Critical Reasoning

Critical Reasoning

Critical reasoning questions are designed to test the reasoning skills involved in (1) making arguments, (2) evaluating arguments, and (3) formulating or evaluating a plan of action. In these questions, you are to analyze the situation on which each question is based, and then select the answer choice that most appropriately answers the question. Begin by reading the passages carefully, then reading the five answer choices. If the correct answer is not immediately obvious to you, see whether you can eliminate some of the wrong answers. Reading the passage a second time may be helpful in illuminating subtleties that were not immediately evident. A few sample critical reasoning questions from Dhaka university Evening MBA admission test are given below:

Critical Reasoning & Logical Sequence:

01. Even though most universities retain the royalties from faculty members' inventions, the faculty members retain the royalties from books and articles they write. Therefore, faculty members should retain the royalties from the educational computer software they develop.
The conclusion above would be more reasonably drawn if which of the following were inserted into the argument as an additional premise?

(A) Royalties from inventions are higher than royalties from educational software programs.
(B) Faculty members are more likely to produce educational software programs than inventions.
(C) Inventions bring more prestige to universities than do books and articles.
(D) In the experience of most universities, educational software programs are more marketable than are books and articles.
(E) In terms of the criteria used to award royalties, educational software programs are more nearly comparable to books and articles than to inventions.

Questions numbering 2 and 3 are based on the following statement:
"If there is an oil-supply disruption resulting in higher international oil prices, domestic oil prices in open-market countries will rise as well, whether such countries import all or none of their oil."

02. If the statement above concerning oil-supply disruptions is true, which of the following policies in an open-market nation is most likely to reduce the long-term economic impact on that nation of sharp and unexpected increases in international oil prices?

(A) Maintaining the quantity of oil imported at constant yearly levels
(B) Increasing the number of oil tankers in its fleet
(C) Suspending diplomatic relations with major oil-producing nations
(D) Decreasing oil consumption through conservation
(E) Decreasing domestic production of oil

03. Which of the following conclusions is best supported by the statement above?

(A) Domestic producers of oil in open-market countries are excluded from the international oil market when there is a disruption in the international oil supply.
(B) International oil-supply disruptions have little.if any, effect on the price of domestic oil as long as an open-market country has domestic supplies capable of meeting domestic demand.
(C) The oil market in an open-market country is actually part of the international oil market. even if most of that country's domestic oil is usually sold to consumers within its borders.
(D) Open-market countries that export little or none of their oil can maintain stable domestic oil prices even when international oil prices rise sharply.
(E) If international oil prices rise.domestic distributors of oil in open-market countries will begin to import more oil than they export

04. In a study of job applicants, two-fifths admitted to being at least a little dishonest. However, the study may
underestimate the proportion of job applicants who are dishonest, because____.

A. some dishonest people taking the survey might have claimed on the survey to be honest
B. some generally honest people taking the survey might have claimed on the survey to be dishonest
C. some people who claimed on the survey to be at least a little dishonest may be very dishonest
D. some people who claimed on the survey to be dishonest may have been answering honestly
E. some people who are not job applicants are probably at least a little dishonest

05. People should be held accountable for their own behavior, and if holding people accountable for their own behavior entails capital punishment, then so be it. However, no person should be held accountable for behavior over which he or she had no control.
Which of the following is the most logical conclusion of the argument above?

A) People should not be held accountable for the behavior of other people.
B) People have control over their own behavior.
c) People cannot control the behavior of other people.
D) Behavior that cannot be controlled should not be punished.
E) People have control over behavior that is subject to capital punishment

(critical one! correct answer could be B or E), I searched in different forum, result is confusing. I think E most correct.

06. The income distribution of the richest and poorest 20% of the world shows that it was 32 to 1 in 1970, 45 to 1 in 1980, 61 to 1 in 1990 and 70 to 1 in 2000.
This means that
    A. income of both rich and poor increases.
    B. population of poor section increases more than of the rich section.
    C. rich people exploit poor people
    D. inequality increases
    E. global development takes place

07. The quantitative supply of labor (as well as its qualitative composition) depends on the following variables: the size of the population, its age-sex composition, marital structure and participation rates in the labor force in accordance with these factors.
Each of the following, if true, could affect the supply of labor EXCEPT:

A. Marital status of females
B. Birth and death rates
C. Number of employment agencies
D. Immigration and emigration
E. Educational level of population

08. It takes one girl 4 days to embroider one shirt and she is paid Tk. 50 per shirt. It takes two girls to embroider one saree in 56 days and they are paid Tk. 1,000 per saree shared equally. We can calculate that:

A. One girl can earn more embroidering one shirt after another than working on a saree continuously.
B. One girl can earn more by embroidering a saree.
C. Two girls work better together.
D. Work is quicker when they work collectively
E. Work is quicker when they work collectively

09. In 1980, global service exports totaled about $370 billion, approximately 20 percent of world trade. Still, no
coherent system of rules, principles, and procedures exists to govern trade in services. Which of the following best
summarizes the argument?

A.  Regulatory systems lag behind reality.
B.  A regulatory system ought to reflect the importance of service exports.
C.  World trade totaled $1850 billion in 1980
D.  Service trade legislation is a veritable wasteland.
E.  While trade legislation exists, it is uncoordinated.

10. A larger number of newspapers are purchased by the citizens of Dhaka city than those of Chittagong city.
Therefore, the citizens of Dhaka city are better in formed about major world events than those of Chittagong city. Each of the following, it true, weakens the conclusion above except:

A.  Dhaka city has a larger population than Chittagong city.
B.  Most citizens of Chittagong city work in Dhaka city and buy newspapers there.
C.  The average citizen of Dhaka city spends less time in reading newspapers than does the average citizen of Chittagong city.
D. A weekly newspaper restricted to the coverage of local events is published in the Dhaka city.
E. The average newsstand price of newspapers sold in Dhaka city is lower than the average price on newspapers sold in Chittagong city.

11. It is difficult to measure the productivity of service workers. For example, postal workers are often said to be
more productive if they can delver more letters. What it delivered? The objection implied above to the productivity measure described is based on doubts about the truth of which of the following statements?

a) Postal workers are representatives of service workers in general.
b) The delivery of letters is the primary activity of the postal service.
c) The quality of services rendered can appropriately be ignored in computing productivity.
d) Productivity should be ascribed to categories of workers, not to individuals.
e) The number of letters delivered is relevant to measuring the productivity of postal workers.

12. A and B walk at five kilometers speed. C walks at five and a half kilometers speed. D walks at four and a half
kilometers speed. E is slower than B. Which of the following is true?

a) A is the slowest of all
b) B is the speediest of all
c) E is the slowest of all
d) E and A have equal speed.
e) C is the speediest of all.

13. A survey was recently conducted among the high school students of a certain town to measure the effect of
environmental factors on attitudes and behavior, and the results indicated that students who play a ;minimum of two hours per day of violent video games are more likely to engage in violent behavior in school and at home. Therefore, playing violent video games encourages violence among teens. Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument above?

a) The same survey was conducted in a neighboring town with similar results.
b) Playing violent video games keeps violent teenagers at home and prevents them from engaging in publicly aggressive behavior.
c) The survey used a standard question format that did not allow students to produce responses that could not be interpreted incorrectly.
d) Students who play violent video games often have a history of behavioral issues leading back to early childhood.
e) The survey was given over a period of days to ensure that all students attending the high school would participate.

14. World War if had a profound effect on the growth of nascent businesses. The Acme Packaging Company netted only $10,000 in the year before the War. By 1984 it was earning almost ten times that figure. Which of the following assumptions applies as the basis for the argument?

A. Acme’s growth rate is representative of other nascent businesses.
B. An annual profit of $10,000 is not especially high.
C. Wars inevitably stimulate a nation’s growth.
D. Rapid growth for nascent businesses is especially desirable.
E. Acme is not characterized by responsible, farsighted managers.

15. Recently in city X, residential developers have stopped buying land, contractors are going without work or longer periods, and specialty workers such as, electricians are relying more or less lucrative, existing-home remodeling jobs. There must be fewer new residents moving to City X than there were previously.
Which of the following, if true, indicates a flaw in the reasoning above?

A. This year several housing developments have gone on the market after being held up for months by legal red tape.
B. The average size of new home has increases significantly over the past years.
C. The populations of the City X is projected to grow by 4% this year, compared with only 3% for last year.
D. The cost of materials such as lumber and cement has decreased over the past year.
E. Sales of other big-tickets, such as automobiles and boats, have remained steady over the past year.

16. Automobiles use 20 percent of all energy consumed in Bangladesh. Suppose that the Jatio Sangsad of Bangladesh has passed legislation requiring all cars builds after 2005 to be twice as energy efficient, eventually automobiles will consume on 10 percent. The argument makes which of the following assumptions?

A. CNG cars willl not become widely available
B. The public will not be buying twice as many cars in 2005 as it is currently.
C. As cars become more energy-efficient, the public does not increase its use of cars.
D. Cars will actually be three times as energy-efficient cars in 2005.
E. Cars will not be significantly more expensive in 2005.

17. Disposable diapers, while a convenience, are an environmental disaster. If people would use cloth diapers instead of those made of disposable paper, much less aper would be produced savings millions of trees each year.
Therefore, people should go back  to buying washing and reusing cloth diapers and Earth's precious natural resources would not be consumed so rapidly. This argument depends on which of the following assumptions?

A. Cloth diapers are never disposed of.
B. The current trend in infant care is doing things the old-fashioned way.
C. The process of washing cloth diapers consumes less natural resources than that of using disposable diapers.
D. Modern people like their conveniences more than anything else.
E. The annual cost to the consumer of using cloth diapers is only 20% the annual cost of suing disposable  diapers.

18. A drug that is highly effective in treating many types of infection can, at present, be obtained only from the bark of the ibora, a tree that is quite rare in the wild. It takes the bark of 5,000 trees to make one kilogram of the drug. It follows, therefore, that continued production of the drug must inevitably lead to the ibora's extinction. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

A) The drug made from ibora bark is dispensed to doctors from a central authority.
B) The drug made from ibora bark is expensive to produce.
C) The leaves of the ibora are used in a number of medical products.
D) The ibora can be propagated from cuttings and grown under cultivation.
E) The ibora generally grows in largely inaccessible places.

19. Most antidepressant drugs cause weight gain. While dieting can help reduce the amount of weight gained while taking such antidepressants, some weight gain is unlikely to be preventable.
The information above most strongly supports which one of the following?

A) A physician should not prescribe any antidepressant drug for a patient if that patient is overweight.
B) People who are trying to lose weight should not ask their doctors for an antidepressant drug.
C) At least some patients taking antidepressant drugs gain weight as a result of taking them.
D) The weight gain experienced by patients taking antidepressant drugs should be attributed to lack of dieting.
E) All patients taking antidepressant drugs should diet to maintain their weight

20. Employers do not need to be concerned about the happiness of their employees since psychology has shown us that all creatures do what makes them happiest. Therefore anyone who is an employee must be happy.
    Which of the following is the most serious flaw in the above reasoning?
    A. No objective evidence is pretended to support psychological conclusion.
    B. The author applies the knowledge of one discipline to another field in which this knowledge is appropriate.
    C. No distinction is made between the types of the jobs performed be employees
    D. By increasing employee happiness an employer can reduce the turnover rate of his employees
    E. The analogy used does not take into  consideration degrees of happiness.

21. When we observe the activities of the team-based sports like football and cricket, we find that the teams display strong socialist tendencies in their requirement of individual subordination to the authority of coaches and managers.
    Which conclusion may not be inferred from the information?

A. All team sports are authoritarian.
B. All team players are subordinates to their coaches.
C. Without employee subordination to managerial authority, production for profit would not be possible.
D. all team-based sports have socialist tendencies.
E. Individual subordination to authority is an aspect of socialism.

22. Factors that affect supply of labor are the size of the population, the age-sex composition, marital status, the rate of participation in labor force and some others. Which of the following is not likely to be one of such factors?

A. Birth and death rates
B. Immigration and emigration
C. Literacy are
D. Number of employment agencies
E. Martial status of the female workers

23. Lux toilet soap is considered the best in the market and this has been established in a survey of 12 persons, all of whom said that they used Lux on a regular basis. Which of the following would most weaken the argument in favor of Lux?

A. Birth and death rates
B. Immigration and emigration
C. Literacy are
D. Number of employment agencies
E. Marital status of the female workers

24. The consumer price index (CPI) in Bangladesh is expected to grow up next month because of an increase in the prices of selected food items. Which of the following cannot be inferred from the argument?

A. The food prices have already risen sharply.
B. People started rationing their food consumption.
C. Food items claim a majority share of items in CPI.
D. Changes in food prices are quickly reflected in CPI.
E. There had been no significant decrease in prices of other items that make CPI.

25. In Bangladesh corruption is a common phenomenon. We have no research findings about why people are involved in corruption. Some might say that the cause of corruption is poverty or lack of proper system or lack of religious education. However, no one can confidently say that this is the only cause of corruption. What can be inferred from the above statements?

A. We are not sure about the causes of corruption, although we have some guess about them.
B. We have no idea about the causes of corruption.
C. Corruption is bad for the society.
D. The causes of corruption could be poverty or lack of proper system or lack of religious education or a combination of them.
E. The causes of corruption is still unknown to us.

26. Neither a rising standard of living nor balanced trade, by itself, establishes a country’s ability to compete in the international marketplace. Both are required simultaneously since standards of living can rise because of growing trade deficits and trade can be balanced by means of a decline in a country’s standard of living. According to this statement, a proper test of a country’s ability to be competitive is its ability to:

A. balance its trade while its standard of living rises.
B. balance its trade while its standard of living falls.
C. increases trade deficits while its standard of living rises.
D. decrease trade deficits while its standard of living falls.
E. keep its standard of living constant while trade deficit rises.

27. Shahid must be a soldier, he is wearing a helmet. The conclusion is valid if it is true that:

A. All soldiers wear helmets.
B. Soldiers never wear any kind of cap other than helmet.
C. Only soldiers wear helmets
D. Soldiers often wear helmets.
E. Soldiers are required to wear helmets.

28. An electronics company’s two departments showed consistent performance over the last two years. In each year the audiovisual department accounted for roughly 30% of the company’s sales and 70% of the company’s profits over the period, while the home appliance department accounted for the balance. Which of the following statements regarding the last two years can be inferred from the statement?

A. The audiovisual department is growing faster than the home appliance department.
B. The home appliance department has realized lower profits per Taka of sales than has the audiovisual department.
C. Total sales (in Tk) of the two departments have research and development efforts in the audiovisual department than in the home appliance department.
E. To maximize profitability, the company should focus its resources on the home appliance.

29. A debate on how to define business goes on until today. Should the firm emphasize customer satisfaction of product attributes for success in business? Which of the following arguments intensifies this debate?

A. Focusing too much on customer satisfaction may dampen quality and innovation.
B. Product orientation alienates customer orientation objectives.
C. Both types of orientations shatter firm’s mission.
D. Firms are at least profitable even if they are indifferent to these orientations.
E. firms generate better progress through cognition of this debate.

30. People in their fifties are more prone to avert risks when they invest. The popular belief about the young bloods is on the other hand that they would jump into the fire of risk to check how much they reap earnings from such attempt”. Which of the following statements make this comment faulty?

A. The author did not mention the type of the investment.
B. The statement did not mention the geographic location of the investors.
C. There was no mention of the time period.
D. The statement is based on the author’s own views.
E. The author did not mention why there was such a difference.

31. Violent crime in a city is becoming a serious problem. Compared to the last year, local law enforcing agencies
have responded to only 17% more calls involving violent crimes, showing that the average citizen of the town is more likely than ever to become a victim of a violent crime. Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument?

A. The town’s overall crime rate appears to have risen slightly this year compared to the last year.
B. In general, persons under the age of 65 are more likely to be victims of violent crime than those over the age of 65.
C. As a result of the town’s community outreach programs, more people than ever are willing to report violent crimes to proper authorities.
D. In response to the worries about violent crimes the town has recently opened a community center organizing supervised activities for teen-agers.
E. Community officials have shown that a relatively small number of repeat offenders commit the majority of violent rimes in the town.

32. Although income level is different on average, yet rural people have more purchasing power than same income
class in urban households mostly because of the ability rural households hold to use part of their income otherwise
used by urban household for food and shelter. Which of the following inferences best describes the above statement?

a. Suburban households generally have more purchasing power than both rural and urban households.
b. The average rural household includes more people than that of urban households.
c. Rural households have least income used for housing and foods than the urban households.
d. The median of urban household income is higher than that of rural people.
e. All of the household groups spend most of their funds for housing and food.

33. In an effort to save money, Mr. Kabir is considering shutting down one of the largest textile units that has been just breaking even for the last five years. However, without this unit, many workers will lose their jobs. Thus, Mr. Kabir, who is intending to shut down the unit, will eventually have to provide these workers with money for terminating jobs without legitimate reasons. Which of the following states the conclusion of the passage above?

a. The necessity of providing money to workers who will lose their jobs will prevent Mr. Kabir from shutting down the textile unit.
b. If Mr. Kabir shuts down the textile unit, this will eventually force him to reopen in future.
c. All the workers, who have lost jobs, will find jobs elsewhere.
d. If the market demand for textile products increases in future Mr. Kabir will not be able to restart the unit.
e. Terminating workers for reducing spending to save money will result in job insecurity and probably unrest
among workers of other units.

34. Total number of students of 5 departments of the Faculty of Business studies is greater than total number of
students of 6 departments of the Science Faculty of Dhaka University. What can we say if one of the departments is dropped from the faculty of Business Studies?

a. We cannot draw any conclusion.
b. Total number of students in both the faculties will be equal.
c. Total number of students of the Faculty of Business Studies is gerater than the total number of students of the Science Faculty.
d. Total number of students of the Science Faculty will still be greater than the total number of students of the Faculty of Business Studies.
e. Total number of students of the Science Faculty is slightly less than the total number of students of the Faculty of Business Studies.

35. After the global financial crisis in October 2008, most of the stock exchanges experienced massive fall. However, the stock markets in Bangladesh experienced minimum impact in comparison to those in other countries mostly due to minimum foreign portfolio exposure. Therefore, given the above statement it can be concluded that:

a. Global financial crisis was due to foreign portfolio investment.
b. Because of global crisis foreign fund rushed to Bangladesh so it did not suffer from crisis.
c. Since the foreign portfolio exposure to Bangladesh stock exchange was minimum, so withdrawal of such funds had little impact on the indices and price levels in Bangladesh.
d. Bangladesh securities market is insensitive to international market.
e. Other factors like political and economic conditions enabled Bangladesh to overcome such pressure .

36. Mr. Kamal must be a lawyer, as he is carrying a briefcase. This conclusion is valid only if it is true that :

a. Lawyers never carry any kind of container other than the briefcase.
b. All lawyers carry briefcases.
c. Lawyers are required to carry briefcases.
d. Only lawyers carry briefcases.
e. Lawyers often carry briefcases.

37. A long distance runner has just completed running 28 miles. How long did it take him to finish the journey?
(i) He averaged 8 miles per hour
(ii) Running at the same rate, he could have run 12 miles in 1 hours.

A. Both statements together are sufficient to answer the question.
B. Each statement is sufficient by itself to answer the question asked.
C. Both statement together are not sufficient to answer the question asked.
D. Statement (ii) is alone sufficient to answer the question asked.
E. Statement (i) is alone sufficient to answer the question asked.

38. Ratna is taller than Sima. Karim is taller than Somit. Somit is shorter than Amit. Sima and Amit are of the same height. If the above is true, which of the following conditions must also be true?

A. Karim is taller than Amit
B. Karim is taller than Ratna
C. Sima is shorter than Karim
D. Ratna is taller than Somit
E. Sima is taller than Karim

39. In a television interview, the principal of a school claims that 75% of the scholars in the region graduated from
their institution. What is the hidden message the principal wants to convey to the public?

A. All graduate of the school become scholar after graduation.
B. Only scholars take admission in the school.
C. Only brilliant students take admission in the school.
D. The quality of education in the school is excellent.
E. The school provides specialized education.

40. Two salesmen are consistently performing for the sales department of ABC ltd. Salesman X is helping to generate 30 percent of sales and 60 percent of profits; and salesman Y is accounting for the remaining. Which of the following statements conform to the statement above?

A. Total sales for the sales department remained roughly constant.
B. Salesman X faced tougher competition in his bit than Y.
C. Salesman X realized more profit for each taka of sales than Y.
D. The same product had been sold by both X and Y.
E. Higher profitability leads to higher futures sales of X than sales of Y.

41. In our society, the teacher-student ratio was 1:50 back in 1978. Today the ratio is 1:100. The total student
population has increased significantly over the past 30 years. Which conclusion can you draw from the above
statement?

A. Increase in the number of students caused this situation.
B. Proportionately less increase in the number of teachers was responsible for the situation.
C. Not many new educational institutions came up during the period.
D. Both increase in the number of students and proportionately less increase in the number of teachers caused this situation.
E. Poor teaching method was responsible for this situation.

42. The average normal infant born in Bangladesh weighs between 12 and 14 pounds at the age of four months. If a four-month-old child weighs only 11 pounds, its weight gain has been below the Bangladesh average. Which of the following indicates a flaw in the reasoning above?

A. Weight is one of many indicators of normal infant development.
B. Some four-month-old children may weigh more than 14 pounds.
C. A normal child also weigh less than 12 pounds at birth.
D. Average weight gain is not the same as average weight.
E. A child having 11 pounds weight does not necessarily mean insufficient development.

43. The productivity of food crops per acre doubled, so the total food production in the country has also doubled. Which of the following, if true, will seriously weaken the claim above?

A. The amount of cultivable land has increased .
B. The farmers have moved from the cultivation of food crops to that of cash crops significantly.
C. The farmers got adequate supply of fertilizers.
D. The labor cost did not increase significantly.
E. The cost of fertilizer did not increase at all.

44. If rains are dropping it must be rainy season. This statement can be true if which of the following statements were true?

A. Rains drop very frequently in the rainy season.
B. Rainy season is good for farmers.
C. Rains drop only during rainy season.
D. Rains do not drop only in rainy season.
E. During rainy season, rains make a storm.

45. Stronger patent laws are needed to protect inventions from being pirated. With that protection, manufacturer’s would be encouraged to invest in the development of new products and technologies. Such investment frequently results in an increase in a manufacturer ’s productivity. Which of the following conclusions can most properly be drawn from the information above?

A. Stronger patent laws tend to benefit financial institutions as well as manufacturers.
B. Increased productivity in manufacturing is likely to be accompanied by the creation of more manufacturing jobs.
C. Manufacturers will decrease investment in the development of new products and technologies unless there are stronger patent laws.
D. The weakness of current patent laws has been a cause of economic recession.
E. Stronger patent laws would stimulate improvements in productivity for many manufacturers.

46. If Mr. Salauddin’s statement is correct, then the events he predicts will happen. The events he predicted did
happen. Therefore his statement is correct. Which of the following arguments has a logical structure that most nearly resembles that of the argument above?A. If we win the game, we will be the league champions.
B. If the fan is running, then electricity must be on. The electricity is on; therefore, the fan must be running.
C. If the store is open, I will buy a shirt. I think the store is open; therefore, I should be able to buy a shirt.
D. If Javed answers his phone, then my prediction is correct. I predict that he is at home; therefore, he will answer his phone.
E. If Selim flight is delayed, he will miss his appointment. He kept his appointment; therefore, his flight must have been on time.