Resolve the paradox questions present two facts that seem to clash and ask which choice would best explain how both can be true. They are a Critical Reasoning type in the GMAT Focus Verbal section, and the right mindset is that of a detective rather than a judge: both facts are true, and your job is to find what makes them fit together.
State the tension in one sentence before you read the choices: “sales rose, yet profits fell”, or “the town added buses, yet traffic got worse”. Then think about what could make both true. Usually the answer introduces a difference the passage did not mention, such as a change in costs, a different group of people, a timing effect or a side effect of the plan.
The right answer must address both sides of the paradox. Choices that explain only one fact, or that make the surprise even more surprising, are wrong. So are choices that deny one of the facts: the passage’s facts are not up for debate.
Watch out for answers that are on topic but work in the wrong direction. If a store cut prices and revenue fell, a choice showing that customers bought more items deepens the puzzle rather than resolving it.
4 practice questions
Critical ReasoningResolve a ParadoxMedium
Question 1
Last year Norland Airlines cut the average fare on its routes between Kessel and Ardmore by 15 percent. Over the same year, the number of passengers Norland carried on those routes rose by 25 percent. Even so, Norland's total revenue from the Kessel-Ardmore routes was lower last year than the year before, although the airline flew the same aircraft on the routes in both years.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain why Norland's revenue from the routes fell?
ACompeting airlines on the Kessel-Ardmore routes also cut their fares last year.
BMost of Norland's additional passengers on the routes had previously traveled between the two cities by train.
CNorland's fuel and staffing costs on the Kessel-Ardmore routes rose last year.
DNorland added two daily departures on the Kessel-Ardmore routes last year.
EFreight carried in the cargo holds of Norland's passenger planes had supplied much of the routes' revenue, and last year the extra passengers' baggage forced Norland to carry far less freight.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: E
Key Concept or Approach
Fares at 85 percent with 125 percent of the passengers should raise fare revenue by about 6 percent. To explain a fall in total revenue, some other revenue on these routes must have dropped.
Step-by-Step Solution
Step 1: Identify the task (Resolve a Paradox) and the gap in the reasoning: Fares at 85 percent with 125 percent of the passengers should raise fare revenue by about 6 percent. To explain a fall in total revenue, some other revenue on these routes must have dropped.
Step 2: (E) Correct. Freight was a major source of revenue on the routes, and the extra passengers squeezed it out. The loss of freight revenue can outweigh the small gain in fare revenue.
Step 3: (A) Competitors' fares do not change how Norland's revenue follows from its own fares and passenger numbers.
Step 4: (B) Where the new passengers came from does not affect how much they paid.
Step 5: (C) Higher costs lower profit, not revenue.
Step 6: (D) More flights do not explain lower revenue from more passengers.
Final Answer
Answer: E
Common trap: C is the classic revenue-versus-profit trap: rising costs would explain lower profit, but the puzzle is about revenue.
Critical ReasoningResolve a ParadoxMedium
Question 2
Last spring Veyra Telecom upgraded its mobile network in the city of Callon, and independent tests confirmed that average download speeds for Veyra customers there roughly doubled. Yet in the following three months, Veyra received more complaints from Callon customers about slow data service than it had received in the three months before the upgrade, even though the number of Veyra customers in Callon stayed about the same.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the rise in complaints?
AVeyra's competitors in Callon did not upgrade their own networks during the same period.
BVeyra's advertising for the upgrade promised Callon customers speeds four times their previous speeds, and customers tend to complain whenever service falls short of what they were promised.
CBefore the upgrade, Veyra's customers in Callon had complained about slow data service less often than Veyra's customers in other cities.
DVeyra's customer-service phone lines in Callon were open for the same number of hours before and after the upgrade.
EDownload speeds improved more in the parts of Callon served by the oldest equipment than in other parts of the city.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Key Concept or Approach
Speeds doubled and the customer base did not grow, yet complaints about slowness rose. The explanation must show why customers would judge a faster service as too slow.
Step-by-Step Solution
Step 1: Identify the task (Resolve a Paradox) and the gap in the reasoning: Speeds doubled and the customer base did not grow, yet complaints about slowness rose. The explanation must show why customers would judge a faster service as too slow.
Step 2: (B) Correct. Complaints track the gap between promise and performance. Customers promised four times their old speed and given only twice as much would feel shortchanged, so complaints could rise even though service improved.
Step 3: (A) If competitors did not upgrade, Veyra's service looks better by comparison, which makes the rise in complaints more puzzling, not less.
Step 4: (C) A low starting level of complaints does not explain why complaints increased after service got faster.
Step 5: (D) Unchanged phone-line hours rule out one possible explanation (easier access to complain) but offer no reason for the increase.
Step 6: (E) Where speeds improved most is irrelevant; it gives no reason why complaints overall would go up.
Final Answer
Answer: B
Common trap: D is tempting because it concerns how complaints are received, but it only removes a possible explanation rather than supplying one.
Critical ReasoningResolve a ParadoxMedium-hard
Question 3
Two years ago Merriton General Hospital launched a hand-hygiene program for its clinical staff. Observers recorded that the share of patient contacts preceded by proper handwashing rose from 40 percent to 85 percent. Hand hygiene is one of the most effective known ways to prevent infections acquired in hospitals. Yet over the same two years, the number of hospital-acquired infections recorded at Merriton rose.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy described above?
AThe observers who measured handwashing visited wards without advance notice.
BSeveral other hospitals in the region have launched similar hand-hygiene programs.
CWhen the program began, Merriton also adopted a new laboratory screening procedure that identifies many infections that previously went undetected and unrecorded.
DHospitals in the region that did not adopt hand-hygiene programs saw their recorded infection rates stay about the same.
EThe number of patients admitted to Merriton declined slightly over the two years.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Key Concept or Approach
Better hygiene should lower infections, yet the recorded count rose. A resolution can show that the recorded number rose even though actual infections did not.
Step-by-Step Solution
Step 1: Identify the task (Resolve a Paradox) and the gap in the reasoning: Better hygiene should lower infections, yet the recorded count rose. A resolution can show that the recorded number rose even though actual infections did not.
Step 2: (C) Correct. Better detection can raise recorded infections even while actual infections fall, which removes the conflict.
Step 3: (A) Unannounced visits make the compliance figures more trustworthy, which deepens the puzzle.
Step 4: (B) What other hospitals did does not explain Merriton's own numbers.
Step 5: (D) Stable rates elsewhere make Merriton's rise even more puzzling.
Step 6: (E) Fewer patients should mean fewer infections, which deepens the puzzle.
Final Answer
Answer: C
Common trap: D looks like useful comparative data, but it makes Merriton's rise stranger rather than explaining it.
Critical ReasoningResolve a ParadoxHard
Question 4
Last year the city of Brennick lowered the speed limit on Canal Avenue, a busy commuter route, from 50 kilometers per hour to 30 kilometers per hour. Traffic counts show that the number of vehicles using the avenue during rush hour did not change. Yet the average time it takes to drive the length of Canal Avenue during rush hour is now shorter than it was before the speed limit was lowered.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the decrease in travel time?
AFew drivers on Canal Avenue exceeded 50 kilometers per hour before the speed limit was lowered.
BIn a survey, many drivers who use Canal Avenue said that they find the lower speed limit frustrating.
CBrennick lowered the speed limits on several other commuter routes at the same time.
DWhen the limit was lowered, the city retimed Canal Avenue's traffic signals so that a vehicle traveling at 30 kilometers per hour meets a green light at nearly every intersection.
EDuring rush hour, traffic on Canal Avenue had rarely reached 50 kilometers per hour even before the speed limit was lowered.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Key Concept or Approach
A lower speed limit with the same traffic volume should, if anything, lengthen trips. The explanation must identify something that made the trip faster despite the lower top speed.
Step-by-Step Solution
Step 1: Identify the task (Resolve a Paradox) and the gap in the reasoning: A lower speed limit with the same traffic volume should, if anything, lengthen trips. The explanation must identify something that made the trip faster despite the lower top speed.
Step 2: (D) Correct. Travel time depends heavily on time spent stopped at red lights. Signals timed for 30 km/h let drivers pass through without stopping, so the trip can be faster overall even at a lower top speed.
Step 3: (A) Drivers keeping to the old limit explains nothing about why trips got shorter under the new one.
Step 4: (B) Driver frustration does not affect travel time.
Step 5: (C) Changes on other routes do not explain faster trips on Canal Avenue, especially since its traffic volume did not change.
Step 6: (E) This explains why a lower limit might not slow traffic much, but it does not explain why travel times actually fell.
Final Answer
Answer: D
Common trap: E is tempting because it makes the lower limit seem harmless, but it only explains why travel times need not rise, not why they fell.
