GMAT Verbal Reasoning Practice Test 1

Kylie’s stomachache could have been caused by any number of factors other than the food at Joe’s. Perhaps she ate or drank something that evening that did not agree with her. Perhaps she was nervous or anxious about something and that caused her stomach to be upset. Perhaps she caught the stomach flu. Reversing causation is not possible, so choice B is incorrect. The argument does not necessarily assume she wouldn’t have gotten sick eating the same food at Moe’s (choice C); the passage doesn’t say what she ate or whether she even could have eaten the same thing at Moe’s. The only assumption here is that she was sickened by the food at Joe’s. The argument does not specify the type of illness (choice D) or describe how long it lasted (choice E), but these are not the best criticisms of the argument. Knowing more about the kind of illness she had might help us rule out food poisoning or other food related illnesses, but the best criticism is clearly a.