A Study Questioning the GMAT Ironically Proves to be a Great Resource to Practice GMAT Critical Reasoning Flaw Questions...
Maybe you heard about a recent story in the Washington Post entitled: Are business schools graduating the wrong leaders? If so, the GMAT may be to blame.
The reason why I love this piece is because the study (at least as it is presented in the article) is jam-packed with critical reasoning flaws you can use to sharpen your GMAT Critical Reasoning skills.
That's why I've decided to make this a multi-part special.
In our first installment, one of the reasoning flaws that the GMAT tests is starkly evident. Let's see if you can identify it:
"A study in the Journal of Business Ethics makes the surprising finding that high GMAT scores may be correlated to some of the negative traits of American business: lack of ethical orientation...
The report's authors...examined the GMAT scores of candidates in 25 countries over the 2004-2010 period.
They found that candidates from nations with the highest levels of ethics had the lowest GMAT scores."
Did you spot it? Right there in plain daylight, the conclusion is made that because an individual is from a country with a lower ethical quotient, that individual will therefore have a lesser ethical fiber, and vice versa.
Applying a general trait from the group to an individual from that group is a classic flaw in GMAT logical reasoning. How would we know that what is true of the whole is necessarily representative of any particular individual?
Thanks to this study we have a great example of how awareness of this kind of reasoning flaw will better help you improve your performance on the GMAT in both Critical Reasoning, and on the AWA essay.
Stand by...we're just getting started with this piece. More to come in future blog entries.
Questions about GMAT Critical Reasoning? Ask them in the comments!
