Comparing one with oneself on GMAT Critical Reasoning
Comparing One with Oneself 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 trap involves comparison between an entity and itself.
Comparing One with Oneself
One type of fallacy found in GMAT CR questions is comparing one with oneself. This fallacyoccurs when a conclusion is drawn on the basis of one entity’s comparison with itself.
Please take a look at this example:
Example 1:
Jack improved his score by 200%. Thus, Jack performed well.
We have taken this example before. Here, Jack has improved his score on the basis of his own earlier score; if Jack’s original score was only 1/100; in this case, after a 200% increase Jack’s score would be 3/100, which may not be enough to say that he performed well.
Please take a look at the following GMAT- like example:
Example 2:
Optimus, nation’s biggest conglomerate, is involved in various business verticals. Its media vertical underwent 100% growth in the last quarter-to-quarter sales. Considering that the media vertical is among the smallest contributor to Optimus’s revenue, such a growth is stupendous and the leaders of the vertical must be awarded with “Golden Jewel”, the highest annual award across all business verticals for Optimus.
Which of the following best clarifies the discrepancy in the reasoning above?
Here, we have an argument 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.
The flaw is that this “100% growth” has happened in the media vertical, and this award applies across “all” of the business verticals. The reasoning says nothing about the other verticals; this 100% growth is on the vertical’s own performance.
Please look at this answer choice.
Option 1:
The conclusion has been reached on the basis of comparison of media vertical’s sales with itself rather than with sales of other business verticals.
Thus, awarding an “across business verticals” award to the business vertical would be hasty. 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.
