25 exam-style questions on Logical reasoning · Critical thinking, each with the answer and a short explanation. Ten of them are below to try. The chapter test draws ten fresh questions each time and is marked the moment you finish, with your score by topic.
Ten Logical reasoning · Critical thinking questions with answers
Try each one, then open the answer. These ten stay the same; the test draws new ones every time.
1. Using a phone in class must harm learning: the students who use their phones most in class have the lowest grades. Which statement, if true, most weakens this argument?
A
Some teachers use phones to show videos in class.
B
Students who are already struggling tend to lose interest and turn to their phones.
C
Students with the highest grades also own phones.
D
Phones are becoming cheaper every year.
Show answer
Answer: B. If low grades lead to phone use, the cause runs the other way. Owning a phone is not the same as using it in class, so the option about top students owning phones does not weaken.
2. Patients at Clinic X recover from knee surgery faster than patients at other clinics, so the new physiotherapy routine used at Clinic X must speed recovery. Which statement, if true, most strengthens this argument?
A
Clinic X has a larger waiting room than the other clinics.
B
Clinic X opened five years ago.
C
The new routine was first developed abroad.
D
Patients at Clinic X are of similar age and health to patients at the other clinics.
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Answer: D. It rules out the alternative that Clinic X simply treats younger or healthier patients, leaving the routine as the likely cause.
3. The rise in dengue cases in the district this year was caused by flood water left standing after the monsoon. Which statement, if true, most strengthens this claim?
A
Dengue causes high fever and joint pain.
B
Dengue cases also rose in towns that had no flooding.
C
The district hospital hired more nurses this year.
D
Dengue cases rose most in the neighbourhoods where flood water stood longest.
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Answer: D. A link between longer-standing water and more cases supports the cause. A rise in towns without floods would weaken it.
4. Ali has scored above 90% in every school biology test this year. Therefore, he will score above 90% in the MDCAT biology section. Which assumption does the argument depend on?
A
Ali studies biology for longer than any other subject.
B
Ali's classmates scored lower than him in biology.
C
School biology test results are a reliable guide to MDCAT biology results.
D
The MDCAT biology section is easier than school tests.
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Answer: C. The argument jumps from school tests to the MDCAT, so it needs the two to be comparable. The MDCAT being easier would help Ali, but the argument does not need it.
5. "We should ignore Dr Ayesha's advice about healthy eating, because she is overweight herself." What is wrong with this reasoning?
A
It rejects the advice because of a fact about the speaker, not because of the advice itself.
B
It confuses the cause of being overweight with its effect.
C
It assumes that every doctor is an expert on diet.
D
It generalises from one doctor to all doctors.
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Answer: A. Whether the advice is sound does not depend on the adviser's own weight; this is an attack on the person.
6. Students who sleep fewer than six hours before an exam make more careless errors. Careless errors cost marks that students could otherwise earn. So students preparing for the MDCAT should protect their sleep on the night before the test. What is the main conclusion?
A
Sleep matters more than revision before an exam.
B
MDCAT candidates should protect their sleep on the night before the test.
C
Students who sleep fewer than six hours make more careless errors.
D
Careless errors cost marks that students could otherwise earn.
Show answer
Answer: B. The first two sentences are reasons; the sentence after "So" is what they support. The option about sleep mattering more than revision goes further than the argument says.
7. In a trial, people who drank a herbal tea every day had lower blood pressure afterwards, so the tea lowers blood pressure. Each statement below, if true, weakens the argument EXCEPT one. Which is the exception?
A
The blood pressure readings were taken by the company that sells the tea.
B
The tea drinkers were also told to eat less salt.
C
The tea drinkers were not compared with any group who did not drink the tea.
D
The tea was taken as a daily drink for four weeks.
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Answer: D. Less salt is another cause, no comparison group leaves the fall unexplained, and the seller taking readings raises bias. A four-week daily schedule only describes the trial.
8. Every student in the top ten of the class owns a scientific calculator. Bilal owns a scientific calculator, so he must be in the top ten. Which flaw does the argument contain?
A
It treats something all top-ten students have as if it were enough to put a student in the top ten.
B
It assumes that Bilal's calculator is the same model as theirs.
C
It assumes that the top-ten students bought their calculators recently.
D
It assumes that every student in the class owns a calculator.
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Answer: A. Owning a calculator is shared by the top ten, but many others may own one too; having it does not guarantee a top-ten place.
9. A college started giving free breakfast to students, and the average score in its morning tests rose by 8% that term. The principal concluded that breakfast improves concentration. Which statement, if true, most weakens the principal's conclusion?
A
Most students said they enjoyed the breakfast.
B
The breakfast was cheap to provide.
C
In the same term, the morning tests were moved from 8 am to 10 am.
D
Scores in the college's evening tests did not change.
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Answer: C. A later test time gives another explanation for the rise. Unchanged evening scores do not offer a rival explanation for the morning rise.
10. Infection rates at a hospital fell after it put up hand-washing posters in every ward. So the posters reduced infections. Which statement, if true, most strengthens this argument?
A
The posters were printed in Urdu and English.
B
Infection rates fell by the same amount at a similar hospital without posters.
C
Nurses said the posters were attractive.
D
Infection rates did not fall at a similar hospital without posters over the same period.
Show answer
Answer: D. A similar hospital without posters acts as a comparison; no fall there points to the posters. The same fall there would weaken the argument.
Chapter test. Ten questions from Logical reasoning · Critical thinking, drawn fresh each time, about ten minutes.
Practice mode. The right answer and the explanation after every question, with no clock. Exam mode keeps the marks until the end and runs a timer.
Hints. One tap for a nudge, a second to remove two wrong options.
My mistakes. Every question you get wrong is kept, and leaves the list once you get it right.
Logical reasoning · Critical thinking: questions students ask
How many Logical reasoning · Critical thinking MCQs are there?
25, each with the answer and a short explanation, across 1 topics: Critical thinking. Every chapter test draws ten of them, so you can take it many times.
Is the MDCAT Logical Reasoning chapter 1 test free?
Yes. The test, the answers and the explanations are free and need no sign-up. Sign in only if you want your scores kept across devices.
How is the chapter test marked?
The moment you press Finish: your score, the right answer and an explanation for every question, and the ones you got wrong saved in My mistakes to retry.
