Critical Reasoning Questions and Answers


1)

An insurance policy covering fire damage to stock pays 70% of the costs for the first $1,000 and all of the cost thereafter up to a total of $7,000. Following a claim, the claimant had to pay an additional $2,000 to replace damaged stock. How much was the stock worth?


Explanation:

If the claimant had to pay an additional $2,000, then the insurance company musthave paid out 70% of $1,000 plus $7,000.
This means the insurance company paid out $7,700.
The claimant paid an additional $2,000 making the stock worth a total of $9,700.
Option B is the correct answer.

2)

What is the next term in a sequence of numbers?

Statement 1 - The third term is 36.
Statement 2 - The second term is three times the first and the third term is three times the second.

Which of the statements above make it possible to answer the question.


Explanation:

To get the exact value of any term in a sequence of numbers, we need to know the exact value of any term and the relation between that term and the others.
The first statement alone gives only the exact value of the third term. the relationship between different terms is not known.
The second statement alone gives the relation between different terms but the exact value of any term is not known.
Combining the two statements, we have all the required information.
Hence both the statements together are required to answer the question, and option C is the correct answer.

3)

‘X’ is a positive integer. Is 'X' odd or even?

Statement 1 - 2X is even.
Statement 2 - The square of X is odd.

Which of the statements above make it possible to answer the question.


Explanation : 

The first statement alone is not sufficient, since 2X is even for every integer whether it is odd or even.

For example:
2 x 3 = 6
2 x 4 = 8
The second statement alone tells us that the square of X is odd.
The square of an even integer is always even and square of an odd integer is always odd. So if square of X is odd, then X must be odd.
Since the second statement alone is sufficient to answer the question and the first statement alone cannot answer the question, B is the correct answer.

4)

James was paid $5 more for each day of work than he was paid for the preceding dayof work. He was hired to work for five days. What was the total amount he waspaid?

Statement 1 - He was paid twice as much for the last day as he was for the first.
Statement 2 - He had made half of the total by the end of the third day.

Which of the statements above make it possible to answer the question.


Explanation:

Firstly we need to work out the simple formula which will enable us to calculate how much James was paid.
If x is the amount that James was paid on the first day, then he was paid, (x + 5), (x+ 10), (x + 15) and (x + 20) for the remaining four days of work.

The total amount he was paid is (5x + 50).
So if we determine x, we can find the total amount he was paid.
The first statement alone is sufficient since after 3 days his total pay was 3x + 15.
We are told that this is equal to half of 5x + 50.

This means that we can get the valueof x by equating the two quantities.
The second statement alone is sufficient since James was paid x + 20 on the last day and so x + 20 = 2x which can also be equated to give x.
Since each statement alone is sufficient to answer the question, Option D is the
correct answer.

Note that you do not need to actually calculate the result – only to deduce that youneed both pieces of information to do so.
 

5)

People should be held accountable for their own actions. However, no person should be held accountable for actions over which they have no control.

Which of the following is the most logical conclusion of the argument above?


Explanation:

The most logical conclusion of the argument is that ‘Actions that cannot be controlled should not be punished’. as this says exactly the same thing as the two individual statements.

Option D is the correct answer.