Week 1: Weaken (LR)

Question 1

How to Spot Weaken Questions: Language Cues

“most ____________”

“casts the most __________”

“most seriously ___________”

Notice the “most” wording – we’re looking for the answer choice that has the strongest impact on the argument.

Answer 1

weakens

doubt

undermines

Question 2

How to Solve Weaken Questions:

Assumption Family: Nec. Assumption, Suff. Assumption, Flaw, Strengthen, Weaken

All questions in the Assumption family are solved the same way:

(lists steps [other side of card])

Answer 2

1. Find Conclusion
2. Find Evidence
3. Evaluate Arg.
   • evaluating the space between the evidence & conclusion.
   • you grant that the evidence is true, but ask whether the conclusion has to be true.
4. Anticipate (AC w/ prephrase)
5. Answer

Question 3

Reasoning Structures (2)

Answer 3

Comparison (78%)

• Comparison usually takes place one of two ways.
  • Comparing two different things at the same point in time (e.g. city A and city B in the same year).
  • Comparing one thing at two different points in time (e.g. city A in 2010 and city A in present day).

Causation (52%)

• Pretty hard to prove causation on the LSAT. Sometimes the best you can do is prove that there’s such a tight correlation between two things such that there’s a great likelihood that there’s a causal relationship.
• We can also weaken causal conclusions.

Question 4

How to Weaken a Causal Conclusion

Answer 4

Alternate Cause

Third Factor causing X and Y

Cause w/o Effect

Effect w/o Cause

Reverse Relationship: stated cause is effect and stated effect is cause.

Data / Stats proving that the cause does not lead to the effect.

Question 5

Trap Answer Choices

Answer 5

Remember Trap Answer Patterns fall into 3 categories: Scope, Logic, and Degree

Scope:

• Out of Scope

Logic:

• Strengthens
• Irrelevant Relationship
  • AC presenting a new relationship between variables, different from the relationship those variables had in the stimulus (e.g. conditional in stimulus, and causal in AC).
  • Making a relationship between 2 randomly-grabbed variables.
• Term Shift
  • Answer choice refers to something bigger or smaller (limiting scope) than what is in the Answer Choice.

Degree

• Too Weak (not strong enough to impact argument).