Critical Reasoning for CAT/GMAT '08

[dkny.jakhar]

dear puys... wanted some suggestion(s)... i 'm thru with the OG-11 prob solving section..with >86% accuracy( my weak areas would be - TSD& probs on mixtures-ratios and prob.) >>>> to tell you prob solving section is my weakest area... so my question is 1. is the level of gmat questions same as given in OG>>> 2. what extra material (from my weak area pt of view) to refer that would be pertinent to the level of gmat prob solving>>> 3. i'm referring to OG and Kaplan only (for now) and would consider Manhattan question bank too...so would it suffice my prep...>>>> regards Jakhar >>>>>P.S.- i understand that it is not a relevant thread to ask such a question but i'm of the opinion tht a diverse view on the questions above would help me ...but my sincere apology to those who felt otherwise

[siddharthpareek]

Originally Posted by tzsrivastava

here are the answers for CR #1:
1.
Premise- A program rewards prison inmates who behave particularly well in prison by giving them the chance to receive free cosmetic plastic surgery.
Premise- Among recipients of the surgery, the proportion who are convicted of new crimes committed after release is only half that for the prison population as a whole.
Conclusion- The surgery clearly has a powerful rehabilitative effect

The argument is flawed because the surgery is performed on the inmates who are already behaving well in prison. Therefore, they are very probable to behave well after their release also. Hence, the argument is based on an unrepresentative sample.

2.
Premise- The retina scanner stores information about the pattern formed by the blood vessels.
Premise- No two eyes have identical patterns of blood vessels in the retina.
Conclusion- A retina scanner can therefore be used successfully to determine for any person whether it has ever scanned a retina of that person before.

The argument assumes that if the retina scanner finds a pattern that it has not seen before, then it's a new retina it is scanning. It assumes that for a particular person, the pattern formed by the blood vessels will not change because of any cause.

3.
Premise- There are just two ways for formation of the moon from the planet it revolves around (there can be many ways of formation of moon if it is not formed from the planet it revoles around)- either part of the planet’s outer shell spun off into orbit around the planet or else a large object, such as a comet or meteoroid struck the planet so violently that it dislodged a mass of material from inside the planet.
Premise- Earth’s moon consists primarily of materials different from those of the Earth’s outer shell.Earth’s moon consists primarily of materials different from those of the Earth’s outer shell.
Conclusion- Earth’s moon was not formed from a piece of the Earth.

This can be solved through elimination. Every option other than B has no relevance to the argument.

5.
The only plants in the garden were tulips, but they were tall tulips. So the only plants in the garden were tall plants.

This argument is about how relative a characteristic is. A tulip maybe tall among tulips but it maybe short compared with average height of plants. Let's examine two options:

A: The only dogs in the show were poodles and they were all black poodles. So all the dogs in the show were black. There is no relativity in the characteristic here. There is no less black or more black. If a dog is black it is absolutely black.
C: All the primates in the zoo were gorillas. The only gorillas in the zoo were small gorillas. Thus the only primates in the zoo were small primates. There is certainly a relativity in the characteristic here. A gorilla maybe small among gorillas but it maybe large among primates.

6.
Remember two things-
A: An inference is not a conclusion.
B: An inference is not openly stated. It has to be deduced.


Please let me know if u feel nything is wrong:
rgds
tarun

hi tarun,
could u plz explain answers for question 4 & 6 . since they are not provided by n i m not tht confident

[siddharthpareek]

1. Below is an excerpt from a letter that was sent by the chairman of a corporation to the stockholders.
A number of charges have been raised against me, some serious, some trivial. Individuals seeking to control the corporation for their own purposes have demanded my resignation. Remember that no court of law in any state has found me guilty of any criminal offense whatsoever. In the American tradition, as you know, an individual is considered innocent until proven guilty. Furthermore, as the corporation’s unbroken six-year record of growth will show, my conduct of my official duties as chairman has only helped enhance the success of the corporation, and so benefited every stockholder.
Which of the following can be properly inferred from the excerpt?
(A) The chairman believes that all those who have demanded his resignation are motivated by desire to control the corporation for their own purposes.
(B) Any misdeeds that the chairman may have committed were motivated by his desire to enhance the success of the corporation.
(C) The chairman is innocent of any criminal offense.
(D) The corporation has expanded steadily over the past six years.
(E) Any legal proceedings against the chairman have resulted in his acquittal.

answer for this question is option (D)..can any one explain how it is. ..since I can think of either option (E) or option (A) among the possible ans.

[ideacrash]

Originally Posted by siddharthpareek

1. Below is an excerpt from a letter that was sent by the chairman of a corporation to the stockholders.
A number of charges have been raised against me, some serious, some trivial. Individuals seeking to control the corporation for their own purposes have demanded my resignation. Remember that no court of law in any state has found me guilty of any criminal offense whatsoever. In the American tradition, as you know, an individual is considered innocent until proven guilty. Furthermore, as the corporation’s unbroken six-year record of growth will show, my conduct of my official duties as chairman has only helped enhance the success of the corporation, and so benefited every stockholder.
Which of the following can be properly inferred from the excerpt?
(A) The chairman believes that all those who have demanded his resignation are motivated by desire to control the corporation for their own purposes.
(B) Any misdeeds that the chairman may have committed were motivated by his desire to enhance the success of the corporation.
(C) The chairman is innocent of any criminal offense.
(D) The corporation has expanded steadily over the past six years.
(E) Any legal proceedings against the chairman have resulted in his acquittal.

answer for this question is option (D)..can any one explain how it is. ..since I can think of either option (E) or option (A) among the possible ans.

even i think D cannot be the answer , as its mentioned that the compnay had a pretty good growth, but they havent mentioned it expanded.

And A seem to be the answer .

[deepakraam]

My ans for the below CR is
Below is an excerpt from a letter that was sent by the chairman of a corporation to the stockholders.....................

(A) The chairman believes that all those who have demanded his resignation are motivated by desire to control the corporation for their own purposes.


-Deepak

[ashish.singh]

hi ,
the answer to this question is indeed D.
the possible answers are A and D. But, as we are suppose to choose the most appropriate answer, so it should be D.
the reason behind this is, inferences are drawn from a known fact. the copmpany's six year of unbroken growth is a fact on which we can infer that the company has expanded over the last six years!!!
option A can only be his feelings and can not be treated as fact.

[nikhilarora]

i will go for C.if he dosen't consider himself innocent,den no point sending this letter...
not A cos he didnt say all those who demanded his resignation want that.
not B cos it has never been said tat he committed misdeeds or anything else
not D no such steady growth has been mentioned
not E this has also not been mentioned

[trustrajib]

Originally Posted by dkny.jakhar

dear puys... wanted some suggestion(s)... i 'm thru with the OG-11 prob solving section..with >86% accuracy( my weak areas would be - TSD& probs on mixtures-ratios and prob.) >>>> to tell you prob solving section is my weakest area... so my question is 1. is the level of gmat questions same as given in OG>>> 2. what extra material (from my weak area pt of view) to refer that would be pertinent to the level of gmat prob solving>>> 3. i'm referring to OG and Kaplan only (for now) and would consider Manhattan question bank too...so would it suffice my prep...>>>> regards Jakhar >>>>>P.S.- i understand that it is not a relevant thread to ask such a question but i'm of the opinion tht a diverse view on the questions above would help me ...but my sincere apology to those who felt otherwise

Hello ...
Is OG and Kaplan are only one book each in which all sections are there...?
How much they cost??????
Please guide..

[ashish.singh]

hi nikhil, the answer should be d because the growth is mentioned " as the corporation’s unbroken six-year record of growth will show".The letters in bold is the fact mentioned.

[nikhilarora]

yup....sorry,my mistake...it was a flawed assumption on my part...growth is mentioned,but actually,i was thinking if its steady or not...