Evaluate the Argument and Variance Test

[Nikki Siclunov]

We recently received the following question:

I just wanted to get some clarification when it comes to attacking evaluate the argument questions.

Are we looking for answer choices where if the evaluation being made is a "yes" would completely destroy the reasoning being made in the argument?

Hi,

Thanks for your question! When it comes to Evaluate the Argument questions, I'm afraid there is a little more to it than that Let me elaborate:

Applying the Variance Test is a bit of a pain, so you should only use it as a way to distinguish between two attractive Contenders. How do you narrow them down? Well, when going over the answers, think about whether each of them raises an important or relevant question. Adopt the mindset of the author: if you made this argument, would you care about (A)? What about (B)? Etc. If you answer some of these questions with, “Well, yes, maybe I care about this” - then keep it as a contender. Many of the answers will raise completely irrelevant issues, and thus need not be tested using the Variance Test. Usually, the arguments presented in the stimulus are flawed for a particular reason, or make a central (probably unwarranted) assumption. If you can identify that ahead of time, then you already know what would be relevant to evaluating that argument.

Once you've narrowed down the range of possible contenders, you need to determine which question is truly relevant to the argument's conclusion. Apply the Variance Test and supply polar opposite answers (Yes/No, for instance) to each remaining question whose relevance you're about to test. If one of the two Yes/No answers strengthens the conclusion while the other weakens it, then that's clearly an important question that has some bearing on the conclusion of the argument. If this hypothetical response variance produces no cognizable effect on the conclusion of the argument, then the question is irrelevant to evaluating that conclusion.

For additional discussion on Evaluate the Argument questions, please refer to the Blog post below:

How to Approach the LSAT's Evaluate the Argument Question Type

Hope this clears it up!

Thanks,