The Fact Test in Method of Reasoning Questions

Because Method of Reasoning questions are similar to Must Be True questions,
you can use the principle behind the Fact Test to destroy incorrect answers. In a
Method Reasoning question, the Fact Test works as follows:
If an answer choice describes an event that did not occur in the stimulus,
then that answer is incorrect.
The test makers will try to entice you by creating incorrect answer choices that
contain elements that did not occur, and you must avoid those answers and
select the answer choice that describes what occurred in the stimulus. For
example, if an answer choice states, “The argument accepts a claim on the basis
of public opinion of the claim,” all parts of the answer must be identifiable in
the stimulus. First you must be able to identify where the author “accepts a
claim,” and then you must be able to identify where that is done “on the basis of
public opinion of the claim.” If you cannot identify part of an answer as having
occurred in the stimulus, that answer is incorrect.
Watch out for answers that are partially true—that is, answers that contain a
description of something that happened in the argument but that also contain
additional things that did not occur. For example, an answer choice states that,
“The author disagrees with the analogy used by the critic.” When examining
this answer, you must find both the “disagreement” and the “analogy”; if you
can only find one, or neither, the answer is wrong. But let us say you know the
author disagrees with the critic. That is a good start, but you will still have to
find disagreement with the analogy for the answer to be correct.
Stimulus Notes
The stimulus for a Method Reasoning question will contain an argument, and
the argument can contain either valid or invalid reasoning. As you read the
stimulus, you should naturally make an assessment of the validity of the
argument, and you can expect that many Method of Reasoning answer choices
will reflect that assessment.
Because recognizing argument structure is such an important part of attacking
Method questions, you must watch for the presence of the premise and
conclusion indicators discussed in Chapter Two. These indicators will help you
identify the structure of the argument and better help you understand the answer
choices.