to be true leads to implausible consequences.
(C) A statement is shown to be false by showing that it directly contradicts a second statement that is taken to be true.
(D) A general statement is shown to be uninformative by showing that there are as many specific instances in which it
is false as there are instances in which it is true.
(E) A statement is shown to be uninformative by showing that it supports no independently testable inferences.
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