Sample · 04-Critical Thinking
Chapter 4 Overview
Bocconi Online Test · CHAPTER 4: Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking contributes 9 of the 50 questions. It tests whether you can draw conclusions strictly from the information given, without adding assumptions of your own. There are two kinds of question. In the first, you are given data or rules and must decide which statement must be true or false. In the second, you read a short passage and then judge whether a following assertion is true, false, or impossible to determine from the passage alone. Note the scoring: questions with only three options (the true / false / cannot-be-determined kind) carry a slightly larger penalty for a wrong answer, so treat "cannot be determined" as a real, and often correct, choice.
4.1 The Two Question Types
4.1 The Two Question Types
The golden rule for the whole section is this: use only what you are told. A statement is "true" only if the given information forces it to be true, and "false" only if the information forces it to be false. If the information is simply silent on the matter, the answer is "cannot be determined" — even if the statement sounds plausible or is true in the real world.
📋 How to handle each type
| Type | What to do |
|---|---|
| Data and statements (5 options) | Build the full picture the rules force, then test each statement against it |
| Passage and assertion (3 options) | Ask: does the passage force the assertion true, force it false, or leave it open? |
⚠️ Common traps
The most frequent error is importing outside knowledge or a hidden assumption. A claim can be reasonable, or even correct in reality, yet still be "cannot be determined" if the passage does not support it. Watch also for statements that reverse a conditional (confusing "if A then B" with "if B then A") and for words like "all," "only," and "never" that overstate what the data allow.
Worked Example — Testing an assertion
Passage: "The report says sales rose after the new logo was introduced. It does not examine any other change made at the same time."
Assertion: "The new logo caused the rise in sales."
Working: Sales rose after the logo, but the passage rules out no other cause, so causation is not established. The answer is "cannot be determined."
📋 Logic techniques on the real Bocconi test
| Puzzle type | How to crack it |
|---|---|
| Truth-tellers and liars | Look for two statements that directly contradict each other — exactly one of them must be the lie. If only one person lies, everyone else is truthful; build the scenario from their true statements. |
| Necessary vs sufficient | "A is sufficient for B" means A → B; "A is necessary for B" means B → A. Being divisible by 10 is sufficient for being a multiple of 5, but not necessary. Do not confuse a conditional with its reverse. |
| Family / relation chains | Follow the relations step by step. "Only children of X are…", "X's only children are…" set hard limits — anyone outside that list is excluded. |
| "At least one" (pigeonhole) | Combine a count with a limit. If girls \( \ge 6 \) out of 10 and only 4 people are adults, then at least \( 6-4=2 \) girls are not adults. |
| Ordering / tournament deduction | Turn each clue into an inequality or a fixed position, chain them, and eliminate options that violate any clue. |
| Seating with "no one in their own place" (derangement) | Track who took whose seat; the constraint that nobody sits in their own seat usually forces the remaining assignments. |
Worked Example — Liars & necessary/sufficient
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