Reasoning Quiz

Directions (Q.1-5): In making decisions about importing questions, it is desirable to be able to distinguish between ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ arguments. ‘Strong’ arguments are those which are both important and directly related to the question. ‘Weak’ arguments are those which are of minor importance and also may not be directly related to the question or may be related to a trivial aspect of the question.

Each question below is followed by two arguments numbered I and II. You have to decide which of the arguments is a ‘strong’ argument and which is a ‘weak’ argument.

Give Answer:
(1) if only argument I is strong.
(2) if only argument II is strong.
(3) if either argument I or II is strong.
(4) if neither argument I nor II is strong.
(5) if both arguments I and II are strong.

Q.1. 
Statement: Should the Research funding in India be increased?
Arguments:
I. No, there are great scientists in India.
II. Yes, science in India needs a push.

Q.2. 
Statement: Is Indian football a lost cause?
Arguments:
I. No, India has recently made a great jump in the FIFA rankings and thus is showing great promises.
II. No, TV ratings show increase in football viewer ship.

Q.3. 
Statement: Should the newly formed Southern Sudan shift from democracy to communalism for attaining stability?
Arguments:
I. Yes, the country is the youngest country in the world.
II. No, it is relatively easy to manage a smaller country.

Q.4. 
Statement: Is capital punishment justified for the rape accused?
Arguments:
I. Yes, rape is a heinous crime.
II. Yes, such punishment is very important to force miscreants to refrain from these acts.

Q.5. 
Statement: Should the education industry stop focusing on quantity and start focusing on quality?
Arguments:
I. No, but the focus should be diverted from just quantity to both quantity and quality because the quality of education is decreasing, which is an important issue.
II. Yes, because the engineers are unemployable these days.

Directions (Q.6-10): In each of these questions, one question is given followed by data in three statements I, II and III. You have to study the question and the data in statements and decide the question can be answered with data in which of the statements and mark your answer accordingly.

Q.6. Who is the brother of Purbasha?

I. Anubhav is the only sibling of Swabhiman, whose nephew is Rajiv.
II. Rajshashi is mother of Purbasha.
III. Wife of Anubhav is mother of Purbasha.
1) Only I
2) Only II
3) Only III
4) Both I and III
5) Both I and II

Q.7. Six houses red, blue, white, green, pink and yellow are located in two parallel rows, with three houses in each row. Which house is located opposite the pink colored house?

I. Yellow and pink colored houses are in the same row.
II. Blue and green colored houses are in the same row.
III. Red colored house is directly opposite the white colored house.
1) Only I
2) Only II
3) Only III
4) All I, II and III
5) Cannot be determined

Q.8. How is P related to Q?

I. P is Q’s brother’s maternal uncle’s only nephew.
II. P is the husband of R’s father’s only child’s grandmother.
III. Q is the paternal aunt of R.
1) Only I
2) Only II and III
3) Either I or III
4) Both (1) and (2)
5) None of these

Q.9. Twelve animals are to be kept in three different cages X, Y and Z. How many animals are kept in cage X?

I. There are exactly two animals from each of the six different species.
II. Cage X contains atleast one animal from each of the given species.
III. Number of animals in the three cages are in an arithmetic progression.
1) Only I and II
2) Only I and III
3) Either I or II
4) Either I or III
5) Cannot be determined

Q.10. A, B, C, D and E are five friends sitting in a row facing North. What is the position of A?

I. C and D are sitting at the equal distances from A.
II. There is atleast one person sitting between E and B.
III. E is sitting at the extreme left corner.
1) Only I and II
2) Only II and III
3) Either I or II
4) Either II or III
5) All I, II and III

Solutions:

Ans.1. 4; None of the given arguments are strong enough to account for the statement. Hence, the answer is option (4).

Ans.2. 1; Only the first argument gives a good argument. It clearly says that Indian football is making great promises.

Ans.3. 4; For such an important shift in the system of a country, the reasons given are very weak.

Ans.4. 2; The first argument merely states a fact while the second argument gives a valid reason which can be used to pass judgement on the given statement. Hence, the answer is option (2).

Ans.5. 1; Argument I is strong because quality of education is an important issue and if it is decreasing, focus should be made on quality. Argument II is weak. It only talks about engineers. Moreover, there might be another reason for their unemploybility

Ans.6. 4; From statements I and III: Rajiv is the son of Anubhav and Anubhav is father of Purbasha, therefore, Rajiv is the brother of Purbasha.
Hence, both statements I and III are required to answer the question.

Ans.7. 5; From statements I and II: Yellow and pink colored houses will be in one row while the blue and green colored houses will be in the other row.

From statement III: We cannot conclude anything about the house opposite the pink colored house. Hence, none of the statements is sufficient to answer the question.

Ans.8. 4;

Ans.9. 5; From statements I and II: Cage X contains minimum of 6 animals, one from each of the six different species.

From statements I, II and III: There are two AP’s possible i.e. 0, 4, 8 and 2, 4, 6. Hence, none of the statements is sufficient to answer the question.

Ans.10. 1;