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Placement Aptitude (Quant, Logical, Verbal) Module 15

Critical reasoning interview questions

Interview questions on critical reasoning: short warm-ups, then what each harder question tests, the first step of a good answer and its follow-ups.

12 questions: 3 warm-ups and 9 with model answers · Levels: Fresher

Warm-up questions

Short questions with short answers, each answered in full.

Fresher

What is the difference between a premise and a conclusion, and how do you find the conclusion of a short argument that has no indicator words?

Answered in the lesson Arguments: strong, weak and fallacies
Fresher

What is the difference between an assumption and an inference about the same passage? Give one of each for "The library will stay open until midnight in exam weeks so that students can study late."

Answered in the lesson Assumptions, inferences and conclusions
Fresher

What makes an option strengthen an argument, rather than simply agree with its conclusion?

Answered in the lesson Strengthen, weaken, cause and course of action

Questions with model answers

What each question tests, the first step of a good answer and the follow-ups to expect.

Fresher

Statement: should a college cut marks for attendance below 75 per cent? Argument I: Yes, students who skip lectures fall behind and slow the class down. Argument II: No, some students learn better from books and recorded lectures than in class. Is each argument strong or weak, and which check decides it?
What it tests

Running relevance, grounding, significance and the restatement check on a realistic pair, and seeing that arguments on opposite sides can both be strong.

First step

Take the arguments one at a time. Both are about the rule, so check 1 passes for each, and the item turns on checks 2 and 3: does each rest on a likely effect, and would a sensible decision weigh that effect?
Follow-ups
- Argument I adds that the college's own records show students below 75 per cent fail twice as often. What changes?
- How can both arguments be strong when they point in opposite directions?
- A wrong answer costs a quarter of a mark and you are sure only about Argument II. Do you answer?
From the lesson Arguments: strong, weak and fallacies
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In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
Fresher

In a group discussion on a four-day working week, another participant says: "Everyone I know wants it, and the people against it are just bosses protecting themselves." Name the two flaws, and give a reply that keeps the discussion on reasons.
What it tests

Recognising an appeal to popularity and an attack on motives in live speech, and answering with a better argument instead of a counter-attack.

First step

Split the remark into its two moves. The first counts people who agree, and the second questions the motives of people who disagree; neither says anything about what a four-day week does to work, pay or customers.
Follow-ups
- When would "everyone I know wants it" be relevant evidence?
- How do you disagree without attacking the speaker in turn?
- Give one strong argument on each side of the topic.
From the lesson Arguments: strong, weak and fallacies
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
Fresher

"If the college lets students use phones in the library, they will soon use them in exams, copying will spread, and degrees will lose their value." Is this a slippery slope fallacy? Explain how you decide, with numbers, and say what would make such an argument strong.
What it tests

Breaking a slippery slope into its links, judging how likely the whole chain is, and knowing when a chain argument is fair.

First step

Write the argument as a chain of links: phones in the library, then phones in exams, then widespread copying, then degrees that lose their value. Then ask of each link whether the argument gives any reason to expect it.
Follow-ups
- If each of the three links were 80 per cent likely, how likely would the end point be?
- How likely must each of four equal links be for the end point to be more likely than not?
- Rewrite the argument so that it would be strong.
From the lesson Arguments: strong, weak and fallacies
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes
Fresher

Notice: "During exam weeks the college will run a bus from the campus at 9 pm, so that students who study late in the library can get home safely." Which are assumed: (a) some students study in the library until about 9 pm; (b) all students who study late will take the bus; (c) the roads are unsafe at night?
What it tests

Applying the negation test, rejecting a candidate stronger than the plan needs, and keeping outside knowledge out of the answer.

First step

Negate each candidate and read the notice again. If no student studies until about 9 pm, the bus has nobody to carry and the plan loses its point, so (a) is assumed.
Follow-ups
- Negate (b) correctly, and say what the negation shows.
- Is (c) assumed, or only something weaker than (c)?
- When would the either option fit two candidates of this item?
From the lesson Assumptions, inferences and conclusions
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
Fresher

Passage: "Of the 90 students who live in the college hostel, 70 come from other states." Rate two inferences and defend each step. I: a student picked at random from the hostel comes from another state. II: most students of the college come from other states.
What it tests

Telling a lean that the passage gives from a lean borrowed from a part that may not represent the whole, using the numbers that decide it.

First step

Turn the passage into a proportion: 70 of 90 is about 78 per cent. That figure describes the hostel, so ask of each inference whether it is about the hostel or about the whole college.
Follow-ups
- What changes if the passage adds that every student of the college lives in the hostel?
- Where does probably true end and data inadequate begin for inference I?
- Why may common knowledge help with "probably" but never with "definitely"?
From the lesson Assumptions, inferences and conclusions
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes
Fresher

Rule: "Only employees who have completed the safety course may enter the plant floor." Which follow? I: Ravi, who is allowed on the plant floor, has completed the course. II: Meera has completed the course, so she may enter the plant floor. III: an employee who has not completed the course may not enter.
What it tests

Reading "only" as a necessary condition, telling a rule from its converse, and checking each conclusion against every situation the rule allows.

First step

Rewrite the rule as an if-then: if an employee may enter the plant floor, then the employee has completed the course. Completing the course is necessary for entry; the rule never says that it is enough.
Follow-ups
- How many of the four combinations of "completed" and "may enter" does the rule allow?
- Reword the rule so that II would follow.
- How does a rule worded with "unless" read?
From the lesson Assumptions, inferences and conclusions
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes
Fresher

A coaching centre's leaflet says: "Students who joined our aptitude course scored 20 marks more on average in the placement test than students who did not, so our course raises scores by 20 marks." Name the two strongest weakeners, and the one fact that would most strengthen the claim.
What it tests

Spotting self-selection and a flawed comparison in a claim about a course, ranking weakeners, and naming the evidence a fair test would give.

First step

Ask who joined the course. If the students who chose to join were already stronger or keener, part or all of the 20-mark gap existed before the course began.
Follow-ups
- If the joiners already scored 15 marks more in a mock test before the course, what is left of the claim?
- What would a fair comparison look like?
- Which weakener would you rank first in an option list, and why?
From the lesson Strengthen, weaken, cause and course of action
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes
Fresher

A councillor notes that the city's months with the most power cuts also have the most road accidents, and concludes that power cuts cause accidents. How would you judge the claim, and what data would settle it?
What it tests

Separating a common cause from a direct cause, proposing a check that holds the common cause fixed, and allowing for a direct effect as well.

First step

Ask what else rises in those months. The monsoon brings storms that cut power and wet, dark roads on which accidents rise, so it could produce both on its own.
Follow-ups
- What would you expect to see if the monsoon explains the whole link?
- How could power cuts still cause some accidents directly, and how would you test that?
- Given only the two statements as a test item, which answer fits?
From the lesson Strengthen, weaken, cause and course of action
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes
Fresher

Problem: in the college's online tests, many students copied answers shared in group chats. Which actions follow? I: hold the tests in exam halls. II: give each student questions drawn from a larger bank, in a different order. III: expel every student who belongs to such a group chat.
What it tests

Judging courses of action by practicality, aim at the cause and proportion, including an action that punishes students who did nothing wrong.

First step

Name the cause the actions must address: answers can be shared because every student sees the same questions at the same time, with nobody watching.
Follow-ups
- Why does III fail even though it would stop the copying?
- What would make I fail?
- Write one more action that follows.
From the lesson Strengthen, weaken, cause and course of action
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes

All Placement Aptitude (Quant, Logical, Verbal) interview questions · The Placement Aptitude (Quant, Logical, Verbal) track

Warm-up questions

What is the difference between a premise and a conclusion, and how do you find the conclusion of a short argument that has no indicator words?

What is the difference between an assumption and an inference about the same passage? Give one of each for "The library will stay open until midnight in exam weeks so that students can study late."

What makes an option strengthen an argument, rather than simply agree with its conclusion?

Questions with model answers

In a group discussion on a four-day working week, another participant says: "Everyone I know wants it, and the people against it are just bosses protecting themselves." Name the two flaws, and give a reply that keeps the discussion on reasons.

"If the college lets students use phones in the library, they will soon use them in exams, copying will spread, and degrees will lose their value." Is this a slippery slope fallacy? Explain how you decide, with numbers, and say what would make such an argument strong.

Passage: "Of the 90 students who live in the college hostel, 70 come from other states." Rate two inferences and defend each step. I: a student picked at random from the hostel comes from another state. II: most students of the college come from other states.

A coaching centre's leaflet says: "Students who joined our aptitude course scored 20 marks more on average in the placement test than students who did not, so our course raises scores by 20 marks." Name the two strongest weakeners, and the one fact that would most strengthen the claim.

A councillor notes that the city's months with the most power cuts also have the most road accidents, and concludes that power cuts cause accidents. How would you judge the claim, and what data would settle it?

Problem: in the college's online tests, many students copied answers shared in group chats. Which actions follow? I: hold the tests in exam halls. II: give each student questions drawn from a larger bank, in a different order. III: expel every student who belongs to such a group chat.