Critical Reasoning

Premises + Assumptions = Conclusion

Intro

1.30 mins - 2mins, 13-14 questions

Objective 1 - Identify if stimulus is fact set or argument

Fact set - Premise

Argument - Premise leading to conclusion

Objective 2 - Fact set - Examine each fact | Argument - Find conclusion

How to find conclusion?

Conclusion identification method

Strength of the argument

Deductive argument - rarely on the gmat

Inductive argument - not guaranteed - mostly on the gmat

Argument can be strengthened or weakened by adding premises

Assume premises as true

Assumption - unstated premises

Different types of arguments

1) Cause and effect (X cause Y). Correlation is NOT equal to Casual

Weaken - prove other causes lead to that effect, show Y cause X instead or purely coincidental

Strengthen -

2) Statistics

3) Analogy