Weaken the argument

Question 1

Weaken the argument

Answer 1

Select an answer that decreases the persuasive of an argument

Question 2

Never try to weaken the argument by weakening the

Answer 2

premise

• > premise = evidence upon which the conclusion rests upon
• > you always take the premises as a fact and try not to mess with it

Question 3

Correct answer in weakening the argument

Answer 3

will show that the conclusion does not necessarily follow from the premise, even though we take those premises to be true

Question 4

Must be aware of the assumptions made by authors because

Answer 4

in general, we weaken GMAT arguments by attacking the assumptions upon which the argument rest on
-> assumption made by the author are not valid

Question 5

To weaken an argument

Answer 5

we can attack the assumption made by the author. By breaking the critical glue that connects the conclusion with evidence, we weaken the argument by

Question 6

Weakening the argument

Answer 6

• keep the premise the same

- find a way to make the conclusion weak by tweaking the middle part that it doesn’t make logical sense

Question 7

Framing of the question

Answer 7

Which of the following, if true, casts the most doubt on the conclusion drawn above?

Question 8

Framing of the question

Answer 8

Which of the following, if discovered, would be evidence against the speculation above?

Question 9

Framing of the question

Answer 9

Which of the following, if true, undermines the above conclusion

Question 10

Framing of the question

Answer 10

Which of the following, if true, most weakens the force of the speaker’s evidence?

Question 11

Framing of the question

Answer 11

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the view that — will not be successful?

Question 12

Framing of the question

Answer 12

Which of the following statement, if true, could be of the most use to opponents of the –?

Question 13

Strategy for weakening the argument questions #1

Answer 13

Carefully read, break down, and completely understand the argument
-> it’s imperative to precisely identify the conclusion rest and to understand how the evidence supports the conclusion

Question 14

Strategy for weakening the argument questions #2

Answer 14

Read the question and identify what the question is asking

Question 15

Strategy for weakening the argument questions #3

Answer 15

Go through the answer choice one by one, seeking to remove “strengtheners” and choices that do nor affect the argument

Question 16

Strategy for weakening the argument questions #4

Answer 16

Choose answer with greatest and clearest negative impacts

-> pick the choice that provides the clearest negative impacts

Question 17

Weaken the argument

Answer 17

in most case will not totally destroy the argument but instead weaken it in basic yet important way
-> don’t need to find an option that proves the conclusion false, just an option that puts reasonable doubt about the conclusion

Question 18

Weaken the argument: answers that are opposite of the correct answer

Answer 18

The choices that you can cross out are answer choices that strengthen the support for the conclusion rather than weaken the support for the conclusion

Question 19

Weaken the argument: answer that are Pseudo-Weakeners

Answer 19

Answer choice that make it seem like they weaken the answer choice but don’t really do
i.e: The football coach at Verdantville high school wants the players on the team to gain weight. So, he is providing the players with all the chocolate bars that they can eat. Because the players have this tempting food available, the average weight of the players is sure to increase.
Pseudo-Weakener: Some of the players don’t like the taste of the chocolate
Correct Answer: The bard that the coach is providing to the players contain large amount of caffeine, which people seeking to loose weight often use to reduce their appetites’.

Question 20

Weaken the argument: Choices that weaken the wrong conclusion

Answer 20

Answer choice to a weaken question weakens a conclusion other than the conclusion of the argument and it may mislead us into believing that the two conclusion are the same.
i.e: Kindergarten student who are introduced to classical music as infants test better in both math and reading than their peers who were not introduced to classical music do. Clearly, classical music has positive effect on early development.
Frameshift Choice: High school students who listen to classical music at home score no higher on standardized tests than do students who don’t listen to classical music -> applies to different conclusion, one about high school and the one about elementary school

Question 21

Weaken the argument: answer choice that would look real in real life

Answer 21

some of the tempting wrong answer to weaken questions are answers that mention things that one would likely consider in a real-world situation
i.e: Several commonly used agricultural pesticides have recently been linked incidence of cancer in people exposed to them. By banning these pesticides and getting farmers to switch over to using organic farming methods, which do not include the ise of such pesticides, we can make food safer to eat.
Pertinent but Incorrect Choice: Because organically farmed food is often more costly than food farmed via use of the pesticides in question, many people would prefer to be able to choose which to buy

Question 22

Weaken the argument: Attack the premise

Answer 22

right answer on a weaken the argument question will never be one that attacks a premise of the argument, because premise in GMAT arguments are taken to be true and therefore cannot be undermined
i.e: Marasport makes running gear meant for people who run in marathons. The number of people entering marathons has been increasing steadily over the past several years, and the trend is expected to continue. Therefore to make sense to believe that sales of MaraSport’s running gear will continue to increase.

Question 23

Weaken the argument:

Answer 23

In a weaken argument question, do not discount an answer just because it brings up a new topic
-> If it brings new topic but weakens the argument then it can be wrong

Question 24

Trap Answers vs Correct answers

Answer 24

Trap Choice: In general, a trap choice in weaken the argument question says something that is seemingly detrimental to the support for the conclusion and that is somehow related to the argument and at the same time what the trap choice says is not logically connected to the argument in a way such that the choice actually weakens the argument
Correct answer: Often, at the first glance, a correct answer not seem to be directly related to the conclusion of the argument. At the same time, effective analysis of a correct answer will reveal that a correct answer says something that clearly and logically calls into question the idea that the conclusion of the argument follows from the premise of the argument.

Question 25

Weakening Answer Type 1: Expose a False Dichotomy By offering a third alternative

Answer 25

we can weaken an argument by introducing factors that are relevant to the argument but that was ignored in the argument

• > author assumes that there are only few possible way when there are more ways of doing than what the author mentions
  i. e: Believe that the painter has lost the art/someone stole it
  weaken: the painter in known to paint over the canvas -> shows that the there is a possibility that it was painted over

Question 26

Weakening Answer Type 2: An answer that calls into a question a cause and effect conclusion

Answer 26

When an author confuses correlation with causation, that author claims that just because two facts or events happen simultaneously or sequentially, they must have a causal relationship

Question 27

To weaken the argument that says cause and effect when there is really not we can

Answer 27

1) The correlation could be a mere coincidence and there is no cause and effect relationship between the variables
2) A causal relationship exist but is the reverse of what is stated in the argument (X causes Y rather than Y causes X)
3) A third factor causes both the given factors in the argument, but there is no cause and effect relationship between the two variables (Z causes both X and Y)

Question 28

Cause and effect weakening: wrong answer

Answer 28

correct answer can weaken the argument by providing a reason to believe that cause and effect relationship doesn’t actually exist
-> it can be that one in which the cause and effect are reversed from the argument has them or one in which a third factor causes both events

Question 29

Weakening Answer Type 3:Generaliation that supports an argument is faulty

Answer 29

When an author draws a conclusion about a population by considering a small sample of that population-> doing so can lead to flawed conclusion because the fact that a few member of a group demonstrate a certain characteristics does not mean that all member of that group share the characteristic
-> in order for the sample to be true we need to have a representative sample that are same or similar enough to the overall population

Question 30

Weakening Answer Type 4: Shows that the comparison use to support the conclusion faulty

Answer 30

comparing two things that are fundamentally different in an important way such that the comparison does not actually support the conclusion -> comparison are different in key ways that therefore the comparison is faulty
-> saying that dogs and wild wolves are genetically related so they should act the same is a faulty comparison

Question 31

Weakening Answer Type 5: Indicate that in arriving at the conclusion, the author confused number and percentage

Answer 31

• > Be extra careful when you encounter arguments centered on numbers and percentage; such argument can lead to unfounded conclusions.
• > small percentage might not always equate to a small number

Question 32

Weakening Answer Type 6: Brings up new information that indicates that a plan won’t work

Answer 32

plan will not work out so that will weaken the argument made

• > plan addresses one factor in a situation but indicates that there is another factor that the plan does not address
• > The correct answer indicates that the method that the plan uses to solve a problem makes the problem worse in another way
• > argument concludes that the plan will work but new information indicates that the situation have changed thus the plan will not work
• > logic underlying the expectation that the plan will work misses a key aspect of how a situation works

Question 33

Weakening Answer Type 7: Indicates that plan that argument concludes will not actually work

Answer 33

When author claim that plans will not work or don’t make sense, support for such conclusions can be weakened by correct answers that provide new information that indicates that the plan will actually work

Question 34

Weaken question stems: expect, not, least

Answer 34

framed: any of the following, if true, undermines support for the speaker’s claim EXCEPT:
1) Identify the “interpretation” advanced in the argument
2) Identify the objection to this interpretation in the argument
3) For every answer choice ask yourself “Does this answer choice counter (weaken the support for) the objection? “ - Yes or No
4) The answer choice for which you have written NO is the correct answer