Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Flaw In the Reasoning

What are Flaw in reasoning questions?
- It is a close cousin of MOR questions.
- Very rare. 5% of gmat questions. Expect to see it if you are doing well on the exam.
- Identify why/How the reasoning is flawed.
- Do not need ANY EXTERNAL Data.


What are various different flaws in reasoning?
     - Improper Comparison
     - Corelation misinterperated an Causality
     - Use of Limited Sample
     - Failure to consider Complete Picture

Improper Comparison
   author comparies entities that
     - Are Not comparable
     - Are comparable only when cartain assumptions are met.

Corelation misinterperated an Causality
There are arguments which establishes causality simply based on coincidence of 2 events.Such arguments may be flawed , as the 2 events may ,in reality, be unrelated.

There Use of Limited Sample
There are arguments which establishes conclusion based on data, but the sufficiency of data can be easily questioned.

Failure to consider Complete Picture


Summary
Note that in all of the above mentioned flaws, the flaw arises from FLAWED Assumptions. There think of assumptions when solving this question type.


Flaw in reasoning vs Weaken
Flaw                                                                        Weaken
  Verbage                                                                    Verbage
  Which of the following explains                                  Which of the following if true, will
   why the argument is flawed?                                         Point out the flaw in the argument.

Correct Answer                                                                      Correct Answer
   Doesn contain new info                                            Contains new info
  Analyses info in the passage                                         Weakens the argument.


What is the process to approach Flaw questions?
- Read and understand the passage
- Create Logical Structure.
- PRETHINK using framework
- Evaulate the answer choice.