Evaluate the argument questions ask which piece of information would be most useful in judging whether an argument is sound. They belong to Critical Reasoning in the GMAT Focus Verbal section, and they are close cousins of weaken and strengthen questions, with one twist: the right answer is usually a question, not a fact.
Start as you would for any argument. Identify the conclusion, the evidence and the assumption that links them. Then ask what you would want to find out to see whether that assumption holds. If a new program is credited with lower costs, you would want to know whether costs were already falling, or whether something else changed at the same time.
The best test is the two-answer test. Imagine each possible answer to the question in the choice, one “yes” and one “no”. If one answer makes the conclusion stronger and the other makes it weaker, the question is relevant, and it is probably the right choice. If both answers leave the argument where it was, the choice is irrelevant, however interesting it sounds.
Watch for choices that ask about the right topic but the wrong comparison, for example the total cost of a program when the argument is about the change in cost, or the opinion of people the conclusion never mentions.
4 practice questions
Critical ReasoningEvaluate an ArgumentEasy
Question 1
Kestrel Coffee introduced a loyalty card at its downtown branch in March. Sales at the branch from April through June were 15 percent higher than in the same months last year, after two years of flat sales. No other changes were made to the branch's menu, prices or opening hours. The branch manager concludes that the loyalty card caused the increase in sales.
Which of the following would it be most useful to determine in order to evaluate the manager's conclusion?
AWhether the customers who joined the program liked the design of the loyalty card
BHow many different drinks and pastries the downtown branch currently sells
CWhether the branch manager was the person who first proposed the loyalty card
DWhat share of the branch's sales comes from coffee rather than from food
EHow sales changed over those months at Kestrel branches that had no loyalty card
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: E
Key Concept or Approach
The manager attributes a year-on-year rise to the card. The key question is whether something else (a general upturn, weather, a chain-wide promotion) could explain it. A comparison group without the card answers that.
Step-by-Step Solution
Step 1: Identify the task (Evaluate an Argument): The manager attributes a year-on-year rise to the card. The key question is whether something else (a general upturn, weather, a chain-wide promotion) could explain it. A comparison group without the card answers that.
Step 2: (E) Correct. If branches without the card also rose about 15 percent, the rise probably had another cause; if they were flat, the card looks responsible.
Step 3: (A) Liking the card's design does not show that the card raised sales.
Step 4: (B) The size of the menu, unchanged by the program, does not bear on why sales rose.
Step 5: (C) Who proposed the idea has no bearing on whether it worked.
Step 6: (D) The sales mix does not tell us whether the card caused the increase.
Final Answer
Answer: E
Common trap: A is tempting because it concerns customers' reaction to the card, but liking the card's design says nothing about whether it drove the 15 percent sales increase.
Critical ReasoningEvaluate an ArgumentHard
Question 2
Over the past decade, the annual cod catch in Marrow Bay has fallen by half. Regulators blame overfishing and propose halving the number of fishing permits issued for the bay. A marine biologist disagrees. She argues that rising water temperatures have driven the cod out of the bay toward cooler waters to the north, and that cutting permits will therefore do nothing to restore the bay's cod catch.
Which of the following would it be most useful to determine in order to evaluate the biologist's argument?
AWhether the market price of cod in the region has risen over the past decade
BWhether most commercial fishers in Marrow Bay support the proposed reduction in permits
CWhether cod caught in Marrow Bay are sold mainly to local buyers or to exporters
DWhether halving the number of permits would also reduce the catch of species other than cod
EWhether the abundance of cod in the cooler waters immediately north of Marrow Bay has increased over the past decade
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: E
Key Concept or Approach
The biologist's argument depends on the cod having relocated rather than been depleted. We need a fact whose answer confirms or undermines that relocation.
Step-by-Step Solution
Step 1: Identify the task (Evaluate an Argument) and the gap in the reasoning: The biologist's argument depends on the cod having relocated rather than been depleted. We need a fact whose answer confirms or undermines that relocation.
Step 2: (E) Correct. If cod have become more abundant just to the north, relocation is supported and the biologist's case strengthens. If not, the migration explanation weakens and overfishing becomes more plausible.
Step 3: (A) Cod prices do not show whether the fish were depleted or moved away.
Step 4: (B) Whether fishers support the proposal says nothing about what caused the decline.
Step 5: (C) Where the catch is sold does not bear on why it fell.
Step 6: (D) Effects on other species do not affect the claim that the permit cut will not restore cod.
Final Answer
Answer: E
Common trap: D mentions the permit cut and so seems relevant, but the biologist's claim is only about restoring cod, so effects on other species cannot test it.
Critical ReasoningEvaluate an ArgumentHard
Question 3
Grovenor Hotels recently replaced the printed room-service menus in its guest rooms with QR codes that guests scan to view the menu and order on their own phones. In the six months after the switch, Grovenor's room-service revenue per occupied room was 18 percent higher than in the same six months of the previous year. Grovenor's management concludes that the QR ordering system led guests to order more room service.
Which of the following would it be most useful to know in order to evaluate management's conclusion?
AWhether Grovenor's overall occupancy rate increased during the six months after the switch
BWhether the cost of installing the QR ordering system was recovered within those six months
CWhether guests at other hotel chains generally prefer printed menus to QR codes
DWhether Grovenor's room-service staff needed additional training to handle orders placed through the QR system
EWhether Grovenor raised its room-service prices at around the time the QR codes were introduced
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: E
Key Concept or Approach
The evidence is revenue; the conclusion is about quantity ordered. Revenue can rise either because guests order more or because each item costs more, so the key question is whether prices changed.
Step-by-Step Solution
Step 1: Identify the task (Evaluate an Argument) and the gap in the reasoning: The evidence is revenue; the conclusion is about quantity ordered. Revenue can rise either because guests order more or because each item costs more, so the key question is whether prices changed.
Step 2: (E) Correct. If prices rose substantially, the 18 percent increase could come from higher prices on the same orders, undermining the conclusion. If prices did not change, higher revenue does point to more ordering. Either answer changes how strong the argument is.
Step 3: (A) Revenue is already measured per occupied room, so a change in occupancy does not by itself explain a change in the per-room figure.
Step 4: (B) Whether the system paid for itself concerns its profitability, not whether it made guests order more.
Step 5: (C) Other chains' guests' preferences say nothing about what Grovenor's guests actually ordered.
Step 6: (D) Staff training concerns implementation costs and has no bearing on how much guests ordered.
Final Answer
Answer: E
Common trap: A is tempting because occupancy obviously affects total revenue, but the figure is revenue per occupied room, which already adjusts for occupancy.
Critical ReasoningEvaluate an ArgumentVery hard
Question 4
Quorra, a software company, recently stopped paying its customer-support agents by the hour and began paying them according to the number of support tickets each agent closes. In the first quarter after the change, the average number of tickets closed per agent rose by 40 percent. Quorra's management concludes that the new pay system has made its support operation more effective at resolving customers' problems.
Which of the following would it be most useful to determine in order to evaluate management's conclusion?
AWhether the agents who closed the most tickets under the new system were the same agents who had closed the most under hourly pay
BWhether Quorra's total spending on support-agent pay rose after the new system was introduced
CWhether customer-support agents at Quorra's main competitors are paid by the hour
DWhether the proportion of closed tickets that customers later reopened because their problems had not been solved changed after the new system was introduced
EWhether most of Quorra's customers prefer to contact support by e-mail rather than by telephone
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Key Concept or Approach
The evidence is tickets closed, but the conclusion is about problems resolved. Paying per closure rewards closing tickets whether or not the problem is fixed, so we need to know whether closures still mean resolutions.
Step-by-Step Solution
Step 1: Identify the task (Evaluate an Argument) and the gap in the reasoning: The evidence is tickets closed, but the conclusion is about problems resolved. Paying per closure rewards closing tickets whether or not the problem is fixed, so we need to know whether closures still mean resolutions.
Step 2: (D) Correct. If reopened tickets rose sharply, agents are closing tickets without fixing problems and the conclusion fails. If reopenings stayed flat or fell, the 40 percent rise reflects real resolutions.
Step 3: (A) Which agents are the top performers does not bear on whether the operation as a whole resolves more problems.
Step 4: (B) Cost matters to whether the change was worthwhile, but the conclusion is about effectiveness at resolving problems.
Step 5: (C) Competitors' pay practices are irrelevant.
Step 6: (E) Customers' preferred channel says nothing about whether the pay change improved resolution.
Final Answer
Answer: D
Common trap: B is tempting because pay-system changes invite cost questions, but the conclusion concerns effectiveness, not cost.
