GMAT Critical Reasoning
GMAT Critical Reasoning—Never Lose Sight of the Conclusion
GMAT Critical Reasoning tests a range of skills across various question types. Given the nuances and clever difficulty in this question type, the quality of practice materials becomes even more crucial.
Using official GMAT questions allows test-takers to familiarize themselves with the types of questions they will face, especially the common strengthen and weaken formats. Official questions provide the most accurate representation of the exam's demands, ensuring that preparation is both effective and relevant.
The official example question below, along with the detailed
Explanation
, aims to guide you through the specific approach required to address critical reasoning questions effectively. We’ll begin with an introduction to essential strategies unique to the GMAT critical reasoning question type, followed by a closer look at a sample problem.Best Practices for Critical Reasoning
On the GMAT Verbal section, there are four broad types of critical reasoning questions you will encounter: strengthen, weaken, method of reasoning, and conclusion (aka inference) questions. A vast majority of the questions that you encounter on the exam are strengthen and weaken types. This includes the two very common subtypes for strengthen and weaken questions: useful to evaluate and assumption. As you learn in almost any curriculum for Critical Reasoning, it is essential that you read the question stem first to determine the type of question, as that will inform the strategy and approach you will be using when reading the stimulus.
The first step after you categorize the question is always to deconstruct the argument stimulus, except when it is a conclusion question. You should find and isolate the conclusion, ask why to that conclusion, and then build the premises back to expose the line of reasoning presented in the argument. In the early stages of preparation, students tend to be pretty bad at deconstructing arguments because it is not something they have ever done before. With practice, this very important skill becomes second nature.
The more difficult skill after you properly deconstruct the given argument is to attack the reasoning and anticipate gaps and flaws within the argument. If it is a strengthen question, you will be finding a new piece of information in the answers that improves a given flaw or fills a gap in reasoning. If it is a weaken question, you will be exposing that flaw, and if it is a method of reasoning question, you will be describing the roles of the different parts within the argument. Conclusion questions are completely different, as you are not deconstructing the given stimulus, but rather taking that stimulus as fact and deciding which answer is a valid conclusion based upon that stimulus.
Success in strengthen and weaken questions depends on several key strategies and realizations:
- The number one mistake people make in these questions is that they are NOT strengthening or weakening the exact conclusion given. Don’t hijack the given conclusion and change it slightly to what you expect it to be or think it should be. Isolating the precise conclusion given and focusing on that in your analysis of answer choices is the most important skill in Critical Reasoning.
- Understand and recognize quickly the most common logical fallacies used in GMAT Critical Reasoning arguments: mistaking correlation for causation, generalization, data flaws, apples-to-oranges comparisons, etc.
- Be ready for all the different wording tricks and general wordplay used to create difficulty in GMAT Critical Reasoning questions. Being precise in wording/noting subtle word shifts is absolutely key to success in this question type. Dealing with negation in the stimulus and the answer choices is one of the hardest manifestations of wordplay in Critical Reasoning.
Once you get proficient at quickly deconstructing arguments, anticipating gaps and flaws within the stimulus, and sorting through the clever wording and tricks in answer choices, your efficiency and accuracy in Critical Reasoning will improve dramatically.
GMAT Critical Reasoning, Sample Question #1
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Explanation
This particular question presents a scenario that is often problematic for test-takers. Instead of presenting a typical argument—premises with a conclusion—this stimulus presents a plan and you need to weaken the goal of that plan. Anytime you are presented with a “plan” question, you must clearly isolate the goal of that plan, which takes the place of the conclusion in a typical argument. The plan itself takes the place of the premises in a traditional argument.
In this case, the goal of the plan is clearly the following: The goal of this new system is to provide children with a cash substitute that cannot profitably be stolen.
The plan is as follows:
Give students electronic cards for payment. To make sure that the cards are worthless to thieves, each card will bear its owner’s picture, so staff at cafeteria checkouts can spot stolen cards easily.
So when you go through the answers, you should be looking for something that will weaken the goal of providing children with a cash substitute that cannot profitably be stolen. In other words, find something that shows the electronic cards are a bad idea because they could be stolen. The commonly used con on this question (and many plan questions like it) is that it seems that the
Correct Answer
must relate to buying food at the cafeteria. However, the goal of the plan is not just relating to purchases at the cafeteria!Imagine if there are other uses for the cards that will not have staff members checking the photos on them. This argument assumes that the only use for these cards will be at places where staff is checking the photos on the cards.
Correct Answer
Given the assumption above, answer choice E is correct:
E. The companies operating vending machines in the schools are adapting their machines so that the electronic cards can be used for purchases.
If this is true, then bullies might be stealing other kids’ cards and using the stolen cards successfully at vending machines without anyone checking the photo. This shows that the plan might not achieve its goal of creating a card that cannot profitably be stolen.
If you look at discussions of this question, so many students don’t pick answer choice E because they feel like vending machines are “out of scope” of the argument, which appears to be only about cafeteria purchases. By focusing on the goal of the plan properly, you can notice that this is not the case and even anticipate this well-constructed con. In examining the other four answers, none of them address the issue of being profitably stolen and can be eliminated for that reason.
When completing Critical Reasoning questions, never lose sight of the conclusion and remember that in questions involving plans, the goal of that plan takes the place of the conclusion.
The Importance of Official Questions for GMAT Critical Reasoning
This official question demonstrates one of the many clever cons used to create difficulty in Critical Reasoning questions. When you prepare with a large volume of official questions, you learn the exact game that needs to be played on exam day. You literally will see every type of con and every variation of difficulty that exists for Critical Reasoning questions. Unofficial GMAT verbal questions tend to contain obtuse and inaccurate language and are simply not difficult in the same way.
There is no substitute for official material. Using official questions is crucial because it helps you develop the analytical and reasoning skills needed for the GMAT. By studying with official GMAT critical reasoning questions, you're not just “finding an answer”; you’re rehearsing the actual experience of completing a problem from this difficult section on test day. Stay away from unofficial questions to ensure you're fully prepared to face GMAT critical reasoning questions with confidence.
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