Opposite Answer

[Kmikaeli]

I am getting quite confused on how to determine if the answer type will be an opposite answer type within must be true questions. What does it mean to be opposite in the sense of Conditional statements for must be true question types. Aren't they basically mistaken negation type answers?

[Nicholas Bruno]

Hi Kmikaeli,

Good question! The opposite answer is one of the common incorrect answer choices in the must be true questions. Basically, rather than the answer choice being true, the stimulus proves that answer choice FALSE. So to determine if the answer choice is an opposite answer, check to make sure that the answer choice is proven TRUE rather than FALSE by the stimulus.

For a conditional statement: consider the following example (which is a bit simplistic but illustrates the point).

A B
B C

The correct answer would likely be A C. But imagine we had an answer choice A C. That would be a opposite answer--the stimulus proves that answer choice FALSE.

So I would agree that a mistaken negation could be an opposite answer for sure but I am not sure that I would say that it is limited to just mistaken negations.

At the end of the day, just make sure that you are selecting the answer choice that MUST BE TRUE. The label of the incorrect answers is not as important as understanding the concept behind it.

I hope that helps!

[Kmikaeli]

So, opposite answer in the sense of must be true questions is anything (broadly speaking) that is contrary to what the fact test reveals to us in regards to the stimulus. It could be mistaken negation or a one sided negation or so on and so forth...

[Nicholas Bruno]

Yes exactly! Anything that is directly opposed to the facts in the stimulus (think: the correct answer for a must be false question)

[Kmikaeli]

So a reverse answer is also essentially an opposite answer

[Nicholas Bruno]

Yes! Exactly! I am imagining in a context where the right answer would be something like A causes B and the incorrect (opposite) answer says B causes A.

[Kmikaeli]

Thank you, I get it now!