Critical Reasoning

Hi All,

Please can someone help me with the below CR doubts. I am not sure about the answers.

Thanks,
Anindita

106. Property taxes are typically set at a flat rate per $ 1,000 of officially assessed value. Reassessments should be frequent in order to remove distortions that arise when property values change at differential rates. In practice, however, reassessments typically occur when they benefit the government – that is, when their effect is to increase total tax revenue.
If the statements above are true, which of the following describes a situation in which a reassessment should occur but is unlikely to do so?
(A) Property values have risen sharply and uniformly.
(B) Property values have all risen – some very sharply, some less so.
(C) Property values have for the most part risen sharply yet some have dropped slightly.
(D) Property values have for the most part dropped significantly; yet some have risen slightly.
(E) Property values have dropped significantly and uniformly.

Answer to 106.
If most property values have dropped significantly, but some have risen slightly, a reassessment should occur (since values have changed at different rates) but is unlikely (since it will not benefit the government). Thus choice D describes the required situation and is the best answer.
According to the passage, choices A and E describe situations in which there is no need for a reassessment, since change has occurred uniformly. Similarly, choices B and C both describe situations in which a reassessment should occur, and is likely to, since the government will
benefit.
I feel that the correct answer should be E and not D. Please explain.

107. The number of patents granted to inventors by the United States Patent Office dropped from 56,000 in 1971 to 45,000 in 1978. Spending on research and development, which peaked at 3 percent of the gross national product (GNP) in 1964, was only 2.2 percent of the GNP in
1978. During this period, when the United States percentage was steadily decreasing, West Germany and Japan increased the percentage of their GNP’s spent on research and development to 3.2 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.
Which of the following conclusions is best supported by the information above?
(A) There is direct relationship between the size of a nation’s GNP and the number of inventions it produces.
(B) Japan and West Germany spent more money on research and development is directly related to the number of inventions patented in that nation.
(C) The amount of money a nation spends on research and development is directly relocated to the number of inventions patented in that nation.
(D) Between 1964 and 1978 the United States consistently spent a larger percentage of its GNP on research and development than did Japan.
(E) Both West Germany and Japan will soon surpass the United States in the number of patents granted to investors.

Answer to 107.
From 1964 to 1978, spending on research and development never fell below 2.2 percent of the GNP in the United States and never rose above 1.6 percent in Japan. Therefore choice D follows from the information given and is the best answer.
Since no information is provided about the size of the GNP of any of the countries mentioned, neither choice A nor choice B is supported. The amount of information given about numbers of patents granted is insufficient to establish any general relation between spending and numbers of patents, so choice C is unsupported; and given that there is no information about the number of inventions patented in Japan and West Germany, choice E is not supported either.

Why is the answer not C?

106

Comments: D would be appropriate answer. E looks extreme and is not supported by the premise on the passage.'....to remove distortions that arise when property values change at differential rates'. Option D is an illustration of this scenario.

107

Comments: You should be very careful with the quesiton stem - Which of the following 'conclusions is best supported' by the information above? The question does not give you any room for inference or assumption. Whatever is your answer should be directly stated in the passage. Hence D would be the answer

Hi, Thank you so much for your help! This site is really helpful. Since I am studying on my own, this site makes me feel like i have other people there to help me out!
Thanks, Anindita

I also will go with D.