this is where i get confused. answer E strenghtens the conclusion but when I apply the same to weakening, I get it wrong. It expects me to tackle the premise instead of the conclusion.
Is anyone else not receiving their timing? It just says 00:00 -(00:55), and I definitely took longer than 0 seconds. It's happened on this one and two other "You Try" questions.
@JoshGaller same I just thought I was going fast this time and was under the time but you actually brought up a good point I have the same time for mine as well?
I, for some reason, am having a better time with strengthen questions than with weakening Qs. Like I can't seem to switch my brain to think "okay find something to weaken this argument"...nonetheless got this one right.
I've gotten all of these wrong so far in this section and I feel so defeated, can anyone who has been getting them right give me some advice on to how to correctly answer strengthen and weaken questions?
@CherishWilliams I don't know if this helps but I have found that reading outside of studying is super beneficial for my reading comprehension. I am genuinely never without a book- whether it is for pleasure or purely educational.
I understand why E is correct. But doesn't D deny an alternative hypothesis- that the unhealthy food leads to a long life. in some strange world. by saying that there are people who eat unhealthy food and still dont live past 100.
I also know that the premise states that the food stated leads to a shortened life spans. but I still felt like r
Anyone else quick to eliminate the answer choices that are definitely wrong, but then you stare at the remaining one (the correct answer) and second-guess it for a minute?
I do not find all of these questions easy, but let me explain why this one should be easy to break down.
We are looking to strengthen the argument here. The argument is that somehow, it's likely that these long-lived individuals are genetically disposed to long lives.
Immediately, you can rule out A-D. Not a single thing mentions genes, and of course, an alternate explanation WEAKENS. Then follows E, which not only very clearly mentions genes (a sibling), but it is the ONLY answer choice that has ANYTHING to do with the argument, that argument being related to genetic disposal.
@generallypreparedforthings This is how I looked at it too! All the other answers seemed to weaken/do nothing for the argument because they had nothing to do with the genetic portion.
I eliminated B and C because the stim groups together all of the unhealthy life styles into one "indicator." whereas B and C try to parse out the indicator without any support from the stimulus. Am I thinking right here?
@mason! They also say some do XYZ. The stimmy says MOST do ABC. Some can still do XYZ and most can still do ABC, and you can still come to the same conclusion. Also, they're still doing some amount of unhealthy, lifespan-shortening activities. I think they're just trying to be tricky/bait answers.
I spend way too long trying to figure out what unrelated answers are trying to say and vainly trying to connect them to the answer. I don't know why B and C were different answer choices (probably a lazy test writer) and I was sure that I had misunderstood something. Why would the test writers give us two answer choices where one basically said 'I have 12' and the other said 'I have a dozen' when the question was "what is your favorite color?"
To distract you! Before you even read the answer choices, have in the back of your head that your opinion is officially "people live long because of genetics", because this is the conclusion that you are assigned to strengthen. B and C are meant to confuse you and make you think you are pursuing an answer choice that relates to habits, and since they are mirror images of each other, it can be an easy but dangerous assumption to think that one must be correct. In reality, only one answer choice here even remotely addresses the conclusion you want to strengthen
I was too. I watch a lesson on WSE question type, and it helped a lot. Anytime I am struggling with a question type, I stop either in the middle or at the end of the lesson and watch a lesson video to help break down the questions more.
-A keyword to always lookout for is "who." It will often follow a group, such as centenarians, to narrow down the subset. If it narrows it down to a group that is different than what appears in the passage, then it is most likely a wrong answer choice.
-Look for ambiguity. While the question didn't incorporate this, "large proportion" is an ambiguous amount, can't be pinned down. Always good to identify places where it is ambiguous.
I got the answer right because the other answer choices were clearly wrong. However, I struggled with (e) because siblings don't just share genetics, they also share environments. In other words, perhaps there are learned behaviors siblings share that help them live longer instead of just biology.
What was helpful was to think about the subsets. (E) specifically refers to nearly all centenarians, and the stimulus discusses a "large proportion" of centenarians with unhealthy lives. There is likely an overlap between both subsets, so even centenarians that have unhealthy lifestyles often have siblings who are centenarians, and lifestyle can't explain that.
(D) was a really fun answer choice to rigorously eliminate in BR. Really fun wrong answer choice. “Some” people who don’t live to see 100 also live like boozy, chain-smoking, bacon-wrapped cheeseburgers on mobility scooters. “Some.” Some of the time—just sometimes—these conditions sufficiently preclude the consequent of living to 100 years. Let’s be charitable here. It still certainly seems that we can’t assume that it would be most of the time. Merry Christmas!
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61 comments
this is where i get confused. answer E strenghtens the conclusion but when I apply the same to weakening, I get it wrong. It expects me to tackle the premise instead of the conclusion.
strengthening is definitely easier than weakening
@Disney I'm the opposite, I find that weakening is way easier than strengthening.
Is anyone else not receiving their timing? It just says 00:00 -(00:55), and I definitely took longer than 0 seconds. It's happened on this one and two other "You Try" questions.
@JoshGaller same I just thought I was going fast this time and was under the time but you actually brought up a good point I have the same time for mine as well?
@JoshGaller same
I, for some reason, am having a better time with strengthen questions than with weakening Qs. Like I can't seem to switch my brain to think "okay find something to weaken this argument"...nonetheless got this one right.
Yasssss no seconds over
1/3 chat #lawtina
I've gotten all of these wrong so far in this section and I feel so defeated, can anyone who has been getting them right give me some advice on to how to correctly answer strengthen and weaken questions?
@aidamaeee04 i'm the same way....but i have started asking chatgpt why I got it wrong and what do i need to look for, it has kind of helped.
@KeziaH19 same lolllll
I have to read the answer choices and the stim multiple times for it to click. How do I fix this?
@CherishWilliams I don't know if this helps but I have found that reading outside of studying is super beneficial for my reading comprehension. I am genuinely never without a book- whether it is for pleasure or purely educational.
Almost had me between D and E but looking at the subject again between the two it was clear which one was right
I understand why E is correct. But doesn't D deny an alternative hypothesis- that the unhealthy food leads to a long life. in some strange world. by saying that there are people who eat unhealthy food and still dont live past 100.
I also know that the premise states that the food stated leads to a shortened life spans. but I still felt like r
Wow, so much more straight forward than the previous question.
Anyone else quick to eliminate the answer choices that are definitely wrong, but then you stare at the remaining one (the correct answer) and second-guess it for a minute?
I do not find all of these questions easy, but let me explain why this one should be easy to break down.
We are looking to strengthen the argument here. The argument is that somehow, it's likely that these long-lived individuals are genetically disposed to long lives.
Immediately, you can rule out A-D. Not a single thing mentions genes, and of course, an alternate explanation WEAKENS. Then follows E, which not only very clearly mentions genes (a sibling), but it is the ONLY answer choice that has ANYTHING to do with the argument, that argument being related to genetic disposal.
@generallypreparedforthings That was my reasoning for this question as well.
@generallypreparedforthings This is how I looked at it too! All the other answers seemed to weaken/do nothing for the argument because they had nothing to do with the genetic portion.
I eliminated B and C because the stim groups together all of the unhealthy life styles into one "indicator." whereas B and C try to parse out the indicator without any support from the stimulus. Am I thinking right here?
@mason! me too
@mason! They also say some do XYZ. The stimmy says MOST do ABC. Some can still do XYZ and most can still do ABC, and you can still come to the same conclusion. Also, they're still doing some amount of unhealthy, lifespan-shortening activities. I think they're just trying to be tricky/bait answers.
#gotitin53seconds
I spend way too long trying to figure out what unrelated answers are trying to say and vainly trying to connect them to the answer. I don't know why B and C were different answer choices (probably a lazy test writer) and I was sure that I had misunderstood something. Why would the test writers give us two answer choices where one basically said 'I have 12' and the other said 'I have a dozen' when the question was "what is your favorite color?"
To distract you! Before you even read the answer choices, have in the back of your head that your opinion is officially "people live long because of genetics", because this is the conclusion that you are assigned to strengthen. B and C are meant to confuse you and make you think you are pursuing an answer choice that relates to habits, and since they are mirror images of each other, it can be an easy but dangerous assumption to think that one must be correct. In reality, only one answer choice here even remotely addresses the conclusion you want to strengthen
I FINALLY GOT ONE RIGHT LETS GOOOO (its 2 star difficulty)
3 for 3 chat ….. LFG on our Elle Woods grind… 😤
24 seconds lets goo
I am so understanding this section of WSE finally. I was on a bad streak.
Please tell me that I'm not the only one struggling with this chapter rip
I was too. I watch a lesson on WSE question type, and it helped a lot. Anytime I am struggling with a question type, I stop either in the middle or at the end of the lesson and watch a lesson video to help break down the questions more.
I hope this helps you too! <3
My takeaways:
-A keyword to always lookout for is "who." It will often follow a group, such as centenarians, to narrow down the subset. If it narrows it down to a group that is different than what appears in the passage, then it is most likely a wrong answer choice.
-Look for ambiguity. While the question didn't incorporate this, "large proportion" is an ambiguous amount, can't be pinned down. Always good to identify places where it is ambiguous.
I finally got one right. What a feeling haha
I got the answer right because the other answer choices were clearly wrong. However, I struggled with (e) because siblings don't just share genetics, they also share environments. In other words, perhaps there are learned behaviors siblings share that help them live longer instead of just biology.
What was helpful was to think about the subsets. (E) specifically refers to nearly all centenarians, and the stimulus discusses a "large proportion" of centenarians with unhealthy lives. There is likely an overlap between both subsets, so even centenarians that have unhealthy lifestyles often have siblings who are centenarians, and lifestyle can't explain that.
(D) was a really fun answer choice to rigorously eliminate in BR. Really fun wrong answer choice. “Some” people who don’t live to see 100 also live like boozy, chain-smoking, bacon-wrapped cheeseburgers on mobility scooters. “Some.” Some of the time—just sometimes—these conditions sufficiently preclude the consequent of living to 100 years. Let’s be charitable here. It still certainly seems that we can’t assume that it would be most of the time. Merry Christmas!