GRE Verbal Class
Covering: Critical Reasoning
(June 2011 Session; repeat possible in July also)
By: Satyadhar Joshi
shivgan3@yahoo.com
http://www.freegregmatclass.com/
http://onlineclasses.nanotechbiz.org/
Revelations
 CRs (page 310, 313, 321, 327 on Official Guide)
 CRs (page 55 and 63, 67 in the practice test available on ETS
website)
 Singlet RCs
 CRs will play an important role now in GRE as well, the
database seems to be from the GMAT (opinion)
GMAT Verbal Classes
(100 hours online Course)
 Introduction
 Importance of Grammar & Punctuation
 Critical Reasoning & Sentence Correction
 Reading comprehension Strategies
 Level 1-2-3
 LSAT CR for GMAT CR
 Mock Exams for the GMAT
 More…
Level 1 (Week 1)
 Review of all three sections of GMAT
 Discussions & Strategies
 7 Class (7 hours)
 10-20 Examples
 First Week
 Text Book: Verbal Workout by GMAT by Princeton
 Text: Cracking the GMAT by Princeton
GMAT English
 It’s own logic
 Different from what you hear and speak sometimes
 Remember it’s not English it’s GMAT English
 So Learn GMAT English!
Good things about the Exam
 GMAT board sticks to basics
 No controversy allowed
 If you try to understand the rules things are easy
How to crack it
 Read to get the type of question vs not to read (depends on
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concentration level and time saving)
Diplomatic language
Limitation of the exam makers
Order difficulty
Process of Elimination
Use of Scratch paper
Elimination
 Self contradictory and politically and logically incoherent
 1/5 Choices are no change
 Almost right
 Three down, two to go
 Refer the T
How to attack the critical reasoning
question
 Use clues in the question to anticipate the kind of answer
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you're looking in a passage
Analyze and attach the passages in an organized fashion
Understand basic structure of passages
Use process of elimination
Don’t read option, they may corrupt your mind
GMAT logic
 CR are in the form of arguments
 It has three parts:
Conclusion
2. Premise / Evidences
3. Assumption
1.
 Important triggers / counter evidence words
This is not like RCs
 Concise
 Single words can change meaning
Understanding Scope
 This answer goes too far
 This choice is out of scope of the argument
 ETS rewards narrow mind
 Example of scope
Deciding on the scope
 Best choice E
 D is doing too much
 B goes far and so does C
 A is tentative
Eight Questions types
1.
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3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
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Passage assumes that…
Strengthen the conclusion
Weaken the conclusion
Best inferred
Resembles the methodology used by author / Parallel
reasoning
Resolves the apparent contradiction
Bolded phrase plays which of the roles
Most useful in evaluating a logic
Assumption Question
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Casual assumption
Ever time I wear green, people like me. Therefore, it is my
green suit that makes people like me.
Analogy assumption
Studies indicate that use of this product causes cancer in
laboratory animals. Therefore, you should stop using this
product.
Statistical assumption (unrepresentative)
Four out of five doctors agree: The pain reliever in Sintol is the
most effective analgesic on the market.You should try Sintol.
 Assumption is the presupposition
 Argument relies on the assumption
 As with yourself, is there another cause?
Strengthen the argument
 Filling the gap
 If something comes out of passage directly it might not be the
best
 It may talk about more cause, improve statistics, improve
analogy
 Which of following, if true, most strongly support the
author's hypotheses?
Answer
 Conclusion: All volunteered army should not be
implemented
 Analogy case: the idea didn’t work then, so it wont work
now
 Best answer is C
 We need an answer that supports and removes the flaws and
give a reason and new information
Weaken the argument
 In a way it implies that argument can be weakened
 As always we need to find unstated premise and a logic gap
 Which of following, if true, most seriously weakens the
conclusion drawn in the passage?
 Which of the following indicates a flaw in the reasoning
above?
 Which of the following, if true, would cast the most serious
doubt on the argument above?
 Best answer is A
 B this statement doesn’t point out a flaw in the reasoning of
the passage
 C also doesn’t point a flaw
 D is also not good (term profitability)
 E doesn’t effect the reasoning
Answer
 A (hold)
 B (best and correct)
 C
 D
 E (nitpicking)
Inference questions
 Which must be true on the basis of statement
 Best support by the statement
 It should be the heart and soul
 A infers too much, goes out of scope
 B goes too far
 C (Right answer); passage says that audience projects its own
character on the screen. If audience believe that woman’s face
reflect happiness, then that must have been their own
reaction
 D goes beyond scope
 E also goes out of scope
Conclusion
 We need to find something which goes in accord with
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premise and conclusion.
A ignores the premise (eliminate)
B also goes out of scope
C though this is right but goes out of premise
D this goes too far; as well as ignores last premise
E (is the best answer)
Parallel the reasoning
 We need to find parallel reasoning
 Supports the conclusion is the very same manner
 Most similar to argument in its logical structure
 “If A, then B” is the way of deduction
Mimic the reasoning
 If A then B, if not A the not B.
 A is a trap, as it is trying to talk about sprinter; whereas we
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need to focus on logic
Best answer is B
C , the reasoning here is totally different
D, this is: if A then B; if always A then always B
E, different reasoning
Resolve the paradox
 Its about explaining a discrepancy
 We will have 2 seemingly contradictory fact; we need to find
answer that allows both facts to be true
 Look for some reasons that resolves the dilemma
 A does not explain both facts (eliminate)
 B, loss of revenue couldn’t have happened
 C, no bearing with argument
 Ans is D; this is best, but we need to read all options
 E, non relevant
Evaluate the argument
 Evaluate or asses the argument
 The answer to which of the following questions would be
most useful in evaluating the significance of the author’s
claim
 These questions are quite good as they check a lot of things,
example knowledge about business terms like inventory,
warehouse, markets etc. Hence these questions are really the
GMAT questions!
 A, its about companies claim and its relation with the
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inventory. Its not about the length but in reality about the
inventory
Best answer is B
C, It helps us to calculate the extend of upturn, but doesn’t
solves our problem
D, this doesn’t explain the reason for upturn, eliminate
E, goes out of scope
Identify the reasoning
 Indentify a method, technique, or strategy used in the
passage
 Role of bolded phrase
 Which part is played by the bolded phrase
 A, first part is the conclusion, so they are not contradicting
 B, 2nd is supporting not undermining
 C, premise is the evidence. 2nd is not conclusion rather it is
support.
 D, 2nd bolded phrase doesn’t refute
 Best answer is E
Assumptions List in Medical Science
Assumption list
 Medical
 Evolution
 Pollution
 Genetic modification
 Pesticides vs pollution
 Sustainability
 History
 Wars
 News
Text Books for the Course
 GMAT Books by Princeton (General and Verbal Specific)
 GMAT Manhattan
 GMAT Kaplan
 GMAT Verbal Official Review
 Conquering GMAT Verbal by McGraw Hills
 GMAT Critical Reasoning bible
 LSAT: ones much tougher than GMAT
Conclusion
 30 Days
 30 hours online live class
 More questions might be done in the month of July
For More see
 http://freegregmatclass.com/
 http://onlineclasses.nanotechbiz.org/
 Email: shivgan3@yahoo.com