My stint with Knewton. Will keep updating as my journey...

hey... thanks for the gyan !

Here are few of the CR tips from my notes :

Always read the question stem first !
Identify the evidence, conclusion and assumption.

Critical reasoning passages normally are of the following formats
1. Premise (evidence), premise, premise, conclusion
2. Conclusion, premise, premise, premise
The conclusion can either be stated at the beginning or at the end. More importantly, do not infer too much, just stick as close to the passage as possible. Therefore, thus, so, hence, implies, indicates, etc are a few flag-posts that signal a conclusion.

Assumption questions
E.g. Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
• Assumptions are never stated in the passage
• Assumptions support the conclusion of the passage
• Assumptions frequently work to fill in the gaps in the reasoning of the argument
• Look to see if the assumption is causal, analogical or statistical.
• If a cause is being suggested for an effect, ask your self if the cause is truly the reason for the effect, or if there might be an alternate cause.
• Argument based on analogy, compares one situation to another, ignoring the question of whether the two situations are comparable (analogous).
• If the assumption uses statistics, ask yourself if the statistics involved are representative

Strengthen the argument questions
• The statements are never stated directly in the passage
• Information will support the conclusion of passage.
• Similar logics for causal, analogies and statistics can be used as in Assumptions
• The easiest way to strengthen a passage is to strengthen the conclusion and(or) the assumptions.

Weaken the argument questions
• The above-mentioned techniques can be used in a similar way, except that it should weaken the conclusion
Inference questions
• Not directly stated in the passage
• Inferences have got little to do with the conclusion

Mimic-the-reasoning questions
If A occurs then B occurs is true
then it is necessarily true that if B does not occur then A does not occur
and not necessary that if B occurs then A occurs


If you cannot find a correct answer, try eliminating incorrect answers first!

For SC,

Review all the basic grammar rules/ concepts(nouns, types of nouns, pronouns, adverbs, adjectives, identify subject-verb, verb tenses, clauses, conjunctions, prepositions).

Memorize the idioms list (you may get the list from Knewton's concept section)

If you cannot find an error in the given sentence, try eliminating answer choices using the eight rules for sentence correction.

Finally, practice makes one perfect !!