Missing the main point on GMAT Critical Reasoning
Missing the Main Point on CR
In GMAT critical reasoning, there are several different types of questions that you will encounter. In this short article, we will cover questions wherein the main point of the argument is misidentified.
Missing the Main Point
One type of fallacy found in GMAT CR questions is failing to understand the main point of an argument. This fallacy occurs when a response to an argument does not engage with what the argument is actually trying to say.
Please take a look at the following GMAT- like example:
Example 1:
Amir: With many key players out of form, our soccer team is unlikely to with the tournament.
Brenda:
The tournament is likely to attract worldwide media coverage, enhance goodwill among the competing nations, and be a huge commercial success for the sponsors.
Which of the following identifies a flaw in Brenda’s response?
Here, we have a dialogue followed by a question stem.
Step 1 – Read the question stem.
Step 2 – Read the argument.
Step 3 – Come up with a broad expectation from the correct answer choice.
Please try this yourself before reading on.
Here, Amir’s concern is that the team is “unlikely to win the tournament”, but Brenda’s response is concerned with the “media coverage”, “goodwill”, and “commercial success”; she fails to address the point that Amir is trying to make.
So, what is the flaw here?
Option 1:
It fails to address Amir’s primary concern.
This is the correct answer choice.
This article has deliberately been kept brief; for a more elaborate explanation, please refer to the Experts’ Global Stage One Critical Reasoning videos.
