Advanced Critical Reasoning: Argument Structures

Every GMAT Critical Reasoning stimulus contains a conclusion supported by one or more premises. At the 700+ level, you must go further and identify unstated assumptions — the hidden beliefs the argument requires to be true. Consider this structure: a causal argument claims that X caused Y because X preceded Y. The assumption is that nothing else caused Y, and that the relationship is not merely correlational. Identifying this assumption lets you predict the answer before reading the choices. Practice spotting the conclusion word — 'therefore,' 'thus,' 'hence,' 'so' — and the premise indicators — 'because,' 'since,' 'given that.' On hard questions, the conclusion is often buried mid-stimulus or restated in complex language.