BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

HELP! Critical Reasoning Illiterate

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Post Reply
Previous Topic Next Topic
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 17
Joined: Mon Dec 17, 2012 9:26 pm
Followed by:1 members

HELP! Critical Reasoning Illiterate

by DvdBonan » Thu Jan 31, 2013 10:30 pm
Hi all,

Let me preface this by saying I am a native speaker who did extremely well in English courses in high school and university and tore through the math section when studying for the GMAT. But I am really stuck on Critical Reasoning. I get less than half of them right. I bought the Aristotle book as well as previous year Veritas books. I feel like I am having trouble grasping the concepts. It seems like I can narrow each answer down to 2 and ALWAYS choose the wrong one (for example, I just did a 10 question set and wrote down my number 1 and number 2 choices - i got 1/10 with the other 9 being the listed as my #2 answer - I still can't believe that).

Any tips? Do I take a course? I hear courses are pretty math heavy and I have no interest in learning more math as I am in the mid 90th percentile on that. Do I hire a tutor? Do I keep doing practice problems? Does it come to people eventually?

I am just really frustrated as this is supposed to be the easiest of the 3 sections on the verbal portion.

Please help!
Top
Source: — Critical Reasoning |
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 78
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 5:03 am
Thanked: 9 times
Followed by:4 members
GMAT Score:700

by shenoydevika » Thu Jan 31, 2013 11:47 pm
Hey DvdBonan!

First off, It's awesome that you are doing so well on the quant section.

Ok, Critical Reasoning is supposed to be the easiest? Really? I know many who would disagree on that. I believe what is 'easiest' is very subjective. If you are having trouble on CR, I suggest you get a copy of the 'Powerscore Critical Reasoning Bible' ASAP. It's really amazing.
Here's a link to DanaJ's review of the book https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2009/11/ ... ook-review

In addition, go through the CR questions posted on this forum especially those with 'Expert replies'. It will give you a good idea about what your thinking process should be like when answering CR questions.

Hope this helps! All the best with CR
Top

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2095
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:22 pm
Thanked: 1443 times
Followed by:247 members

by ceilidh.erickson » Fri Feb 01, 2013 3:25 pm
I know it may not seem this way, but the fact that you're consistently narrowing it down to 2 answers (including the correct one) is a great sign! It means that you're understanding the argument and the question, and you're eliminating the more obviously wrong answers.

Ask yourself this - when you had it narrowed down to those 2 answer choices, were you asking yourself "which one of these seems right?" or "which one of these can I prove wrong?" It may seem like a minor distinction, but it's actually a very powerful shift in perspective. When you're trying to find the right answer, you'll try to talk yourself into things, and you'll overlook flaws (like words that are too extreme, or a subtle shift in degree from the argument). If you're trying to prove things wrong, though, you'll pick up on all of those little flaws.

When the test writers are writing these questions, they want to come up with wrong answer choices that will be tempting. The easiest way to do that is to take an answer that's almost right, but subtly tweak a word or two until it's not longer completely provable. If you pick those answers, you're falling into their trap! Focusing on the wrong answers rather than the right ones will help you to avoid these traps.
Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Top
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 17
Joined: Mon Dec 17, 2012 9:26 pm
Followed by:1 members

by DvdBonan » Fri Feb 01, 2013 5:42 pm
Thank you both for your responses. That Critical Reasoning Bible seems like another good resource. The Aristotle book said right at the beginning that everything is subjective but most people tend to think critical reasoning is the easiest of the 3 (not word for word but along those lines)
Top
Post new topic Post Reply
• Page 1 of 1