Does anyone have a strategy sheet for the different types of LR questions?

grant.ashley114 · August 23

If anyone could share their strategy sheet for Logical Reasoning question types, it would be greatly appreciated.

7Sage has a really helpful one in their Reading Comprehension curriculum, but I haven't found one for LR.

Thanks!

ntrepanier5 · August 23

There's this post from a while back that kinda collectively compiled what you're looking for:
https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/259/cheat-sheet-lr-question-types

Here's my master list of Flaws:
One. Use of Evidence Error
a. General Lack of Relevant Evidence: “society is more polarized. But it has always been polarized so therefore it isn’t more polarized now.”
Example Answer: “The author cites irrelevant data.” “It uses inapplicable info . . .” “It fails to give any reason”

b. Internal Contradiction: “Everyone should join our club. After all, it’s an exclusive club.”
Example Answer: “bases a conclusion on claims that are inconsistent with each other” “the author makes irreconcilable presuppositions”

c. Exceptional Case/Overgeneralization: “That store scammed two of my friends, therefore it scams everyone.”
Example Answer: “supports a general claim on the basis of a single example”

d. Errors in Assessing the Force of Evidence
i. Lack of Evidence FOR=Position is False: “White House hasn’t offered any evidence they’ve struck a deal w the Chinese. Therefore, they haven’t”
Example Answer: “treats failure to prove a claim as constituting denial of that claim”

ii. Lack of Evidence AGAINST=Position is True: “No evidence v God=God exists”
Example Answer: “treating the failure to prove a claim to be false as if it is a demonstration of the truth of that claim”

iii. Some Evidence AGAINST=Position is False: “Historians: long Aztec drought. Author: but there was at least 1 year of heavy flooding, so there must not have been a drought.”
Example Answer: “it confuses weakening an argument in support of a given conclusion with proving the conclusion itself to be false”

iv. Some Evidence FOR=Position is True: “Defendant was in the general area when the robbery took place; therefore they’re guilty”
Example Answer: “the argument treats evidence showing mere plausibility as if it proves that the conclusion is in fact true”

e. Unproven v. Untrue
PT64 S3 #14: “Arnot’s argument is FALSE because it relies on a faulty assumption.” Flaw: you can legitimately say “Arnot’s premises fail to prove his conclusion, but that doesn’t mean we know his claim is false. That’s like saying “the FBI’s recent statistics do not prove that national crime levels have gone down under Joe Biden. Therefore, Pete Buttigieg’s claim to the contrary is false.”

Two. Ad Hominem Attack
Example Answer: “it is directed against the proponent of a claim rather than against the claim itself.” “The attack is directed against the person making the argument rather than directing it against the argument itself”

Three. Circular Reasoning
Eg “I must be telling the truth bc I’m not lying
Example Answer: “presupposes what it sets out to prove,” “it assumes what it is attempting to demonstrate”
PT82 S1 #22: Barter Systems
-Most common wrong answer on Flaw Questions

Four. Conditional Reasoning Error
a. Mistaken Negation

b. Mistaken Reversal: mistakes being sufficient to achieve a particular outcome for being required to achieve it”
Confuses NC for SC: “from the assertion that something is necessary to a given goal, the argument concludes that the thing is sufficient for its achievement”
Confuses SC for NC: “confuses a sufficient condition with a required condition”
Tricky one from PT25 LR4 #23 (Flaw): The Prem says AAT→UAPC→CS (appreciate advances in tech, understand architecture of personal computers, computer scientists). The Conc says: CS→AAT, which is an obvious Mistaken Reversal, but this ? is so late in the test that there’s no way the flaw is going to be stated so easily in the AC. The correct AC reads “The argument ignores the fact that some CS may not AAT made in the last decade.”
AAT→CS // Because we know we can’t make the Mistaken Reversal of CS→AAT, we know that there MUST BE SOME CS who AREN’T appreciative of the advances in tech. So we can therefore say “CS←s→ ~AAT”, which is what the AC says in plain English
This is kinda like the answer to the Gecko Lizards and Gnats Question

c. Belief-Plus-Conditional Flaw
d. Knowledge-Plus-Conditional Flaw
e. Intent-Plus-Conditional Flaw
f. Desire-Plus-Conditional Flaw
These are all subsets of the same flaw: we say “James believes/knows/intends/desires X. We also know the Conditional X→Y is true. THEREFORE, James MUST believe/know/intend/desire Y.”

Five. Cause and Effect Error
a. Assuming Cause Based on Sequence: “mistakes a temporal relationship for a causal relationship,” “mistakes the occurrence of one event after another for proof that the second event is the result of the first”

b. Correlation ≠ Causation: “confusing the coincidence of two events with a causal relation between the two”, “assumes a causal relationship where only correlation has been indicated”

c. Failure to Consider Alternate or Third Causes: “fails to exclude an alternative explanation for the observed effect”, “overlooks the possibility that the same thing may causally contribute to both”

d. Failure to Consider Reversed Relationship: “the author mistakes an effect for a cause”

Six. Straw Man
Example Answer: “refutes a distorted version of an opposing position”, “misdescribing the opposing position, thus making it easier to challenge”
Ex: PT12 S1 #18: Erik attacking Frieda’s recommendation to install lightning rods on every building by saying “but faulty wiring and overloaded circuits causes far more fires and damages to equipment than lightning does”!

Seven. Appeal Fallacies
a. Improper Appeal to Authority
Example Answer: “the judgment of experts is applied to a matter in which their expertise is not relevant”, “bases a conclusion solely on the authority of the claimant, without seeking further proof”

b. Appeal to Popular Opinion/Numbers
Example Answer: “popular sentiment is treated as definitive proof of a claim”, “the author makes an appeal to public opinion without requiring an adequate basis for the conclusion of the argument”

c. Appeal to Emotion
Example Answer: “attempts to persuade by making an emotional appeal”

d. Survey Errors
i. Selection Bias: FDR 1936 Literary Digest

ii.Leading Questions: “How soon should the US withdraw from the UN?

iii. Inaccurate Responses: “uses evidence drawn from a sample that may not be representative”, “assumes that every polled individual provided a truthful response”

iv. Misc Experimental Design Issues (eg not having a control group for the “In a sample containing 1,000 peanuts” Q, AC C
v. Errors of Composition and Division / Part to Whole
Comp: Author attributes characteristic of part of the group to the group as a whole or every member
Example Answer: “assuming that because something is true of each of the parts of a whole it is true of the whole itself”, “takes the beliefs of one scientist to represent the beliefs of all scientists
Div: Author attributes a characteristic of the whole to a part of the group
Example Answer: “presumes w/o warrant that what is true of a whole must also be true of each of its parts

Eight. Uncertain Use of a Term or Concept (Most Frequent WRONG Answer)
False Analogy
Example Answer: “treats two very different cases as if they are similar”

Nine. False Dichotomy
Example Answer: “fails to consider that some voters may be neither strong supporters nor strong opponents of the suggested amendment”

Ten. Time Shift/Temporal Error: “the company has always reimbursed me for meals, so they will tomorrow”
Example Answer: “treats a claim about the current state of affairs as if it were a claim about what has been the case for an extended period”, “draws an unwarranted inference from what has been true in the past to what will be true in the future”

Eleven. Relativity Flaw: “James is the tallest boy in the class, so he must be tall [generally]”

Twelve. Sunken Cost Fallacy

Thirteen. Numbers and Percentages Errors
a. Market Share Errors: “the argument confuses an increase in market share with an increase in overall revenue”

b. Assuming Averages Apply to ALL Constituent Parts
PT45 LR1 #11: Stim: “the avg cost of groceries will rise again next month. Consequently, butter and eggs can be expected to cost more next month.” AC: “The avg amount of time spent by people younger than 20 in watching TV has recently risen rapidly. Therefore, the amount of time fourth graders spend watching TV must have risen recently.”

Fourteen. Shelby County Error
“Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”
“Only 1000 CPUs got the virus, so therefore the antivirus companies were just trying to sell us their programs”

Fifteen. “If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It”
Go to AC: if the present is substantially different than the past, then this is flawed. Ex: PT3 S2 #14: Physicians in training

grant.ashley114 · August 24

Thanks!!

Howdy, Stranger!

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Does anyone have a strategy sheet for the different types of LR questions?

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