ST-7 (Critical Reasoning)
Description: Critical Reasoning Test - 7 | |
Number of Questions: 15 | |
Created by: Prabha Kade | |
Tags: Critical Reasoning Test - 7 Critical Reasoning Conclusion Inference Paragraph Completion Strengthen |
Directions: Read the passage/argument and answer the question that follows it.
Give people power and discretion, and whether they are grand viziers or border guards, some will use their position to enrich themselves. The problem can be big enough to hold back a development of country. One study has shown that bribes account for 8% of the total cost of running a business in Uganda, while another one found that corruption boosted the price of hospital supplies in Buenos Aires by 15%.
Which of the following could be the most valid inference from the above paragraph?
Directions: Read the passage/argument and answer the question that follows it.
John Nash, then barely 21, was certainly a genius to have come up with the first theory of nearly everything. ______. Most scientific theories apply to just one particular area. But game theory, the subject Nash is best known for, applies to any situation involving a mix of competition and cooperation -- corporate rivalry, political competition, Darwinian struggles. The thesis of Nash was just one of a spectacular series of problems that he solved before he turned 30 and the onset of delusions and hallucinations sapped his creative powers. In fact, most of the mathematicians I interviewed insisted that contribution of Nash to game theory was the most trivial of his accomplishments.
Which of the following best completes the missing text?
Directions: Read the passage/argument and answer the question that follows it.
Small companies are always very defensive in terms of protecting their own turf. They tend to firmly resist any attempt at invasion of their territory by another bigger rival company and will do their best to avert it from happening. They quote examples to prove that such incursions have invariably eaten into their market shares and consequently, profits. They fail to realize that ultimately, competition is going to do a whole world of good to their operations.
Which of the following will tend to support most the standpoint of small companies?
Directions: Read the passage/argument and answer the question that follows it.
In the esoteric world of finance, no new idea is complete without its Greek symbol. In the distant past, picking the best stocks was just seen as being clever; now that skill is known as 'alpha'. The letter 'beta is for the boring, old style of simply tracking the market. But what if you can find exciting, new markets to track markets that do not move in step with shares or government bonds? That could be extremely valuable. ___________________
Which of the following would complete the above paragraph?
Directions: Read the passage/argument and answer the question that follows it.
Though the number of cycle owners in China is increasing by leaps and bounds, yet very few owners make real use of their equipment. For instance, last year more than 100 million bicycles were sold, but not more than 10 million owners cycle down to their workplace at least twice a week or use it for physical exercise at least thrice a week.
Which of the following, if true, tends to cast the most doubt on the assertion that very few Chinese make real use of the bicycles they purchase?
Directions: Read the passage/argument and answer the question that follows it.
It is extremely difficult to confront someone with facts in a plain, honest manner. It's also not so easy to evaluate and apply a carrot-and stick policy. I can easily recall when we attended a very much grounded-in-reality self-assessment camp with our senior staff about our consumers, competition, and our performance. Clearly, one cannot do one's own interpretation of what is wrong and castigate people, to motivate them for change; you need to hold a mirror to them. So, I wrote down the things these managers had themselves said two years earlier about the company. Also included were the things customers had said about us, both gung-ho and nasty. When confronted with the inescapable facts of what they had said about themselves and what customers had told us, managers accepted the truth.
According to the paragraph above,
Directions: Read the passage/argument and answer the question that follows it.
The most irksome contributors to the Wikipedia, globally the most global blog, do get censored eventually, though they can always log in under a new identity. Other drawbacks are the subject of earnest internal debate too, such as the Wikipedia's inherent bias towards trivial recent events rather than important historical ones. That is already undergoing a subtle change, slowly, though subjects of interest to northern white computer-literate males are over-covered, while those of interest to others are under-covered in terms of space devoted and the prominence given.
Which of the following options is best supported by the above selection? Mark it as your answer.
Directions: Read the passage/argument and answer the question that follows it.
Small companies are always very defensive in terms of protecting their own turf. They tend to firmly resist any attempt at invasion of their territory by another bigger rival company and will do their best to avert it from happening. They quote examples to prove that such incursions have invariably eaten into their market shares and consequently, profits. They fail to realize that ultimately, competition is going to do a whole world of good to their operations.
Which of the following is the biggest flaw in the context of the counter-point made by the author?
Directions: Read the passage/argument and answer the question that follows it.
To counter the growing claims ratio of its clients, who take a mediclaim policy for themselves and their dependents, the United Insurance Corp, Pollock has decided to act tough. Most clients take the floater plan wherein the entire medical cover gets transferred to one family member at the time of a medical requirement, if it is not availed of by another family member. This happens within the limits of the total cover available to the family as a whole. The problem has become so acute that currently, the company has slipped into the red, following claims of $1.5 filed for every single dollar collected by it as policy premium.
Which one(s) out of the following, assuming that it is permissible and practically feasible, would MOST CONTRIBUTE to alleviating the problem being faced by the company?
- Raising the premium applicable to the respective policies.
- Re-look at the accounting policies followed by United Insurance Company.
- Refusing to allow the transfer of medical cover to other family members.
- Suspending the payment of dividend on stocks held by its stakeholders.
- Refusing to give policies to people who suffered from serious illness as children.
Directions: Read the passage/argument and answer the question that follows it.
Ever since the liquor sale and use laws have been liberalized, enabling easy sales and consumption by the city people, the crime rate in Dalmatian has significantly come down from 24 crimes per thousand per year to 14 crimes per 1000 per year. The city council surmises that this is entirely due to the liberal liquor laws and therefore, plans to do away with other liquor restrictions also, so as to achieve its goal of a crime-free city in the next five years.
Which of the following could be a possible FLAW in the reasoning employed above?
Directions: Read the passage/argument and answer the question that follows it.
Strikingly, the number of internet users in China has reached a mind-boggling 210 million. The figure is a staggering statistic, up by more than 50% as compared to the previous year and more than three times the number for India, the emerging Asian giant with which China is most often compared. Analysts expect that in a few months from now, China will have more internet users than the US, the current leader. And because the proportion of the internet user population is so low, at just 16%, rapid growth is likely to continue for some time.
Which of the following is an implicit ASSUMPTION underlying the above argument?
Directions: Read the passage/argument and answer the question that follows it.
The emergence of Internet endangers the readership of print media in the US. By every stretch of data available, the country has seen a perceptible decline in the cumulative readership of newspapers and magazines.
Which one(s) out of the following is most closely PARALLEL to the above argument given here?
Directions: Read the passage/argument and answer the question that follows it.
Very few inputs influence the US economic system as much as oil prices. Oil runs the cars, trucks and planes that transport people and products. As oil prices rise, costs rise for transportation companies such as airlines and freight delivery companies, squeezing their profit margins. Downstream of these companies, customers who rely on them to get products to markets are similarly impacted by higher prices. Contrarily, most energy companies benefit from higher oil prices, either from higher oil revenues, or due to more demand for alternatives like ethanol and clean energy. Car companies with fuel conservation technology such as hybrid engines can expect more sales as consumers feel the pinch of higher oil prices, while those who rely on sales of Sports Utility Vehicles may feel challenged business-wise.
The author conveys his point primarily by
Directions: Read the passage/argument and answer the question that follows it.
A phenomenon that is unique to humans is deferred gratification - patient anticipation of a reward. Dr Reyes-Garcia et al therefore argued that as the Tsimane became more enmeshed in modern society, the more patient of them would do better than the less. The traditional of Tsimane subsistence economy depends on folk knowledge and learned skills that have quick pay-offs. Formal schooling does not pay off for years, but opens the door to bigger potential incomes.
Which of the following would be best possible way of evaluating the Reyes-Garcia hypothesis?
Directions: Read the passage/argument and answer the question that follows it.
In a closely watched decision, the US Supreme Court overturned damages of $79.5m against Philip Morris that were awarded by a jury in 2007. The case was about an Oregon man who had smoked for 42 years and died of lung cancer. The Supreme Court decreed that the jury award to his widow had overstepped the mark by punishing the cigarette-maker for harm done to others, but it failed to set any ceiling on future punitive-damage awards and sent the case back to state of Oregon Supreme Court for a new hearing.
Which of the following is the most serious objection to the ruling of the US Supreme Court?