Inference Questions

[imckenz2003]

Hi,
I am wondering if anyone can give me suggestions for inference questions. I AM STRUGGLING WITH THESE and it’s frustrating because the other question types I have down cold. It’s these that always leave me stuck. I have tried several techniques (which I’m about to list) AND NONE OF THEM seem to help:
1) I try to read the question slowly and carefully. This is to avoid silly mistakes.
2.) I try to find a gap between linked sentences: I do this to try to find out what the author is trying to say or what they mean for the overall passage. What links it together?
3.) I try to choose a very general statement if I’m stuck: I try my best to just say “ok it doesn’t have to be the strongest thing. It just needs to be true”
4.) I try to negate: I HATE DOING THIS because it seems to take up so much time. And nine times out of 10 when I do this I get the answer wrong anyway. . I will literally take the last sentence, negate that, take the first sentence and negate that too. I even know the whole rule where you’re supposed to say or instead of and, and vice versa. It still doesn’t work when I do this.
It seems no matter what I do, I stay stuck between 2 answers and the one I choose is always wrong. What frustrates me is with flaw, assumption, strengthen, weaken I can see the answer as clear as day. It’s like the stimulus will literally tell me what the answer is. I just need to put it together and find it in the answer choice. With inference it seems I can’t figure out what they want me to say. If anyone can tell me what step
I’m missing or what I’m forgetting to do I will be eternally grateful. Thank you!!!!

[Adam Tyson]

Before I repeat some advice that you may already have heard, imckenz2003, could you tell us more about the resources you have been using up to this point? Are you in one of our courses? Do you have a copy of the Logical Reasoning Bible? What other resources are you using to help you understand what a Must Be True or Most Strongly Supported question is all about? Those are the terms we use for what some other folks call Inference questions, so I am assuming that's what you're asking about.

In general, the correct answer to these questions will be based on the facts given in the stimulus, and nothing outside that information will be required. The correct answer will be easy to prove based on those facts. It won't be too extreme, and it won't be too speculative either.

As far as negation goes, we don't really use a negation test on these questions, but we could. The correct answer, if it turns out not to be true, should appear to conflict with the facts. It may even seem impossible to reconcile the stimulus with the negation of the correct answer. Meanwhile, the wrong answers will, when negated, not conflict with the stimulus. In other words, it would be possible to accept everything the author said and also accept that those wrong answers could be false. Here's a simple example:

Adam likes beer, and his favorite kinds of beers are porters and stouts, which are dark styles. Occasionally, though, he also enjoys a lighter beer such as a lager or wheat beer. But he does not like IPAs.

What must be true?

A. No IPAs are dark beers
B. The only lighter beers Adam enjoys are lagers and wheat beers
C. Not all dark beers are IPAs

Now, let's see what happens if each of these answer choices is false, starting with answer A: what if some IPAs ARE dark beers? Does that conflict with the stimulus? Nope! Adam could still like dark beers like porters and stouts and still not like those dark IPAs. Adam doesn't have to like EVERY dark beer, even though his favorites are dark styles.

What if Adam enjoys some lighter beers other than just lagers and wheats? Maybe he likes a pilsner sometimes, or an ale? That also does not conflict with the stimulus. Adam could like a lot of kinds of lighter beers even though he does not like IPAs and his favorites are dark styles.

But when we negate answer C, we say that all dark beers ARE IPAs. Is this possible, given what we read in the stimulus? Adam's favorite beers are dark styles, but he doesn't like IPAs. If all dark beers ARE IPAs, then Adam cannot like any dark beers, which is impossible since at least some dark beers are kinds that he likes. Thus, answer C must be true, because it cannot be false if we accept what the stimulus said!

This use of the Negation Technique is something we teach with regard to Assumption questions, and we don't generally bring it up in analyzing Must Be True answers, but it works on those for the same reason that it works on Assumptions. So if you had heard some advice about using negation in Must Be True questions, that's what it likely referred to.

There are other things you can do to prephrase the correct answer to these questions. If the argument gives you a conditional statement, for example, you can expect the correct answer to be the contrapositive of that statement. If the stimulus presents enough numerical information to allow you to do a simple calculation, the correct answer could be based on that calculation. One example of that would be where two "most" statements are given about one group, like "most of my neighbors have dogs, and most of my neighbors have kids." In that case, no matter how many neighbors you have, you must have at least one neighbor with a dog and a kid.

Let us know what resources you have used up to this point, and we may be able to help you better utilize those resources, or point you to alternative resources to try getting a different perspective on these question types. Given that this is one of the most common question types in LR, and is far and away THE most common type in RC, getting more proficient at them could have a huge impact on your score. I hope we can help you make that a reality!