Evaluating Useful to Evaluate Critical Reasoning Questions on the GMAT

In todays post, we will look at how to answer  useful to evaluate Critical Reasoning questions in the Verbal section of the GMAT. Arguably, this  is one of the toughest question types for test-takers to tackle (perhaps right after boldfaced questions). To answer this type  of question, all you will need to do is follow these six simple steps: 1) Identify the conclusion. 2) Ask yourself the question raised by answer choice  A. 3) Answer it with a yes and figure out whether it affects the conclusion. 4) Answer it with a no and figure out whether it affects the conclusion. 5) Repeat this for all other  answer choices. 6) Only one option will affect the conclusion differently in the two cases that is your answer. Let’s illustrate this concept with a problem: In a certain wildlife park, park rangers are able to track the movements of many rhinoceroses because those animals wear radio collars. When, as often happens, a collar slips off, it is put back on. Putting a collar on a rhinoceros involves immobilizing the animal by shooting it with a tranquilizer dart. Female rhinoceroses that have been frequently re-collared have significantly lower fertility rates than uncollared females. Probably, therefore, some substance in the tranquilizer inhibits fertility.   In evaluating the argument, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?   (A) Whether there are more collared female rhinoceroses than uncollared female rhinoceroses in the park.   (B) How the tranquilizer that is used for immobilizing rhinoceroses differs, if at all, from tranquilizers used in working with other large mammals   (C) How often park rangers need to use tranquilizer darts to immobilize rhinoceroses for reasons other than attaching radio collars   (D) Whether male rhinoceroses in the wildlife park lose their collars any more often than the park’s female rhinoceroses do   (E) Whether radio collars are the only practical means that park rangers have for tracking the movements of rhinoceroses in the park First, we need to break down the argument to find the premises and the conclusion: Many rhinoceroses wear radio collars. Often, collars slip. When a collar slips, the animal is shot with a tranquilizer to re-collar. The fertility of frequently re-collared females is less than the  fertility of uncollared females. Conclusion: Some substance in the tranquilizer inhibits fertility. Let’s take a look at each answer choice: (A) Whether there are more collared female rhinoceroses than uncollared female rhinoceroses in the park. Even if  there are more collared female rhinoceroses than uncollared females, this  does not affect the arguments conclusion. This answer choice  talks about collared females vs. uncollared females; we are comparing the fertility of re-collared females with that of uncollared females. Anyway, how many of either type there are doesn’t matter. So, whether you answer yes or no to this question, it is immaterial. (B) How the tranquilizer that is used for immobilizing rhinoceroses differs, if at all, from tranquilizers used in working with other large mammals. This option is comparing the tranquilizers used for rhinoceroses with the tranquilizers used for other large mammals. What the conclusion does, however, is compare collared female rhinoceroses with uncollared female rhinoceroses. Hence, whether you answer â€Å"very different† or â€Å"not different at all† to this question, in the end, it doesn’t matter. (C) How often park rangers need to use tranquilizer darts to immobilize rhinoceroses for reasons other than attaching radio collars. This answer choice can be evaluated in two ways: Very Often Tranquilizers are used very often for uncollared females, too. In this  case, can we still say that â€Å"tranquilizers inhibit fertility†? No! If they did, fertility in uncollared females would have been low, too. Rarely This would strengthen our conclusion. If tranquilizers are not used on uncollared females,  it is possible that something in these tranquilizers inhibits fertility. (D) Whether male rhinoceroses in the wildlife park lose their collars any more often than the park’s female rhinoceroses do. This answer choice is comparing the frequency of tranquilizers used on  male rhinoceroses with the frequency of tranquilizers used on female rhinoceroses. What the conclusion actually does is compare collared female rhinoceroses with uncollared female rhinoceroses. Hence, whether you answer this question  with â€Å"more frequently† or â€Å"not more frequently,  it doesn’t matter. (E) Whether radio collars are the only practical means that park rangers have for tracking the movements of rhinoceroses in the park. This option is comparing radio collars with other means of tracking. What the conclusion does is compare collared female rhinoceroses with uncollared female rhinoceroses. Hence, whether you answer this question  with â€Å"there are other means† or â€Å"there are no other means, again,  it does not matter. Note that only answer choice C affects the conclusion   if you answer the question it raises differently, it affects the conclusion differently. Option C  would be good to know to evaluate the conclusion  of the argument, therefore, the  answer must be C. Now try this question on your own: Following several years of declining advertising sales, the Greenville Times reorganized its advertising sales force two years ago. Before the reorganization, the sales force was organized geographically, with some sales representatives concentrating on city-center businesses and others concentrating on different outlying regions. The reorganization attempted to increase the sales representatives knowledge of clients businesses by having each sales representative deal with only one type of industry or of retailing. After the reorganization, advertising sales increased.   In assessing whether the improvement in advertising sales can properly be attributed to the reorganization, it would be helpful to find out each of the following EXCEPT: (A) Two years ago, what proportion of the Greenville Times’ total revenue was generated by advertising sales? (B) Has the circulation of the Greenville Times increased substantially in the last two years? (C) Has there been a substantial turnover in personnel in the advertising sales force over the last two years? (D) Before the reorganization, had sales representatives found it difficult to keep up with relevant developments in all types of businesses to which they are assigned? (E) Has the economy in Greenville and the surrounding regions been growing rapidly over the last two years? We hope  you will find this post useful to evaluate the â€Å"useful to evaluate† questions! Getting ready to take the GMAT? We have  free online GMAT seminars  running all the time. And, be sure to follow us on  Facebook,  YouTube,  Google+, and  Twitter! Karishma, a Computer Engineer with a keen interest in alternative Mathematical approaches, has mentored students in the continents of Asia, Europe and North America. She teaches the  GMAT  for Veritas Prep and regularly participates in content development projects such as  this blog!