Verbal Reasoning Flashcards

A passage argues that lowering the voting age to 16 would improve democracy. It notes 16-year-olds pay taxes. Which is the strongest counter-argument within the passage's own framework?

Answer: Many 16-year-olds do not pay taxes, so the tax argument does not apply universally

If the argument rests on tax-paying as the criterion for voting rights, noting that many 16-year-olds do not pay taxes challenges the argument on its own terms without needing external premises.

Passage: 'Private schools produce more Oxbridge entrants per pupil than state schools.' The author argues this proves private schools provide better education. Identify the flaw.

Answer: Oxbridge entry is one narrow measure of educational quality, and other factors influence it

Using a single elite outcome (Oxbridge entry) as a proxy for overall educational quality ignores other dimensions: wellbeing, breadth, creativity, social mobility, and vocational success.

A text states that a drug trial was 'double-blind'. This means:

Answer: Neither participants nor researchers knew who received the drug or placebo

Double-blind means both participants and researchers are unaware of treatment allocation, eliminating expectation bias from both sides.

Passage: 'Countries with higher chocolate consumption have more Nobel Prize winners per capita.' The best interpretation of this finding is:

Answer: This is a spurious correlation — both are likely linked to national wealth

This is a famous example of a spurious correlation. Both chocolate consumption and Nobel Prize rates correlate with national wealth — wealth is the confounding variable.

A doctor says: 'In my experience, patients who stay positive recover better.' This is best described as:

Answer: Anecdotal evidence — personal experience is subject to recall and selection bias

Personal clinical experience is vulnerable to confirmation bias (remembering cases that fit the belief) and selection bias (not seeing the full population of patients). It is anecdotal, not controlled evidence.

'This treatment is natural, therefore it is safe.' This is an example of:

Answer: Appeal to nature fallacy — natural things can be harmful and synthetic things can be safe

'Natural' does not equal safe (e.g., arsenic, hemlock). The appeal to nature is a fallacy that assumes natural origin confers safety or virtue.