After successfully completing the CAT 2016 sprint series and the SNAP 2016 sprint series, we are back with the XAT 2017 – Critical Reasoning, Decision Making Marathon – 11 to boost your prep. This series will consist of 15 sets of questions that will test your reasoning skills and will enable you to do well in the crucial Decision Making section of XAT 2017.
You may check out the entire series here: XAT 2017 – Critical Reasoning, Decision Making Marathon
XAT 2017 – Critical Reasoning, Decision Making Marathon – 11
Directions: The questions in this section are based on the reasoning contained in brief statements or passages. For some questions, more than one of the choices could conceivably answer the question. However, you are to choose the best answer; that is, the response that most accurately and completely answers the question. You should not make assumptions that are by commonsense standards implausible, superfluous, or incompatible with the passage. After you have chosen the best answer, blacken the corresponding space on your answer sheet.
1. Sometimes it is advisable for a medical patient to seek a second opinion. But this process can be awkward for both the patient and the physicians, since the patient often worries that the first physician will be alienated. In addition, for the first physician there is the issue of pride: a second opinion tacitly highlights a physician’s fallibility. And the second physician is in the position of evaluating not only a patient’s health, but also, inevitably and uncomfortably, a colleague’s work.
Which one of the following most accurately states the conclusion of the argument as a whole?
(A) Because of the awkwardness involved, it is best for patients not to seek second opinions unless it is absolutely necessary.
(B) In cases in which second opinions are necessary, the first physician often feels that his or her professional judgment is called into question.
(C) The process of obtaining a second medical opinion can be awkward for those involved.
(D) Physicians who are called upon to offer second opinions are always uncomfortable about evaluating the work of colleagues.
(E) In many cases in which medical patients seek second opinions, they are concerned about offending the first physician.
2. There are 70 to 100 Florida panthers alive today. This represents a very large increase over their numbers in the 1970s, but their population must reach at least 250 if it is to be self-sustaining. Their current habitat is not large enough to support any more of these animals, however.
If the statements above are true, which one of the following must also be true?
(A) Some part of the panthers’ current habitat is only of marginal quality.
(B) If the population of Florida panthers ever exceeds 250, it will be self-sustaining.
(C) Unless Florida panthers acquire a larger habitat, their population will not be self-sustaining.
(D) The population of Florida panthers will never increase much beyond its current level.
(E) Today, Florida panthers occupy a larger habitat than they did in the 1970s.
3. Political scientist: Efforts to create a more egalitarian society are often wrongly criticized on the grounds that total equality would necessarily force everyone into a common mold. Equality is presumed by such critics to require unacceptably bland uniformity. But this is not so. By promoting complementary human interests, a society can achieve a greater and more prosperous equality while enhancing rather than minimizing diversity.
The political scientist’s argument proceeds by
(A) undermining a view by showing that its general acceptance would lead to undesirable consequences
(B) rebutting an objection by attacking the assumption on which it is said to be based
(C) attacking a view by claiming that those who propose it are motivated only by self-interest
(D) claiming that whatever is true of a group must be true of each of the members of the group
(E) undermining an apparent counterexample to a universal claim
4. Physician: In an experiment, 50 patients with chronic back pain were divided into two groups. Small magnets were applied to the backs of one group; the other group received no treatment. Most of the patients in the first group, but very few in the second group, reported a significant reduction in pain. This shows that magnetic fields are probably effective at relieving some back pain.
Which one of the following, if true, constitutes the logically strongest counter to the physician’s argument?
(A) A patient’s merely knowing that a treatment has been applied can lead to improvement in his or her condition.
(B) Most physicians believe that medication relieves chronic back pain more effectively than magnets do.
(C) No other experiments have been done showing that magnetic fields reduce pain in any area other than the back.
(D) Some of the scientists who helped design the experiment believed even before the experiment that magnetic fields relieve back pain, but they were not directly involved in conducting the experiment.
(E) There was wide variation in the specific causes of the chronic back pain suffered by the patients in the experiment.
5. Kennel club members who frequently discipline their dogs report a higher incidence of misbehavior than do members who rarely or never discipline their dogs. We can conclude from this that discipline does not improve dogs’ behavior; on the contrary, it encourages misbehavior.
The argument is flawed in that it fails to consider the possibility that
(A) dogs’ misbehavior is the cause of, rather than the result of, frequent discipline
(B) dogs learn from past experience how their owners are likely to react to misbehavior
(C) discipline does not cause misbehavior on the part of animals other than dogs
(D) kennel club members tend to be more skilled at raising dogs than are other dog owners
(E) kennel club members are more likely to use discipline than are other dog owners
6. The number of tornadoes recorded annually in North America has more than tripled since 1953. Yet meteorologists insist that the climatic factors affecting the creation of tornadoes are unchanged.
Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy described above?
(A) The factors affecting the creation of tornadoes were not well known to meteorologists before 1953.
(B) The intensity of the average tornado is greater now than it was in 1953.
(C) The number of tornadoes recorded annually has increased only slightly in the last five years.
(D) The amount of property damage done by tornadoes has grown substantially since 1953.
(E) Many more citizens are helping authorities detect tornadoes now than in 1953.
7. Recently, a report commissioned by a confectioners trade association noted that chocolate, formerly considered a health scourge, is an effective antioxidant and so has health benefits. Another earlier claim was that oily foods clog arteries, leading to heart disease, yet reports now state that olive oil has a positive influence on the circulatory system. From these examples, it is clear that if you wait long enough, almost any food will be reported to be healthful.
The reasoning in the argument is flawed in that the argument
(A) relies on the truth of a claim by a source that is likely to be biased
(B) applies a general rule to specific cases to which it does not pertain
(C) bases an overly broad generalization on just a few instances
(D) takes for granted that all results of nutritional research are eventually reported
(E) fails to consider that there are many foods that are reported to be unhealthful
8. According to the “bottom-up” theory of how ecosystems are structured, the availability of edible plants is what primarily determines an ecosystem’s characteristics since it determines how many herbivores the ecosystem can support, which in turn determines how many predators it can support. This theory also holds that a reduction in the number of predators will have little impact on the rest of the ecosystem.
Which one of the following, if true, would provide evidence against the bottom-up theory?
(A) In an effort to build up the population of a rare species of monkey on Vahique Island, monkeys were bred in zoos and released into the wild. However, the effort failed because the trees on which the monkeys fed were also nearly extinct.
(B) After hunting virtually eliminated predators on Rigu Island, the population of many herbivore species increased more than tenfold, causing the density of plants to be dramatically reduced.
(C) After many of the trees on Jaevix Island were cleared, the island’s leaf-cutter ants, which require a forested ecosystem, experienced a substantial decrease in population, as did the island’s anteaters.
(D) After a new species of fern was introduced to Lisdok Island, native ferns were almost eliminated. However, this did not affect the population of the herbivores that had eaten the native ferns, since they also thrived on a diet of the new fern.
(E) Plants that are a dietary staple of wild pigs on Sedif Island have flourished over the last three decades, and the population of the pigs has not changed much in spite of extensive hunting.
9. If a child is to develop healthy bones, the child’s diet must include sufficient calcium. It therefore follows that the diets of children who do not develop healthy bones do not include sufficient calcium.
Flawed reasoning in which one of the following most closely parallels the flawed reasoning in the argument above?
(A) If bread is to have a firm crust, it must be baked at the right temperature. It therefore follows that bread that is not baked at the right temperature will not have a firm crust.
(B) A cake must contain the right amount of flour in order to taste good. It therefore follows that cakes that do not taste good do not contain the right amount of flour.
(C) The Bake-a-Thon, which is open to contestants of all ages, has never been won by a person under the age of 30. It therefore follows that the winner of this year’s Bake-a-Thon will not be under the age of 30.
(D) Both yeast and baking powder can cause sweet rolls to rise. It therefore follows that yeast can always be substituted for baking powder in a recipe for sweet rolls.
(E) In recipe contests, there are always more contestants in the pie category than there are in the cake category. It therefore follows that contestants generally have a better chance of winning in the cake category than in the pie category.
10. History provides many examples of technological innovations being strongly resisted by people whose working conditions without those innovations were miserable. This shows that social inertia is a more powerful determinant of human behavior than is the desire for comfort or safety.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the reasoning in the argument?
(A) People correctly believe that technological innovations often cause job loss.
(B) People are often reluctant to take on new challenges.
(C) Some examples of technological innovation have been embraced by workers.
(D) People tend to adapt easily to gradually implemented technological innovations.
(E) People correctly believe that technological innovations almost always increase workers’ productivity.
Answer key:
1. C
2. C
3. B
4. A
5. A
6. E
7. C
8. B
9. B
10. A
Meanwhile, for those who want to solve quality questions from past year XAT papers, you may check out our ongoing XAT 2017 Sprint Preparation Series.
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