| Critical Reasoning Butler: June 2026 |
| June 2 | CR 1 | CR 2 |
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CR 1 A certain watchmaker is attempting to increase its market share by deeply discounting the price of its watches for the upcoming holiday season. The discounts will eat into profits, but because they will be heavily advertised the watchmaker hopes that they will attract buyers away from rival watchmakers' products. In the long term, the watchmaker believes that consumers initially attracted by the discounts may become loyal customers.
In assessing the plan's chances of achieving its aim, it would be most useful to know which of the following?
(A) Whether the watchmaker's competitors are likely to respond by offering deep discounts of their own products
(B) Whether the advertisements will be created by the watchmaker's current advertising agency
(C) Whether some of the watch styles will be more deeply discounted than others
(D) Whether the watchmaker will be able to cut costs sufficiently to maintain profit margins even when the discounts are in effect
(E) Whether an alternative strategy might enable the watchmaker to enhance its profitability while holding a constant or diminishing share of the market
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CR 2 Heavy consumption of alcohol causes impaired judgment, a loss of fine motor skills, slower reaction times, a decrease in visual acuity, and other short-term symptoms. Since alcohol can be metabolized in the average person’s body at a rate of 0.015 BAC (or “blood alcohol content”) per hour, a severely intoxicated individual with a BAC of 0.15 should be symptom-free after 10 hours. After this time, if the individual exhibits similar symptoms, such symptoms cannot be caused by alcohol.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion above?
(A) Some symptoms normally associated with alcohol consumption may resemble symptoms caused by prescription drugs or even drowsiness.
(B) Increases in BAC are based on the amount of alcohol consumed rather than the number of drinks (some drinks contain more alcohol than others).
(C) Heavy alcohol consumption has numerous long term effects such as cirrhosis of the liver, stomach ulcers, and birth defects.
(D) The metabolic rate of alcohol varies according to a person’s health, weight, diet, and genetic predispositions.
(E) Some people, due to an acute sensitivity to alcohol, cannot even reach a BAC of 0.15 before becoming violently ill.