Since there is no survival value in an animal's having an organ that is able to function when all its other organs ha...

Victoria on August 28, 2019

Hi @devinkramer

Yes! Main Point questions ask you to find the main point of an argument. What is the main point of an argument? It's conclusion.

Keep up the good work! Please let us know if you have any further questions.

devinkramer on August 31, 2019

I am having alot of trouble finding the main point of the argument. It doesn't make sense to me to apply the two pronged test and when I try to, I get lost in the overall passage. Also, I am trying to find a restatement of the conclusion in the answer choices and I feel I can never find it. Am I looking for a verbatim restatement or just a vague restatement? What should I do differently? I just got 11/30 on the main point question section.

Ravi on September 9, 2019

@devinkramer,

Great question. Keep on practicing, as it generally takes some time to
gain the skill of being able to quickly identify the main point of an
LR question.

To find the conclusion (main point), always think to yourself of what
sentence or phrase is being supported by the rest of the stimulus.
Additionally, if you're stuck and can't figure out the conclusion
between two sentences, a good trick is to put the word "because" in
between the
sentences and then see which way makes more sense.

The premises will always be providing support to another sentence or
phrase in the stimulus. Sometimes, you'll encounter intermediate
conclusions/major premises/subsidiary conclusions. These are all terms
for premises that function as both a conclusion as well as a premise
for another larger conclusion in the stimulus. Ultimately, the main
conclusion of the stimulus will not be supporting anything else; the
rest of the stimulus will be supporting it.

Conclusion: the overall main point of the argument

Premise: support used to prove or attempt to prove the conclusion

Subsidiary Conclusion/Intermediate Premise: a piece of the argument
that functions as both a conclusion and a premise; it's a conclusion
that is supported by another premise, but it's also used as a premise
to support the overall (main) conclusion of the argument

Does this help? Let us know if you have any other questions!