LR approach

jeffsimo28

Hoping someone has some advice on this for me. When JY goes over strengthen/weaken questions on LR, he identifies the conclusion and looks for an answer choice that either provides more support for or weakens support that the premises provide for the conclusion. I've been trying to practice answering questions in under 1 minute/20 seconds, and to do this I feel that I can use this approach pretty successfully in general. In general, should I try to come up with an assumption of the argument before I approach the questions? Or would having an assumption in my mind potentially distract me from thoroughly examining the answer choices?

Appreciate any suggestions!
Jeff

tanes256

@jeffsimo28 you definitely want to have an assumption in your head, prephrase. Just don't get set on that assumption being one of the AC. It may or may not be an AC. If you haven't already, watch the webinars on anticipating AC and Strengthen and Weaken questions. Good stuff!

tjphilbrick

yeah definitely watch the webinar on Strengthen/Weaken strategies, it is the best resource for mastering those question types

Cant Get Right

I actually don't like prephrasing on Strengthen/Weaken questions. To me, these are the hardest question types on the whole test and it's important to go into the answer choices with an open mind. I focus on understanding the argument and "seeing" the space between the premises and conclusion. From there, I consider each AC on its own merit and on how it interplays with the argument rather than on how well it matches the one possibility I've identified up front. There's a million different ways to Strengthen/Weaken an argument, and when I try to prephrase, I always get it wrong which makes me overlook the right answer. By giving each AC full consideration, I avoid this. On easy questions, this process isn't as important (although I still think it's a better approach). If they throw you a curvebreaker though, you're going to be in trouble if your process is to try and predict the right answer up front.

tanes256

@Cant Get Right said:

There's a million different ways to Strengthen/Weaken an argument, and when I try to prephrase, I always get it wrong which makes me overlook the right answer. By giving each AC full consideration, I avoid this. On easy questions, this process isn't as important (although I still think it's a better approach). If they throw you a curvebreaker though, you're going to be in trouble if you're process is to try and predict the right answer up front.

True!