The Critical Reasoning section is meant to measure one’s ability to think logically and to evaluate the reasoning of others. One will be asked to evaluate an argument and its strength and validity.
The questions in Critical Reasoning consist of three parts.
1. The initial statement/s: These will be in the form of a short passage and shall contain an argument or a line of reasoning.
2. A question: This asks you to evaluate the argument, for example by finding the main point of the passage, by finding a flaw in the argument or by spotting a premise that would strengthen or weaken the given argument.
3. Four answer choices: Each question is followed by four answer choices and one has to choose the best option, based solely on the information presented in the given passages. One should not impose the judgments on the argument while choosing the answer. One should go strictly by the facts presented in the passage.
Important terms :
An Argument is a line of reasoning adopted by an author to prove his point. The point or the central idea that is being proved by the argument is called the Conclusion. An argument tries to prove the conclusion on the basis of certain statements or facts which are called Premises. It is any statement that the author uses to support the conclusion.
Look at the following sentence:
There was not much traffic on the roads this morning so it must be a holiday.
The main point that the author is trying to make here is that today must be a holiday. That is the conclusion of the sentence. To make this point he has used a reasoning that there is not much traffic on the roads in the morning, which implies that today must be a holiday. So the premise is that there was not much traffic on the roads in the morning.
Strategies to tackle Critical Reasoning:
1. Don’t treat critical reasoning passages like reading comprehension passages. This means one should never skim over the passage — each word is important.
2. It usually helps to read the question first as one will know what to look in the passage.
3. Don’t consider any information that is outside the scope of the passage.
4. Use only the information given in the passage.
5. Try to locate the conclusion and the premises before one attempt the questions.
6. Never rule out seemingly obvious or simple choices. They might be the correct ones.
7. Read all the choices even if one feels one have spotted the correct choice.
