What is a weaken question on the LSAT?
Asked by: Prof. Bailey Durgan | Last update: July 24, 2025Score: 5/5 (38 votes)
"Weaken" questions on the LSAT require you to identify the answer choice that most undermines or weakens the argument. To answer these questions, you must clearly understand the argument's main conclusion and its supporting premises, then find the answer choice that makes the conclusion less likely to be true.
What does it mean to weaken an argument?
"Strengthen" doesn't mean prove, and "weaken" doesn't mean disprove. You don't need to destroy an argument in order to weaken it; it's good enough to just make the conclusion less likely to follow from its evidence.
How to approach weaken questions?
For weaken questions, what you're looking to do is make the conclusion less likely to occur, the central assumption less likely to be true. The answer will offer additional facts that make the conclusion less likely to follow.
What is a sufficient question on the LSAT?
"Sufficient Assumption" questions on the LSAT challenge you to identify an assumption that, when added to an argument, proves the conclusion. To solve these questions, you'll need to pinpoint the argument's main conclusion, recognize any gaps in reasoning, and find the answer choice that fills those gaps completely.
What is strengthen or weaken an argument?
Does the topic shift in a meaningful way? If so, then connecting the topic in the support and the topic in the conclusion in a logical way might strengthen the argument. In the same manner, making the topic in the support less related/connected to the topic in the conclusion may weaken the argument.
Infer, Strengthen and Weaken - LSAT - GRE - GMAT
What is a strengthen weaken question on the LSAT?
In a strengthen question, you are looking for an answer choice that provides additional support for the argument. In a weaken question, you are looking for an answer choice that undermines the argument in some way. It is important to note that strengthen and weaken questions are not the same as assumption questions.
What are the things that weaken an argument?
Logical fallacies are found in many places—ads, politics, movies. Logical fallacies make an argument weak by using mistaken beliefs/ideas, invalid arguments, illogical arguments, and/or deceptiveness. If you are arguing, avoid fallacies of thought because they create weaknesses in an argument.
How many questions wrong is a 160 on the LSAT?
Every LSAT throughout the year is different, but on a typical LSAT, can still get around 18–19 questions wrong and still end up in the 160s—or about 12 wrong and get a 166, a 90th percentile score. Even a perfect score of 180 often allows for a question or two to be missed.
What is a good LSAT score without studying?
You can expect to score between 145 and 153 when taking the LSAT without studying. This would generally fall within the 26th to 53rd percentile. Your individual score will vary depending on your familiarity with aptitude, logical, and reading comprehension tests.
How many questions can I get wrong on the LSAT to get a 164?
On a typical LSAT, you can still get around 18–19 questions wrong and still end up in the 160s—or around 10–12 wrong and get a 167, which is a 90th percentile score. Even a perfect score of 180 often allows you to miss a question or two.
How to answer most strongly supported questions in LSAT?
To approach "Most Strongly Supported" questions on the LSAT, start by getting a thorough understanding of the passage, treating every statement as true within the context provided. Predict a possible answer before looking at the options, using the passage's information to infer what else must be true.
What is parallel reasoning on the LSAT?
Parallel reasoning questions on the LSAT require you to (1) identify the logic and structure of an argument and (2) find an argument with similar logic/structure. For this type of LR question, you will need to look for the patterns in the structure.
Can be inferred LSAT?
The correct answer to an inference question on the LSAT will follow directly from the evidence provided; it is NOT merely an educated guess, but is instead the logical consequence of the assumed premises. Notice that just based on five words—“Bob doesn't eat onion rings”—we can draw two possible inferences.
What is an example of a weak argument?
Here is an example of weak argument: “Charlie is a woman. Some women like poetry. Therefore, Charlie likes poetry.” In this case, the premise “some women like poetry” has a low or unclear probability, so the argument is weak.
What's another word for weaken something?
Some common synonyms of weaken are cripple, debilitate, disable, enfeeble, sap, and undermine. While all these words mean "to lose or cause to lose strength or vigor," weaken may imply loss of physical strength, health, soundness, or stability or of quality, intensity, or effective power.
How do you weaken a causal argument?
The best way to weaken a causal argument is to suggest an alternative causal factor. (A) Parents stock up on cold medicine that alleviates the symptoms of a cold after a child gets sick. This choice presents another possible reason to undermine the argument, but the medicine deals with symptoms, not the cold per se.
How rare is 172 LSAT?
So, a great score on the LSAT is a 172, but more than 100,000 people take the LSAT every year and only 1% score 172 or higher. For the top 50 law schools, the median LSAT score is between 164 and 174. A good LSAT score for top tier(defined by T14 schools for this article) law schools is between 171 and 174.
How hard is the LSAT in Canada?
How hard is the LSAT? Very difficult. The LSAT is scored on a 120-180 curve, and the median score is generally a 152 (50th percentile). The median LSAT score for students admitted to most Canadian law schools is around 160, which puts them in the 80th percentile of all LSAT test-takers.
What is a poor LSAT score?
A 144-145 is generally considered to be the lowest acceptable score to attend law school. The median LSAT score is around 151-152, so 144-145 is significantly lower than this. As such, the majority of law schools will not accept scores below this.
What is a good LSAT score in 2024?
A 170 is considered a great score, as it would mean you got at least 90 of the 101 questions on the test right. Doing so would put you in the top 2-3% of test takers, meaning you would get into most law schools.
What LSAT score do I need for Harvard?
So let's take a look at what it actually takes to have a chance of being admitted to the most prestigious and preeminent law school in the world. As you can see from these numbers, an LSAT score of 170 or higher and a GPA above 3.75 will give you a chance of gaining admission to Harvard Law School.
How to avoid begging the question fallacy?
Tip: One way to try to avoid begging the question is to write out your premises and conclusion in a short, outline-like form. See if you notice any gaps, any steps that are required to move from one premise to the next or from the premises to the conclusion. Write down the statements that would fill those gaps.
What is an example of a false dilemma?
When you reason from an either-or position and you haven't considered all relevant possibilities you commit the fallacy of false dilemma. Examples: America: Love it or leave it. Death is nothing to fear.
What is the nut picking fallacy?
Nut-picking (suppressed evidence, incomplete evidence) – using individual cases or data that falsify a particular position, while ignoring related cases or data that may support that position.