MCAT Questions: Strengthening and Weakening Arguments

Basically when you come to one of these questions, the first thing you have to know is - what is the author’s argument? What assertions does s/he put forward, and what conclusions does s/he draw? Something that strengthens the argument will very often be something that supports the assertions - more data, or something that lets you know the author’s assumptions are correct. On the contrary, something that weakens the argument will contradict the author’s evidence or assumptions, or show that the conclusions don’t necessarily follow. So you have to be really clear on what argument the author is making. Then, you can frequently predict the type of answer that would strengthen or weaken the argument (though obviously you can’t predict the exact answer).

If you need help with how to identify the argument, see the post that QofQuimica and I have written about how to find the author’s viewpoint. Nutmeg also wrote a good post about distinguishing facts and opinions. I think the overall best question to ask yourself is: WHY did the author take the time to write this passage? What is it that they’re trying to convince the reader of? If you figure out why someone would bother to spend all that time writing something, you know what the overall point is, and the purpose of the argument.