Psychologist: The best way to recall a certain word or name that one is having trouble remembering is to occupy one'...

Ross-Rinehart on February 14, 2022

It’s a Principle question. There are three types of Principle questions: Strengthen (most common), Must Be True, and Parallel (least common). All use the word “principle” in the question stem, so distinguishing between them can be tricky.


To distinguish between the three, look at where the principle(s) and argument(s) are in the question. If the principles are in the answer choices and an argument is in the passage, it’s a Strengthen Principle question. If the principle is in the passage, and there are arguments in the answer choices, it’s a Must Be True Principle question. If there are no explicit principles in the passage or answer choices, it’s a Parallel Principle question. In Parallel Principle questions, there will be arguments in both passage and answer choices.

Here, we have “principle” in the question stem and arguments in both the passage and answer choices. So, it is a Parallel Principle question. Here are the steps to do these:

??Argument or facts? Always an argument, so identify the conclusion and premises
1. Identify gap between premises and conclusion
2. Anticipate, and diagram, the principle that will strengthen the argument
a. Should resemble: “Premise ? Conclusion” or “Conclusion ? Premise”
3. Select the answer choice that correctly applies principle
a. Either through positive argument structure (“S, therefore N”) or contrapositive argument structure (AC: “No N, therefore No S”)