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rolltribe July 14, 2015

Approach to Argument Structure Questions

I have found that when doing AS questions I read the passage, then the question stem, and then after reading the question stem I feel the need to go back into the passage and re-read the part of the question quoted in the question stem. Is this necessary? I'm concerned that it may be a waste of time. Do you recommend this approach? Thank you! Robby

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Naz July 16, 2015

This approach is fine as long as it isn't taking you a long time. You shouldn't re-read the entire passage.

My advice would be to read the passage and then the question stem, identify the conclusion and the premise and then see how the specified sentence plays a role in relationship to the conclusion and the premise.

Hope that helps! Let us know if you have any other questions.

BrookeMag July 31, 2019

For any logical reasoning question, do you recommend reading the question stem or the passage first? I feel like reading the question stem first is a waste of time because I end up going back and re-reading part of the passage, whether or not I read the question stem first. Thanks!

Ravi July 31, 2019

@BrookeMag, we recommend reading the stimulus/passage before reading the question stem. Focus on understanding the argument in the stimulus, and then once you've read it, look at the question stem. As you said, if you read the stem first, you sometimes forget the question and have to go back anyway, so it's a waste of time. It also distracts you from your most important task, which is understanding the argument as well as you can. Let us know if you have any other questions!