20 Questions

1 A bookshelf has 11 rows of blue and yellow books. Each row has exactly 9 books.
On the first row, there are 9 blue books and 0 yellow books. On the second row,
there are 6 blue and 3 yellow books.
The number of blue books goes down by 3 for each row until it reaches 0, and then
it will increase by 3 for each row until it reaches 9 again. This pattern repeats.
How many yellow books will there be on the final row?
A 0
B 3
C 6
D 9

2 David helped his friend arrange his DVDs in a new storage unit. The unit has four
shelves, one for each of his four favourite types of DVDs: action, comedy, drama,
and horror. Action movies are on a higher shelf than comedy movies, and horror
movies are lower than drama movies. Only one type of DVD is lower than comedy.
Which one of the following statements must be true?
A Drama movies are on the highest shelf.
B Action movies are on the lowest shelf.
C Action movies are on the highest shelf.
D Horror movies are on the lowest shelf.

3 “There is always a traffic jam in the afternoon, unless it is a weekend.”

If the statement above is true, which one of the following must also be true?
A Today is the weekend so there will be no traffic jam this afternoon.
B There is no traffic jam on a weekday if it is night.
C There was no traffic this afternoon so today must be a weekend.
D I am stuck in traffic right now so it must be the afternoon.

1
4 Liam has a cat named Luna. Luna is a picky eater and loves to eat salmon-
flavoured cat food. If Luna is given any other flavour, she will not eat the cat
food.

Sophie: “Luna’s cat food must be the wrong flavour because she refuses to eat no
matter how hard Liam tries.”
Which one of the following statements shows the mistake Sophie has made?
A Luna might enjoy eating human food more than cat food.
B Luna might not like other flavours of cat food for multiple reasons.
C There may be other reasons why Luna does not want to eat right now.
D Liam could own more than one cat.

5 A restaurant was hired out by a bank for an annual Christmas party. There were
three food items to choose from, pizza, cake and chips, and each person could
order one, two or all three items.
50 people ordered pizza, 23 ordered cake, 31 ordered chips, 10 ordered only cake
and chips, 8 ordered only cake and pizza, 5 ordered only chips and 3 ordered all
three items.
How many people ordered only pizza?
A 26
B 39
C 42
D 50

2
1 Chase is trying to arrange a date for a dinner with his three friends this month. It is
currently March 1st, a Monday, and there are 31 days in the month. Each friend has
their own schedule and are unavailable on specific days:
 Chase is busy on the first and third Wednesday of every month.
 Joseph is away on the weekends.
 Naomi is only available for the first half of the month.
 Vanessa is busy every Tuesday and Friday.
Which one of the following dates is possible?
A 2nd
B 7th
C 11th
D 18th

2 In a special game, there are 13 cards. These cards go from 1 to 10, followed by
jack, queen and then king. Jamie thinks of a random numbered card. Three of his
friends then each pick a random card from the pile at the same time. If a player
picks a card that has a higher number than Jamie’s then they win. If a player picks a
card that has an equal or smaller number then they lose.
If a player picks a jack, then they automatically lose. If a player picks a queen, then
they must flip a coin to see if they win or lose. If a player picks a king, then they
automatically win.
Jamie was thinking of 1 and all three of his friends lost the game.
Which one of the following cards is not in the pile anymore?
A 2
B 10
C Queen
D King

1
3 A teacher suggests that reading books should be an important part of teenagers'
lives. As these teenagers go through puberty, they often struggle to understand who
they are and what kind of person they want to be. Books can provide these
teenagers with a way to relax and ‘escape’ from their emotional troubles.
Which one of these statements, if true, most strengthens your teacher's claim?
A Reading books can help one figure out their passions.
B Non-fiction books can help with school work.
C Successful people often recommend others to read more books.
D Reading books can be difficult and time-consuming.

4 A teacher argues that incorporating mindfulness practices into the school day
should be a priority for all schools, as it can reduce stress and work on the student’s
emotional maturity. However, the school has declined the proposal as it has been
described as a waste of time and resources, and may not have a measurable
impact on academic outcomes.
Which one of these statements, if true, best strengthens the teacher's argument?
A The skills that schools teach have relatively stayed the same for hundreds of
years.
B Many of history’s geniuses lacked mindfulness.
C Stress is the number one problem that students face in school.
D Mindfulness is necessary for working well in team projects.

5 Regan left his home in the morning and walked towards the rising sun. He walked
for 5km before turning to his left and walking another 10km. He then turned so that
the setting sun was now over his right shoulder and walked 10km.
The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
Which direction is he now compared to his original position?
A North-East
B East
C West
D South-West

2
1 We get drenched whenever there is a storm or the sprinklers are turned on.
If this is true, which one of these sentences must be false?
A We could still get drenched even if there is no storm or sprinkler.
B The sprinklers are on so we will get drenched.
C There is no storm so we cannot get drenched.
D If we aren’t drenched then there must be no storm.

2 What is the minimum number of blocks required in order to complete the cube?

A 20
B 25
C 45
D 60

3 Alice, Bruce, and Chris were planning their end of year class parties and listed out
the snacks items that they’re bringing. Allen's list had sandwiches, kebabs, cupcakes,
veggie platters, and pizzas. Bruce is bringing cheeseburgers, pizzas, and veggie
platters. Chris is bringing kebabs, Mac and cheese, veggie platters, fruit salad, and
pizzas.
Which item is Alice bringing that neither Bruce nor Chris is?
A Kebabs and sandwiches
B Cupcakes and veggie platters
C Fruit salad and cheeseburgers
D Sandwiches and cupcakes

1
4 Garry and his sister Sharon both attend the same high school.
Garry always runs to school to stay fit, leaving the house at 8:25 a.m. every weekday
and arriving at school at exactly 9:01 a.m.
Sharon has a car and so drives to school, arriving at exactly 9:00 a.m. everyday. Both
of them travel at a constant speed the whole way, with Sharon driving four times
faster than Garry’s running speed.
When does Sharon leave home?
A 7:45 a.m.
B 7:48 a.m.
C 7:51 a.m.
D 7:52 a.m.

5 Every time our teacher plays music, we know it’s time for our dancing lessons.

Anna: "I didn't hear any music today, that means we didn’t have any dancing
lessons."
Brian: "We didn’t dance today so our teacher wouldn’t have played music today."
If the information in the box is true, whose reasoning is correct?
A Anna only
B Brian only
C Both Anna and Brian
D Neither Anna nor Brian

2
 © Alpha One Coaching College

OC – Thinking Skills Questions - Strengthen/Weaken

the Argument
1. Johnathan is planning on buying a new laptop. His friend Jeremy tells him he
should buy a MacBook because it’s the fastest and most functional laptop you can
buy. Johnathan decides to go to the shops to buy a MacBook.
Which of the following if true, would most seriously weaken the above
argument?
a. A MacBook can’t run the program that Johnathan needs for his job.
b. MacBooks are more expensive than other times of laptops.
c. A new MacBook has just been released and has gotten great reviews
online.
d. Johnathan’s previous laptop was a Dell which lasted for 10 years.

2. Mary wants to be a musician when she grows up because she loves playing the
piano. Her mother tells her that she shouldn’t become a musician because they
don’t get paid much money.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken her mother’s
argument?
a. The best musicians in the world are famous and make millions of dollars.
b. Most professional musicians have been playing music since they were
children.
c. The music industry is older than many other industries including
technology and banking.
d. People who are passionate about what they do are more likely to make
money in their passion.

3. Doctors suggest that adults should sleep approximately 7-9 hours a night. This
will help increase physical and mental health as well as your immune system and
your memory.

Which of the following statements, if true, would most strengthen the above
argument?
a. People are busy and so often don’t have time to sleep that long.
b. People who sleep less than 7 hours have an increased risk of developing
heart disease, strokes and are less happy.
c. A small group of people who have short sleeper syndrome only need to
sleep a couple of hours to function normally.
d. Children should sleep at least 9 hours.

4. The government of a country has noticed that the proportion of citizens who are
diabetic, in their nation, has been increasing over the last 10 years. Therefore,
 © Alpha One Coaching College

they have decided to introduce a sugar tax which increases the prices of sweets
and soft drinks in order to improve people’s diet.

Which of the following statements, if true, would most weaken the above
argument?
a. Data from countries with the sugar tax have found that it did not affect
diabetes rates.
b. The number of soft drinks and sweets that have been consumed in recent
years has been increasing.
c. The government has been discussing a sugar tax for the last 5 years but
hasn’t implemented it yet.
d. There are already a lot of taxes and people won’t be happy with another
one.

5. Michelle is planning on travelling to a friend’s house. There are two ways of

getting to her friend’s house on public transport. She can either catch a bus
which takes 30 min or 2 trains that take 25 min. She decides to take the trains
because it is faster.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the above argument?
a. The route to her friend’s house is full of traffic and so often the bus is even
later than the predicted time whereas the trains aren’t affected by traffic.
b. Trains are often cleaner than buses and so are more enjoyable to ride on.
c. Trains are safer than buses because they are much less likely to be
involved in an accident.
d. Sometimes its not possible to take a train because of the limitations of
trainlines and so people have to take a bus instead.