CR PRACTICE–1 Critical Reasoning:

Class sheet Number of Questions: 16 DAILY EXERCISE

1. Sujata: Those who oppose experimentation on animals do not properly value the preservation of human
life. Although animal suffering is unfortunate, it is justifiable if it can lead to cures for human ailments.
Milan: But much animal experimentation involves testing of ordinary consumer products such as soaps,
dyes, and cosmetics.
Sujata: These experiments are justifiable on the same grounds, since cleanliness, convenience, and
beauty are worthwhile human values deserving of support.
Which of the following is the best statement of the logical flaw in Sujata’s argument?

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a) Her claim that animal experimentation is justifiable if it supports human values contradicts her claim
that such experimentation is justifiable only if it leads to cures for human ailments.
b) She places a higher value on human cleanliness, convenience, and beauty than she does on the

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preservation of animal life.
c) She uses the word “value” in two different senses.
d) She fails to show how mere support for human values actually preserves human lives.
2. Mr. Lal: We should adopt a national family policy that includes legislation requiring employers to
provide paid parental leave and establishing government-sponsored day care. Such laws would decrease

happier, better-adjusted families.

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the stress levels of employees who have responsibility for small children. Thus, such laws would lead to

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion above?
a) An employee‟s high stress level can be a cause of unhappiness and poor adjustment for his or her
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family.
b) People who have responsibility for small children and who work outside the home have higher stress
levels than those who do not.
c) The goal of a national family policy is to lower the stress levels of parents.
d) Any national family policy that is adopted would include legislation requiring employers to provide
paid parental leave and establishing government-sponsored day care.
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3. Every painting hanging in the Hazrat Gallery is by a French painter. No painting in the Hazrat Gallery is
by a Morticist. Only Morticists use acrylic monochromes in their works.
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If the information above is true, which of the following must also be true?
a) No French painters are Morticists.
b) All Morticists use acrylic monochromes in their works.
c) Some French painters do not use acrylic monochromes in their works.
d) No French painters use acrylic monochromes in their works.
4. We commonly speak of aesthetic judgments as subjective, and in the short term they are, since critics
often disagree about the value of a particular contemporary work of art. But over time, the subjective
element disappears. When works of art have continued to delight audiences for centuries, as have the
paintings of Michelangelo, the music of Bach, and the plays of Shakespeare, we can objectively call them
great.
The statements above best support which of the following conclusions?
a) When Michelangelo, Bach, and Shakespeare were alive, critics disagreed about the value of their work.
b) The value of a contemporary work of art cannot be objectively measured.
c) The reputation of a work of art often fluctuates greatly from one generation to the next.
d) The mere fact that a work of art has endured for centuries does not establish its greatness.
5. Since the 55-KMPH speed limit was mandated on our highways, both money and human lives have been
saved.
Which of the following, if true, would least strengthen the claim above?
a) Most highway users find that travel times are not appreciably lengthened by the 55-KMPH speed limit.
b) Highway driving at 55 KMPH or less is more fuel-efficient than high-speed driving.
c) Nearly all highway safety experts agree that more accidents occur at speeds over 55 KMPH than at
lower speeds.
d) The percentage of fatalities occurring in highway accidents at speeds greater than 55 KMPH is higher
than that for low-speed accidents.

(1)
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CR PRACTICE–1 Critical Reasoning:
Class sheet Number of Questions: 16 DAILY EXERCISE

Directions for Questions 6-10: The passage given below is followed by certain statements.
Decide logically, on the basis of the text of the passage, if the statements are:
a) definitely true b) probably true c) definitely false d) probably false
PASSAGE
The majority of Terrans were six-legged. They had territorial squabbles and politics and wars and a caste
system. They also had sufficient intelligence to survive on that barren boondocks planet for several billions of
years. We are not concerned here with the majority of Terrans. We are concerned with a tiny minority-the
domesticated primates who built cities and wrote symphonies and invented things like tic-tac-toe and integral

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calculus. At the time of our story, these primates regarded themselves as the Terrans. The six-legged majority
and other life-forms on that planet hardly entered into their thinking at all, most of the time. The domesticated
primates of Terra referred to the six-legged majority by an insulting name. They called them "bugs." There was

15
one species on Terra that lived in very close symbiosis with the domesticated primates. This was a variety of
domesticated canines called dogs. The dogs had learned to achieve a rough simulation of guilt and remorse and
worry and other domesticated primate characteristics. The domesticated primates had learned how to achieve
simulations of loyalty and dignity and cheerfulness and other canine characteristics. The primates claimed that
they loved the dogs as much as the dogs loved them. Still, the primates kept the best food for themselves. The

6.
of numerical majority.
a) definitely true b) probably true
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dogs noticed this, you can be sure, but they loved the primates so much that they forgave them.
Those Terrans who regarded themselves as „the‟ Terrans, were in fact not „the‟ Terrans at least on grounds

c) definitely false d) probably false

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7. The making of cities and the invention of things like symphonies gave the domesticated primates of Terra
a superiority complex over the bugs.
a) definitely true b) probably true c) definitely false d) probably false
8. All primates of Terra were domesticated.
1

a) definitely true b) probably true c) definitely false d) probably false

9. The love between dogs and the domesticated primates was unequal, though not one-sided.
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a) definitely true b) probably true c) definitely false d) probably false

10. The majority of Terrans live in close symbiosis with the domesticated primates.
a) definitely true b) probably true c) definitely false d) probably false
11. A study of business partnerships in which one partner‟s management style differs from that of the other
partner reveals that such partnerships are more likely be fraught with problems and to ultimately end in
dissolution. Thus, mismatched management styles can seriously jeopardize a business partnership.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?
a) Business partnerships in which both partners have the same management style also occasionally have
disagreements that can jeopardize the partnership.
b) The management style of individuals tends to vary from year to year.
c) The individuals who have management style that differ significantly from those of their partners tend
to argue little with spouses at home.
d) Partners who are considering dissolution have been found to express hostility by adopting a different
management styles from that of their partners.
12. A pharmaceutical company developed a new diuretic reported to cause fewer side effects than their old
diuretic, which was still being manufactured. During the first year that both were sold, the earlier
medication far outsold the new one; the manufacturer thus concluded that reducing side effects was not
the customers' primary consideration.
Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the manufacturer’s conclusion?
a) Both hospitals and patients buy diuretics from this pharmaceutical company.
b) Many customers consider older medications a better safety risk than new ones, since more is usually
known about the safety of the earlier drugs.
c) Many customers of this pharmaceutical company also bought medications from companies who did
not produce new diuretics reported to cause fewer side effects.
d) The newer diuretic can be used by all the patients who could use the earlier diuretic.

(2)
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CR PRACTICE–1 Critical Reasoning:
Class sheet Number of Questions: 16 DAILY EXERCISE

13. Canadian wheat farmers produced so much wheat over the last season that wheat prices plummeted. The
government tried to boost wheat prices by offering farmers who agreed not to harvest 20 percent of their
wheat field compensation up to a specified maximum per farm. The Canadian government's program, if
successful, will not be a net burden on the budget.
Which of the following, if true, is the best basis for an explanation of how this could be so?
a) If prices were allowed to remain low, the farms would be operating at a loss, causing the government
to lose tax revenue on farm profits.
b) Wheat production in several countries declined the year that the compensation program went into

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effect in Canada.
c) The first year that the compensation program was in effect, wheat acreage in Canada was 5% below its
level in the base year for the program.

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d) The specified maximum per farm meant that for very large wheat farms the compensation was less per
acre for those acres than they were for smaller farms.
14. Eclampsia in pregnancy is especially prevalent among women who are seriously malnourished. In order
to achieve early detection of Eclampsia in these individuals, public health officials distributed pamphlets
explaining the importance of early detection of this potentially fatal disease.

a)
b)
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Which of the following, if true, is the best criticism of the use of the pamphlet as a method of achieving
the public health officials’ goal?
Many prenatal diseases produce symptoms that cannot be detected by the patient.
Once Eclampsia has been detected, the effectiveness of treatment can vary from person to person.
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c) The pamphlet was sent to all town residents, including those individuals who are not pregnant.
d) Pregnant women who are seriously malnourished are often homeless and thus unlikely to receive and
read the pamphlet.
15. Technological improvements have made electric cars far more cost-efficient in the last decade. However,
the threshold of economic viability for electric cars (that is, the cost of running an electric car compared
1

to a gasoline powered car) has remained unchanged.

Which of the following, if true, does most to help explain why the increased cost-efficiency of electric
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cars has not decreased its threshold of economic viability?

a) The cost of manufacturing gasoline-powered cars has fallen dramatically.
b) The reduction in the cost of manufacturing electric cars has occurred despite increased raw material
costs for those cars.
c) Technological changes have increased the efficiency of gasoline-powered cars.
d) Most electricity is generated by coal-fired or nuclear, rather than oil-fired, power plants.
16. Doctors, in seeking a cure for aphroditis melancholias, are guided by their research into the causes of
metaeritocas polymanias because the symptoms of the two diseases occur in populations of similar ages,
manifesting symptoms in both cases of high fever, swollen glands, and lack of appetite. Moreover, the
incubation period for both diseases is virtually identical. So these medical researchers are convinced that
the virus responsible for aphroditis melancholias is very similar to that responsible for metaeritocas
polymanias.
a) Metaeritocas polymanias is a more serious public health hazard than aphroditis melancholias
b) For every disease, modern medical science will eventually find a cure
c) Aphroditis melancholias is a disease that occurs only in human beings
d) Diseases with similar symptoms will have similar causes

(3)
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