The “Strengthen the Argument” question type demands that you find a new piece of information that, if added to the existing argument, will make the conclusion or a claim in the passage more likely to be true.
On a Strengthen question, you will be asked to look into a new piece of information that does not have to be true at all. But, if this information is true, then it will accentuate the conclusion or a claim and make it more logically valid.
Most often, the question stem of all Strengthen questions will contain some form of the words “strengthen” or “support”, as well as the phrase “if true”. These questions may occasionally lack the exact phrase “if true”, but some other wording will provide a similar meaning; wording that indicates that the answer can be “effectively achieved” or” successfully accomplished.
What else you can do inside qs leap ?
Let’s have a look at an example:
Astronomer: Most stars are born in groups of thousands, each star in a group forming from the same parent cloud of gas. Each cloud has a unique, homogeneous chemical composition. Therefore, whenever two stars have the same chemical composition as each other, they must have originated from the same cloud of gas.
Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the astronomer’s argument?
(A) In some groups of stars, not every star originated from the same parent cloud of gas.
(B) Clouds of gas of similar or identical chemical composition may be remote from each other.
(C) Whenever a star forms, it inherits the chemical composition of its parent cloud of gas.
(D) Many stars in vastly different parts of the universe are quite similar in their chemical compositions.
(E) Astronomers can at least sometimes precisely determine whether a star has the same chemical composition as its parent cloud of gas.
Answer:
Let’s break it down:
Conclusion: “Therefore, whenever two stars have the same chemical composition as each other, they must have originated from the same cloud of gas.”
Supporting evidence: “Most stars are born in groups of thousands, each star in a group forming from the same parent cloud of gas. Each cloud has a unique, homogeneous chemical composition.”
The given conclusion considers the implication of two stars having similar chemical composition, whilst assuming on a basic level that if he/she were to compare the chemical composition of the stars and the gas cloud they seem to have originated from, then they would be exactly the same.
Any answer choice that supports the author’s assumption, will strengthen the argument.
Before you consider each answer choice in turn, remember that your focus should lie with the chemical composition of the stars, and how if they’re similar to each other and to the origin gas cloud, they’re likely to have originated in the same cluster.
Option A cannot clearly portray a significant relevance between where stars are born (different clouds of gas) and whether they have the same chemical composition. The ambiguity of this option is in fact rather likely to weaken the argument, than strengthen it.
Option B focuses on how far apart clouds of gases are from each other; something that has no relevance to the chemical composition.
Option D also deviated from the main focus of the argument by talking about stars in different parts of the universe.
In the case of option E, any findings on the astronomers’ part could strengthen or weaken the argument. Merely their ability to somewhat precisely determine whether a star has the same chemical composition as its parent cloud of gas, does little to support the author’s conclusion.
Option C is pretty clearly the winner, because it very explicitly states that “Whenever a star forms, it inherits the chemical composition of its parent cloud of gas.”. Hence, C is the answer.
