Critical Reasoning

Columnist : George Orwell's 1984 book exercised a great influence on most number of newspaper readers.One thousand people were selected and were asked about the book that most influenced their lives. The book chosen most often was bible,1984 was second.

The answer to which of the following questions will most help evaluating the columnist's argument ?

1. How many books had each person surveyed read?
2. How many people chose books other than 1954?
3.How many people read the columnist's newspaper?
4.How many books by George Orwell other than 1954 were chosen?
5.How many of those who were actually surveyed read the book that they chose?

I think 5 is the answer.

Will go with E

IMO C
OA please.

OA B

My opinion - What if the selected group just read bible or only 1954 or only the two ? This wouldn't be a representative of a larger community . This is stated in A . But I dont understand the reason behind B being the OA.

I will not type in an explanation here as I will be basically restating whats written in the PS bible. This is the last question of the book. Read thoroughly the method given in there and u will grasp the method how to solve this.

Once u get a hold of the question type try this from gmat prep :
https://www.beatthegmat.com/gmatprep-par ... 26671.html

Deepthi Subbu wrote:OA B

My opinion - What if the selected group just read bible or only 1954 or only the two ? This wouldn't be a representative of a larger community . This is stated in A . But I dont understand the reason behind B being the OA.

I think argument goes with the comparison.If 1954 is chosen by say 10 people ,X book is chosen by 9 people and Y is chosen by 8 people, we really cannot conclude 1954 is most influential ,because the difference is too less to make such swooping conclusion.