GMAT CR Tip: Rely on Pinpoint Logic Instead of Gut Instinct

A major part of being certain that a CR answer choice is incorrect is using clear, strong logic instead of “gut instinct.” In other words, you must be able to pinpoint exactly why a wrong answer is wrong, rather than basing your decisions on a vague idea that something “seems off” or something simply doesn’t seem like it would be right.

In the same way that you shouldn’t allow your “gut” to decide which answers are wrong, you should allow it to choose the correct answer either. A fundamental error that many test-takers make is to merely re-read the 2 final choices they have to decide between and rely on gut instinct to choose which is correct.

Even if they’ve employed sound logic up to that point, it’s almost as if these test-takers give up because they just want to be done with the question, so they let their gut to do the rest of the work.

If you hope to run a good race, you can’t collapse 10 feet before the finish line. Likewise, if you want to earn a high GMAT Verbal score, you can’t simply “leave it up to fate” when you’re down to 2 answers in a question. Rather, now is the time to really turn on your critical-thinking skills and higher-order logic, and relentlessly seek out the correct answer. You must stay focused on clearly articulating why the wrong answer is wrong and the right answer is right.

Relying on instinct instead of logic will lead you to choose trap choices that are written specifically to take advantage of your abandoning logical reasoning.

For instance, using gut instinct makes it easier to fall into the common trap of thinking up convoluted, unsupported stories to justify the answer choice you select.

Your gut can make up all sorts of stories and jump to all kinds of conclusions that are not supported by the information in the passage. A key to answering CR questions is noticing the differences between trap choices written to seem correct and actual correct answers. In order to do that, you need to logically analyze the information you’ve been given.

Luckily, unlike in GMAT Sentence Correction, in Critical Reasoning questions, there will be a sizable difference between the correct answer and the second-best answer. Look for differences in logic, diction, and scope.

If you’re cycling through answer choices with no clear reason to choose one over others, you may have missed some piece of information in the passage that you need to see in order to find the right answer. Return to the passage if you need to. Confirm what the question stem is asking you to do.

Make sure you have a clear understanding of what the conclusion is. In this scenario, relying on your gut is no better than flipping a coin.

Conclusion: To avoid falling for trap choices that seem correct, use pinpoint logic instead of gut instinct to clearly articulate why wrong answers are wrong and right answers are right.