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 – 7 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 – 7
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. Political scientist: It is not uncommon for a politician to criticize his or her political opponents by claiming that their exposition of their ideas is muddled and incomprehensible. Such criticism, however, is never sincere. Political agendas promoted in a manner that cannot be understood by large numbers of people will not be realized for, as every politician knows, political mobilization requires commonality of purpose.
Which one of the following is the most accurate rendering of the political scientist’s main conclusion?
(A) People who promote political agendas in an incomprehensible manner should be regarded as insincere.
(B) Sincere critics of the proponents of a political agenda should not focus their criticisms on the manner in which that agenda is promoted.
(C) The ineffectiveness of a confusingly promoted political agenda is a reason for refraining from, rather than engaging in, criticism of those who are promoting it.
(D) A politician criticizing his or her political opponents for presenting their political agendas in an incomprehensible manner is being insincere.
(E) To mobilize large numbers of people in support of a political agenda, that political agenda must be presented in such a way that it cannot be misunderstood.
2. Many symptoms of mental illnesses are affected by organic factors such as a deficiency in a compound in the brain. What is surprising, however, is the tremendous variation among different countries in the incidence of these symptoms in people with mental illnesses. This variation establishes that the organic factors that affect symptoms of mental illnesses are not distributed evenly around the globe.
The reasoning above is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it
(A) does not say how many different mental illnesses are being discussed
(B) neglects the possibility that nutritional factors that contribute to deficiencies in compounds in the brain vary from culture to culture
(C) fails to consider the possibility that cultural factors significantly affect how mental illnesses manifest themselves in symptoms
(D) presumes, without providing justification, that any change in brain chemistry manifests itself as a change in mental condition
(E) presumes, without providing justification, that mental phenomena are only manifestations of physical phenomena
3. Politician: It has been proposed that the national parks in our country be managed by private companies rather than the government. A similar privatization of the telecommunications industry has benefited consumers by allowing competition among a variety of telephone companies to improve service and force down prices. Therefore, the privatization of the national parks would probably benefit park visitors as well.
Which one of the following, if true, most weakens the politician’s argument?
(A) It would not be politically expedient to privatize the national parks even if doing so would, in the long run, improve service and reduce the fees charged to visitors.
(B) The privatization of the telecommunications industry has been problematic in that it has led to significantly increased unemployment and economic instability in that industry.
(C) The vast majority of people visiting the national parks are unaware of proposals to privatize the management of those parks.
(D) Privatizing the national parks would benefit a much smaller number of consumers to a much smaller extent than did the privatization of the telecommunications industry.
(E) The privatization of the national parks would produce much less competition between different companies than did the privatization of the telecommunications industry.
4. Jewel collectors, fearing that their eyes will be deceived by a counterfeit, will not buy a diamond unless the dealer guarantees that it is genuine. But why should a counterfeit give any less aesthetic pleasure when the naked eye cannot distinguish it from a real diamond? Both jewels should be deemed of equal value.
Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the reasoning in the argument above?
(A) Jewel collectors should collect only those jewels that provide the most aesthetic pleasure.
(B) The value of a jewel should depend at least partly on market demand.
(C) It should not be assumed that everyone who likes diamonds receives the same degree of aesthetic pleasure from them.
(D) The value of a jewel should derive solely from the aesthetic pleasure it provides.
(E) Jewel collectors should not buy counterfeit jewels unless they are unable to distinguish counterfeit jewels from real ones.
5. All etching tools are either pin-tipped or bladed. While some bladed etching tools are used for engraving, some are not. On the other hand, all pin-tipped etching tools are used for engraving. Thus, there are more etching tools that are used for engraving than there are etching tools that are not used for engraving.
The conclusion of the argument follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?
(A) All tools used for engraving are etching tools as well.
(B) There are as many pin-tipped etching tools as there are bladed etching tools.
(C) No etching tool is both pin-tipped and bladed.
(D) The majority of bladed etching tools are not used for engraving.
(E) All etching tools that are not used for engraving are bladed.
6. A 24-year study of 1,500 adults showed that those subjects with a high intake of foods rich in beta- carotene were much less likely to die from cancer or heart disease than were those with a low intake of such foods. On the other hand, taking beta-carotene supplements for 12 years had no positive or negative effect on the health of subjects in a separate study of 20,000 adults.
Each of the following, if true, would help to resolve the apparent discrepancy between the results of the two studies EXCEPT:
(A) The human body processes the beta-carotene present in foods much more efficiently than it does beta-carotene supplements.
(B) Beta-carotene must be taken for longer than 12 years to have any cancer-preventive effects.
(C) Foods rich in beta-carotene also tend to contain other nutrients that assist in the human body’s absorption of beta-carotene.
(D) In the 12-year study, half of the subjects were given beta-carotene supplements and half were given a placebo.
(E) In the 24-year study, the percentage of the subjects who had a high intake of beta- carotene-rich foods who smoked cigarettes was much smaller than the percentage of the subjects with a low intake of beta-carotene-rich foods who smoked.
7. If there are sentient beings on planets outside our solar system, we will not be able to determine this anytime in the near future unless some of these beings are at least as intelligent as humans. We will not be able to send spacecraft to planets outside our solar system anytime in the near future, and any sentient being on another planet capable of communicating with us anytime in the near future would have to be at least as intelligent as we are.
The argument’s conclusion can be properly inferred if which one of the following is assumed?
(A) There are no sentient beings on planets in our solar system other than those on Earth.
(B) Any beings that are at least as intelligent as humans would want to communicate with sentient beings outside their own solar systems.
(C) If there is a sentient being on another planet that is as intelligent as humans are, we will not be able to send spacecraft to the being’s planet anytime in the near future.
(D) If a sentient being on another planet cannot communicate with us, then the only way to detect its existence is by sending a spacecraft to its planet.
(E) Any sentient beings on planets outside our solar system that are at least as intelligent as humans would be capable of communicating with us.
8. Doctor: Medical researchers recently examined a large group of individuals who said that they had never experienced serious back pain. Half of the members of the group turned out to have bulging or slipped disks in their spines, conditions often blamed for serious back pain. Since these individuals with bulging or slipped disks evidently felt no pain from them, these conditions could not lead to serious back pain in people who do experience such pain.
The reasoning in the doctor’s argument is most vulnerable to the criticism that it fails to consider which one of the following possibilities?
(A) A factor that need not be present in order for a certain effect to arise may nonetheless be sufficient to produce that effect.
(B) A factor that is not in itself sufficient to produce a certain effect may nonetheless be partly responsible for that effect in some instances.
(C) An effect that occurs in the absence of a particular phenomenon might not occur when that phenomenon is present.
(D) A characteristic found in half of a given sample of the population might not occur in half of the entire population.
(E) A factor that does not bring about a certain effect may nonetheless be more likely to be present when the effect occurs than when the effect does not occur.
9. Many workers who handled substance T in factories became seriously ill years later. We now know T caused at least some of their illnesses. Earlier ignorance of this connection does not absolve T’s manufacturer of all responsibility. For had it investigated the safety of T before allowing workers to be exposed to it, many of their illnesses would have been prevented.
Which one of the following principles most helps to justify the conclusion above?
(A) Employees who are harmed by substances they handle on the job should be compensated for medical costs they incur as a result.
(B) Manufacturers should be held responsible only for the preventable consequences of their actions.
(C) Manufacturers have an obligation to inform workers of health risks of which they are aware.
(D) Whether or not an action’s consequences were preventable is irrelevant to whether a manufacturer should be held responsible for those consequences.
(E) Manufacturers should be held responsible for the consequences of any of their actions that harm innocent people if those consequences were preventable.
10. It is virtually certain that the government contract for building the new highway will be awarded to either Phoenix Contracting or Cartwright Company. I have just learned that the government has decided not to award the contract to Cartwright Company. It is therefore almost inevitable that Phoenix Contracting will be awarded the contract.
The argument proceeds by
(A) concluding that it is extremely likely that an event will occur by ruling out the only probable alternative
(B) inferring, from a claim that one of two possible events will occur, that the other event will not occur
(C) refuting a claim that a particular event is inevitable by establishing the possibility of an alternative event
(D) predicting a future event on the basis of an established pattern of past events
(E) inferring a claim about the probability of a particular event from a general statistical statement
Answer key:
1. D
2. C
3. E
4. D
5. B
6. D
7. D
8. B
9. E
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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