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In the <\/span>first article in this series<\/span><\/a>, we started looking at the big picture of GMAT Verbal. Is there any point to studying Verbal? Is there any way to know which answers are <\/span>really<\/span><\/i> right, given that language is so much more subjective than math?<\/span><\/p>\n The answer to both of those questions is \u2018yes, but it\u2019s not always easy!\u2019 On GMAT Verbal, it\u2019s always possible to find the right answer using logic. That doesn\u2019t mean the logic is obvious! In the <\/span>last article<\/span><\/a>, we introduced some simple ideas that will help you think about GMAT Critical Reasoning more logically. In this article, we\u2019ll continue our deep dive into Critical Reasoning.<\/span><\/p>\n GMAT Critical Reasoning seems unfair, because it doesn\u2019t play by the same rules as real life. Here\u2019s an example of a real-life argument that you couldn\u2019t see on the GMAT:<\/span><\/p>\n Ari: Fast food is gross. They don\u2019t even use real meat, it\u2019s just pink goo. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ari\u2019s argument has a conclusion (that fast food is gross), and a premise (that fast food restaurants use pink goo instead of real meat). However, the conclusion is too subjective for GMAT Verbal. How can you prove that something is gross, if you don\u2019t know exactly what \u201cgross\u201d means? \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the real world, we\u2019re so used to this kind of conclusion that we don\u2019t even really think about it: \u201cDogs are good pets.\u201d \u201cMonday is my least favorite day of the week.\u201d \u201cHot weather sucks.\u201d If a conclusion isn\u2019t perfectly clear, you and whoever you\u2019re arguing with can always hash it out later. A little fuzziness isn\u2019t a big deal!<\/span><\/p>\n GMAT Critical Reasoning conclusions are different. They\u2019re clear and specific. That means you can\u2019t apply fuzzy, real-world thinking to them. If you do, you\u2019ll make mistakes.<\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s an example of a GMAT Verbal argument with a clear, specific conclusion: <\/span><\/p>\n Multivitamins are available that provide 100% of the necessary daily allowance of all common vitamins. Nonetheless, physicians agree that consuming a diet including a variety of fruits and vegetables is more likely to result in optimal levels of these common vitamins in the body than simply taking a multivitamin. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the physicians\u2019 recommendation? <\/span><\/p>\n Now, let\u2019s check out some answer choices.<\/span><\/p>\n A) Many foods which naturally contain common vitamins also contain other nutrients which promote the absorption of those vitamins by the body. The right answer to this one is (A). However, if you picked (B) or (C)\u2014or if you were tempted by them\u2014you actually used some strong real-world reasoning.<\/span><\/p>\n In the real world, if you hear an argument like this one, the person making the argument is probably trying to convince you that real foods are better than pills. All three answer choices actually support that conclusion! (A) says that real foods will help you absorb vitamins; (B) says that real foods contain other important nutrients; (C) says that people who just take pills are missing out on the other benefits of real foods. <\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s why it sometimes seems like GMAT Critical Reasoning problems have multiple \u201cright\u201d answers. All of these answer choices support the vague, fuzzy, \u201creal-world\u201d conclusion: \u201cpills aren\u2019t as good as food.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Nonetheless, (A) is the right answer on the GMAT, and you can prove it with only logic. The actual conclusion to the argument is quite specific. It doesn\u2019t just say that real foods are better; it says that they\u2019re <\/span>more likely to result in optimal levels of these common vitamins in the body<\/span><\/i>. The right answer can\u2019t just show that fruits and vegetables are good for you. It has to show that, when compared to multivitamins, they\u2019re better at optimizing your vitamin levels. <\/span><\/p>\n Even though (B) and (C) are both points in favor of fruits and vegetables, neither of them makes that specific point. (A), on the other hand, does. <\/span><\/p>\n If a Critical Reasoning problem feels unfair, you may have missed something specific in the argument\u2019s conclusion. It\u2019s very easy to do that\u2014we gloss over and summarize arguments all the time in the real world. However, on the GMAT, it can make it look like more than one answer is right!<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s not the only reason Critical Reasoning problems can seem vague or unfair\u2014we\u2019ll talk about some other issues in the next article. ?<\/span><\/p>\n Want more guidance from our GMAT gurus? You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free! We\u2019re not kidding.\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Check out our upcoming courses here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Chelsey Cooley<\/a> In the first article in this series, we started looking at the big picture of GMAT Verbal. Is there any point to studying Verbal? Is there any way to know which answers are really right, given that language is so much more subjective than math?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,873,929,52871,930,2,10],"tags":[53598],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-16183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-critical-reasoning","category-for-current-studiers","category-gmat-prep","category-gmat-strategies","category-gmat-study-guide","category-how-to-study","category-verbal-on-gmat","tag-is-gmat-verbal-fair"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16183"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16209,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16183\/revisions\/16209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16183"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=16183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/span>B) Fruits and vegetables include certain nutrients which are critical to the optimal functioning of the human body but which are not commonly found in multivitamins.
\n<\/span>C) The majority of people who regularly take a multivitamin rarely eat vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables.<\/span><\/p>\n
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\n![\"Chelsey](\"https:\/\/cdn2.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/11\/chelsey-cooley-150x150.jpg\" "\\"Chelsey")
<\/a>\u00a0is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Seattle, Washington.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/i><\/b>Chelsey always followed her heart when it came to her education. Luckily, her heart led her straight to the perfect background for GMAT and GRE teaching: she has undergraduate degrees in mathematics and history, a master\u2019s degree in linguistics, a 790 on the GMAT, and a perfect 170\/170 on the GRE.\u00a0<\/em><\/i>Check out Chelsey\u2019s upcoming GMAT prep offerings here<\/a>.<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"