"Does this support the author's argument?"

[fallingwater]

I find some of the most obtuse VR questions to be the ones that provide a statement, assumption, or scenario, and ask if it supports/weakens/confirms the author's argument, or does not affect it.

But is it just me, or is the correct answer to this type of question almost always "does not affect it"?

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[paul411]

Just you.

Those questions require the reader to understand the author's thesis well enough to determine how new evidence affects it. So it's a "main idea" question. IMO, this is a good question type to measure critical reading skills.

I think "doesn't affect it" has an equal chance of being the right answer...

 

[MCATBUSTER]

Please remember if it is a paraphrase of what the author said then logically it doesn't it affect the argument because he/she already presented it as a point. And again, any answer choice is equally likely to be true depending on the context. However, I took the MCAT on July 16th and I believe I didn't have a question type like this on my test or if I did it should be just one question. It appears to be an uncommon type of question. On the contrary EK has alot of this type of question and it might be the reason why EK is harder than the real one.

 

[mitchlucker]

For EK I think it's a little more common, but as for the real thing I don't think I'd assume that.

Usually I just think if I made an entire paragraph about the statement and put it in the author's essay, what would happen? Those questions are usually pretty easy unless you get a seriously abstract passage.