What are some characteristics of wrong answer choices in RC?
Do they come from the same paragraph or close place as correct answer choices? I know for some answer choices they are just factually incorrect but for some other answer choices they twist the details etc, and part of the choice is actually correct, and this confuses me a lot. Do correct answer choices and wrong answer choices come from the same paragraphs or close places?
Especially for those detail questions...if they contain partially correct info, not sure where to look back.
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Re: How do they make wrong answer choices?
If you've read our RC book, it creates a handful of broad categories for how they create trap answers.
INTERPRETATION - Unsupported, or Contradicted
SCOPE - Out of Scope, or Too Narrow (on a Big Picture question)
DEGREE - Extreme modifier or extreme attitude
At the heart of all this is the test writer's goal:
- Make a couple trap answers obviously bad so that the remaining one or two trap answers deserve a second look. The tempting trap answer(s) often has some verbatim phrase that was used in the passage. It rings 'familiar'.
- Make the correct answer look initially unappealing, by using synonyms or unexpected phrasings to convey the same meaning as the passage. It doesn't as often ring 'familiar'.
Correct answers frequently use wishy-washy and indirect phrasings:
"Building coalitions is not the only political role of newly elected leaders"
.....translation: did the passage identify a political role of new leaders, BESIDES building coalitions?
"A strategy need not be thoroughly premeditated in order to achieve some measure of success"
.....translation: did the passage mention a fairly successful plan that was thrown together quickly?
If an answer choice contains something truly OUT OF SCOPE, i.e. "alien" to the passage, something word/concept we just never covered, people will usually identify that weird part and feel like it's "unfamiliar".
The most famous word to introduce OUT OF SCOPE is "other". Let's say we're reading a passage about Mexican painters and then an answer choices says something like "Mexican painters are more _____ than other painters". That's how LSAT introduces out of scope without totally showing you an alien word like 'Turkish painters'.
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Since alien words are usually a quick giveaway, LSAT mainly sticks to using words from the passage, and then makes the answer incorrect by introducing a word/idea that is
- too strong
- too specific
- comparative
All of that language CAN be correct, but it should always be a red flag. You're not allowed to pick it until you've found language in the passage that justifies the strong, specific, or comparative word.
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The type of answer we call Unsupported Interpretation is something I like to call Word Blender.
It sounds like what you were referring to -- they borrow phrases from elsewhere in the passage, often cramming two things together that came from separate parts/contexts of the passage.
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To get better at eliminations you need to
1. Have a decent first read of the passage, so that opposite-direction answers are obvious. Also, 'alien' ideas should then stick out to you in answers.
2. Sensitize your brain to strong / specific / comparative / conditional wording. See it, know it's a red flag, defer on it initially, and research it if you're thinking about picking it.
3. Have a good passage map so that you know approximately where you'd find any detail/topic.
4. COMPREHEND the meaning of the passage or the sentence you're being tested on. Trap answers use Word-matches, but give an incorrect meaning. Correct answers provide Meaning-matches, but use different words.
INTERPRETATION - Unsupported, or Contradicted
SCOPE - Out of Scope, or Too Narrow (on a Big Picture question)
DEGREE - Extreme modifier or extreme attitude
At the heart of all this is the test writer's goal:
- Make a couple trap answers obviously bad so that the remaining one or two trap answers deserve a second look. The tempting trap answer(s) often has some verbatim phrase that was used in the passage. It rings 'familiar'.
- Make the correct answer look initially unappealing, by using synonyms or unexpected phrasings to convey the same meaning as the passage. It doesn't as often ring 'familiar'.
Correct answers frequently use wishy-washy and indirect phrasings:
"Building coalitions is not the only political role of newly elected leaders"
.....translation: did the passage identify a political role of new leaders, BESIDES building coalitions?
"A strategy need not be thoroughly premeditated in order to achieve some measure of success"
.....translation: did the passage mention a fairly successful plan that was thrown together quickly?
If an answer choice contains something truly OUT OF SCOPE, i.e. "alien" to the passage, something word/concept we just never covered, people will usually identify that weird part and feel like it's "unfamiliar".
The most famous word to introduce OUT OF SCOPE is "other". Let's say we're reading a passage about Mexican painters and then an answer choices says something like "Mexican painters are more _____ than other painters". That's how LSAT introduces out of scope without totally showing you an alien word like 'Turkish painters'.
========
Since alien words are usually a quick giveaway, LSAT mainly sticks to using words from the passage, and then makes the answer incorrect by introducing a word/idea that is
- too strong
- too specific
- comparative
All of that language CAN be correct, but it should always be a red flag. You're not allowed to pick it until you've found language in the passage that justifies the strong, specific, or comparative word.
========
The type of answer we call Unsupported Interpretation is something I like to call Word Blender.
It sounds like what you were referring to -- they borrow phrases from elsewhere in the passage, often cramming two things together that came from separate parts/contexts of the passage.
========
To get better at eliminations you need to
1. Have a decent first read of the passage, so that opposite-direction answers are obvious. Also, 'alien' ideas should then stick out to you in answers.
2. Sensitize your brain to strong / specific / comparative / conditional wording. See it, know it's a red flag, defer on it initially, and research it if you're thinking about picking it.
3. Have a good passage map so that you know approximately where you'd find any detail/topic.
4. COMPREHEND the meaning of the passage or the sentence you're being tested on. Trap answers use Word-matches, but give an incorrect meaning. Correct answers provide Meaning-matches, but use different words.
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