Question: An instructor presented two paintings to a class. She said that the first had hung in prestigious museums but the second was produced by an unknown amateur. Each student was asked which painting was better. Everyone selected the first. The instructor later presented the same two paintings in the same order to a different class. This time she said that the first was produced by an unknown amateur but the second had hung in prestigious museums. In this class, everyone said that the second painting was better.

The statements above, if true, most strongly support which one of the following?

(A) Most of the students would not like any work of art that they believed to have been produced by an unknown amateur.
(B) None of the claims that the instructor made about the paintings was true.
(C) Each of the students would like most of the paintings hanging in any prestigious museum.
(D) In judging the paintings, some of the students were affected by what they had been told about the history of the paintings.
(E) Had the instructor presented the paintings without telling the students anything about them, almost all of the students would have judged them to be roughly equal in artistic worth.

Answer: D
Explanation: On the GMAT's critical reasoning portion, analytical and critical thinking abilities are assessed. To answer clearly, a person must possess strong cognitive abilities.

A: Incorrect
It is an incorrect choice. A is taking a long leap of faith because it has used the phrase “any work of art”. But any work of art is not discussed in the passage.

B: Incorrect
It is the wrong choice. It cannot be said that the claims given about the paintings were false. They can also be true. It is not given in the passage.

C: Incorrect
It is an incorrect choice. It is not the case that the students will always like all the paintings in a prestigious museum. But the point of the passage is that the student will show that they like the painting because it has been kept in the museum because of its historical significance.

D: Correct
It is the correct answer. Since the students were interested in determining the quality of the work based on factors other than the painter's skill alone, the right response is choice D. This is because the students wanted to know the history of the painting. The students knew that a painting had been kept in a museum so they started acting as if they liked it.

E: Incorrect
It is an incorrect answer. Even if the teacher had not told them anything about the painting, it is not always the case that the students would judge them to have equal artistic worth. But if the teacher had not told them anything about the paintings then the students would judge them without having any bias in their mind.

“An instructor presented two paintings to a class. She said that the f” – is a GMAT Critical question. To answer the question, a candidate can either find a piece of evidence that would weaken the argument or have logical flaws in the argument. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. This topic requires candidates to find the argument's strengths and weaknesses or the logical flaw in the argument. The GMAT CR section contains 10 -13 GMAT critical reasoning questions out of 36 GMAT verbal questions.

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