"Role in argument" questions

[Mark83]

I find I often have difficulty with these questions which seems like they should be very basic or easy. The problem a lot of the time is that the wording of the answer choices makes some answers right but others more right.

It might say for example:

A) It is a premise that supports the conclusion
B) It is a principle used as a premise to support the conclusion.
C) It is a subsidiary conclusion used as a premise to support the conclusion.

There are times when 3 of the answers are technically right, but one is more right. These question types aren't really dealt with much in the Powerscore books. Is there a trick or hack that can allow me to better eliminate wrong answers or reason my way to the correct ones? Thanks.

[Dave Killoran]

I find I often have difficulty with these questions which seems like they should be very basic or easy. The problem a lot of the time is that the wording of the answer choices makes some answers right but others more right.

It might say for example:

A) It is a premise that supports the conclusion
B) It is a principle used as a premise to support the conclusion.
C) It is a subsidiary conclusion used as a premise to support the conclusion.

There are times when 3 of the answers are technically right, but one is more right. These question types aren't really dealt with much in the Powerscore books. Is there a trick or hack that can allow me to better eliminate wrong answers or reason my way to the correct ones? Thanks.

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the question! This type of question is actually covered quite a bit in the books, but much of that happens early on in our discussions of argumentation. All those sections are actually the true foundation for answering these questions, because Method-AP questions are all about knowing what piece of the argument you are looking at. However, these are also First Family questions, and for Method that means this is basically an abstract Must Be True question (and thus the Fact Test applies). Thus, there won't be an answer that is "right," and then another one that is "more right." There is always something wrong with the incorrect answers.

Is there a specific LSAT question you can point me to where you had the type of difficulty you mention? It's easier to break everything down in context, and to then show how it's working as opposed to an abstract example like the one above since we have no stimulus to work with there

Regardless, using your example, if those were your three answers and one has to be correct, it would have to be (A). This is because both (B) and (C), if correct, automatically also make (A) correct. (A) doesn't make either (B) or (C) correct, hence it's the only possible correct answer. But, if you didn't see that set of relationships, the easiest way to see the difference is to look for distinctive elements. All three feature "premise that supports the conclusion" (which is why B and C force A to also be correct), but (B) is distinguished by the mention of a "principle" and (C) is distinguished by the mention of a "subsidiary conclusion." In a problem where these answers were present and one was correct, these "extra" elements would be found to not be present. All Method-AP question work along these lines, where you are looking for what you know happened and knocking out answers that contain elements or descriptions that did not occur or are not accurate.

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!