Trying to clear up my mind before the big day
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1. Conclusion (most accurately expresses the conclusion)
- Usual structure: contextual + HOWEVER, point + supporting premises
- In this case, it helps to paraphrase the sentence following 'however' (turning point)
ex) Some farmers reported that pesticide A was not effective to kill B. However, they are mistaken. The method they used to measure the effectiveness was completely wrong blah blah
- Answer: Some farmers are mistaken with the effectiveness of the pesticide A.
2. MBT
- It has to be TRUE. so, when the answer choices contain a somewhat extreme word such as 'All', 'any', 'never', 'impossible'
it's helpful to check them. They might be too broad or too specific or too dramatic.
- Sometimes you just need to diagram with all the conditionals and find the one matches with that conditionals. In this case, valid arguments courses are just great. Focus on the relationship with 'All','any','Every' and 'most', 'some', 'few'.
- And mind the direction of the conditional arrows! Sometimes answers with reversed arrows seem so tempting.
3. MBF
- It has to be FALSE. so usually I think this type of question has quite complex conditionals and the answer is just lying in somewhere between these complex arrows. Usually I think the wrong answers have either different scope or reversed directions. So in this case, we don't know if this will be true or not.(CBT/CBF).
- But the right answer(MBF) will negate one of the arrows outright.
ex) All the farmers in the western village have both cows and cats.
- Answer: Jake, a farmer in the western village, doesn't have cows. (something like that...)
4. FLAW
- There are too many flaw questions. (duh...)
- The answer choices describe what the argument did (something wrong)/didn't (do something he/she supposed to do to make a valid argument)
- It really helps if we can see the flaw before we move on to the answer choices.
- I think "Correlations->Causation" and "Sufficient->Necessary(or the other way around)" are the two popular types.
- And I also saw many "source attack", "pretending it is the only way and there is no other way", "I only see what I want to see(only mentions about the benefits or negatives", "unrepresentative sample", "It's either A or /A (no middle ground)", "from capability or probability to definiteness (she is capable of doing it so she will do it)" etc.
- When the answer choices describe something in categorical terms with lots of referential talks, it is always helpful to match each phrases with the ones in the argument.
Not sure if this would be helpful but...
I guess so far this is what I've learned and felt. It would be great if you guys can share some more!