GMAT Verbal Reasoning
GMAT critical reasoning practice questions
Critical reasoning questions give you a short argument and ask you to work with it. The first step is always to find the conclusion and the evidence, and then look for the gap between them. These ten original questions cover the common types.
Key ideas
- Find the conclusion first, then the evidence, then the gap.
- For weaken questions, look for an alternative cause or a reason the evidence does not apply.
- For strengthen questions, look for evidence that removes alternatives or supports the link.
- For inference questions, the answer must follow from the statements, not merely fit them.
Common traps
- Choosing an answer that is true in general but irrelevant to the argument.
- Choosing a statement stronger than the argument needs when asked for an assumption.
- Confusing correlation with cause.
Practice questions with solutions
Try each question first, then open the solution. Time yourself and note where you hesitate.
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A coffee chain says its new loyalty app caused a 12% rise in monthly sales at the stores where it was introduced. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens this claim?
- A The app was introduced only in stores located in fast growing neighbourhoods, and nearby stores without the app also saw sales rise by about 12%.
- B Loyalty programmes have been popular in other industries.
- C Some customers say they dislike using apps to order coffee.
- D The app costs the chain money to maintain each month.
- E The chain plans to bring the app to all of its stores next year.
Show answer and solution
Answer: A. The app was introduced only in stores located in fast growing neighbourhoods, and nearby stores without the app also saw sales rise by about 12%.
The claim is causal. If stores without the app grew at the same rate, the rise may have come from the neighbourhoods, not the app. The other options are about cost, opinion or future plans and do not touch the causal link.
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Researchers found that towns with more public libraries per resident have higher adult literacy rates, and they conclude that libraries raise literacy. Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the conclusion?
- A Some towns with no libraries have high literacy rates.
- B Many people who use libraries mainly borrow novels.
- C In towns that opened new libraries during the study period, adult literacy rose in later years compared with similar towns that did not open new libraries.
- D Libraries are usually built in towns with high household incomes.
- E Adult literacy rates are high in every town that has a university.
Show answer and solution
Answer: C. In towns that opened new libraries during the study period, adult literacy rose in later years compared with similar towns that did not open new libraries.
A change in literacy that follows new libraries, compared with similar towns, supports causation and the direction of the effect. The option about household incomes offers an alternative explanation, and the others do not test the link.
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The marketing director says: "Since the website was redesigned, visitors spend 30% more time on each visit, so the redesign has made the site more useful." The director's conclusion depends on which of the following assumptions?
- A Competitor websites have not been redesigned.
- B Visitors are not spending more time simply because the new design makes it harder to find what they want.
- C Every visitor now spends more time than before.
- D The old website was not useful to any visitor.
- E Time spent on a website is the only measure of how useful it is.
Show answer and solution
Answer: B. Visitors are not spending more time simply because the new design makes it harder to find what they want.
The argument treats longer visits as a sign of usefulness. If the time is spent searching for information, the conclusion fails. An assumption must be necessary for the conclusion, and only the correct choice is. Statements such as that the old site helped nobody are far stronger than the argument needs.
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Every employee at Dalton Corp who completed the safety course received a certificate. No one who failed the final exam received a certificate. Some employees at Dalton Corp failed the final exam. Which of the following must be true?
- A No employee who completed the safety course failed the final exam.
- B Some employees who completed the safety course received no certificate.
- C Every employee at Dalton Corp took the final exam.
- D Every employee who passed the final exam received a certificate.
- E Some employees at Dalton Corp did not complete the safety course.
Show answer and solution
Answer: E. Some employees at Dalton Corp did not complete the safety course.
Anyone who completed the course received a certificate. Those who failed the exam received none, so they cannot have completed the course. Since some employees failed, some did not complete the course. The other options are not supported.
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A manager reasons: "Employees who use standing desks report fewer back problems than those who do not. So standing desks reduce back problems." The reasoning is most vulnerable to criticism because it
- A assumes that all employees want to use standing desks.
- B overlooks the possibility that people with healthier backs are more likely to choose standing desks in the first place.
- C confuses the number of back problems with how serious they are.
- D relies on a survey instead of a medical examination of every employee.
- E draws a conclusion about employees from evidence about managers.
Show answer and solution
Answer: B. overlooks the possibility that people with healthier backs are more likely to choose standing desks in the first place.
The argument moves from a correlation to a cause. Reverse causation or self selection could explain the pattern. The other options either describe weaknesses that are not in the argument or misstate it.
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A city built bike lanes on its busiest roads. In the first year afterwards, the number of cycling injuries reported in the city rose. Which of the following, if true, best explains how the lanes could still have made cycling safer?
- A Cars have caused more injuries to cyclists than any other factor.
- B Cycling injuries had been falling in the years before the lanes were built.
- C Most injuries reported were minor.
- D The number of people cycling in the city doubled in the first year after the lanes opened.
- E The lanes cost more to build than the city had planned.
Show answer and solution
Answer: D. The number of people cycling in the city doubled in the first year after the lanes opened.
If the number of cyclists doubled while injuries rose by less than that, the injury rate per cyclist fell. This reconciles the rise in the total with safer cycling. The other options do not address the rate.
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A drug company says its new medicine shortens recovery time from a common cold. In its trial, volunteers chose for themselves whether to take the medicine or a placebo. Which of the following would be most useful to know in evaluating the company's claim?
- A Whether the volunteers who chose the medicine were otherwise similar in health to those who chose the placebo.
- B Whether the volunteers were paid for taking part in the trial.
- C Whether the company has made other medicines that were approved.
- D How many colds a typical adult has in a year.
- E How much the medicine costs compared with other cold remedies.
Show answer and solution
Answer: A. Whether the volunteers who chose the medicine were otherwise similar in health to those who chose the placebo.
Because volunteers chose their own group, differences in health could explain the results. Learning whether the groups were similar tests the claim directly. The other options do not bear on the validity of the comparison.
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To reduce food waste, a supermarket plans to sell slightly damaged vegetables at half price. Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the claim that the plan will reduce waste?
- A Some customers buy vegetables only on weekends.
- B Other supermarkets are also looking for ways to reduce waste.
- C The supermarket makes less profit on discounted items.
- D Until now almost all slightly damaged vegetables were thrown away, and half price damaged vegetables sold out every day at other stores that tried the idea.
- E Many shoppers prefer vegetables that look perfect.
Show answer and solution
Answer: D. Until now almost all slightly damaged vegetables were thrown away, and half price damaged vegetables sold out every day at other stores that tried the idea.
The plan works if damaged vegetables that were wasted now get sold. The first part shows there was waste to recover and the second shows demand for discounted items. The other options are irrelevant or weaken the plan.
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A town council proposes banning cars from the town centre to cut air pollution. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument that the ban will substantially reduce air pollution in the centre?
- A Most of the pollution in the centre comes from a power station on the edge of town, and winds carry its emissions through the centre.
- B Shops in the centre may lose some customers.
- C The council has banned cars in other parts of the town before.
- D Some residents of the centre own more than one car.
- E Public transport in the town is crowded at rush hour.
Show answer and solution
Answer: A. Most of the pollution in the centre comes from a power station on the edge of town, and winds carry its emissions through the centre.
If the main source of pollution is a power station, removing cars will do little. The other options raise side issues and do not question the effect on pollution.
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Some commentators claim that remote work harms innovation because new ideas come from chance meetings in offices. Yet patent filings did not fall at firms that moved to remote work. Therefore, chance meetings cannot be as important to innovation as the commentators claim. In the argument, the statement that "chance meetings cannot be as important to innovation as the commentators claim" plays which of the following roles?
- A It is the main conclusion, drawn from the evidence about patent filings.
- B It is a premise from which the argument infers that remote work helps innovation.
- C It is background that the argument accepts but does not use.
- D It is evidence offered to support the commentators' claim.
- E It is an objection that the argument raises and then rejects.
Show answer and solution
Answer: A. It is the main conclusion, drawn from the evidence about patent filings.
The argument presents a view, gives contrary evidence, and then states what follows with "therefore". That last statement is the conclusion.