- PowerScore Staff
- Posts: 1419
- Joined: Dec 15, 2011
- Thu Jan 06, 2022 5:39 pm
#93124
Hi Trying,
Language in Must Be True answers need to be supported by the language in the stimulus. Sometimes, like here, that's going to involve some degree of uncertainty. The key with these hypotheticals though is that they are linked to the concepts in the stimulus. Sometimes in Must Be True questions, you'll see what looks like a new topic in an answer choice, but in reality, it falls under the umbrella of something that was actually in the stimulus. That's what we see in answer choice (B) here. Foriegn policy is a new term in that answer choice, however, it is tied back into the stimulus by categorizing it into a matter in which people do not have every day experience. It is still a wrong answer because it's a mistaken reversal of the relationship we wanted to see. But it's not a wrong answer because foriegn policy was not discussed.
Some of the most difficult relationships to see can be ones that contain conditional reasoning. Because of the nature of logical negation, topics can fall into a conditional relationship without being explicitly mentioned in the stimulus. Let me show you a quick example.
"In our class, only Steve has a birthday in December."
We'd diagram that like this:
Birthday in December
Steve
Steve Birthday in December
In a Must Be True question, a correct answer choice could say something like "Jane, who is in our class, does not have a birthday in December." That would be a correct answer. Even though the statement didn't mention Jane, we still know it Must Be True because Jane falls into the category of "not Steve."
Overall, it's a good instinct in Must Be True to want to stick to the stimulus as close as possible. Just make sure you are allowing for something to be covered by the concepts in the stimulus, even if it was not specifically mentioned.
Hope that helps!
Language in Must Be True answers need to be supported by the language in the stimulus. Sometimes, like here, that's going to involve some degree of uncertainty. The key with these hypotheticals though is that they are linked to the concepts in the stimulus. Sometimes in Must Be True questions, you'll see what looks like a new topic in an answer choice, but in reality, it falls under the umbrella of something that was actually in the stimulus. That's what we see in answer choice (B) here. Foriegn policy is a new term in that answer choice, however, it is tied back into the stimulus by categorizing it into a matter in which people do not have every day experience. It is still a wrong answer because it's a mistaken reversal of the relationship we wanted to see. But it's not a wrong answer because foriegn policy was not discussed.
Some of the most difficult relationships to see can be ones that contain conditional reasoning. Because of the nature of logical negation, topics can fall into a conditional relationship without being explicitly mentioned in the stimulus. Let me show you a quick example.
"In our class, only Steve has a birthday in December."
We'd diagram that like this:
Birthday in December
SteveSteve
Birthday in DecemberIn a Must Be True question, a correct answer choice could say something like "Jane, who is in our class, does not have a birthday in December." That would be a correct answer. Even though the statement didn't mention Jane, we still know it Must Be True because Jane falls into the category of "not Steve."
Overall, it's a good instinct in Must Be True to want to stick to the stimulus as close as possible. Just make sure you are allowing for something to be covered by the concepts in the stimulus, even if it was not specifically mentioned.
Hope that helps!