Something I found to help me was first identifying the premises and conclusion. Then, I read the conclusion first and ask myself why that is. I answer this "why?" by reading the premise. Lastly, I add "and..." after the premise and continue to read each answer choice. The correct answer choice will work with the premises in the stimuli to bring about the conclusion.

example:

Shy adolescents often devote themselves totally to a hobby to help distract them from the loneliness brought on by their shyness. Sometimes they are able to become friends with others who share their hobby. But if they lose interest in that hobby, their loneliness may be exacerbated. So developing an all-consuming hobby is not a successful strategy for overcoming adolescent loneliness.

Conclusion: "developing an all-consuming hobby is not a successful strategy for overcoming adolescent loneliness."

Premise: "if they lose interest in that hobby, their loneliness may be exacerbated."

I would continue as follows:

"all consuming hobbies are not a successful strategy. why? because if they lose interest their loneliness may be exacerbated and..."

Then I would read through the answer choices. In this case the correct answer was:

"No successful strategy for overcoming adolescent loneliness ever intensifies that loneliness."

all together: "all consuming hobbies are not a successful strategy. why? because if they lose interest their loneliness may be exacerbated and no successful strategy for overcoming adolescent loneliness ever intensifies that loneliness"

If these premises are true, then the conclusion must also be true, and if you negate this answer choice, the support is not destroyed.

This helped me go from a 2/5 on my initial try to a 5/5 on blind review. I hope someone finds this helpful!

@yesterdayseeker I believe it is because we can reasonably assume cats to be animals. This is very reasonable considering what we know about the world. I recommend you review the Assumptions - Tigers Argument and the Not all assumptions are equally reasonable lessons for a better explanation!

5/5 feeling epic