Method of Reasoning and Flaw in the Reasoning questions (pg 95 of LR Bible 2022)

[collegen98]

Hi there,

I was wondering if someone could please clarify the bullet point under Question Type Notes in Chapter 3 regarding Method of Reasoning and Flaw in Reasoning.
It notes that the only difference between these question types is that Flaw in the Reasoning explicitly notes that the stimulus has an error of reasoning, and in Method of Reasoning questions the stimulus contains valid or invalid reasoning.

Is this just saying that Flaw in the Reasoning questions will always have a flaw/error of reasoning in the stimulus (hence, the name)? And Method of Reasoning questions do not necessarily have to have an error of reasoning in the stimulus?

I know that the book will go into more detail on each of these question types later, but I just wanted to get that blurb clarified before moving on. Thank you!

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Exactly correct, collegen! Flaw in the reasoning stimuli will always have at least one flaw. Method of reasoning stimuli may be flawed or they may have valid reasoning. It is one of the reasons that personally I typically find flaw questions easier than method questions. We already have a data point about the stimulus just from the question itself. We know there's a flaw! It's something that you can use to make sure you correctly understand the argument in the stimulus. So if I read a stimulus, and think to myself "hey, that's an ok argument," but the question stem is a flaw question, I know I've made a mistake and need to look back at the stimulus.

Keep up the good work!