Resolve reconcile explain questions - advice needed!

lsatstudierlsatstudier Alum Member
in Logical Reasoning 151 karma

I am wondering if anyone would have any advice for choosing the right answer for these questions. This used to be a question type that went well for me but lately it seems like I keep getting them wrong. Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, how did go about answering these question types correctly again? Any general strategies for this question type would be really helpful. Thank you!

Comments

  • Freddy_DFreddy_D Core Member ⭐
    2983 karma

    These are my favorite. I think of them as phenomenon-hypothesis questions. The stimulus contains a phenomenon, and the ACs are different hypotheses that attempt to explain the phenomenon.

  • rafaelitorafaelito Alum Member
    1063 karma

    Hey @lsatstudier . I always ask myself "why"? Why did X go down even though Y was implemented? I use "why" as a template to quickly phrase the paradox in my own words. Then while going through the answer choices, if I read it and out in my mind comes, "yes but why" then the paradox has not been resolved. Focus on the why. Something is happening. Why is it happening? The answer to that question is the correct AC.

    That's my strategy anywho.

  • AlexAlex Alum Member ⭐
    edited August 2017 23929 karma

    @RafaelBernard said:
    Hey @lsatstudier . I always ask myself "why"? Why did X go down even though Y was implemented? I use "why" as a template to quickly phrase the paradox in my own words. Then while going through the answer choices, if I read it and out in my mind comes, "yes but why" then the paradox has not been resolved. Focus on the why. Something is happening. Why is it happening? The answer to that question is the correct AC.

    That's my strategy anywho.

    This is also my approach, essentially. Always just focus on finding what's fishy with the stimulus. Once you have a good understanding of the paradox, the rest will come, then move straight to the answer choices. I found that I was wasting time pre-phrasing/over thinking these questions. They're really quite fun once you get the hang of them!

    Just watch out for trick answer choices that mention the phenomenon but actually make the paradox worse rather than explaining it. I've noticed this seems to be a common trap answer choice with these.

  • ChaudhrySChaudhryS Free Trial Member
    edited August 2017 61 karma

    You also want to be careful not to make an answer choice truer than it is - especially in paradox questions. Sometimes we are so busy trying to convince ourselves that a particular answer choice is correct that we run out of time and have now elaborately convinced ourselves that the incorrect answer choice is actually correct!

    With these questions, I find that the correct choice very clearly resolves the paradox. It's almost too easy sometimes, you'll see!

  • TheMikeyTheMikey Alum Member
    4196 karma

    general tips:

    1. there may be trap answer choices that explains why one part of the discrepancy is happening, it may be tempting, but it's wrong.

    2. make sure you have it clear exactly what is going on in the stimulus that the question wants you to resolve before going into the AC's. this also helps to avoid the issue of #1

    3. just find something that explains the supposed issue occurring in the stimulus. if you have a clear image of what the issue is, when you read an AC just tell yourself "ok, so the stimulus says X but it also says Y. this is happening because (fill in with the AC) ". if it makes sense then you're good to go.

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