Which one of the following statements most accurately characterizes a difference between the two passages?

Julie-V on June 4, 2019

Bizzaros

Hi LSAT Max! I noticed that some question stems were classified as "bizzaro", under the "Introduction to Logical Reasoning" section flashcards, which makes sense. However, I was wondering if there was an explanation as to why the bizzaros for strengthen ("each of the following, if true, would support the conclusion above EXCEPT") and weaken ("each of the following, if true, weakens the argument EXCEPT") aren't instead placed in the opposite categories. Is this just an easier method to remember them if they're categorized under the question type that's being mentioned in the question stem? Thank you in advance!

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Ravi on June 7, 2019

@Julie-V, great question. Bizarro just means the presence of EXCEPT, so they're categorized like this to help you more easily see how they differ from traditional strengthen and weaken questions. Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any other questions!

Ricky-Williams on July 8, 2019

Hi Julie,
I think I know what you are trying to ask.. Hopefully this helps..
Categorizing "Bizzaro Weaken" questions as "Strengthen", and/or "Bizzaro Strengthen" as "Weaken" makes since at first, however when you look closer you will see this is not the right thing to do.
Lets use "Bizzaro Strengthen" as an example. To fulfill the needs of this type of question, one must find the answer that does not strengthen the argument. So, the correct answer can fall anywhere between weakening the argument and making no contribution to the argument at all. In other words, the correct answer may not be one that weakens the argument. So classifying a "Bizarro Strengthen" question stem as a "Weaken" question stem would be incorrect because the correct answer could be one that DOES NOT weaken the argument.