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Critical
thinking. Test your critical thinking skills here. Sample critical thinking
test questions. View five CT test items. Answers to critical thinking
test questions.
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Reasoning
and Critical Thinking Skills Sample Test Items
Instructions: Select the best choice from among those offered.
Given
the importance of critical thinking to our
democracy, our economy, and our lives in a pluralistic, global community,
we hope that you get most, if not all, of these right.
Click on the link after each item to see an analysis of that item
and its various choices.
The
items shown here are similar to those found on the CCTST
and the TER
Sample
Reasoning Skills Item #1: Using the phone at her desk, Sylvia
in Corporate Sales consistently generates a very steady $1500 per
hour in gross revenue for her firm. After all of her firm's costs
have been subtracted, Sylvia's sales amount to $100 in bottom line
(net) profits every 15 minutes. At 10:00 a.m. one day the desk phone
Sylvia uses to maker her sales calls breaks. Without the phone Sylvia
cannot make any sales. Assume that Sylvia's regular schedule is
to begin making sales calls at 8:00 a.m. Assume she works the phone
for four hours, takes a one hour lunch exactly at noon, and then
returns promptly to her desk for four more hours of afternoon sales.
Sylvia loves her work and the broken phone is keeping her from it.
If necessary she will try to repair the phone herself. Which of
the following options would be in the best interest of Sylvia's
firm to remedy the broken phone problem?
A
= Use Ed's Phone Repair Shop down the street. Ed can replace
Sylvia's phone by
10:30 a.m. Ed will charge
the firm $500.
B = Assign Sylvia to a different project until her phone
can be replaced with one from
the firm's current inventory.
Replacing the phone is handled by the night shift.
C = Authorize Sylvia to buy a new phone during her lunch
hour for $75 knowing she
can plug it in and have
it working within a few minutes after she gets back to
her desk at 1:00 p.m.
D = Ask Sylvia to try to repair her phone herself. She
will probably complete the
repair by 2:00 p.m.; or maybe
later.
Click
here for an explanation of Item #1 and its Options
Sample
Reasoning Skills Item #2: "I've
heard many reasons why our nation should reduce its reliance on
petroleum vehicle fuels. One is that relying on imported oil makes
our economy dependent on the political whims of foreign rulers.
Another is that other energy sources, like the possibility of hydrogen
based fuels, are less harmful to the environment. And a third is
that petroleum is not a renewable resource so when we've used it
all up, it will be gone! But I don't think we're likely to use it
all up for at least another fifty years. And by then we'll have
invented new and better fuels and more fuel-efficient vehicles too.
So that argument doesn't worry me. And I don't really believe the
stuff about how foreign leaders can force our nation to change its
policies simply by decreasing their oil production. Oil companies
like Exxon have made record profits precisely in those times when
the supply of foreign oil was reduced. I don't see the big oil companies
being very interested in policy change when the money is rolling
in. And for another, our nation has demonstrated that it is willing
to wage war rather than to permit foreign leaders to push us around.
So this whole thing about how we have to reduce our reliance on
petroleum based gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel is bogus." The
speaker's reasoning is best evaluated as
A = solid. It shows the arguments for reducing petroleum
vehicle fuels are weak
B = solid. The speaker is very clear about what he believes
and why he believes it.
C = weak. The speaker probably owns stock in Exxon or some
other oil company.
D = weak. The speaker ignored the environmental argument entirely.
Click
here for an explanation of Item #2 and its Options
Sample
Reasoning Skills Item #3: Consider
the claim: "Even the General occasionally uses evasive language,"
as this claim relates to the following reason: "After all,
most politicians strive to please their various constituencies.
And the General, although a wise, forthright, articulate, and seasoned
leader, like all important people, has to be something of a politician
in order to be successful. I find it very hard to imagine always
being able to please every constituency without, at least on some
occasions, using evasive language." Assuming all the statements
made as part of the reason are true, the initial claim about the
General using evasive language at times
A
= could not be false.
B = is probably true, but may be false.
C = is probably false, but may be true.
D = could not be true.
Click
here for an explanation of Item #3 and its Options
©2007 The
California Academic Press LLC, Millbrae CA.
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