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GMAT Critical Reasoning — Format, Directions, and Sample Question

The Critical Reasoning question format is one of three basic ones you'll encounter during the GMAT Verbal section. This page lists the key features of GMAT Critical-Reasoning questions and provides the test directions for this format. This page also provides a sample Critical-Reasoning question, along with a detailed analysis of the question.

GMAT Critical Reasoning—Format and Skills Tested

Here are the key features of GMAT Critical-Reasoning questions:

How many: 14-15 questions

Where: In the 75-minute Verbal section, mixed with Reading-Comprehension sets and Sentence-Correction questions

Format: Multiple-choice (you select one of five choices by clicking on an oval). You'll be given a one-paragraph passage (an argument), along with a question relating to that passage.

Skills tested: Your ability to understand, critique, and draw reasonable conclusions from arguments

Directions for GMAT Critical Reasoning Questions

There are no special directions for GMAT Critical Reasoning. Only the following brief directive will appear on your screen — just before your first Critical-Reasoning question (and you can access the directive while tackling any Critical-Reasoning question by clicking on the HELP button):

Directions: For each question, select the best of the answer choices given.

To review these directions for subsequent questions of this type, click on HELP.

Sample GMAT Critical-Reasoning Question

Here's a typical GMAT-style Critical-Reasoning question (this one is a bit briefer and easier than average):

An avid television viewer is statistically more likely to take sleeping pills at bedtime than a person who enjoys listening to classical music but does not watch television as a habit. Clearly, listening to classical music just before bedtime contributes to a more restful night’s sleep, whereas watching television before bedtime has the opposite effect.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the above argument?

Reading a book before bedtime contributes to restful sleep more than listening to music does.
People who enjoy classical music typically like to read just before bedtime.
Sleeplessness is more common among people who watch late-night television than among people who do not.
Engaging in a bedtime activity that is mentally stimulating often interferes with a person’s ability to fall asleep.
A silent environment is less conducive to restful sleep than an environment with calming ambient sounds.

Quick Tip for Sample Question

Arguments that can be weakened generally rely on unsubstantiated assumptions — unstated premises that must be assumed true for the argument's conclusion to be strongly inferable.

Analysis of Sample Question

The best answer choice is the second one (we'll call it B). The argument concludes that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between listening to classical music and getting restful sleep. But this conclusion is based merely on the statistical correlation cited in the first sentence. One way to discredit the conclusion is to provide evidence that something else results in restful sleep. That’s exactly what choice (B) accomplishes, by pointing out another possible cause: bedtime reading.

The statement in the first answer choice (we'll call it A) accomplishes little, if anything, toward weakening the argument, which compares listening to music — specifically, classical music — to watching television, not to reading.

The statement in the third answer choice (we'll call it C) actually strengthens the argument by providing additional evidence that watching television before bedtime results in restless sleep.

The statement in the fourth answer choice (we'll call it D) would weaken the argument only if listening to classical music is more mentally stimulating than watching television. However, the argument provides no evidence to substantiate this crucial assumption.

The statement in the fifth answer choice (we'll call it E) is irrelevant to the argument, which seeks to compare a person’s environment just before bedtime, not during sleep.