For Ron/Stacey - regarding CR

[dadwal.kartik]

Hi Ron/Stacey,

This is regarding verbal section, more specifically critical reasoning. My questions is 'How to look/approach at CR questions'. This is may seem like a very general question but I am looking for the right mindset. For instance, I feel, I might have nailed the sentence correction (I feel so ;) haha) approach because now I know sentence correction is more about what is the sentence trying to convey and a right choice will always lay stress on the correct meaning. Once you know that grammar pretty much falls in place, provided you know the basic rules.

Unfortunately I am still trying to solve the mystery behind what is CR trying to test. Once I can develop an I eye for CR, I am sure I can nail those questions too.

I would like to get your thoughts on this. I have a strong feeling Ron knows what exactly I am looking for. I am more interested in knowing what part of my brain is CR trying to test? How can I am make sure that I turn on some kind of filter when I look at CRs.

I really appreciate your guys time and help!

-K

[StaceyKoprince]

I answer all of the Qs in this folder, so if you also want to know what Ron thinks, try posting in the general verbal folder or the MGMAT verbal folder.

First, overall, our CR book will tell you what to think / do. (And, beyond that, it will tell you what I think you need to think / do, because I'm the one who wrote the most recent edition of that book :) I'm just mentioning that because a full answer to your question would be at least 30-page answer, which I obviously can't give you here on the forums. But if you really want that answer, read the book!

CR is testing your logical reasoning ability. Can you correctly identify and understand the functions of different pieces of information? (premises, counter-premises, conclusions, assumptions, etc) Can you understand the logical flow of information, and can you also figure out the disconnects between any evidence / premises presented and the claims made in the conclusion? Finally, can you then conduct a particular piece of reasoning based on what the question stem is asking? (strengthen a conclusion, find the conclusion, resolve a discrepancy in the conclusion, etc)

Each question type has very specific characteristics and very specific types of reasoning required. The correct answers also have specific requirements. The book goes through each of these, explaining how to recognize each individual type, what kind of thinking you're expected to do for that type, what kinds of characteristics the right answer will have, etc.

So this really gets down to knowing what to do with the specific CR question types - and I can't tell you all of that in a forum post. I've written many CR articles over the past year (since we started re-writing the 5th edition books), so you can also go and browse our blog for my CR articles. (Just note that this won't be as comprehensive as the book, of course - the book is a lot longer / has a lot more space dedicated to each question type!)