Critical Reasoning

In 2001, a local high school implemented a new program designed to reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancy.  The program, however, failed to produce the desired result.  It the program had been successful, the dropout rate for female students would not have increased substantially in 2001. The argument in the passage depends on which of […]

According to a recent study, a diet that is free of meat and dairy products greatly reduces the risk of suffering a heart attack.  The study cites the fact that only 10% of those who consume such a diet suffer a heart attack at some point in their lives. Which of the following would  most […]

Smith Products fabricates machine tools that are essentially identical to those produced by Jackson Manufacturing.  For both companies, raw materials represent about two-thirds of the cost of manufacturing the machine tools.  To gain an edge over Jackson Manufacturing, Smith Products should purchase its raw materials from a new supplier advertising much lower prices. Which of […]

In a survey of freshmen at University X, two-thirds claimed never to have plagiarized while in high school.  However, the survey may overstate the proportion of freshmen at University X who did not plagiarize in high school because ________. Which of the following best completes the passage above? A.  Some people who do not attend […]

This editorial cannot be a good argument because it is barely literate.  Run-on sentences, slang, and perfectly dreadful grammar appear regularly throughout.  Anything that poorly written cannot be making very much sense. Which of the following identifies an assumption in the argument above? A.  This editorial was written by someone other than the usual editor. […]

World War II had a profound effect on the growth of nascent businesses.  The Acme Packaging Company netted only $10,000 in the year before the war.  By 1948 it was earning almost 10 times that figure. The argument above depends upon which of the following assumptions? A.  Acme’s growth rate is representative of other nascent […]

The increase in the number of newspaper articles exposed as fabrications serves to bolster the contention that publishers are more interested in boosting circulation than in printing the truth.  Even minor publications have staffs to check such obvious fraud. The argument above assumes that A.  Newspaper stories exposed as fabrications are a recent phenomenon. B. […]

Out architecture schools must be doing something wrong.  Almost monthly we hear of domes and walkways collapsing in public places, causeing great harm to human life.  In their pursuit of some dubious aesthetic, architects design buildings that sway, crumble, and even shed windows into our cities’ streets.  This kind of incompetence will disappear only when […]

Time and time gain, it has been shown that students who attend colleges with low faculty/student ratios get the most well-rounded education.  As a result, when my children are ready for college, I’ll be sure they attend a school with a very small student population. Which of the following, if true, identifies the greatest flaw […]

Techniques to increase productivity in the performance of discrete tasks, by requiring less human labor in each step of the production process, are widely utilized.  consultant on productivity enhancement point out, however, that although these techniques achieve their specific goal, they are not without drawbacks.  They often instill enough resentment in the workforce eventually to […]