GMAT - Graduate Management Admission Verbal: Critical Reasoning Assumptions Questions and Answers

Question 1

A city implemented a mandatory helmet law for all cyclists.
A year later, the number of serious head injuries from cycling accidents reported by local hospitals had decreased by 20%.
The city council therefore concluded that the helmet law was successful in reducing serious head injuries among cyclists.
The city council's conclusion depends on which of the following assumptions?

Accepted Answer

The number of cyclists and the overall frequency of cycling accidents did not significantly decrease in the year after the law was implemented.

Answer

All cyclists in the city complied with the new mandatory helmet law.

Answer

The 20% decrease in reported injuries is the most significant public health improvement the city has seen in the last year.

Answer

Local hospitals did not change their criteria for what constitutes a 'serious head injury' during the period in question.

Question 2

The CEO of InnovateCorp announced that the company will cut its research and development (R&D) budget by 30% to improve short-term profitability. The stated goal of this move is to make the company's stock more attractive to investors in the next fiscal quarter. The argument that this plan will achieve its goal rests on which of the following assumptions?

Accepted Answer

The investors InnovateCorp aims to attract prioritize immediate profitability over the potential for long-term growth.

Answer

InnovateCorp's competitors will not increase their R&D spending in response.

Answer

The quality of InnovateCorp's research will not decline despite the budget cuts.

Answer

The 30% budget cut will be sufficient to make InnovateCorp profitable in the next quarter.

Question 3

A study found that people who regularly own pets have, on average, lower blood pressure than people who do not. The study's authors concluded that acquiring a pet is an effective therapeutic strategy for lowering one's blood pressure. Which of the following is an assumption on which this conclusion depends?

Accepted Answer

People with naturally low blood pressure are not inherently more likely to own pets than people with high blood pressure.

Answer

The benefits of pet ownership on blood pressure are not limited to a specific type of pet, such as dogs or cats.

Answer

The study's participants were representative of the general population in terms of age and health.

Answer

Owning a pet is more effective at lowering blood pressure than traditional medical interventions.

Question 4

Archaeologists excavating a site found written tablets detailing grain transactions that were all dated within a single 10-year period. No tablets from before or after this period were found at the site. The lead archaeologist concluded that the settlement was actively used for trade for only that specific 10-year period. The archaeologist's conclusion is properly drawn only if which of the following is assumed?

Accepted Answer

The inhabitants of the settlement did not use a different, less durable medium for record-keeping in other periods.

Answer

The tablets found constitute the complete record of all grain transactions that occurred during the 10-year period.

Answer

The settlement was not inhabited for purposes other than trade during any other period.

Answer

The grain mentioned in the tablets was the primary agricultural product of the settlement.

Question 5

To reduce traffic congestion, the city of Oakhaven plans to implement a 'congestion pricing' system, charging drivers a fee to enter the downtown area during peak hours. The city planner predicts that this policy will significantly reduce the number of cars downtown and encourage the use of public transportation. Which of the following is an assumption underlying the city planner's prediction?

Accepted Answer

A significant number of drivers who currently travel downtown have access to viable public transportation alternatives.

Answer

The revenue generated from the congestion fee will be sufficient to fund improvements to public transportation.

Answer

The congestion fee will be set at a price point that is higher than the average cost of a public transit fare.

Answer

Neighboring cities have not implemented similar congestion pricing plans.

Question 6

A pharmaceutical company found that a new drug, MedX, was effective in 80% of patients in a clinical trial. The company's marketing materials claim that anyone suffering from the target disease has an 80% chance of being helped by MedX. This marketing claim is based on which of the following questionable assumptions?

Accepted Answer

The patients in the clinical trial are representative of the entire population of individuals with the disease.

Answer

The 20% of patients for whom the drug was not effective experienced no harmful side effects.

Answer

MedX is more effective than any other drug currently on the market for the disease.

Answer

The positive effects of MedX are permanent for the 80% of patients it helps.