Critical Reasoning

I can't seem to escape the high 30s and I'm thinking it comes down to a certain understanding that just has not come to me. I'm hoping I can get someone who has scored in the mid to high 40s to look at this sentence correction question to describe what he is thinking on these questions so that I can divine some understanding for myself. When I make mistakes on CR, the passage and the answer choices long and convoluted which usually means that I don't know what is being said without reading several times. This is extremely time consuming but if I am at the high 30 level these are the questions I will continually be given. How do I better prepare for this?

Here is an example of this kind of CR question. When you look at this break down your thoughts. If you were being timed and after several of these how would you handle this? Did you understand what was being said in the stem after the first reading or the answer choices? How were you able to what determine the discrepancy that needed to be resolved? What method do you use to see the difference in the answer choices? Thanks in advance for your assistance.

The brightness of each pixel making up a Landsat satellite image corresponds to the average reflected light from 80 square meters of the earth's surface. Land which has been cleared reflect more light than rainforest. After counting the brighter pixels on Landsat images of the Amozonian and Congan rainforests, scientists concluded that both had suffered large scale deforestation. Ground observers confirmed that large areas of the Amazonian rainforest had been cleared, but the level of deforestation of the Congan rainforest had been greatly overestimated.

Which of the following, if true, forms the basis of an explanation of the accuracy of the estimations of deforestation in the Amazonian and Congan rainforests? (even the question is convoluted)

1) The Congan rainforest is completely covered by Landsat images, while the coverage of the Amazonian rainforest is incomplete.

2) Cleared spots in the Congan rainforest tend to be much smaller than those in the Amazonian rainforest, but appear to be the same size on Landsat images.

3)Land clearing in the Amazon is usually of old growth forest, while that in the Congo tends to be secondary growth rainforest that has previously been cleared and allowed to lie fallow for up to 20 years.

4) The people living in the rainforest in the Congo mainly rely on subsistence farming and so clear smaller plots of land than the larger commercially farmed areas of the Amazon.

5) Clouds often make it impossible to test Landsat images of the Congan rainforest, while the Amazonian rainforest is usually cloud-free.

is it E or in your case 5

IMO, Answer is 2 or B. I initially that E might be the answer but option E (or 5) says that cloud cover often makes it impossible to test Landsat images of the Congan rainforest. However, in the stimulus, it is clearly stated that scientists were able capture Landsat images of the Congan rainforest in the statement "After counting the brighter pixels on Landsat images of the Amozonian and Congan rainforests".

Answer choice (2) states that Cleared spots, which are much smaller in Congan Rain forests compared to Amazonian forests, appear to be of the same size on Landsat images. This explains the descrepancy as to why the scientists' conclusion about Congan Rain forests was inaccurate.

OA please.....

MAn.. this is quite annoying and frustrating. I don't understand a penny from this.

I will be satisfied to solve the more common questions that appear in CR than these ones.

Unless, you were an English major, I doubt that many people can solve this.

sreak1089 wrote:IMO, Answer is 2 or B. I initially that E might be the answer but option E (or 5) says that cloud cover often makes it impossible to test Landsat images of the Congan rainforest. However, in the stimulus, it is clearly stated that scientists were able capture Landsat images of the Congan rainforest in the statement "After counting the brighter pixels on Landsat images of the Amozonian and Congan rainforests".

Answer choice (2) states that Cleared spots, which are much smaller in Congan Rain forests compared to Amazonian forests, appear to be of the same size on Landsat images. This explains the descrepancy as to why the scientists' conclusion about Congan Rain forests was inaccurate.

OA please.....

You trated this question as weakening one, while I treated as method of reasoning.

I can't even inderstand the stem ?

How many of those appear on the test ?

heshamelaziry wrote:

sreak1089 wrote:IMO, Answer is 2 or B. I initially that E might be the answer but option E (or 5) says that cloud cover often makes it impossible to test Landsat images of the Congan rainforest. However, in the stimulus, it is clearly stated that scientists were able capture Landsat images of the Congan rainforest in the statement "After counting the brighter pixels on Landsat images of the Amozonian and Congan rainforests".

Answer choice (2) states that Cleared spots, which are much smaller in Congan Rain forests compared to Amazonian forests, appear to be of the same size on Landsat images. This explains the descrepancy as to why the scientists' conclusion about Congan Rain forests was inaccurate.

OA please.....

You trated this question as weakening one, while I treated as method of reasoning.

I can't even inderstand the stem ?

How many of those appear on the test ?

How did they get the conclusion wrong, if the answer mentiones that rainforest on Congan was smaller ? that is what the scientists concluded.

Scientists concluded that both Amazonian and Congan rainforests suffered large scale deforestation as seen from following part of the question stem.

"After counting the brighter pixels on Landsat images of the Amozonian and Congan rainforests, scientists concluded that both had suffered large scale deforestation."

Following part of the question indicate that scientists overestimated the level of deforestation. Thus, the Scientist's conclusion was inaccuarte.

"Ground observers confirmed that large areas of the Amazonian rainforest had been cleared, but the level of deforestation of the Congan rainforest had been greatly overestimated."

I interpreted this question as "Resolving the descrepeancy" or in other words "Explain why scientists reached to a faulty conclusion" and IMO answer choice (2) offers that explanation.

sreak1089 wrote:Scientists concluded that both Amazonian and Congan rainforests suffered large scale deforestation as seen from following part of the question stem.

"After counting the brighter pixels on Landsat images of the Amozonian and Congan rainforests, scientists concluded that both had suffered large scale deforestation."

Following part of the question indicate that scientists overestimated the level of deforestation. Thus, the Scientist's conclusion was inaccuarte.

"Ground observers confirmed that large areas of the Amazonian rainforest had been cleared, but the level of deforestation of the Congan rainforest had been greatly overestimated."

I interpreted this question as "Resolving the descrepeancy" or in other words "Explain why scientists reached to a faulty conclusion" and IMO answer choice (2) offers that explanation.

Great explanation. Does resolve the dicrepency the same as resolve the paradox ?

Also, I have been through all CR questions in the OG 12 and didn't come across such a hard question.

sreak1089 wrote:Scientists concluded that both Amazonian and Congan rainforests suffered large scale deforestation as seen from following part of the question stem.

"After counting the brighter pixels on Landsat images of the Amozonian and Congan rainforests, scientists concluded that both had suffered large scale deforestation."

Following part of the question indicate that scientists overestimated the level of deforestation. Thus, the Scientist's conclusion was inaccuarte.

"Ground observers confirmed that large areas of the Amazonian rainforest had been cleared, but the level of deforestation of the Congan rainforest had been greatly overestimated."

I interpreted this question as "Resolving the descrepeancy" or in other words "Explain why scientists reached to a faulty conclusion" and IMO answer choice (2) offers that explanation.

First of all, thanks for the time and effort. Second, your answer is correct. Third, and more importantly for me are these questions:

Did you find the question difficult to decipher? I spend more than several seconds trying to understand the Landsat pixel image thing that ruined the question for me. After getting a basic understanding I was able to see what the discrepancy was but then how/why is it that you "interpreted" the correct answer as resolving the problem? Is it just that you simply understand this convoluted question and answer choices?

heshamelaziry wrote:

sreak1089 wrote:Scientists concluded that both Amazonian and Congan rainforests suffered large scale deforestation as seen from following part of the question stem.

"After counting the brighter pixels on Landsat images of the Amozonian and Congan rainforests, scientists concluded that both had suffered large scale deforestation."

Following part of the question indicate that scientists overestimated the level of deforestation. Thus, the Scientist's conclusion was inaccuarte.

"Ground observers confirmed that large areas of the Amazonian rainforest had been cleared, but the level of deforestation of the Congan rainforest had been greatly overestimated."

I interpreted this question as "Resolving the descrepeancy" or in other words "Explain why scientists reached to a faulty conclusion" and IMO answer choice (2) offers that explanation.

Great explanation. Does resolve the dicrepency the same as resolve the paradox ?

Also, I have been through all CR questions in the OG 12 and didn't come across such a hard question.

I've taken the test twice now and I have seen these sorts of questions. I don't think they stay as close to the OG book as they used to. I think it has gotten harder. I find the questions to be as hard as those found on the Kaplan tests. The only difference is it is more generously scored on the official test. My scores on the official GMAT CAT has been much higher than those which I've received on the Kaplan CAT.

mpaudena wrote:

heshamelaziry wrote:

sreak1089 wrote:Scientists concluded that both Amazonian and Congan rainforests suffered large scale deforestation as seen from following part of the question stem.

"After counting the brighter pixels on Landsat images of the Amozonian and Congan rainforests, scientists concluded that both had suffered large scale deforestation."

Following part of the question indicate that scientists overestimated the level of deforestation. Thus, the Scientist's conclusion was inaccuarte.

"Ground observers confirmed that large areas of the Amazonian rainforest had been cleared, but the level of deforestation of the Congan rainforest had been greatly overestimated."

I interpreted this question as "Resolving the descrepeancy" or in other words "Explain why scientists reached to a faulty conclusion" and IMO answer choice (2) offers that explanation.

Great explanation. Does resolve the dicrepency the same as resolve the paradox ?

Also, I have been through all CR questions in the OG 12 and didn't come across such a hard question.

I've taken the test twice now and I have seen these sorts of questions. I don't think they stay as close to the OG book as they used to. I think it has gotten harder. I find the questions to be as hard as those found on the Kaplan tests. The only difference is it is more generously scored on the official test. My scores on the official GMAT CAT has been much higher than those which I've received on the Kaplan CAT.

What do you mean by they are more generously scored on the actual test than on Kaplan ?

What is the score you want ?