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CR Flawed Argument Questions
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Hi mkinde,
The Flaw CR question is similar to the entire AWA/Essay prompt. The point is to try to find the flaw (or in the case of the Essay, flaws) that the author bases his argument on.
Like most CR questions, Flaw questions are written in a consistent fashion around common patterns. They're not a big part of Test Day, but you'll see 1 for sure. The question attached to the prompt almost always includes the word "flaw", so you'll know what you're looking at.
Here's an example of a common logical flaw: assuming a percent or value is meaningful when it might not be. Can you spot the flaw in the logic?
e.g. Author: Our company had a 10% increase in total sales this year over last year. Thus, we've made a lot more money this year compared to last year.
The flaw is that a 10% increase may or may not actually mean a lot more money. Without knowing the "starting value" (the sales from the prior year), we don't really know the value of the 10% increase. The 10% increase could be in the billions of dollars or it could be in the thousands of dollars, depending on the prior years sales.
The GMAT writers base the Flaw questions on a handful of logical flaw "types", which you can read about in any number of books/Courses.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
The Flaw CR question is similar to the entire AWA/Essay prompt. The point is to try to find the flaw (or in the case of the Essay, flaws) that the author bases his argument on.
Like most CR questions, Flaw questions are written in a consistent fashion around common patterns. They're not a big part of Test Day, but you'll see 1 for sure. The question attached to the prompt almost always includes the word "flaw", so you'll know what you're looking at.
Here's an example of a common logical flaw: assuming a percent or value is meaningful when it might not be. Can you spot the flaw in the logic?
e.g. Author: Our company had a 10% increase in total sales this year over last year. Thus, we've made a lot more money this year compared to last year.
The flaw is that a 10% increase may or may not actually mean a lot more money. Without knowing the "starting value" (the sales from the prior year), we don't really know the value of the 10% increase. The 10% increase could be in the billions of dollars or it could be in the thousands of dollars, depending on the prior years sales.
The GMAT writers base the Flaw questions on a handful of logical flaw "types", which you can read about in any number of books/Courses.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
