Land Your Score: Critical Reasoning Questions, Part 1

What’s the most efficient way to solve a Critical Reasoning question?

Welcome to “Land Your Score,” a blog series in which Kaplan instructor Jennifer Land shares key insights and strategies for improving your GMAT performance on Test Day. This week, Jennifer discusses how to solve Critical Reasoning problems using the Kaplan Method.

Conquering Critical Reasoning questions

Critical Reasoning frequently gives test-takers trouble. I’m going to walk you through conquering a Critical Reasoning problem, showing you how a Kaplan-trained test-taker breaks down the information:

The Sellmuch Corporation is considering opening a new manufacturing facility in county X, but has requested an exemption from property tax for its first five years in the county to offset the costs of moving to the area. Advocates of the plan argue that the plant will economically benefit the county, despite the exemption, because of the many jobs created and the long-term tax benefits.

Each of the following, if true, raises a consideration that argues against the conclusion above, EXCEPT:

After the question there are, of course, five answer choices. When you first tackle the problem, though, do not look at the answer choices. So that you won’t be tempted to do so, I have removed them!

Know what’s being asked

The first step in the Kaplan Method for Critical Reasoning is to read the question. This example has a tricky question; any time you see an EXCEPT question, you know the problem is of a higher difficulty than if it were simply asking you to strengthen or weaken the conclusion.

This one requires translation: we need to find the answer choice that does not weaken the conclusion.

Break down the argument

The second step in the Kaplan Method for Critical Reasoning is to untangle the stimulus (the short passage that precedes the question). To do this, you need to identify the conclusion, the evidence, and the assumption at the heart of the argument:

• This question specifically directed us to the conclusion, which we find in the last sentence: “The plant will economically benefit the county.”
• Once you identify the conclusion, the rest of the text in a Critical Reasoning stimulus is the evidence. Here, our evidence is that Sellmuch has requested a tax exemption and that advocates believe job creation and long-term tax benefits will be worth the loss of immediate tax revenue.

Uncover the central assumption

Now you must identify the central assumption. An assumption is unstated evidence that must be true for the argument to make sense. To locate the central assumption, ask yourself what must these advocates believe to be true but haven’t stated in the text? Here, the advocates believe that having the Sellmuch facility in the county is worth sacrificing immediate tax revenue.

Once you have identified that assumption, answering the question is easy. The way you strengthen or weaken a GMAT argument is through the assumption. To strengthen, look for an answer choice that states the assumption. To weaken, look for one that shows the assumption is not true (or is unlikely to be true).

My next post on how to improve your Test Day performance will take you through the last steps in conquering Critical Reasoning: predicting the answer and then finding it. Stay tuned!

Want to master the Kaplan Method to Critical Reasoning before Test Day? Visit Kaptest.com/gmat to explore our course options.

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