GMAT® Boldface Questions: A Complete Guide
If you've been drilling Critical Reasoning, you may have noticed the question type that looks different from the rest. Most CR questions hand you a short argument and ask you to do something with it: find the assumption, strengthen it, weaken it, etc. A boldface question prints two of the argument's sentences in bold and asks something different: what does each of these do for the argument?
It makes sense to file it away as one more type to collect, one more strategy for the list. And to be fair, these show up less often than strengthen or weaken questions, so they're easy to treat as a minor question type. These questions test whether you can see an argument's structure, though: which sentence is the main conclusion, which statements support it, and how the pieces relate. That same skill supports nearly every other CR question, so the work you put in here carries over to the rest of Critical Reasoning. Identify the conclusion and the evidence, and you're probably about to get the question right. Lose track of that structure, and rereading the answer choices usually won't restore it.
This guide covers what boldface questions look like, the method for answering them, a worked example, and how to study them.
What a boldface question looks like
The argument runs a few sentences, and one or two of them appear in bold. The question stem asks which of the following best describes the roles the boldface portions play in the argument. The answer choices describe roles: the first is evidence, the second is the conclusion, and variations on that theme.
These are also called describe the role questions, and the two names usually refer to the same task. The bold text is the marker most of these questions share; the assignment is describing what each bolded portion contributes to the argument's structure. It's the only Critical Reasoning type that uses boldface, which makes it easy to spot. One caveat from our Critical Reasoning strategy guide: not every describe the role question has boldface text, but most do, so the stem is worth a glance even when nothing is bolded.
The algorithm controls how many of each CR subtype you'll see, so the exact mix varies from test to test. Boldface questions typically make up a small share of the roughly 10 to 13 Critical Reasoning questions on the verbal section.
The roles a boldface portion can play
Answer choices draw from a short list of roles, and knowing the list in advance makes the choices easier to sort:
- The main conclusion: the author's ultimate opinion, the claim the remaining reasoning is intended to support.
- An intermediate conclusion: a smaller claim the author argues for along the way, then uses as support for the main conclusion.
- Evidence: facts, data, or the stated opinion of others, offered in support of a conclusion.
- A consideration against the conclusion: a counterpoint the author acknowledges and then weighs or rebuts.
Classify each portion by its relationship to the author's ultimate opinion, not by its wording alone. The same sentence could function as evidence in one argument and as a conclusion in another. That's why the method starts with the conclusion: it gives each label a clear reference.
The method: conclusion first
Step 1: Find the main conclusion. This is the author's ultimate opinion, the claim the remaining reasoning is intended to support. It often shows up in the first or last sentence, but it can sit in the middle. Opinion language helps: claims with words like should, probably, or therefore are more likely to be conclusions than facts are.
Step 2: Classify each boldface portion against that conclusion. Ask what each one does, and whether the author is inferring the portion from earlier evidence or reporting it as given. An inferred claim is usually a conclusion, often an intermediate one. A reported fact is evidence. Weigh each portion against the main conclusion too: does it support the main conclusion, support something that supports it, or weigh against any of those?
Step 3: Eliminate in two passes. Go through all five choices once, removing anything that's clearly wrong without pausing on the long, confusing ones. Then spend your remaining time on the two or three that survive. Reading a long, confusing choice slowly before checking the obvious eliminations can consume minutes without getting you closer to the answer.
The city's plan to widen the highway will probably not relieve congestion. Nearby towns that widened highways in the past decade saw congestion return to earlier levels within two years. Widening a highway, then, does not by itself reduce congestion for long. Traffic in our city is projected to grow as fast as it did in those towns, so the widened lanes are likely to fill just as theirs did.
Which of the following best describes the roles the two boldface portions play in the argument?
(A) The first is evidence supporting an intermediate conclusion; the second is that intermediate conclusion, offered in support of the argument's main conclusion.
(B) The first is the main conclusion the argument defends; the second is new evidence supporting it.
(C) The first is an intermediate conclusion; the second is evidence that weakens it.
(D) The first is a claim the argument sets out to disprove; the second is the argument's main conclusion.
(E) The first is background information unrelated to the argument's conclusion; the second restates that conclusion.
Try this one before reading on.
Worked solution
The main conclusion is the first sentence: the author's opinion that the city's widening plan will probably not relieve congestion. The remaining sentences support or develop that claim.
Now classify the first boldface portion. The nearby-towns pattern is information the author reports, not a claim the author argues for. It's evidence. The second portion opens with the word then, which marks the author's inference from that pattern, and an inference drawn from reported evidence is a conclusion. It isn't the main one, though, since the main conclusion is about this city's plan. The second portion is an intermediate conclusion, and the argument uses it, along with the traffic projection in the last sentence, to support the main conclusion.
That's answer choice (A): the first is evidence supporting an intermediate conclusion, and the second is that intermediate conclusion, offered in support of the main conclusion.
Each wrong choice mislabels the relationship in a different way, and the errors repeat across boldface questions, so they're worth a moment. (B) calls the first portion the main conclusion, but the main conclusion is the claim about this city's plan, and the nearby-towns pattern is about other towns entirely. (C) reverses the relationship between the two portions. (D) says the argument sets out to disprove the nearby-towns pattern, when the argument relies on it. (E) calls the second portion a restatement of the main conclusion, but a general claim about highways and a prediction about this city's plan are two different claims with two different roles.
The wording trap
Boldface answer choices carry technical language: intermediate conclusion, consideration, the role each portion plays. The choices are written so that a close-but-wrong classification sounds as confident as the right one, which is how trap answers work throughout the verbal section, and the wording can be difficult to sort quickly. Two habits help.
The first is ordering. Name the conclusion and classify both portions before you read a single answer choice, so you're matching labels you've already filled in. The second is review depth. When a boldface question goes wrong, tie the explanation to the strategy: why the right role is right, and why each wrong label is wrong. That habit, which we cover in our guide to reviewing practice tests, can help you recognize the same mislabeling the next time it appears.
When to guess and move on
If you can't find the conclusion, or you're confused about which sentence it is, make a quick guess and move on. Classifying the portions without the main conclusion is unreliable, and the time it uses is better spent on questions where the conclusion is clear. The let-go decision applies to question types, not just to individual questions: knowing your exit condition in advance protects the time the rest of the section needs. Our timing strategy guide covers pacing for the verbal section.
How to study boldface questions
Study them the way you'd study any CR subtype, with two adjustments.
First, use official questions. The roles vocabulary and the structure of the answer choices follow a consistent style, and third-party questions can use different role labels or answer-choice patterns. The Official Guide's Critical Reasoning set includes boldface questions, so drill them there. Our guide to using the Official Guide effectively covers how to build a review habit around those questions.
Second, drill the type in isolation before mixing it in. Name your job before each question: find the main conclusion, classify both portions against it, eliminate in two passes. A one-page study sheet or flashcard listing the CR subtypes (assumption, boldface, strengthen, weaken, etc.) can help keep the strategies separate; test yourself on each type's job until you can name it without pausing. Then mix the subtypes together so the identifying step gets practice too. Our error log guide covers how to track which subtypes are costing you points without the spreadsheet overhead.
Frequently asked questions
What are boldface questions on the GMAT®?
Boldface questions are Critical Reasoning questions in which one or two sentences of the argument are printed in bold. The task is to describe the role each bolded portion plays, such as evidence, main conclusion, or intermediate conclusion. Most describe the role questions use boldface, and the two names usually refer to the same task.
Are boldface questions on the GMAT® Focus Edition?
Yes. Describe the role (boldface) questions are part of Critical Reasoning on the GMAT® Focus Edition, alongside assumption, strengthen and weaken, evaluate, inference, explain, and flaw questions.
How many boldface questions are on the GMAT®?
The algorithm controls the mix of CR subtypes, and the exact count varies from test to test. Boldface questions typically make up a small share of the roughly 10 to 13 Critical Reasoning questions on the verbal section.
What roles can the boldface portions play?
The common roles are main conclusion, intermediate conclusion, evidence, and consideration against the conclusion. Each boldface portion gets its own role, and the same argument can use two different roles for its two bolded portions.
What is an intermediate conclusion?
An intermediate conclusion is a claim the author argues for from earlier evidence and then uses as support for the main conclusion. It functions as the conclusion for one part of the argument and as evidence for the main conclusion, which can make it easy to mislabel.
What should I do if I can't find the conclusion on a boldface question?
Make a quick guess and move on. Classifying the portions without the main conclusion is unreliable, and the time is better spent on questions where the conclusion is clear.
Want to learn even more?
Our podcast covers Critical Reasoning strategy in detail, including the episode "Critical Reasoning: Quiz, Strategies, and Keys to Success," which walks through describe the role questions and the rest of the CR types. You can listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
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