For Questions where you need to match the argument in the stimulus, are they never flawed?

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• kennedybj Alum Member

  November 2015 697 karma

  Pretty sure the argument could be flawed or not.but im sure there are others who probably have a more concrete answer lol
• Pacifico Alum Inactive ⭐

  November 2015 8021 karma

  You either have parallel reasoning or parallel flaw questions. The former have valid arguments and the latter have flawed arguments.
• Pacifico Alum Inactive ⭐

  November 2015 8021 karma

  I'm told there are exceptions to this rule... but I've never seen one... perhaps @c.janson35 will magically appear to enlighten us... I can only recall PF questions with stems that have at least a small indicator to show their is a flaw (e.g.- "the questionable reasoning").
• 1 Like

  c.janson35 Free Trial Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐

  November 2015 2398 karma

  Lol like a republican debate, when my name is invoked I have the opportunity to answer...
  
  There are instances in which parallel reasoning questions do not explicitly state that the stimulus is flawed, but the stimulus is nonetheless still flawed. In these situations, evaluate the argument (as you should always do) and note that you cannot select an answer choice that presents a valid argument if the stimulus is invalid. This is a good way to eliminate answer choices.
• Pacifico Alum Inactive ⭐

  November 2015 8021 karma

  There are examples of this on 61 and 64 as @c.janson35 was kind enough to show me. So it is still happening and not just an older quirk of the test.
• LSATKingsman Alum Member

  November 2015 1024 karma

  @Pacifico @c.janson35 Thank you for the response I will for sure keep this in mind when eliminating answer choice if I get stuck. I am glad I was able to get an answer on this because I almost have a second brain for if I am in the "flaw universe" haha
• 1 Like

  deleted account Free Trial Member

  November 2015 393 karma

  @LSATKingsman:
  
  I actually think that's one of the best ways to do these. Is it flawed? Eliminate everything that isn't. Not flawed? Eliminate everything that is. You can even count sentences: ie in the stimulus the flaw was in the third sentence, so it should be here too.
• Pacifico Alum Inactive ⭐

  November 2015 8021 karma

  @josephellengar said:
  You can even count sentences: ie in the stimulus the flaw was in the third sentence, so it should be here too.
  

  I would highly recommend not doing this. It's pretty standard practice for the test writers to make a A-->B-->C therefore C-->A type argument in order in the stimulus only to start each AC with the conclusion. Shortcuts will screw you over in the long run and it really shouldn't take that long to parse out the dynamics of each AC.