Inference and Explain Questions in
Critical Reasoning!
Learning Objectives!
• Accurately paraphrase stimuli!
• Make valid deductions in Inference questions!
• Make general predictions for Explain questions!
Best viewed after you have covered Critical Reasoning in your Core sessions.!
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
Making Valid Deductions!
All kittens are fluffy. Ivy is a kitten.!
!
Deduction: !
One of the two of us is going to have to clean the basement, but I’m not going to do it.!
!
Deduction: !
As a new parent, you want to purchase the safest car currently on the market. No car will !
keep your family safer than the newly available Omicron Ultra. So, _________________.!
!
Deduction: !
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
Making Valid Deductions!
The Springfield Zoo has three Asian elephants, five African lions, and two mountain
gorillas. Any species with a population of fewer than 5,000 individuals is classified as
“critically endangered.” It is currently estimated that there are only 880 mountain
gorillas surviving in the world.!
!
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
The Kaplan Critical Reasoning Method for Inference Questions!
Step 1: Identify the Question Type!
“Inferred”, “Suggests”, “Based on the passage”, “The passage supports”!
Step 2: Untangle the Stimulus!
Paraphrase. Note keywords.!
Step 3: Predict the Answer!
If a deduction jumps out at you, great! Otherwise, review your paraphrase of the!
stimulus and prepare to eliminate.!
Step 4: Evaluate the Choices!
Read through the choices, asking “Does this have to be true?”!
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
Inference Questions!
1. New evidence suggests that women may react differently than men to high blood pressure, or
hypertension. Women with hypertension are less likely to suffer from ensuing complications, such as heart
attacks or strokes, and are less likely to die as a result. Women’s higher estrogen levels may be related to
this phenomenon: after menopause, when estrogen levels lower, women gradually become more and more
susceptible to cardiovascular disease.
Which of the following positions would be best supported by the statements above?
(A) Very elderly women with high blood pressure are no less susceptible to complications than their male
counterparts are.
(B) When treating their female patients for hypertension, doctors should take into account whether or not
the patient has gone through menopause.
(C) Men with hypertension should receive immediate treatment, while women with high blood pressure
may wait until their condition becomes severe.
(D) Since women withstand high blood pressure more readily than men do, the benefits they receive from
lowering it are relatively insignificant.
(E) Any pre-menopausal woman of a given age is less likely to develop complications from hypertension
than any man of the same age.
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
Inference Questions!
2. Which of the following most logically completes the argument below?
Recently, several cities have proposed projects to create “urban gardens,” indoor facilities that utilize
hydroponic farming techniques and fluorescent lighting systems to grow produce within a city’s limits.
Critics of urban gardens claim that because the fluorescent lights are inefficient, they require a great deal
of energy and therefore increase carbon emissions. However, produce is currently only grown in select
regions of the country and must be shipped long distances to reach urban consumers, so
_________________.
(A) water that is currently used in traditional farming should be diverted for use in hydroponic farms.
(B) as long as the gasoline consumed in this process requires more energy to produce and creates
more carbon emissions than fluorescent lights, urban gardens are better for the environment than
the current system.
(C) the critics’ objections are unfounded and can be dismissed as an argument against urban gardens.
(D) the cost and energy expenditure of transporting and pumping water ultimately negate any benefit
that could be derived in the use of urban gardens.
(E) urban gardens represent the best solution to the environmental problems caused by outdated
farming and shipping practices.
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
Inference Questions!
3. Which of the following most logically completes the passage?
Dividing assets during a divorce proceeding is a zero-sum game: one party's gain is necessarily the
other's loss. Relying on lawyers for arbitration can be very costly. A simple procedure could save
untold divorcing couples money, time, and aggravation: one spouse should propose a division of
assets into two sets, A and B, and the other spouse should determine who receives each set of
assets. Granting the latter spouse the power of choosing a set of assets ensures that
_________________.
(A) the spouse who initially divides the assets winds up with less than half of their value
(B) the spouse who assigns each set of assets gets the less valuable set
(C) the spouse who assigns each set of assets gets the more valuable set
(D) the spouse who initially divides the assets consults with a lawyer in doing so
(E) the spouse who initially divides the assets is motivated to divide them as fairly as possible
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
Inference Questions!
4. History has shown that severe and sudden political instability strikes country X roughly once every 50 years.
The most recent example was an attempt on the President’s life a few years ago. The reaction of average investors
in country X to crises in the country cannot be predicted in advance. The government’s fiscal affairs department
has introduced an electronic protection mechanism into the market in the hopes of avoiding a prolonged large-
scale selloff. The mechanism is triggered in specific instances based on estimations of how average investors will
react to changes in corporate data and economic indicators.
If the statements above are true, which of the following conclusions can be drawn regarding the electronic
protection mechanism?
(A) Sometime within the next 50 years an attempt on the President’s life will trigger the protection
mechanism.
(B) Whether the protection mechanism will function appropriately in response to a sudden political
event depends on whether the event is seen by investors as positive or negative.
(C) It is unclear how well the protection mechanism would work in the event of a sudden political coup
if such an event is partially or wholly unrelated to changes in corporate data and economic indicators.
(D) There would be no way for the protection mechanism to differentiate between market fluctuations
resulting from economic factors and those that are caused by political instability.
(E) The protection mechanism would be purposely destroyed by political insurgents if they were able
to infiltrate the government’s fiscal affairs department.
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
The Kaplan Critical Reasoning Method for Explain Questions!
Step 1: Identify the Question Type!
“Explain”, “Resolve”, “Paradox”, “Discrepancy” !
Step 2: Untangle the Stimulus!
Paraphrase the two conflicting statements.!
Step 3: Predict the Answer!
Make a general prediction about what would resolve the contradiction.!
Step 4: Evaluate the Choices!
Read through the choices, asking “Does this explain the problem?”!
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
Explain Questions!
Each year, many more people are injured while jogging than are hurt in
rock-climbing accidents. Despite this fact, rock-climbing is considered the
riskier activity.!
A tablespoon of olive oil contains roughly the same amount of fat as a
scoop of a certain brand of ice cream. Yet, olive oil is generally considered
healthier than ice cream.!
In a certain campus activity, the club president is chosen in a meeting at the
beginning of the year by popular vote. This year, Janet was elected president of
the club, even though most members of the club did not vote for her.!
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
Explain Questions!
5. In a certain campus activity, the club president is chosen in a meeting at the beginning of the
year by popular vote. This year, Janet was elected president of the club, even though most members
of the club did not vote for her.
Which of the following best helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy above?
(A) Members voted by raising their hands, so everyone knew who voted for each candidate.
(B) Janet’s most vocal supporters were a group of her closest friends.
(C) In the event that no one person obtains a majority of the initial vote, a runoff vote is held
between the two candidates with the most votes.
(D) Janet received more votes than the person who was elected club president the previous year.
(E) Fewer than half of the members of the club were present at the meeting at which the vote
was held.
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
Explain Questions!
6. Both Ashton and Barnes, engineers working independently at different locations, separately
invent an antigravity device that allows for the levitation and transport of heavy objects. Even
though Ashton publishes his results first, Barnes is given more credit years later as the inventor of
the device.
Each of the following, if true, would help to resolve the apparent paradox described above EXCEPT:
(A) Barnes’s unpublished notes describing the design and function of the device predate Ashton’s
by several years.
(B) Barnes was the first of the two engineers to create a working prototype.
(C) Ashton’s published results garnered little attention until after Barnes published his own results.
(D) The designs of the two devices are based on different physical principles.
(E) Ashton’s published design was found to contain several flaws that weren’t corrected until years
later.
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
Takeaways!
• Combine statements to make valid deductions.!
• Paraphrase statements in Inference stimuli and find an answer choice that must follow
from one or more of those statements.!
• Paraphrase the seemingly contradictory statements in Explain stimuli and look for an
answer choice that resolves the apparent paradox.!
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Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
Homework!
7. Which of the following most logically completes the argument?
A major car manufacturer has recently improved its perception among consumers by claiming that it
"puts its customers first." But this manufacturer is a publicly traded company, and any publicly
traded company must make a profit for its shareholders. It follows that _________________.
(A) the car manufacturer's claim can only be true if its ability to make a profit coincides with
catering to customers’ wishes
(B) the car manufacturer is lying to consumers when it claims to put them first
(C) the car manufacturer is cheating its shareholders
(D) the manufacturer's improved perception among consumers is undeserved
(E) the car manufacturer's ability to make a profit is actually more important than its ability to
build long-lasting cars
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
Homework!
8. Which of the following most logically completes the passage?
A recent government study has found that an area that served as a dumping site for a chemical
company in the 1970s is leaching pollutants into Gloverstown's local drinking water. Those leached
pollutants, in turn, are causing an elevated rate of a rare form of leukemia among the local
population. To address the problem, the government plans to dredge the dumping site next spring.
While this action is expected to lower the local rate of new cases of the rare form of leukemia, it is
not expected to do so for at least ten years because _________________.
(A) Gloverstown gets its drinking water from an a small river with a fast flow rate
(B) the dredged earth from the dumping site will be sealed in an underground hazardous waste
storage facility outside Gloverstown's watershed
(C) Gloverstown’s residents also have an elevated rate of melanoma
(D) the chemical-initiated cellular damage that causes leukemia takes between one and two
decades to produce symptomatic disease
(E) the aquifer supplying drinking water to nearby Northtown has a very slow recharge rate of
several centuries
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
Homework!
9. Which of the following most logically completes the argument below?
Professors at our college are handing out 50% more As than they did 30 years ago. In response to
this rampant grade inflation, it has recently been proposed that all courses should be graded on a
curve. This would ensure that mostly C grades are awarded and that A grades are awarded only to
the highest-scoring students. Unfortunately, however, this proposal would not entirely defeat grade
inflation, since _________________.
(A) the new system does not guarantee that the number of students who receive As will be the
same as the number of students who receive Fs
(B) no other college with comparable admission statistics has recently adopted a similar policy
(C) those students with the highest scores in any given class today would have received Bs for
those same scores 30 years ago
(D) many students have already used their inflated GPAs to land better jobs than they deserve
(E) professors at our college did not use a similar grading curve to award grades thirty years ago
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
Homework!
10. Many adults, no matter what their age, respond to adversity by seeking advice only from their
parents. Consciously or not, they regress to a psychological state of childhood dependence in which
the parent is seen as the only source of wisdom and comfort. Adults who do not regress to that
childhood mode turn for advice in adversity only to other loved ones – a spouse or a best friend –
whom they perceive and deal with as peers.
If all of the above statements are true, which of the following must also be true?
(A) One’s parents offer more wisdom in adversity than do those whom one perceives as peers.
(B) Adults who do not suffer adversity look only to their parents for advice.
(C) No adults seek advice in adversity from total strangers.
(D) Adults who seek advice in adversity from their parents do not expect to receive wisdom and
comfort.
(E) Adults who regress to a state of childhood dependence lose touch with their peers.
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
Homework!
11. Freezie World is an establishment that specializes in selling “Freezies,” a beverage made mostly
of shaved ice and flavored water. Freezies cost Freezie World more money to make than they get
back from sales of the drink. Although Freezies comprise most of Freezie World’s sales, the franchise
is able to make a profit and stay in business.
Which of the following most helps to explain the apparent discrepancy above?
(A) Freezie World is closed for most of the year, and does business only during the hot summer
months.
(B) Freezie World pays less in rent and utilities than do other businesses that operate in the
same area.
(C) The ingredients used to make Freezies are easy to obtain and so are inexpensive on their own.
(D) Most customers who stop to buy Freezies also buy ice cream and fudge, products on which
Freezie World makes a substantial profit.
(E) Freezie World is in direct competition with Ice Cream Nirvana, an establishment which has less
favorable reviews on social media.
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
Homework!
12. Engineers surveyed damage to a river dam following a severe earthquake. Although they found
that the earthquake had caused relatively little damage to the dam compared to other structures in
the area, the engineers nevertheless recommended that a nearby town be evacuated until the dam
could be fixed.
Each of the following helps to resolve the apparent paradox described above EXCEPT:
(A) The failure of the other structures in the area damaged by the earthquake would pose little
risk to the nearby town.
(B) The dam had been damaged by a storm the previous month, and was repaired in a manner
that was described as “a temporary fix.”
(C) The engineers felt that the risk of failure of the dam, even from minimal damage, was enough
to warrant the cost of evacuating the town.
(D) The damage to the dam was structural, whereas the damage to the other structures in the
area was merely superficial.
(E) The earthquake damaged other structures further upstream designed to restrict the flow of
water in the river.
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
Homework!
13. Antarctic researchers found that as the population of Weddell seals increased, the emperor
penguin population in the same area decreased. The researchers hypothesized that Weddell seals,
like leopard seals, use the penguins as a food source, but were surprised to find that this was, in
fact, not the case.
Which of the following best helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy described above?
(A) Researchers did not observe a single case of a Weddell seal eating a penguin.
(B) In addition to penguins, leopard seals will also eat Weddell seal pups.
(C) The Weddell seal breeding season takes place from September to December, while the
penguin breeding season takes place from June to August.
(D) The researchers use radio transmitters to closely track the movements and numbers of
emperor penguins, but have not yet done the same for Weddell seals.
(E) Weddell seals feed on fish and krill, both of which make up the emperor penguins’ primary
food source.
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning!
Inference and Explain Questions in Critical Reasoning
Question 1 -- Correct Answer: B
Explanation: According to the stimulus, women tend to have fewer complications due to hypertension
than men do, and there is correlative evidence to suggest that estrogen may have something to do with
this. The correct answer, B, is supported by this information; even if estrogen is not directly causal,
women who have undergone menopause are more susceptible to cardiovascular disease, so this fact
should influence the way in which a doctor treats hypertension.
The remaining choices are not directly supported. Even if women become more susceptible to
cardiovascular disease as they age, there is no information that allows for a comparison between “very
elderly women” and men of the same age, as described in choice A. Nor is there any information about
urgency or efficacy of treatment, so choices C and D are unsupported. Finally, E is extreme. The stimulus
merely states that women tend to be less likely to suffer from complications, but this doesn’t mean that
there is no overlap between the two groups; i.e., that the most susceptible women is still less likely to
develop complications than the least susceptible man.
Question 2 -- Correct Answer: B
Explanation: The passage leads us toward a conclusion about LED lights, but not a very concrete one.
Critics don’t like LED lights because they require energy. The keyword “however,” though, tells us that
perhaps these critics aren’t telling the whole story. The stimulus confirms this by saying that farms are
remote and require shipping. So, in the event that shipping requires more energy than LED lights, their
use can actually help to save energy, and thus this particular criticism is unwarranted. Choice B is the
best fit.
Choice A is unsupported since there is no information in the stimulus that allows for a conclusion about
the water being used for urban gardens. Choice C is likewise extreme for several reasons; the critics’
point isn’t “unfounded” (i.e., no one has proved that LED lights are actually efficient and don’t require
much energy), just not the entire story. Additionally, we would still need more information in order to
refute the critics. If, for example, it were found that LED lights used more energy than the shipping of
goods, then the critics’ concern would be a valid one. Choice D is a distortion of the author’s intention
for including the information about shipping produce. Finally, Choice E is extreme, as there is no
evidence that urban gardens are “the best” solution.
Question 3 -- Correct Answer: E
Explanation: Imagine that the spouse responsible for dividing assets does so inequitably, for example,
using a 70%-30% split. The choosing spouse would inevitably choose the 70% set of assets, leaving the
dividing spouse with only 30%. Therefore, to maximize his or her share of the assets, the dividing spouse
should try to get as close to a 50% split as possible. This matches choice E.
Question 4 -- Correct Answer: C
Explanation: The stem alerts us to the existence of an “electronic protection mechanism,” so we should
focus on the protection mechanism in the stimulus. Based on the information presented, roughly every
50 years, country X experiences political instability. The reaction of average investors to such crises
cannot be predicted. Country X has created an electronic protection mechanism for the financial market
that relies on estimates of how average investors will react to changes in corporate data and economic
indicators. The purpose of the mechanism is to avoid a major market selloff. Choice C draws a
reasonable conclusion based on the evidence. If political instability involves changes in corporate data
and economic indicators, then the mechanism should work the way it is designed to work. But if the
incident does not involve those elements, then the way the mechanism will work becomes unclear,
because the behavior of investors will be unpredictable.
Choice A goes too far when it infers that an attempt on the President’s life will happen within 50 years.
The recent attempt was only an example of the political instability that occurs roughly every 50 years,
and the 50-year period was an average, not an absolute limit. Furthermore, even if there is an attempt
on the President’s life, it is unclear how investors will react because their behavior in such situations
cannot be predicted in advance. For all we know, the market will go up and the mechanism will not be
needed. Choice B has no bearing on the argument. Whether investors perceive sudden political events
positively or negatively isn’t mentioned in the stimulus, so we can’t infer that their perception makes
any difference to the accuracy of the mechanism. Choice D takes its inference too far. The mechanism
might be able to differentiate between various types of market fluctuations, even though it might not be
able to trigger appropriate responses to some of them. Choice E takes the argument far beyond its
original scope. Nothing in the stimulus leads to a prediction of what might happen to the protection
mechanism in the event of political instability.
Question 5 -- Correct Answer: E
Explanation: The correct answer should help to explain how Janet could have been elected president by
popular vote despite the fact that most members did not vote for her. Choice E provides one such
explanation. If most of the members of the club weren’t present at the meeting, then anyone who won
the vote at the meeting would do so without getting votes from most members.
Many of the answer choices don’t help at all: the method of voting, the enthusiasm of Janet’s
supporters, and her number of votes compared to last year’s president (Choices A, B, and D,
respectively) have no bearing on explaining the outcome of the vote. Choice C begins to play off of
another plausible explanation, that Janet merely won a plurality of the vote (for example, maybe she
won 45% of the vote, and five other candidates won 11% each). However, the details of this choice only
serve to deepen the mystery; once the field is narrowed down to two, the winner must win a majority of
the votes cast by people at the meeting.
Question 6 -- Correct Answer: D
Explanation: As an EXCEPT question, the four wrong answers will help to explain the stimulus, while the
correct answer will either be irrelevant or deepen the mystery. In fact, Choices A, B, C, and E all help. If
Barnes got to the idea first with a better working prototype, and his published results were the first to
actually get widespread attention, it’s no wonder he is credited as the more important inventor. Choice
D, however, doesn’t actually help. Even if the two devices are based on different principles, the stimulus
implies that both devices work, so Ashton publishing first should garner him more credit, all else being
equal.
Question 7 -- Correct Answer: A
Explanation: It would seem that the car manufacturer, in claiming to work for both the shareholders
and the customer, must necessarily be letting someone down. This doesn’t have to be true, however,
but only if the manufacturer can find a way to balance the desires of the customer with the ability to
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generate profit. If, but only if, these two goals coincide, then the car manufacturer’s claim is true. Choice
A is a match.
Question 8 -- Correct Answer: D
Explanation: This question asks us to supply the reason why it might take ten years to begin seeing a
decline in the rate of new cases of leukemia. Choice D provides such a reason; if there is a significant
lag between the time of the initial poisoning and the time when symptoms start to appear, then people
will continue to develop symptoms long after the source of the poisoning is removed.
Question 9 -- Correct Answer: C
Explanation: The question asks us to look for a reason why the new proposed system won’t completely
eliminate grade inflation. The correct answer should therefore help to explain why grades might still be
higher now than they were thirty years ago. Choice C does this by saying that those students who get
“the highest scores” and therefore get As under the proposed system would only have gotten Bs thirty
years ago. Grades today are therefore still higher than thirty years ago, meaning that this new system
isn’t entirely effective. The remaining choices are all irrelevant to the argument. Choice A does suggest
that the grades aren’t necessarily symmetrical, but doesn’t offer a point of comparison to the way
grades were awarded thirty years ago. Choices B and D are irrelevant to the way grades are awarded.
Finally, choice E suggests that the system is different from what it was thirty years ago, but doesn’t
provide enough information to concluded that the grade distribution must be different from what it
was.
Question 10 -- Correct Answer: C
Explanation: According to the passage, adults can be divided into only two groups: adults who seek
advice in adversity only from their parents, and the remainder, who seek that advice only from other
loved ones. The passage is very specific about this; people turn to one or the other, but not both, and to
no one else. Choice C is therefore a valid inference. Adults seek advice from parents or other loved ones,
not from strangers.
Choice B introduces a concept foreign to the evidence. The passage tells us nothing about what people
do for advice when they are not in adversity. Choice E attempts to combine two disparate elements in
the evidence. Adults who regress will seek advice from parents if they face adverse circumstances and
wish to get advice. This doesn’t mean they will necessarily lose touch with peers.
Question 11 -- Correct Answer: D
Explanation: If Freezie World takes a loss on Freezies, there must be some other way that they’re
making up for that loss. Choice D provides such an explanation, that the Freezies get people into the
store, where they are then tempted to buy products that actually make Freezie World money.
Several of the remaining choices are irrelevant. Choice A talks about when the shop is open, and choices
B and E mention other establishments. Choice C deepens the mystery: if Freezies are so inexpensive to
make, why is Freezie World not able to make a profit on them?
Question 12 -- Correct Answer: A
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Explanation: As this an EXCEPT question, the four wrong answers will help to resolve the paradox, and
the correct answer will not. Reading the stimulus might bring several predictions to mind; perhaps even
a little bit of damage is already too much, or perhaps the dam was already damaged. Choice C describes
the former, and B is an example of the latter, so both are out. Choice D provides a reason why
comparing the damage to the dam with damage to the other structures is unreasonable, thereby
eliminating the contradiction, and choice E provides a reason why the damage to the dam might be
compounded by damage to other structures caused by the earthquake.
By process of elimination, choice A is correct. The lack of risk of other structures failing does little to
explain why the town should be evacuated.
Question 13 -- Correct Answer: E
Explanation: If the Weddell seal population increases at the same time the population of emperor
penguins decreases, but the seals aren’t eating the penguins, then there might be some other
relationship between these two populations for which an increase in one would lead to a decrease in
the other. Choice E provides such a connection; if the seals and the penguins share a food source, then
an increase in the population of one would deplete that food source, leaving less for the other.
Several of the answer choices suggest a lack of connection, thereby deepening the mystery. Choice A
states outright that the seals aren’t eating the penguins, but this doesn’t add any new information.
Choice C suggests that the two animals aren’t competing for breeding space, a possibility that would
actually help to explain the researchers’ observation. Choice B suggests that both populations share a
predator, but it doesn’t go far enough; we would have to do a lot more speculation to explain how
leopard seals eating both populations could cause an increase in one population to lead to a decrease in
the other.
GM1017
