3.2 Critical Reasoning Belinda: Good Morning Professor. Higgins: Good Morning. Belinda: I am preparing for my placements.

I came across a task called Critical Reasoning. Could you give some tips on how to answer those questions? Higgins: Oh sure! Come in, take your seat. Belinda: Thank you sir. Higgins: Critical Reasoning questions test your analytical and critical thinking skills. These questions will ask you to do any one or all of the following: Strengthen an argument. Weaken an argument. Identify a parallel argument. Identify the assumption. Identify the inference. Select the best conclusion. How to approach Critical Reasoning questions? Step 1 Read the questions before reading the passage. This will tell you what to look for in the passage. Step 2 Identify the assumption and the conclusion of the passage. Sometimes conclusions may not be explicit. You should infer the conclusion from the given information. Step 3 Try to guess the answer before reading the options. If you find your guess as one of the options, mark it as the answer, but consider all the options before answering. Note: Read the questions carefully, for an option might appear to be true, but it may not be the correct answer. Step 4 While answering the questions, read all the answer options, consider them one by one, eliminate the wrong ones and choose the right answer. Higgins: Now is it clear? But remember practice makes a man perfect. Belinda: Yes sir, I will do a lot of practice. Higgins: All the best.

Critical Reasoning Practice Book The following are critical reasoning questions: A passage or statements are given followed by questions. Read the passage/statements and answer the questions based on the given information. Critical Reasoning 1 US invation on Iraq is a military success. However, Bushs promise to establish a stable democratic government has not come true. Based on the above information, which of the following is the correct inference. [A] Iraq cannot be defeated. [B] US is suffering at the hands of Iraq. [C] Anarchy prevails in Iraq. [D] Bush is a man of empty words. Critical Reasoning 2 Kamala went to the market with plans to buy some oranges, for her budget would allow her to do only that. When Kamala returned she had her bag filled with cheaper bananas. Which of the following can be a possible reason for the presence of bananas instead of oranges? [A] Kamala is fond of oranges. [B] the cost of oranges was lower than what she expected. [C] The quality of bananas and the low price of it appealed to kamala. [D] all of the above Critical Reasoning 3 Of those cases diagnosed for haepetitis, nine out of ten are used to drinking unpurified water. So people drinking unpurified water will be affected by Haepetitis. Which of the following statements will weaken the argument. [A] people with a higher immunity will not be affected by Haepetitis, even if they drink unpurified water. [B] drinking unpurified water is not the only cause for haepethetitis infection. [C] people who drink purified water are not affected by haepetitis infection. [D] none of the above Critical Reasoning 4

On an average, out of 10 people who commit suicide due to domestic conflicts, 6 are women. This is because women do not have opportunites to speak out their feelings. So suicide deaths can be prevented if people are encouraged to talk to a counselor. Which of the following statements strengthens the above statement. [A] Women are mentally stronger than men. [B] Pouring out your feelings to someone gives you relief. [C] Men do not understand the feelings of women. [D] counselors cannot provide solutions to all problems. Critical Reasoning 5 Winners do not do different things, but they do things differently. Which of the following can be inferred from the above statement. [A] winners are a different sort of people. [B] one who is different from the rest wins. Critical reasoning 6 People who taste liquor for the sake of tasting it are more prone to becoming addicts of drinking than people who have never tasted liquor. tasting liquor is not as simple and harmless as one thinks. The above argument is based on the assumption that [A] everyone likes the taste of liquor. [B] liquor is a sedative. [C] drinking is a bad habit. [D] people are often or occasionally tempted to drink liquor. Critical Reasoning 7 Mr X is a man. Mr X dies Man is mortal. Which of the following conclusions can be made from the above information? [A] mortals die [B] Mr X is mortal [C] Man dies [D] all of the above Critical Reasoning 8

A species of south African frog lives for four hundred years. It breathes once in four minutes. A crocodile lives for hundred and fifty years. It breathes once in two minutes. So the slower you breathe, the longer you live. Which of the following is an inference? [A] there is a definite relationship between breathing and lifespan. [B] frogs and crocodiles are amphibians. [C] the smaller the body size, the longer one lives. [D] all of the above critical reasoning 9 Poets compose a poem when they are inspired. Wordsworth got his inspiration from nature. Coleridge got inspired under intoxication, and T. S. Eliot got inspired by his dreams. Which of the following can conclude the passage? [A] poets can write poems only when they are inspired. [B] poets get their inspiration from different sources. [C] only people who drink can write poetry. [D] poem is nothing but a dream. Critical Reasoning 10 Everytime when the direction of the wind changes from east to south, it brings rain clouds. Nine out of ten rainclouds gives rain. Now the wind has not changed its direction, and it will not rain. Which of the following statements weaken the argument? [A] rainclouds usually come from the south. [B] wind does not change its direction often. [C] wind and rain are complementary [D] none of the above

Critical Reasoning 11 Statement I - Neither John nor Mary is able to work on computers. Statement II - Neither John nor Mary is selected for a job in ABC Company. Statement II must be true if both. Statement I and which of the following statements are true? [A] To get the job, a person must have the ability to work on computers. [B] John and Mary could be trained on computers if they are selected for the job.

[C] John and Mary could perform the job well even if they do not have knowledge of Computers. [D] John or Mary could have on-the-job training to work on the Computers. [E] Some of the duties of the job do not require knowledge of Computers. Critical Reasoning 12 Dogs keep a sharp eye on whether humans are around before they tug into an edible treat. Researchers placed tasty treats on the floor in front of a number of dogs in turn, and forbade each animal to eat food. As long as the person remained in the room, the dog rarely went for the food. If the person left the room, the dog gobbled up the treat with in a few seconds. Which of the following can be concluded from the statements? [A] Dogs are smarter than what people think about them. [B] Dogs are the man's best friend. [C] Dogs will not eat food unless the man is out of sight [D] Dogs can read the minds of men. [E] Dogs can be trained to help the man in many ways. Critical Reasoning 13 College life brings with it a new sense of freedom and liberty. Freed from parental and school censures, students develop a wider social circle, make friends and mingle with both sexes more frequently. which of the following could be consequences of the statements in the passage EXCEPT [A] Dating with a newfriend. [B] Intercaste and intercommunal marriages. [C] Understanding the social and political problems. [D] Knowledge is gained through group discussions. [E] Students will earn to finance their education. Critical Reasoning 14

Scientists have pioneered a genetically modified super potato which glows when it needs water. Scientists injected potato plants with a fluorescence gene borrowed from luminous jellyfish Aequorea Victoria, which causes leaves to glow green when dehydrated. Which of the following could be a probable use of this super potato? [A] This indicates an agriculture of the future. [B] It will be better in taste than the ordinary potatoes. [C] The super potatoes would act as sentinels, planted beside the commercial crop to alert a farmer that the rest of this field needed watering. [D] With their glow, super potatoes may help other plants to prepare food in the absence of sunlight. [E] The farmer will be able to work in the field during the nights without further light. Critical Reasoning 15 Doctors advise that people who suffer from hypertension should restrict their salt intake. Recently scientists found in a well-designed study that those with hypertension actually consume less salt than their counter parts with normal blood pressure. If it is true that a diet relatively high in salt is causally linked to the onset of hypertension, which of the following, if true most probably accounts for the new findings? [A] Only a minority of people with hypertension have been properly diagnosed. [B] Hypertension is not a serious health problem in the sample population studied. [C] Most people with hypertension have intentionally restricted their salt intake. [D] Hypertension occurs most frequently to those who have sedentary habits and heavy work loads. [E] Excess salt intake is inherently responsible for hypertension. Critical Reasoning 16 Jacob. Our principal informed us that because he wants to form college Baseball team to participate in the ensuing competitions he would surely be contacting good players today. Since we have not been contacted by the principal, we may conclude that the principal abandoned the idea: Paul: Or, perhaps, the principal did not think we are good players. How is Paul's response related to Jacob's argument?

[A] Paul missed Jacob's point entirely. [B] Paul pointed out that Jacob made an unwarranted assumption. [C] Paul always opposed Jacob's arguments. [D] Paul thinks that Jacob is not a good player. [E] Paul felt that the principal is biased in the selection of the team. Critical Reasoning 17 Some people in the developing countries oppose the liberalization and globalization of economy as they feel that markets may be flooded with cheaper goods manufactured by cheaper labor in some Asian countries. They fear that indigenous industries will be ruined as they cannot compete with the foreign goods in the market both in quality and price. All of the following will support the statements above EXCEPT [A] Imports of cheaper farm products resulted in unremunerative prices for food grains for the farmers. [B] Imported items manufactured by Multinational Corporations were preferred for their quality. [C] Due to competition from the foreign firms, indigenous industries have improved the quality of the products with competitive prices. [D] Advanced countries have high level of technology and they do not pass it on to developing countries. [E] Foreign firms with superior marketing strategies have wiped out the local firms. Critical Reasoning 18 By analyzing the garbage of a large number of average-sized households, a group of modern urban anthropologists has found that a household discards less food the more standardized-made up of canned and prepackaged foods-its diet is. The more standardized a household's diet is, however, the greater the quantities of fresh produce the household throws away. Which of the following can be properly inferred from the passage? [A] An increasing number of households rely on a highly standardized diet. [B] The less standardized a household's diet is, the more nonfood waste the household discards. [C] The less standardized a household's diet is, the smaller is the proportion of fresh produce in the household's food waste.

[D] The less standardized a household's diet is, the more canned and prepackaged foods the household discards as waste. [E] The more fresh produce a household buys, the more fresh produce it throws away. Critical Reasoning - 19 In the past, teachers, bank tellers, and secretaries were predominantly men; these occupations slipped in pay and status when they became largely occupied by women. Therefore, if women become the majority in currently male-dominated professions like accounting, law, and medicine, the income and prestige of these professions will also drop. 1. The argument above is based on [A] another argument that contains circular reasoning [B] an attempt to refute a generalization by means of an exceptional case [C] an analogy between the past and the future [D] an appeal to popular beliefs and values [E] an attack on the character of the opposition. 2. Which of the following, if true, would most likely be part of the evidence used to refute the conclusion above? [A] Accountants, lawyers, and physicians attained their current relatively high levels of income and prestige at about the same time that the pay and status of teachers, bank tellers, and secretaries slipped. [B] When large numbers of men join a female-dominated occupation, such as airline flight attendant, the status and pay of the occupation tend to increase. [C] The demand for teachers and secretaries has increased significantly in recent years, while the demand for bank tellers has remained relatively stable. [D] If present trends in the awarding of law degrees to women continue, it will be at least two decades before the majority of lawyers are women. [E] The pay and status of female accountants, lawyers, and physicians today are governed by significantly different economic and sociological forces than were the pay and status of female teachers, bank tellers, and secretaries in the past. Critical Reasoning - 20 An electric-power company gained greater profits and provided electricity to consumers at lower rates per unit of electricity by building larger-capacity more efficient plants and by stimulating greater use of electricity within its area. To continue these financial trends, the company planned to replace an old plant by a plant with triple the capacity of its largest plant. The company's plan as described above assumed each of the following EXCEPT: [A] Demand for electricity within the company's area of service would increase in the future. [B] Expenses would not rise beyond the level that could be compensated for by efficiency or volume of operation, or both.

[C] The planned plant would be sufficiently reliable in service to contribute a net financial benefit to the company as a whole. [D] Safety measures to be instituted for the new plant would be the same as those for the plant it would replace. [E] The tripling of capacity would not result in insuperable technological obstacles to efficiency. Critical Reasoning - 21 Of the countries that were the world's twenty largest exporters in 1953, four had the same share of total world exports in 1984 as in 1953. these countries can therefore serve as models for those countries that wish to keep their share of the global export trade stable over the years. Which of the following, if true, casts the most serious doubt on the suitability of those four countries as models in the sense described? [A] Many countries wish to increase their share of world export trade, not just keep it stable. [B] Many countries are less concerned with exports alone than with the balance between exports and imports. [C] With respect to the mix of products each exports, the four countries are very different from each other. [D] Of the four countries, two had a much larger, and two had a much smaller, share of total world exports in 1970 than in 1984. [E] The exports of the four countries range from 15 percent to 75 percent of the total national output. Critical Reasoning 22 The average life expectancy for the United States population as a whole is 73.9 years, but children born in Hawaii will live an average of 77 years, and those born in Louisiana, 71.7 years. If a newlywed couple from Louisiana were to begin their family in Hawaii, therefore, their children would be expected to live longer than would be the case if the family remained in Louisiana. 1. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion drawn in the passage? [A] Insurance company statisticians do not believe that moving to Hawaii will significantly lengthen the average Louisianian's life. [B] The governor of Louisiana has falsely alleged that statistics for his state are inaccurate. [C] The longevity ascribed to Hawaii's current population is attributable mostly to genetically determined factors. [D] Thirty percent of all Louisianians can expect to live longer than 77 years. [E] Most of the Hawaiian Islands have levels of air pollution well below the national average for the United States. 2. Which of the following statements, if true, would most significantly strengthen the conclusion drawn in the passage?

[A] As population density increases in Hawaii, life expectancy figures for that state are likely to be revised downward [B] Environmental factors tending to favor longevity are abundant in Hawaii and less numerous in Louisiana [C] Twenty-five percent of all Louisianians who move to Hawaii live longer than 77 years. [D] Over the last decade, average life expectancy has risen at a higher rate for Louisianians than for Hawaiians. [E] Studies show that the average life expectancy for Hawaiians who move permanently to Louisiana is roughly equal to that of Hawaiians who remain in Hawaii. Critical Reasoning 23 Insurance Company X is considering issuing a new policy to cover services required by elderly people who suffer from diseases that afflict the elderly. Premiums for the policy must be low enough to attract customers. Therefore, Company X is concerned that the income from the policies would not be sufficient to pay for the claims that would be made. 1. Which of the following strategies would be most likely to minimize Company X's losses on the policies? [A] Attracting middle-aged customers unlikely to submit claims for benefits for many years [B] Insuring only those individuals who did not suffer any serious diseases as children [C] Including a greater number of services in the policy than are included in other policies of lower cost [D] Insuring only those individuals who were rejected by other companies for similar policies [E] Insuring only those individuals who are wealthy enough to pay for the medical services Critical Reasoning 24 A program instituted in a particular state allows parents to prepay their children's future college tuition at current rates. The program then pays the tuition annually for the child at any of the state's public colleges in which the child enrolls. Parents should participate in the program as a means of decreasing the cost for their children's college education. 1. Which of the following, if true, is the most appropriate reason for parents not to participate in the program? [A] The parents are unsure about which pubic college in the state the child will attend. [B] The amount of money accumulated by putting the prepayment funds in an interest-bearing account today will be greater than the total cost of tuition for any of the pubic colleges when the child enrolls. [C] The annual cost of tuition at the state's pubic colleges is expected to increase at a faster rate than the annual increase in the cost of living [D] Some of the state's public colleges are contemplating large increases in tuition next year. [E] The prepayment plan would not cover the cost of room and board at any of the state's public colleges.

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Critical Reasoning 25 Company Alpha buys free-travel coupons from people who are awarded the coupons by Bravo Airlines for flying frequently on Bravo airplanes. The coupons are sold to people who pay less for the coupons than they would pay by purchasing tickets from Bravo. This marketing of coupons results in lost revenue for Bravo. To discourage the buying and selling of free-travel coupons, it would be [A] best for Bravo Airlines to restrict the number of coupons that a person can be awarded in a particular year [B] use of the coupons to those who were awarded the coupons and members of their immediate families [C] days that the coupons can be used to Monday through Friday [D] amount of time that the coupons can be used after they are issued [E] number of routes on which travelers can use the coupons Critical Reasoning Answeg Key Critical Reasoning 1 1C Critical Reasoning 2 1C Critical Reasoning 3 1A Critical Reasoning 4 1B Critical Reasoning 5 1B Critical Reasoning 6 1D Critical Reasoning 7 1D Critical Reasoning 8 1A critical Reasoning 9 1B

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critical Resoning 10 1D Critical Reasoning 11 1A Critical Reasoning 12 1E Critical Reasoning 13 1E Critical Reasoning 14 1C Critical Reasoning 15 1A Critical Reasoning 16 1B Critical Reasoning - 17 1C Critical Reasoning 18 1C Critical Reasoning 19 1C 2E Critical Reasoning 20 1D Critical Reasoning 21 1D Critical Reasoning 22 1C 2B Critical Reasoning 23 1A Critical Reasoning 24 1B

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Critical Reasoning 25 1B

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