The difference between (Must be true/ **Most Support**) and Strengthen/Support

[BMZ789]

Thank you for your time and effort.

I'm confused about the two stem question types (Must be true/ **Most Support**) and Strengthen/Support.

In the examples given for strengthen/support question at page 89 is " Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the statement above,"

But the question type (Must be true/most support) also mentions most support.

So what's the difference between the two?

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi BMZ789,

Great question!

The difference between the two question types is all about direction and truth. Which part is the question stem telling you is true: the stimulus or the answer choices?

A Must Be True/Most Support will use language that tells you to assume the stimulus is true. For example, you might see
something like "The statements above, if true, most support which one of the following?" That tells you that the stimulus is where we know truth, and the answer choices are suspect. So we are using that truth in the stimulus to prove the correct answer choice.

A strengthen question is flipped. The question tells us that the answer choices are true, and the stimulus will need help. For example, you might see the question "Which one of the following, if true, most supports the argument above?" Here, it tells us that the answer choices are true, and we need to use them to help the stimulus, which is not a valid argument.

Early in preparation, I really recommend writing your guess for question stem when you do a mixed set. You can just jot down the question stem type as you go through it, to force yourself to stop, slow down, and really analyze what you see in the stem. It takes time in practice to make it automatic by test day. And it's critical to know the difference between the different question types.

It's a bit tricky to tease out, especially at first, but you'll get the hang of it!