Monday, November 26, 2012

CR Passages Analysis, Logical Structure..

Typical CR Question comprises of :
  • The CR Passage:
  • The Question Stem
  • Answer Choices

Conclusion
Most CR Passages are agruments where the author wants you to believe something called the central message of the argument.
Conclusion is the most important aspect of the gmat passage because 90% GMAT questions are based on your ability to understand the conclusion.
Defined: as the main idea of the passage or the idea that the author of the passage wants you to believe.

PremiseThe piece of evidence/fact that the author uses support uses to support the conclusion.
Premises are indisputable. We must take them a given even if we do not agree wih them.
A typical CR passage has more than one Premises that leads to a conclusion.
YOU may disagree with the conclusion drawn BUT not on the premises.

Identifying Conclusions:
a) Read the passage
b) Understand what the author is trying to advocate
c) Spot markers if any
               Words such as: therefore, thus, hence, so, accordingly, clearly
               Phrases such as: as a result, conclude that, for this reason, must be that, follows that
               Sometimes conclusions may be in the question stem, othertimes they may not be explicitely stated in both the passage and the question stem.

Indentify Premises
- Identify Conclusion
- Mark the info in the passage that the conclusion is based on.
- A premise can be
                a statistic
                an observation
                a proposal
                a principle
                a view point
- A passage may have >1 premise
- Passage may contain info that do not effect conclusion: Do not consider them as premise.
Logical Structure
LS is the Graphical means to represent the interrelationship between premises and conclusion.
Examples of LS:

Structure 1  Premise 1 ---> Premise 2 ---> Premise 3----> Premise 4 ===> CONCLUSION

Structure 2 Premise 1 ---> Premise 2
                                        =====> CONCLUSION
 Premise 3 ---> Premise 4

Structure 3 Premise 1 ---> Premise 2
                                        =====> CONCLUSION
                     Premise 3

Assumptions:
Are unstated idea/premise which are absolutely required for the conclusion to be valid.
In CR passages , author makes certain leaps of faith while making a conclusion. These leaps of faith are called assumptions.
These unstated linkages may be
 - between premises
 - between premise and conclusion.

Benifits of Logical Structure
 - better understanding of argument
 - helps identify Assumptions that the agrument makes.
 - Makes evaluation of the answer choice easy.

Scope of Argument: Range of an argument.
 Range within which premises and conclusion encompass certain ideas.
 Understanding scope helps us eliminate OUT OF SCOPE arguments.