New Pattern Reasoning Questions | SBI PO 2017 | 21 - MAR -17

Critical Reasoning questions that appear in the verbal section of SBI test reading ability, comprehension and reasoning. Have a look at some examples below.

1. India’s baffling array of state and national labor laws date to the 1940s: one provides for the type and number of spittoons in a factory. Another says an enterprise with more than 100 workers needs government permission to scale back or close. Many Indian businesses stay small in order to remain beyond the reach of the laws. Big firms use temporary workers to avoid them. Less than 15% of Indian workers have legal job security. The new government can sidestep the difficult politics of curbing privileges by establishing a new, simpler labor contract that gives basic protection to workers but makes lay-offs less costly to firms. It would apply only to new hires; the small proportion of existing workers with gold-star protections would keep them.

Which of the following options best summarizes the main idea of the paragraph?

1. More Indian workers can get permanent jobs and legal job security if existing labor laws are reformed.
2. Effective labor law reform can encourage many Indian businesses to grow to more than 100 workers.
3. Outdated Indian labor laws need to be simplified to provide basic protection to workers and curb privileges.
4. The difficult politics of curbing privileges can be avoided if the changes in the labor law only apply to the new hires.
5. None of these

2. A study published in 2006 by Friedrich Schneider on the world’s shadow economies dealt briefly with the “tax morality” of Germans. According to the study, two-thirds of the Germans surveyed regarded tax evasion as a “trivial offence,” while only one-third judged stealing a newspaper this way. Indian tax morality is similar, but it makes a distinction between expatriate illicit money, which is viewed as a serious crime perpetrated by the very corrupt, and money held within India, which is perceived as a practical measure.

Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the above?
(i) Two-thirds of the Germans evade tax and consider it only a trivial offence.
(ii) Stealing a newspaper is a bigger crime in Germany than tax evasion.
(iii) As long as the money is held in India, illicit money is accepted as practical by Indians.
(iv) Indians regard tax evasion, especially holding illicit money abroad, as a serious crime.

1. i, ii, iv
2. i and iv
3. only iii
4. iii and iv
5. ii and iv

3. Data on planes returning from bombing missions was used to study of the vulnerability of airplanes to enemy fire. Analyzing the pattern and frequency of hits from enemy gunfire, it was seen that some parts of planes were hit disproportionately more often than other parts. How could these planes be optimally reinforced with armor plating? There were tradeoffs to consider. Every addition of plating added to the weight of the plane, decreasing its performance. Therefore, reinforcements needed to be added only to the most vulnerable areas of the planes.

Which of the following can be concluded from the above?

1. The parts hit disproportionately more than the others have to be reinforced as those received the maximum amount of damage.
2. No conclusion can be drawn as the data set is incomplete. There is no data on the planes shot down.
3. The parts with the least damage have to be reinforced, as the returning planes have survived attacks to the most damaged areas.
4. Reinforcements have to be added to all areas of the plane.
5. None of these

4. Oklahoma is not perceived as overpopulated because, in spite of a horrendous drought, it is not facing famine. Famine in Oklahoma is inconceivable because it receives a fair price for its exports, it has not leased its land to foreign countries, the poorest of the poor receive a helping hand from the government, and farmers and ranchers receive federal assistance in times of droughts. It is a lack of these factors in Horn of Africa, plus political insecurity in Somalia, which explain the famine – not overpopulation.

Which of the following options best summarizes the main idea of the paragraph?

1. Hunger is caused by too many people pressing against finite resources.
2. In spite of drought and overpopulation, there is no famine in Oklahoma.
3. Overpopulation and famine are not causally related in the Horn of Africa.
4. Famine in the Horn of Africa is not only due to overpopulation but, more importantly, due to the lack of government assistance and political insecurity.
5. None of these

5. In Dec 2014, the Pew Research Center conducted a survey, asking 1507 people spread among all 50 states and the District of Columbia , “What do you think is more important – to protect the right of Americans to own guns or to control gun ownership?” For the first time in more than two decades, a higher percentage (52%) said it was more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns than to control gun ownership (46%). The researchers used 1993 as a reference point because it's seen as the height of gun violence in America; they also noted that gun-related violence fell sharply in the 1990s and more gradually in later years. But Pew also noted that many Americans didn't seem to agree with the numbers. A survey found that only 12 percent of respondents thought the gun crime rate was lower than it was in 1993 — and 56 percent thought it was higher.

It can be concluded from this survey result that:

1. Though gun crime is thought to be rising, a majority of people are against stricter background checks on gun purchases.
2. Most people are not in favor of proposals to restrict gun sales as gun-related violence is falling.
3. More Americans believe the right to own a gun should be protected, despite perceived increase in gun crime.
4. With falling gun crime, fewer Americans support controls on gun ownership.
5. None of these

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