Practice Questions for Evaluate the Argument | Verbal for GMAT PDF Download

Q1: In an effort to curb drug abuse, the government has imposed strict laws to prosecute the dealers. However, such an initiative is unlikely to be effective. Prosecuting dealers will lead to a shortage of drugs. At the same time, because no efforts are being taken to curb demand, drugs will be sold at a premium, attracting more people to the very remunerative job of drug dealing. Therefore, to effectively reduce drug abuse, the government will have to prosecute the drug users and not dealers.

Which of the following is the most relevant information in evaluating the credibility of the argument?

(a) Whether efforts have been successfully taken in any other country to regulate drug users.
(b) Whether the payoff from selling drugs outweighs the severity of the punishment
(c) Whether drugs will continue to be sold at a premium when there are dealers in the market again
(d) Whether the majority of the users will be willing to pay a premium to continue to use the drugs
(e) Whether the government will be able to keep track of new dealers as and when they enter the market
Ans: (d)

Step 1 of solving this GMAT Critical Reasoning Question: Analyzing the Argument

The author believes that the government should prosecute drug users and not dealers in order to control drug abuse.

• In order to evaluate the argument, the answer option has to evaluate this suggestion made by the author. So, the correct option would be one that determines one or all of the following

  • whether prosecuting drug users is possible

  • if possible, then will such a measure be as or more effective than prosecuting drug dealers

  • whether for some reason, the current steps taken by the government are effective in tackling drug abuse.

Step 2: Process of Elimination

• Option (A) can be eliminated because what worked in other countries need not necessarily work in this one. The answer option has to evaluate whether the recommendation would work in this particular scenario.

• Option (B) can be eliminated because if the payoffs are outweighing the punishment, that would mean that there would be more dealers involved in drug dealing. The argument implies that this will already happen so this option does nothing to evaluate the author’s recommendation.

• Option (C) does not evaluate whether drug abuse would reduce or increase. What needs to be evaluated is drug usage and not drug dealing. For similar reasons, Option (E) can also be eliminated. Keeping track of new dealers does not necessarily keep track of drug dealing or usage.

• Option (D) evaluates the argument because the author’s primary argument against the government’s actions is that the current efforts will not curb drug usage, and that sale of drugs will continue happening at a premium. However, if most drug users do not wish to pay the premium charged, then the sale and usage of drugs will come down and the government’s current measures will prove to be effective enough.

Choice D is the correct answer.

Q2: A certain pharmaceutical firm claims that its dietary supplement, Dietol, is highly effective in helping obese people lose weight and improve physical endurance. The company supports this claim by providing the results of a recent experiment that involved over 800 subjects suffering from obesity. During the 9-week experiment, each of the subjects was required to take a regular dose of Dietol every day immediately after their daily 2-hour workouts supervised by a professional fitness instructor. As a result of the experiment, the subjects lost an average of 12 pounds of weight per person, and over 95% of all participants demonstrated higher physical endurance.

The answer to which of the following questions would be most helpful in evaluating the conclusion of the pharmaceutical company?

(a) What was the daily dose of Dietol that the subjects were required to take?
(b)What was the maximum weight lost by any participant during the 9-week program?
(c) What would be the average weight loss and the improvement in endurance in a group of subjects with similar characteristics involved in the same physical fitness program but not taking Dietol?
(d) What was the average age among the subjects participating in the experiment?
(e) Did the majority of subjects experience a significant improvement in physical strength?
Ans: (c)
The pharmaceutical company claims that Dietol is highly effective in helping people lose weight and increase their physical endurance. However, since the regular intake of Dietol was accompanied by daily workouts under professional supervision, it is unclear whether the results of the experiment should be credited to the effects of Dietol or the rigorous fitness program in which the subjects participated. Thus, in order to evaluate the conclusion about the effectiveness of Dietol, it would be useful to separate these two effects and to see what result, if any, is attributable to Dietol alone.
(a) While the answer to this question could be helpful in estimating the required doses of Dietol, the actual amount of the supplement taken by participants provides little information about its effectiveness.
(b) Knowing the maximum weight loss is unlikely to be helpful in evaluating the effectiveness of the supplement, as the maximum weight loss among the 800 participants is unlikely to be representative of the typical result and provides little information about the effectiveness of Dietol.
(c) CORRECT. This answer choice underscores the importance of separating the effects of the physical program from those resulting from Dietol in evaluating the overall result of the experiment. For example, if a group of subjects with similar characteristics would be able to achieve comparable results just by repeating the fitness program over the 9-week experiment, this outcome would cast serious doubts on the claim of the pharmaceutical company about the effectiveness of Dietol.
(d) Since the company does not make a claim about Dietol’s effectiveness for a specific age group, the information about the average age is beyond the scope of this argument.
(e) Note that the pharmaceutical company claims that Dietol will help obese people lose weight and improve endurance. No claim is made about the supplement’s effect on physical strength. Therefore, information about the improvement in physical strength is unrelated to the conclusion. 

Q3: The director of programming at NNN, the National News Network, proclaimed that, despite charges to the contrary, the Network does not have a conservative bias. The director acknowledged that, when a liberal news personality was recently added to the Network, an additional conservative news program was also established. However, the director argued that far from demonstrating any bias, these actions reflect a commitment to presenting a balanced perspective in interpreting current events.

Which of the following pieces of information would be most useful in evaluating the validity of the programming director’s argument?

(a) The Network has established an additional liberal news program whenever an additional conservative news personality has been added.
(b)The Network airs a program focused largely on the opinions of its viewers on contemporary issues.
(c) The newly added liberal news personality came from a rival network with an acknowledged liberal bias.
(d) The newly added liberal news personality has indicated that he has not felt any editorial pressure in his new environment.
(e) The viewer ratings of the Network have been lower this past year than in previous years.
Ans: (a)
The director of programming argues that the addition of a conservative news program in response to the hiring of a liberal news personality represents an institutional attempt at balancing different perspectives, rather than any conservative bias. The evidence provided by the director is outside of the context of any past actions on the part of the Network; it would be useful to have more information about actions the Network has taken in response to the hiring of conservative or liberal news personalities in the past to determine a pattern of behavior.

(a) CORRECT. If the Network responds to the addition of a liberal news personality in the same way that it does the addition of a conservative news personality, then the argument presented by the director is valid. An identical response to the hiring of a personality from either side of the political spectrum suggests that the Network does act in a fair and balanced manner, at least in this regard.
(b) Whether the Network presents a program airing the opinions of its viewers on contemporary issues does not indicate either a balanced approach or a conservative bias. This statement is irrelevant.
(c) The nature of the former employer of the newly-hired liberal news personality is not relevant in determining whether or not there is a systematic conservative bias regarding the overall programming of the Network.
(d) Whether the new liberal news personality has indicated that he has felt any editorial pressure is not relevant; he might not want to admit to such pressure even if it did exist. Moreover, the experience of one employee does not address the overall programming of the Network.
(e) That the Network has suffered from lower ratings in the past year is not relevant to determining the bias or lack thereof of the Network, though it may explain why new personalities and programming are being added.

Q4: Fashion company executive: The number of competing brands of clothing is increasing much more quickly than is consumer demand for new clothing. As a result, it is becoming ever more difficult for our clothing company to keep consumers focused on our products. To increase our sales, therefore, our company plans to introduce innovative, eye-catching lines of clothing much more frequently.

To evaluate whether the plan described by the executive would be likely to achieve its goal, it would be most useful to know which of the following?

(a) Whether other, competing clothing companies will more frequently introduce new lines of clothing
(b) To what extent consumers' attention tends to be focused on innovative, eye-catching products in other industries
(c) Why the number of competing brands of clothing is increasing more quickly than consumer demand for new clothing
(d) How much more likely most consumers are to buy innovative, eye-catching lines of clothing than they are to buy conventional, familiar clothing
(e) Whether the executive's company is currently selling any innovative and eye-catching lines of clothing
Ans: (d)
(a) Whether other, competing clothing companies will more frequently introduce new lines of clothing
Wrong. It may be right or wrong. If customers do not intend – OR – are more likely to BUY new lines of clothing, the more or less frequent introducing new lines does not affect their buying habits. So if you keep your eyes on KEY words “to increase sales” in the conclusion, A is eliminated quickly.
(b) To what extent consumers' attention tends to be focused on innovative, eye-catching products in other industries
Wrong. Same problem as A. “focusing” does not mean “buying”. You should concentrate on the idea how new lines of clothing is able to increase SALES.
(c) Why the number of competing brands of clothing is increasing more quickly than consumer demand for new clothing
Wrong. We do not talk about the “reason” why the number of brands is increasing than demand. Out of scope.
(d) How much more likely most consumers are to buy innovative, eye-catching lines of clothing than they are to buy conventional, familiar clothing
Correct. D focuses exactly on the key words “to increase sales” by showing the buying likelihood of customers. It affects directly to sales. Hence, D is correct.
(e) Whether the executive's company is currently selling any innovative and eye-catching lines of clothing
Wrong. Same problem as in A, B. If customers do not intend – OR – are more likely to BUY new lines of clothing, the fact “is currently selling new lines or not” does not matter. E does not affect “sales”, hence E is wrong.