Weakening Questions Tips Needed! :(

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• 3 Likes

  If Glory then Guts Member

  August 2022 175 karma

  That's a bit weird since weaken (like all question types in LR to a degree) is only superficially different from strengthen. I would say try to identify what you think it is that is making you feel confident in strengthen questions. That will carry over to weaken questions. How about your flaw question type? If you're struggling there as well, it may mean that you're limiting your critical thinking about an argument in only one direction. You might be subconsciously starting from a point of "how do I make this argument better" rather than a more neutral state. Some traps to be wary of in weaken questions, as well as in flaws, are AC's that look attractive but crucially circumvent the bad or flawed reasoning structure. You can also think about weaken questions as one step removed from necessary assumption questions. What I mean is that the correct AC that hurts, if not ruins, the argument is just a necessary assumption that the test writers have negated for you.
• 4 Likes

  Steven_B-1 Member

  August 2022 794 karma

  Weakening questions are my absolutely weakness (pun intended).

  My new strategy, and im not kidding here, is to skip them and leave them for last. I did this on my recent August take and it allowed me to gain a psychological boost because once i tackle them at the end of the section, I know that I've done the rest of the exam and worst case scenario, I'll just get this one wrong. This to me is better than trying to do the question, wasting 2-3 minutes and having a huge probability of getting it wrong anyway.

  So that's my first tip but you'll have to see whether skipping works for you. It just happens to work for me.

  Now as to how to tackle these questions. I too found that my strengthen accuracy was about at 90% while my weaken accuracy was at like 70%.

  I think the first difficulty is that on strengthen questions, you know exactly what the conclusion you're trying to strengthen is. Whereas on weaken questions, you're mind needs to take an additonal step by negating the given conclusion. So for example, if the conclusion is that X causes Y, to strengthen we would just be looking for anything that strengthens X causes Y. But, if its a weaken question, it can be a little more mentally complicated because you need to take the extra step of negating the conclusion, which may seem insignificant but may lead to confusion. I know that at least for me, sometimes I'll have trouble focusing on exactly what the task at hand is.

  All of this to say that the first step i take now is identifying the conclusion and then repeating at least 3 times in my head exactly what I am trying to weaken. This is to avoid any mental confusion.

  Second, i think what has helped me as of late is being hyper critical with the answer choices. I know we're supposed to be hyper critical on every single question but i find that with weakening, the bar is much higher. Its difficult to get to the AC by just going through the ACs and hoping that one speaks to you. So I go slower on purpose. I take the AC, mentally plug it back into the stimulus and really think about the consequences of the statement. Does it weaken all by ITSELF or do i find myself making a whole buch of assumptions to make the answer work.

  Third and last, do not work for the answer, let the answer work for you. This ties in with the idea above about not making a bunch of assumptions to make an answer fit. I struggled with weaken for so long (and still struggle with the hard weaken questions) because I would find myself making assumptions and forcing answers to work. This is wrong! The answer needs to work all by itself and occassionally, it will require a small common sense assumption. But in general, the answer choice has to do the work !

  Im not sure if this rant will help but at the very least I commiserate with your struggle. I think weaken questions are the toughest LSAT questions by far.
• 2 Likes

  WinningHere Member

  August 2022 417 karma

  The number one way to weaken on the LSAT is by an alternate explanation answer choice, or so I’ve been told. Look for strong answers and as above shouldn’t have to make assumptions.
• 1 Like

  5Fennel LSAT Member

  August 2022 192 karma

  I’d suggest for weakening questions (as well as all LR argument questions), read actively with the intention and goal of inferring assumptions in the argument. To weaken, think of something that would make the assumption false. To strengthen, think of something that would make the assumption true. To identity a flaw in an argument, typically there is an unsupported assumption. With this framework, you can take any passage and convert it to any other LR question type too.
• 2 Likes

  GoTribe21 Member

  August 2022 62 karma

  Commenting to stay on this thread because I also suck at weakening questions
• 1 Like

  shan_crow-1 Member

  August 2022 13 karma

  You're not alone. It's amazing how differently I score between strengthening and weakening questions despite the fact that they are similar to one another.
• 1 Like

  AASHCRAFT.1997-1 Core Member

  August 2022 22 karma

  I also struggle with weakening questions by a large margin vs other question types. The way I view it is the following:

  I've gotten to the point where even if I don't clearly see the argument in LR, for question types besides weaken and RRE, I can use intuition or process of elimination to identify the correct answer. These questions require you to take one step towards finding the right answer. You find the flaw and circle the answer that matches what you found. This is helpful because if you can't find the flaw, you can work backwards from the answers.

  But for weakening, you have to understand the flaw before you can begin thinking about what may magnify that flaw. It is tough to work backwards with these questions because there are multiple identification steps.

  I've found that my inability to master weakening questions is related to my inability to truly identify the flaw in every argument. While working on this has mostly helped for weakening questions, it's also helped in most other question types.
  This may be unique to me, but I hope this helps!
• 2 Likes

  r.anger1 Core Member

  August 2022 86 karma

  as everyone above said, to weaken you need to identify the assumptions the argument makes. when looking at the AC, i would say to myself, "the conclusion is wrong, because ..." and then fill in the gap with the AC. maybe if you try framing weaken questions in your mind as just the reverse of strengthen questions, remembering that you do well with strengthen questions, you can trick your mind into thinking you know exactly how to attack weaken questions. it could totally be a mental block that messes you up on weaken questions because you know you've struggled with it in the past. instead, approach it with confidence. if you need to skip, skip it and come back to it at the end.
• prelawtojd Live Member

  September 2022 52 karma

  Thank you everyone for these helpful tips!