Flaw in reasoning Questions info

[akanshalsat]

Hello there!

I'm just popping in here to ask a few questions

I know that the first family of questions goes like "stimulus --> ans choice", which means that the stimulus is taken as true and ans. choices as suspect, and flaw in reasoning is supposedly in this category, HOWEVER, looking at the question stem, it usually says "which one of the following, if true, identifies a flaw in reasoning..." which is typical of the family two in which the answer choices are taken as true.. So i'm so confused as to why its like that???

Also,

I took my first LSAT this last feb, 2018, and since I was also going through my last semester of college, I wasn't able to understand all the concepts within the two month time frame that I had given myself (along with other circsumstances that kept me extremely anxious and stressed).

I've decided to sign up for the November 2018 exam, as I want to be a part of the 2019 fall semester of a law school. My initial score was 149, but I truly want to be able to increase it to anywhere in the 160s. I've been studying since June, and have been first focusing my attention on trying to fully understand each LR question types by reviewing and doing 20-30 questions every other day of each type. I really hope that it'll be possible to achieve my goal. Though I do get burnout, I'm trying my best and I hope that it works out. If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi.

Let's start with flaw in the reasoning. You correctly identified the relationship described in flawed arguments, however, the question stem example you gave is not accurate. Flaw question stems will use a phrase that indicates the reasoning is flawed such as "the reasoning is most vulnerable to criticism" or "a questionable aspect of the reasoning above." The language will not include "if true" in respect to the answer choices---it will simply ask you to describe the flaw above. Weaken questions will use the "if true" language, and can sometimes be confused for flaw questions. That could be causing the confusion here.

In regards to the November test, you have lots of time to study! If you need a good outline for a study plan, we have a comprehensive study plan, with week by week suggestions available here. For myself, I found an overall study plan really helpful to make sure that I covered the right material in the right amount of time.

Hope that helps!
Rachael

[akanshalsat]

Hello!

So when t he question stem says "which one of the following identifies a flaw in reasoning of the argument" is a weaken question? It sounds exactly like a flaw question

[Adam Tyson]

That is indeed a Flaw stem, akanshalsat. As Rachael explained, a Flaw stem will not have any aspect of "if true." A weaken stem WILL have that element to it, as in "which of the following, if true, does most to undermine the author's conclusion?"

Additionally, going back to your initial question in this thread, "identifies a flaw in reasoning" means you are looking to pick an answer that describes something that is already included in the stimulus. That's the hallmark of the First Family - the correct answer is already in there, or can be inferred based solely on what was in there. A weaken question doesn't ask about what was in the stimulus, but about what impact some new information has on the argument in the stimulus.

Flaw answers are descriptive - they merely describe what went wrong. Weaken answers are active - they attack the argument, take advantage of that weakness, and introduce doubt about the validity of the claim.

If you have come across a question stem that says "which one of the following, if true, identifies a flaw in reasoning" as you gave us in the original question, please let us know which test, section, and question that is, and we will give it another look! That would be a very confusing question stem, combining elements of both Flaw and Weaken, and would demand increased scrutiny before we could tell you for sure what was going on with it.