So, I got this in a PM, and figured that the sender isn't the only one with this question:
Name Redacted wrote:Hi Dave, I had a question. Feel free to post it in your thread, I PM because I want to avoid a shit storm.
I hear you. I've redacted your name.
Name Redacted wrote:So basically, I've been getting 19-21 correct per LR section timed and untimed I get about 22 to perfect score.
I use a PT scorer, and what I've found is I miss primarily assumption / inference questions
So should I just drill them? The reason I ask is because sometimes I think its not necessarily the question type.. maybe its some other type of issue? I'm not sure if its simply "oh, I must just be worse at inference questions!". But maybe that is exactly whats going on?
This information is based off of 6 full sections of LR that I've input into the PT scorer.
Thanks.
Yeah, I think there are at least two different (likely) causes. I think they're roughly equally plausible (not knowing you and your work so far). Both have roughly the same solution.
Here's what I think:
1. Maybe you really are not up to snuff with Necessary Assumption and Inference questions. Here's how you can test that: use your system to try to answer some of those questions.
Now, whether your original answers were right or wrong, when you check those answers against the key, is it clear
why the right answers adhere to what your system says they should do?
If your system works, there should be a sort of "a-ha!" moment when you see the right answer. It should fit the outlines dictated by your system.
If you cannot see—pretty much right away—why the right answer is right, then that likely means there's a chink in your system. If that's the case, either get help from someone who has a working system, or do some backsolving (that is, reverse-engineer a systematic approach based on the right answers to the questions).
2. Maybe there's something
else (something aside from the type of question being asked) that's making the ones you missed difficult for you. Since those two question types are pretty different from each other, it's hard for me to believe that there's an underlying similarity causing both issues.
This suggests that the problems may be ad hoc. Now, this is probably (in the end) actually good news—it likely means that you simply don't
have a solid system for dealing with these two types of question. If that's the case, then your job is to develop such a system.
There are two ways of doing that: either get help from someone who has a working system, or do some backsolving as described above.
Here are some tips for getting Necessary Assumption + Inference questions right:
Inference Questions
For inference questions, remember that the right answer is something that you can prove based on the passage, right?
So, think about it this way: If you have four or five lines' worth of passage, how likely is it that in those few lines you'll be able to prove that "Most successful entrepreneurs have engaged in and enjoyed carnal relations with root vegetables"? Not likely at all, right? I mean, to prove it, you'd have to know how many successful entrepreneurs there are in the world, plus how many of them have engaged in the disgusting relationships indicated here. And if a passage had told you that much information, it would be too easy to answer.
Instead, you're much more likely to prove that "At least some successful entrepreneurs have engaged in and enjoyed carnal relations with root vegetables." To so prove, you don't need to know how many successful entrepreneurs there are in the world, and you don't need to know how many of that aggregate have filthy, filthy habits. You'd only need one example in order to prove that "some" enjoy those relations.
What I'm saying is this:
When you've got it down to two choices in an Inference question, choose the one with smaller, softer language every time. Generally, you'll eschew words like most, usually, all, never, and only, in favor of words like some, sometimes, not all, and not always.
Necessary Assumption Questions
The right answer to the Necessary Assumption is, well... necessary to the conclusion. It's a piece of evidence that the argument needed, but left out.
This means two things for us:
1. The right answer will often be small. Like most other necessary things in the world, the right answer is not likely to be something big and aggressive. Consider the things we need in life. We don't need the $600 bottle of Cristal, we don't need the McMansion - or the McDonald's, for that matter - we need only some food, some shelter, something to drink. In the same way that our physical needs tend most often to be little, the right answer to the Necessary Assumption question will tend to be little. Expect often to see the word "some" or "not all" and the like.
2. The right answer is necessary - meaning essential, required, un-live-without-able, right? In other words, if you take it away, the argument will die without it. So, when you think you've found the right answer, ask yourself this question: "If this answer choice weren't true, would the conclusion still make sense?" If the conclusion can live without the answer choice, it's not the right answer! If the right answer isn't true, then the conclusion of the argument will become stupid. This is because the conclusion depended on the truth of the right answer.
So, when choosing between two answer choices in Necessary Assumption questions, choose the smaller answer, and try the test discussed in point 2 above.