Ch3. GMAT Verbal Reasoning — Critical Reasoning & Reading Comprehension

Verbal Reasoning Overview

GMAT Focus Edition Verbal Reasoning: 23 questions, 45 minutes

Question types:

Critical Reasoning (CR): ~12–14 questions
Reading Comprehension (RC): ~9–11 questions

CR is the highest-leverage skill for hitting 700+.

Critical Reasoning: Argument Structure

Every CR question contains an argument made of:

Premises: Facts and evidence supporting the claim
Conclusion: The claim being made based on premises
Assumption: An unstated premise required for the argument to hold

CR Question Types & Strategies

1. Assumption Questions

Goal: Find the unstated premise the argument requires.

Negation Test: Negate each answer choice. If negating it destroys the conclusion, that’s the assumption.

Example:

Premise: “80% of patients who took Drug X showed improvement”
Conclusion: “Drug X is effective”
Assumption: “Improvement was caused by Drug X, not other factors”

2. Strengthen Questions

Goal: Pick the choice that makes the conclusion more likely.

Trap: Don’t pick a choice that merely restates a premise. Look for something that closes the logical gap between premises and conclusion.

3. Weaken Questions

Goal: Pick the choice that makes the conclusion less likely.

Strategy: Attack the assumption. Don’t confuse “denying a premise” with “weakening the argument.”

4. Inference Questions

Goal: Find what MUST be true based on the given statements.

Critical rule: “Must be true” only — “could be true” is not enough.

5. Evaluate Questions

Goal: Choose the question whose answer would most help evaluate whether the argument is sound.

Reading Comprehension Strategy

3-Step Approach

Step 1: Map the structure (1–2 min) Identify the function of each paragraph:

Main claim / Counter-argument / Evidence / Conclusion / Exception

Step 2: Identify the main point Summarize the entire passage in one sentence.

Step 3: Return to passage for specific questions Don’t re-read everything — go directly to the relevant paragraph.

RC Question Types

Type	Approach
Main Idea	First/last paragraphs + overall flow
Detail	Locate specific paragraph, verify directly
Inference	Must be true based on passage; not explicitly stated
Purpose	Why does the author include this information?
Tone	Author’s attitude (positive/negative/neutral/critical)

Practice Question

Q1 (Weaken). “Caffeine causes headaches — 70% of headache sufferers consumed coffee.” Which BEST weakens this?

A) 70% of headache sufferers drank coffee, but 80% of the general population also drinks coffee
B) Coffee contains many chemicals besides caffeine
C) There are many types of headaches
D) Some headache sufferers never drink coffee
E) Caffeine is found in beverages other than coffee

Answer: A — Without comparing to a control group, causation cannot be established from correlation alone.

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Next: Data Insights — Table Analysis, Graphics Interpretation, Data Sufficiency, and Multi-Source Reasoning.