Verbal
Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension — argument structure and evidence-based reading.
Practice VerbalLesson 1Breaking down a Critical Reasoning argument
Separate premise, assumption, and conclusion before you ever look at the answer choices.
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Breaking down a Critical Reasoning argument
Separate premise, assumption, and conclusion before you ever look at the answer choices.
Every Critical Reasoning argument has a conclusion (the author's claim), premises (the stated evidence), and — critically — an unstated assumption bridging the two. Most wrong answers are wrong because they attack the premises, which the question never asked you to do.
Before reading the answer choices, state the assumption in your own words. If asked to weaken the argument, the correct answer will attack that specific assumption — not just introduce vaguely related negative information.
For Strengthen and Weaken questions, correct answers usually address the *gap* between premise and conclusion, not the premise or conclusion individually. If an answer choice would matter even in a world where the assumption were true, it's very likely a trap.
Assumption questions have a useful reverse-check: negate the answer choice you think is correct. If the negation destroys the argument, you've found the assumption; if the argument still stands, that answer was not actually necessary.
Lesson 2Reading Comprehension without re-reading everything
How to read a dense passage once, efficiently, and still answer detail questions accurately.
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Reading Comprehension without re-reading everything
How to read a dense passage once, efficiently, and still answer detail questions accurately.
The instinct to re-read the entire passage for every question is what kills RC pacing. Instead, read actively the first time: track the author's main point, the structure (does paragraph 2 support or complicate paragraph 1?), and any obvious shifts in tone or argument.
Detail questions are open-book — you're allowed, and expected, to go back and verify the exact wording rather than trusting memory. The failure mode isn't forgetting details; it's not noticing when an answer choice subtly overstates or narrows what the passage actually said.
Inference questions require the least new information and the most caution: correct answers are almost always a modest, defensible restatement of something implied by the text — not a bold new claim, however 'reasonable' it sounds.