Tips on cracking Reasoning Questions on Statements & Conclusions

1. 5 TIPS on cracking Reasoning Questions on Conclusions and Course of Action

2. Tip #1: Conclusion drawn on the basis of data not provided in the statement(s) does not hold Statements:  In a one day cricket match, the total runs made by a team were 200. Out of these 160 runs were made by spinners. Conclusions: (I) 80% of the team consists of spinners. (II) The opening batsmen were spinners. A. Only conclusion I follows B. Only conclusion II follows C. Either I or II follows D. Neither I nor II follows E. Both I and II follow Solution: Nothing has been said in the statements about the number of spinners or the batsmen. So both conclusions do not follow. Hence the correct option is D. Statement: Any student who does not behave properly while in the school brings bad name to himself and also for the school. Conclusions: (I) Such student should be removed from the school. (II) Stricter discipline does not improve behavior of the students. A. Only conclusion I follows B. Only conclusion II follows C. Either I or II follows D. Neither I nor II follows E. Both I and II follow Solution: The statement mentions nothing about disciplinary action against misbehaving students, so none of the conclusions follows. The correct answer is D.

3. Tip #2: Conclusions with definitive qualifiers (all, no one, at least) require stringent support to be valid Statements: A forest has as many sandal trees as it has Ashoka trees. Three-fourth of the trees are old ones and half of the trees are at the flowering stage. All Ashoka trees are at the flowering stage. All sandal trees are at the flowering stage. At least one-half of the Ashoka trees are old. One-half of the sandal trees are at the flowering stage. None of these Solution: Conclusions A, B, C do not hold because of the presence of definitive words ‘all’ and ‘at least’ when the statements do not provide such definite information. D does not follow because nothing has been said about the fraction of sandal trees in flowering stage. Thus, the answer is E. Statement: Money plays a vital role in politics. Conclusion: (I) The poor cannot become politicians. (II) All rich men take part in politics. A. Only conclusion I follows B. Only conclusion II follows C. Either I or II follows D. Neither I nor II follows E. Both I and II follow Solution: None of the conclusions follows since they are definitive whereas the given statement is not. Hence the correct answer is D.

4. Tip #3: Conclusion should not contradict your common sense and general knowledge Statements: Our securities investments carry market risk. Consult your investment advisor or agent before investing. Conclusions: (I) One should not invest in securities. (II) The investment advisor can reasonably estimate the market risk A. Only conclusion I follows B. Only conclusion II follows C. Either I or II follows D. Neither I nor II follows E. Both I and II follow Solution: Investment in securities involves risk but this does not mean that one should not invest in securities. So I does not follow. Since the statement advises one to consult investment advisor before investing, so II follows. Thus the correct answer is B. Statements: Soldiers serve their country. Men generally serve their country. Those who serve their country are soldiers. Some men who are soldiers serve their country. Women do not serve their country because they are not soldiers. Solution: Conclusion A does not follow since it is ambiguous. Again, B does not hold since soldiers are not the only people serving their country. Conclusion D does not hold because it contradicts the fact that women can also be soldiers. C is the answer.

5. Tip #4: There must be no extremity involved in the course of action Statement: The members belonging to two local societies occasionally fight with each other on the main highway and traffic is jammed always. Courses of Action: The local police station should immediately deploy policemen round the clock on the main highway. Those involved in fighting should be identified and put behind bars. Local authority should cease the management of the two societies with immediate effect. A. Only I and II B. Only I and III C. Only II and II D. All of I, II, III E. None Solution:  To stop the fighting, the police must deploy troops and the culprits must be put behind bars to deter them from causing such scenes in the future, so I and II follow. The 3rd course of action would be extreme. So the answer is A.

6. Tip #5: The course of action should be justified based on the statement Statement: The Company X has rejected the first load of valves supplied by Company A and has cancelled its entire huge order quoting use of inferior quality material and poor craftsmanship. Courses of Action: The Company A needs to investigate functioning of its purchase, production and quality control departments. The Company A should inspect all the valves rejected by Company X. The Company A should inform Company X that steps have been taken for improvement and renegotiate schedule of supply. A. Only I and II B. Only I and III C. Only II and II D. All of I, II, III E. None Solution: First of all, company A should inspect the rejected valves to ensure if they are really sub standard. If so, it should scrutinize its working thoroughly and fix its quality issues. III is not justified from the statement, because the quality errors have not been fixed and issuing a statement to Company X to that effect would be a lie. The answer is A.

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