4 critical steps for critical reasoning

4 Critical steps to follow in critical reasoning section   1. Read Read Read When I was a kid my mom used to say read the questions twice carefully before start answering the question and I used to think why waste time on that. But in section like critical reasoning where every answer seems right and wrong at the same time it’s very important to read what the question has to say. Pay close attention to • what is put forward as factual information • what is not said but necessarily follows from what is said • what is claimed to follow from facts that have been put forward • how well substantiated are any claims that a particular conclusion follows from the facts that have been put forward In reading the arguments, it is important to pay attention to the logical reasoning used; the actual truth of statements portrayed as fact is not important.   2. scan and identify the conclusion The conclusion doesn’t necessarily come at the end of text. it could be anywhere in the middle or even at the beginning . pay attention to the clues in the text that an argument follows logically from another statement or statements in the text.   3. Read questions first I have seen many students jumping right to reading the material part. which might work great for some but the most effective way to approach a critical reasoning question is to read the question first. this gives you an idea about the way you must read the material on which questions are based . you cant assume that you know what you will be asked about an argument An argument may have obvious flaws, and one question may ask you to detect them. But another question may direct you to select the one answer choice that does NOT describe a flaw in the argument.   4. Read all the answer choices carefully It is very important to read all the answer choices carefully before assuming that a given answer is the best. The other choices could be better or more accurate. so analyze each and every option and then conclude the best answer.