Critical Reasoning

David@VeritasPrep wrote:Perhaps this one is more difficult...as always thanks in advance for the comments. The last question (foreign language) is going to be edited based on comments received.


"Ocean waves are actually a circular movement of the water both above and below the surface. Boaters and swimmers see and feel the portion of the wave that is above the surface. As long as the wave is in the deep ocean it will usually not fall in on itself, known as "breaking." When the bottom of the ocean becomes shallower - specifically when the depth of the water is less than 1.3 times the height of the wave - the wave will break. This occurs because the circular motion of the wave below the water cannot continue and the portion of the wave above the surface builds up until it collapses.

If the statements above are true, which of the following can be inferred?

A) Waves occurring in the deeper parts of the ocean are not dangerous because they usually do not break.

B) Shallow water is the only mechanism that causes waves to break.

C) Swimmers and boaters should avoid areas where waves are breaking.

D) It may be possible to estimate the depth of shallow ocean waters based on the height of breaking waves.

E) Waves occurring in freshwater lakes do not reach the same height as waves in the ocean.

David@VeritasPrep wrote:Perhaps this one is more difficult...as always thanks in advance for the comments. The last question (foreign language) is going to be edited based on comments received.


"Ocean waves are actually a circular movement of the water both above and below the surface. Boaters and swimmers see and feel the portion of the wave that is above the surface. As long as the wave is in the deep ocean it will usually not fall in on itself, known as "breaking." When the bottom of the ocean becomes shallower - specifically when the depth of the water is less than 1.3 times the height of the wave - the wave will break. This occurs because the circular motion of the wave below the water cannot continue and the portion of the wave above the surface builds up until it collapses.

If the statements above are true, which of the following can be inferred?

A) Waves occurring in the deeper parts of the ocean are not dangerous because they usually do not break. - We are nowhere talking about whether the waves are dangerous. So eliminate this one.

B) Shallow water is the only mechanism that causes waves to break. - Though argument says that shallow water breaks the wave, it is not mentioned that this is the only reason. This is very extreme option, eliminate

C) Swimmers and boaters should avoid areas where waves are breaking. - Why should they? This is very absurd option and I was just laughing. If we consider this option then no swimmer and boater could go into the ocean. Since we have shallow water bed at the beach and swimmer and boater go into the sea from beach only. So this can not be true. In passage perspective this is no where mentioned and we can not infer the same from any sentence.

D) It may be possible to estimate the depth of shallow ocean waters based on the height of breaking waves. - aha!! If I know the height of the wave then using the formula I can decide the upper limit of the depth of the ocean bed and I can predict the depth of the water bed. This is specified in the passage. 'depth of the water is less than 1.3 times the height of the wave'

E) Waves occurring in freshwater lakes do not reach the same height as waves in the ocean. - New information. Fresh water lakes are not even mentioned in the passage, eliminate

David@VeritasPrep wrote:OA is D

The correct answer must be true, while incorrect answers could be false.

Choice A could be false because the stimulus never discusses the danger posed by deep ocean waves.

Choice B also goes beyond what is discussed in the stimulus; the stimulus indicates shallow water is one cause of waves breaking but maybe not necessarily the only cause.

Choice C uses the word "should" which is usually an indicator of reaching beyond what must be true. The stimulus does not say anything about what portions of the ocean should be avoided.

Choice E also goes beyond the stimulus by bringing freshwater lakes into the discussion. It may certainly be true that waves on lakes are not as big as those in the ocean, but this may also be false precisely because it is not discussed by the stimulus.

Choice D is the correct answer as the stimulus provides ample reasons why it may be possible to estimate the depth of water based on the height of breaking waves.


As to the difficulty of the problem, probably average or a little above. reply2spg, I find that inference questions can be a little easier for me than others because they present such a good opportunity for process of elimination.

Nice job guys!