1

Critical Reasoning Test

Questions = 20

Time = 60 minutes

Directions: The questions in this section are based on the reasoning contained in brief statements or
passages. For some questions, more than one of the choices could conceivably answer the question.
However, you are to choose the best answer; that is, the response that most accurately and completely
answers the question.
1. All those in last years' Mathematics faculty have gained admission into the IIMs, Changu and Mangu also
paid their admission fee for the IIM (L) yesterday.
The above statement implies that:
(a) Changu and Mangu are not part of the Mathematics faculty.
(b) IIM (L) is one of the IIMs.
(c) Paying your fee at IIM (L) implies that you have gained admission to the IIMs.
(d) Only the Mathematics faculty makes it to the IIMs.
(e) Changu and Mangu have taken admission into the IIM (L).
2. Which is more useful, the Sun or the Moon? The Moon is more useful since it gives us light during the
night, when it is dark, whereas the Sun shines only in the daytime, when it is light anyway!
What supposition does the author make in his statement?
(a) Whatever gives us light is the most useful thing for mankind.
(b) The Moon and the Sun are the sources of natural light known to mankind.
(c) Light in the daytime is caused by something other than the Sun.
(d) The Moon and the Sun are equally capable of giving us light.
(e) If the Sun gives us more light, it will be more useful than the Moon.
3. When they came into India, all the 3 shoe giants Reebok, Nike and Adidas started with the assumption that
their exclusive brands demanded exclusive stores. Their reasoning: their brands would grab sales through
destination shopping, where customers would travel to a store specifically to buy a pair of their shoes. But
the premise was faulty, as low sales showed.
Which of the following would rectify the faulty premise and resulting low sales?
(a) They would have to sell their products in a multi-brand environment, so that the Indian customer who is
not committed to one brand can try them out.
(b) They would have to set up distribution and sales offices and begin a survey on the Indian market scene.
(c) They would have to concentrate more on their commercials, making it less global and more India specific.
(d) They went wrong in not taking into account rural India, which accounts for around 20% of their customers
who have never heard of these brands.
(e) Since they are competing with time tested Indian brands they would have to make their stores and
products exclusive.
4. Tony Greig: Chris Cairns is the best New Zealand all-rounder. No wonder cricket fans call him Kiwi No. 1 .

Geoff Boycott: You are wrong. Gavin Larsens performance with the ball and the bat, in the World Cup was
better than that of any other player in the team.
Geoff Boycott apparently assumes that Tony Greig said:
(a) Only a player from the New Zealand team is eligible to be the worlds best all-rounder.
(b) Chris Cairns has the No.1 Ceat rating currently.
(c) Chris Cairns is the best all-rounder in the World Cup for the New Zealand team.
(d) A player is called an all-rounder when he is consistent in batting, bowling and his fielding.
(e) Gavin Larsens fielding is relatively sloppy.
5. In order to increase the number of autorickshaws available during the night between 1 p.m. and 6 a.m.,
the auto commission, which sets fares has proposed a 10% surcharge during those hours. This is unlikely to
have any effect on the availability of autos. The fleet owners who lease autos to the drivers on a shift basis
will simply raise the per-shift charge for those hours, thus eliminating any incentive for the individual driver
to work during night hours.
Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument above?
(a) Fleet owners usually have unleased cars during the night hours covered by the commissions proposal.
(b) Most people who need a taxi during the night would not mind paying the ten percent
(c) The majority of licensed autorickshaws are owned by individual private owners who do not lease them
from fleet owners.
(d) The previous year, the commission approved a five percent hike in auto fares.
(e) Passengers would not treat the surcharge as part of the drivers tip.
Eight authors are in competition for a prestigious literary prize called the Puker Prize which is to be awarded
according to the votes of a panel of judges. The panel is divided into various voting blocks.
(1) If McEwan receives more votes than Naipaul, and Ohara receives more votes than Powell, Qureshi will
win the prize.
(2) If Naipaul receives more votes than McEwan, or Rushdie receives more votes than Seth, Theroux will win
the prize.
(3) If Powell receives more votes than O'hara, Rushdie will win the prize.
6. If Theroux did not win the prize, which of the following must be true?
(a) McEwan receives more votes than Naipaul.
(b) Naipaul did not receive more votes than McEwan.
(c) Rushdie did not receive more votes than Seth.
(d) Ohara received more votes than Powell.
(e) Both (b) and (c).
7. Based on the same question, if Ohara received more votes than Powell, but Qureshi did not win the
prize, which of the following must be true?
(a) Rushdie won the prize.
(b) Theroux won the prize.
(c) Rushdie received more votes than Seth.
(d) McEwan did not receive more votes than Naipaul.
(e) Naipaul did not receive more votes than Rushdie

8. The use of body spray has been proved to have a detrimental effect on the ozone layer. However, the
number of body spray users has not abated which is a cause for concern for many scientists.
Which of the following, if true, would provide support for the unabated use of body spray?
(a) Many people are unaware of the harmful effects of body spray on the ozone layer.
(b) Ozone-friendly body sprays are making inroads into the market.
(c) Body spray is not the only product that has a deleterious effect on ozone layer.
(d) None of (a), (b) and (c)
(e) All of (a), (b) and (c)
9. Joyce, James and Woolf all wrote novels that focussed more on the thoughts and feelings of characters
than on external happenings and the story. It is their effort that the modern novel owes its genesis to.
Which of the following statements follows a similar logical sequence?
(a) The bone marrow is unable to produce any RBCs. It seems clear that the patient will have to undergo
treatment for Thalessemia.
(b) Europe has always been the focus of the war culture. With role models like Napoleon, Alexander and
Hitler, contemporary warfare has learned all its basic techniques from the strategies of these men.
(c) The precedent set by the ruling in the Aruna Shanbaug case will ensure that the defendant will not be
given the life-imprisonment sentence for his crime.
(d) The DNA obtained from the Hendeca planet, if injected into a human ovum, might lead to the creation of
a monster. On the basis of theories advanced in various journals I recommend that this kind of
experimentation be avoided at all costs.
(e) The teaching of the Bible says that only Noah and his family, by dint of being good people, escaped the
deluge, and since then all events that happened before the deluge is called antediluvian or very old.
10. People who have specialized knowledge about a scientific or technical issue are systematically excluded
from juries for trials where the issue is relevant. Thus, trial by jury is not a fair means of settling disputes
involving such issues.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
(a) The more complicated the issue being litigated, the less likely it is that a juror without specialized
knowledge of the field involved will be able to comprehend the testimony being given.
(b) The more a juror knows about a particular scientific or technical issue involved in a trial, the more likely it
is that the juror will be prejudiced in favor of one of the litigating parties before the trial begins.
(c) Appointing an impartial arbitrator is not a fair means of settling disputes involving scientific or technical
issues, because arbitrators tend to favor settlements in which both parties compromise on the issues.
(d) Experts who give testimony on scientific or technical issues tend to hedge their conclusions by discussing
the possibility of error.
11. Archaeologist: A skeleton of a North American mastodon that became extinct at the peak of the Ice Age
was recently discovered. It contains a human-made projectile dissimilar to any found in that part of Eurasia
closest to North America. Thus, since Eurasians did not settle in North America until shortly before the peak
of the Ice Age, the first Eurasian settlers in North America probably came from a more distant part of Eurasia.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the archaeologists argument?
(a) The projectile found in the mastodon does not resemble any that were used in Eurasia before or during

the Ice Age.

(b) The people who occupied the Eurasian area closest to North America remained nomadic throughout the
Ice Age.
(c) The skeleton of a bear from the same place and time as the mastodon skeleton contains a similar
projectile.
(d) Other North American artifacts from the peak of the Ice Age are similar to ones from the same time
found in more distant parts of Eurasia.
12. Medical doctor: Sleep deprivation is the cause of many social ills, ranging from irritability to potentially
dangerous instances of impaired decision making. Most people today suffer from sleep deprivation to some
degree. Therefore we should restructure the workday to allow people flexibility in scheduling their work
hours.
Which one of the following, if true, would most strengthen the medical doctors argument?
(a) The primary cause of sleep deprivation is overwork.
(b) Employees would get more sleep if they had greater latitude in scheduling their work hours.
(c) Individuals vary widely in the amount of sleep they require.
(d) More people would suffer from sleep deprivation today than did in the past if the average number of
hours worked per week had not decreased.
13. Galanin is a protein found in the brain. In an experiment, rats that consistently chose to eat fatty foods
when offered a choice between lean and fatty foods were found to have significantly higher concentrations
of galanin in their brains than did rats that consistently chose lean over fatty foods. These facts strongly
support the conclusion that galanin causes rats to crave fatty foods.
Which one of the following, if true, most supports the argument?
(a) The craving for fatty foods does not invariably result in a rats choosing those foods over lean foods.
(b) The brains of the rats that consistently chose to eat fatty foods did not contain significantly more fat than
did the brains of rats that consistently chose lean foods.
(c) The chemical components of galanin are present in both fatty foods and lean foods.
(d) The rats that preferred fatty foods had the higher concentrations of galanin in their brains before they
were offered fatty foods.
14. Barnes: The two newest employees at this company have salaries that are too high for the simple tasks
normally assigned to new employees and duties that are too complex for inexperienced workers. Hence, the
salaries and the complexity of the duties of these two newest employees should be reduced.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which Barness argument depends?
(a) The duties of the two newest employees are not less complex than any others in the company.
(b) It is because of the complex duties assigned that the two newest employees are being paid more than is
usually paid to newly hired employees.
(c) The two newest employees are not experienced at their occupations.
(d) Barnes was not hired at a higher-than-average starting salary.
15. In humans, ingested protein is broken down into amino acids, all of which must compete to enter the
brain. Subsequent ingestion of sugars leads to the production of insulin, a hormone that breaks down the
sugars and also rids the bloodstream of residual amino acids, except for tryptophan. Tryptophan then slips

into the brain uncontested and is transformed into the chemical serotonin, increasing the brains serotonin
level. Thus, sugars can play a major role in mood elevation, helping one to feel relaxed and anxiety-free.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
(a) Elevation of mood and freedom from anxiety require increasing the level of serotonin in the brain.
(b) Failure to consume foods rich in sugars results in anxiety and a lowering of mood.
(c) Serotonin can be produced naturally only if tryptophan is present in the bloodstream.
(d) Increasing the level of serotonin in the brain promotes relaxation and freedom from anxiety.
16. Historian: Leibniz, the seventeenth-century philosopher, published his version of calculus before Newton
did. But then Newton revealed his private notebooks, which showed he had been using these ideas for at
least a decade before Leibnizs publication. Newton also claimed that he had disclosed these ideas to Leibniz
in a letter shortly before Leibnizs publication. Yet close examination of the letter shows that Newtons few
cryptic remarks did not reveal anything important about calculus. Thus, Leibniz and Newton each
independently discovered calculus.
Which one of the following is an assumption required by the historians argument?
(a) Leibniz did not tell anyone about calculus prior to publishing his version of it.
(b) No third person independently discovered calculus prior to Newton and Leibniz.
(c) Newton believed that Leibniz was able to learn something important about calculus from his letter to him.
(d) Neither Newton nor Leibniz learned crucial details about calculus from some third source.
17. Cigarette companies claim that manufacturing both low-nicotine and high-nicotine cigarettes allows
smokers to choose how much nicotine they want. However, a recent study has shown that the levels of
nicotine found in the blood of smokers who smoke one pack of cigarettes per day are identical at the end of a
days worth of smoking, whatever the level of nicotine in the cigarettes they smoke.
Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the finding of the nicotine study?
(a) Blood cannot absorb more nicotine per day than that found in the smoke from a package of the
lowest-nicotine cigarettes available.
(b) Smokers of the lowest-nicotine cigarettes available generally smoke more cigarettes per day than smokers
of high-nicotine cigarettes.
(c) Most nicotine is absorbed into the blood of a smoker even if it is delivered in smaller quantities.
(d) The level of tar in cigarettes is higher in low nicotine cigarettes than it is in some high nicotine cigarettes.
18. Because alcoholics usually have a bad cough and Butch has a bad cough, it follows that Butch is probably
an alcoholic.
Which of the following most closely parallels the reasoning used in the argument above?
(a) Because nonsmokers dont get emphysema and Bud doesnt have emphysema, it follows that Bud is
probably not a smoker.
(b) Because weightlifters usually have large muscles and Bill is a weightlifter, it follows that Bill has large
muscles.
(c) Because diamonds usually have little colour and this gem has little colour, it follows that this gem is
probably a diamond.
(d) Because people with short hair usually get more haircuts and Sam has short hair, it follows that Sam
recently got a haircut.
(e) Because coughing spreads germs and Sam is coughing, Sam is spreading germs.

19. When romance novels were located in the back of the bookstore, they accounted for approximately 6%
of total sales. Since we moved romance novels close to the front of the store and put several books on
display, sales of romance novels have increased to 14% - 18% of total sales.
All of the following conclusions can logically be drawn from this argument EXCEPT
(a) customers who bought one romance novel are likely to come back for another.
(b) customers are more likely to buy books located near the front of the bookstore than at the back.
(c) the display caught the interest of people who might not have otherwise purchased a romance novel.
(d) customers believe that bookstores put their best books near the front of the store.
(e) sales of romance novels may increase even more if the section were moved all the way to the front.
20. When workers do not find their assignments challenging, they become bored and so achieve less than
their abilities would allow. On the other hand, when workers find their assignments too difficult, they give up
and so again achieve less than what they are capable of achieving. It is, therefore, clear that no workers full
potential will ever be realized.
Which one of the following is an error of reasoning contained in the argument?
(a) mistakenly equating what is actual and what is merely possible.
(b) assuming without warrant that a situation allows only two possibilities.
(c) relying on subjective rather than objective evidence.
(d) confusing the coincidence of two events with a causal relation between the two.
(e) depending on the ambiguous use of a key term.

Answers
1. e
11. a

2. c
12. b

3. a
13. d

4. c
14. c

5. c
15. d

6. e
16. d

7. d
17. a

8. b
18. c

9. b
19. a

10. b
20. b