Reasoning – Model Set 1

1. “For the most part,” said Doctor Brown, “the people in my community are taking better care of their health. I base this assertion on the fact that an increasing number of people are making regular trips to my office.”

The conclusion of Dr. Brown depends on which of the following assumptions?

1. People must get in the habit of caring for their health at an early age.
2. This community is known for having unhealthy residents.
3. The remarkable medical skills of Dr. Brown are in part responsible for the increase in health awareness.
4. There is a specific reason why people have become more interested in their health.
5. Whether or not a person makes regular trips to the doctor’s office is a good measure of whether the person is taking good care of his or her health.

2. Which of the following is a possible weakness in the reasoning of Dr. Brown?

1. More people have health insurance now than did in the past.
2. The individuals who come to Dr. Brown’s office are not representative of the community as a whole.
3. A recent health scare has raised awareness in the community.
4. Dr. Brown fails to identify the reason for the surge in health awareness.
5. Dr. Brown’s services are more expensive than those of other community doctors.

3. There are 8 candidates vying to become the mayor of Cedarville. The following conditions apply to the voting:

If Matthews gets more votes than Lawrence, the winner will be Olson.
If King gets more votes than Johnson, or Olson gets more votes than Patterson, the winner will be Quinn.
If Johnson gets more votes than King, and Lawrence gets more votes than Matthews, the winner will be Nelson.

If Quinn wins the election, which of the following statements must be true?

1. Johnson got more votes than King.
2. Matthews did not receive more votes than Lawrence.
3. Olson got more votes than Patterson.
4. Lawrence got more votes than Matthews.
5. King got more votes than Johnson.

4. If Nelson did not win the election but Lawrence got more votes than Matthews, which of the following statements must be true?

1. Johnson did not get more votes than King.
2. Olson won the prize.
3. King did not get more votes than Olson.
4. Quinn won the prize.
5. Olson got more votes than Patterson.

5. Every single member of the Junior Classical League applied for the scholarship. Dave must be a member of the Junior Classical League, since he applied for the scholarship.

Which of the following statements best indicates the central flaw in the above reasoning?

1. Some of the members of the Junior Classical League do not understand the scholarship requirements.
2. Dave is also a member of the Spanish Club.
3. Sophomores were not allowed to apply for the scholarship.
4. Some people who applied for the scholarship are not members of the Junior Classical League.
5. Dave’s scholarship application contained a typographical error.

Answer key

1. E. Dr. Brown supports his conclusion, namely that people in the community are taking better care of their health, on the evidence that they are coming to his office more often.

2. B. The conclusion refers to the community as a whole, whereas the evidence is only drawn from Dr. Brown’s personal experience.

3. B. The conditional statements establish certain conditions under which a given candidate will win the election, but they do not establish themselves as the only conditions under which that candidate can win.

4. A. According to the third conditional statement, Nelson will win if Lawrence gets more votes than Matthews and Johnson gets more votes than King. Since the first of these conditions was met, the second must not have been, or else Nelson would have won the election.

5. D. The reasoning does not assert that every person who applied for the scholarship was a member of the Junior Classical League, but rather that every member of the Junior Classical League applied for the scholarship.