Using negation test for Strengthen Q AC's?

Comments

• youbbyun Alum Member

  January 2019 1755 karma

  just wanted to bump this. does anyone else try/use the negation test for strengthen Q's?
• 1 Like

  keets993 Alum Member ⭐ ⏰ 🍌

  January 2019 6050 karma

  I personally wouldn't recommend it because I noticed myself doing this for strengthen questions and it was because I was so used to do it for NA questions. It wasn't helpful at all, infact it was a bad habit, and it's because the nature of support for the two questions is different.

  With strengthen questions, our support exists outside of the argument given. Think of a game of jenga, with strengthen questions, you would be actually adding an extra piece to the structure instead of pulling one out. You'd be giving it support. The question stem even specifically states "which one of the following IF true" which means that we have to assume that it is true.

  Whereas, with NA questions, our NA already exists within the argument made. That's why negating answer choices (properly) is such a powerful tool because negating the assumption that already exists within our argument would wreck the argument. It's like taking out a critical support piece in that jenga structure, without it, the entire thing would fall apart. We're trying to figure out something that MUST be true in the argument given, whereas with strengthen, it's something that doesn't have to be true... but if it were true, it would strengthen.

  So...it might work for a question or two, I'm not sure, but I wouldn't recommend it as a reliable strategy for tough strengthen questions. Let me know if that makes sense
• youbbyun Alum Member

  January 2019 1755 karma

  @keets993
  thanks for following up.

  I think though that a lot of strengthen Q's do function similar to NA questions, where you explicitly bring out an assumption the argument made to strengthen the argument.

  this is similar to weaken questions, where often you attack an assumption that the argument makes.

  so i think in those scenarios, a negation test may actually work.

  also, for a lot of "defender" right answer choices, it's often very difficult to prephrase them because they can seem so random. so it's very easy to just read that answer choice and regard that as irrelevant.

  For example, an argument of "Joe will win basketball Most Valuable Player next year because he's the league leader in rebounds."

  A strengthen answer choice could be: "Joe is currently not doing illegal drugs and there will be no drug test next year."

  This answer choice seems so random and irrelevant (stimulus talks about rebounds and basketball, this AC talks about drugs?!) that it's easy to overlook.

  But it actually serves as a defender right AC, and a negation test can be used to help it.

  BC if he were doing illegal drugs and were caught, then maybe he's less likely to win basketball Most valuable Player.

  Does that make sense? Would love any feedback or suggestions. Thanks!
• 1 Like

  redshift Alum Member

  January 2019 edited January 2019 261 karma

  You can use the negation test for some strengthen/weaken questions. In fact, strengthen and weaken questions are VERY similar to necessary assumption questions, as both highlight flaws in the stimulus.

  That being said, it doesn't work all the time, and the primary highlight of the negation test for necessary assumption questions is that it can be applied, correctly, to ALL necessary assumption answer choices. When you apply it to strengthen/weaken questions, you run the risk of negating an answer choice, finding that it doesn't destroy the conclusion, and not selecting it, when in fact while it doesn't destroy the conclusion, it IS a weakener. This problem gets even more messy when you realize that test writers often put in trap answer choices that ARE correct answer choices for necessary assumption questions, but that aren't the correct answer for strengthen/weaken questions.

  For example.

  Suppose a strengthen stimulus says: José is good at basketball. Therefore, he must be tall.

  Now let's look at two potential answer choices.

  (A) Some people who are good at basketball are tall.
  (B) Most people who are good at basketball are tall.

  If we apply the negation test, we'd pick (A). This is because if no people who are good at basketball are tall, then the conclusion is destroyed.

  Yet, this would be the wrong answer for this particular question. This is because, intuitively speaking, most people who are good at basketball being tall certainly seems to strengthen the stimulus more than some people being good at basketball being tall.

  However, were we to negate (B), we'd get: Less than 50% of people who are good at basketball are tall. This doesn't destroy our conclusion, because José could be in the other 50% of people who are good at basketball AND are tall. So the negation test doesn't work for (B), while it works for (A), and yet, (B) is the correct answer for this strengthening question.

  The key reason we don't want to apply the negation test to strengthen/weaken questions has to do with the subtle logical difference between the two question types. In strengthen/weaken questions, we're dealing with inferential likelihood, while in necessary assumption questions, we're dealing with logical validity. What works for one type of question doesn't always work for another, and during the test, you don't want to employ a weak tool for question types that don't warrant it.
• youbbyun Alum Member

  January 2019 1755 karma

  @redshift

  Yes i agree with you. i guess what i'm trying to say is that i'm in favor of adding the "negation test" as one of our "tools" in our "tool box" of doing strengthening questions.

  obviously, for very easy strengthen questions, the right answer choice is obvious. these questions are often where the right AC just makes the premises much more relevant to the conclusion.

  but for tough strengthen questions (often in the form of a "defender of alternative explanation" right answer choices), the right answer choice can be much more subtle, and when nothing is sticking out as a right AC, using the negation test can be one way to try to get clearer insight into the answer choices (and to find if any of them actually play a defender role against an alternative explanation).
• redshift Alum Member

  January 2019 261 karma

  I mean, if it works for you then do it. Nobody can tell you what methods work best for you. All I can say is that in my experience, the toughest strengthen/weaken questions have been ones where the negation test doesn't work. Specifically, a lot of really tough strengthen/weaken questions will use modifiers like "Some, Most, etc." and the negation test can really F you up on those answer choices if you rely on it too heavily.

  But again, it's your test, and ultimately it's your score. If you feel comfortable adding the negation test to your toolkit for strengthen/weaken questions, then do it. But you should do so knowing that it may not work on the toughest strengthen/weaken questions, and is far from foolproof.