HOW TO ANSWER

STRENGTHEN
QUESTIONS
To score higher on the GMAT

Aim of this Session

To help you effectively think about Strengthen questions

Agenda
1 What does strengthening mean

2 Common types of Strengthen arguments and their structure

3 Examples

Strengthen questions A brief overview

WHAT DOES STRENGTHEN MEAN?

Support Authors Reasoning by

1. Providing additional evidence
2. Addressing the assumptions

15% of CR
Questions

WHAT IS TESTED?

1. Understanding how the argument is made

2. Incorporating new information to support the argument

3 types of arguments that we will deal with

Strengthen Weaken
Proposal
Claim

Causal

Historical

1. General Structure: If you do X then Y

will/may happen
2. Strengthener: Provides supporting
evidence
1. General Structure: An event Y is
observed, it is caused because of reason
X.
2. Strengthener: Guard against weakeners
or provide supporting evidence

1. General Structure: Disjointed events,

with a conclusion linking the events.
2. Strengthener: Anything that links the
events

1. The strengthener plays the same role regardless of the argument

structure
2. Knowledge of structure will help you pre-think!

TYPE 1: PROPOSAL PREDICTION

General Structure of this passage

2
1
3
Given context.. If X is done.. Y will/may be
achieved.

In Washington County, attendance at the movies is just large enough for the
cinema operators to make modest profits. The size of the county's population is
stable and is not expected to increase much. Yet there are investors ready to
double the number of movie screens in the county within five years, and they
are predicting solid profits both for themselves and for the established cinema
operators.
What is the context?

What is X?

What is Y?

Correct Answers in Logical Gap Questions

In Washington County, attendance at the movies is just large enough for the
cinema operators to make modest profits. The size of the county's population is
stable and is not expected to increase much. Yet there are investors ready to
double the number of movie screens in the county within five years, and they are
predicting solid profits both for themselves and for the established cinema
operators.

Logical Gap

Choice along the lines of assumption that

strengthens the argument
Common

Protect
against
Weakener

Discounts an obvious Weakener (if the

context allows it)

Question 1 Portable Defibrillators

Until now Cardiac defibrillators were bulky machines accessible at home through insurance
only to people with a known risk of tachycardia. Consequently, a number of people not
identified at risk for tachycardia die due to lack of access to a defibrillator. Portable
Defibrillators has released a small cheaper defibrillator that everyone can use.
Consequently, deaths due to lack of access to the defibrillator will go down significantly in
the near future.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the authors claim?
A. It will be easier to carry a portable defibrillator than a regular defibrillator outdoors.
B. Most insurance companies are likely to provide the defibrillator from Portable Defibrillators
at an affordable price to patients over 50, the age group where unexpected onset of
tachycardia is most prevalent.

C. Unlike bulky defibrillators, defibrillators from Portable Defibrillators do not require a stable
persistent power source and can be operated using batteries.
D. Bulky defibrillators were provided at free of charge to patients who are at risk for
tachycardia.
E. The defibrillator from Portable Defibrillators uses the same mechanism to cure tachycardia
as bulky defibrillator does.

Logical Structure and Assumptions

Bulky Cardiac defibrillators
available only to patients at
risk

Patients not at known risk die

Portable Defibrillators has

released a small cheaper
defibrillator

Portable Defibrillators will be

widely accessible to the people
in the target group

Strengtheners
Deaths_________________
due to lack of access
to the defibrillator will go
down significantly

1. Evidence that Portable Defibrillators

will be widely distributed
2. Evidence (from target group) that if
widely distributed, people will use the
defibrillators easily

Answer Choice Analysis

Till now Cardiac defibrillators were bulky machines accessible at home through insurance
only to people with a known risk of tachycardia. Consequently, a number of people not
identified at risk for tachycardia die due to lack of access to a defibrillator. Portable
Defibrillators has released a small cheaper defibrillator that everyone can use.
Consequently, deaths due to lack of access to the defibrillator will go down significantly in
the near future.
A. It will be easier to carry a portable defibrillator than
a regular defibrillator outdoors.

A. Same as C.

B. Most insurance companies are likely to provide the

defibrillator from Portable Defibrillators at an affordable
price to patients over 50, the age group where
unexpected onset of tachycardia is most prevalent.

B. Correct: Provides evidence for greater

access among people from target group.

C. Unlike bulky defibrillators, defibrillators from Portable

Defibrillators do not require a stable persistent power
source and can be operated using batteries.

C. Does a supposed comparative advantage

increase the belief that more people will
have access to portable defibs?

D. Bulky defibrillators were provided at free of charge to

patients who are at risk for tachycardia.

D. Conclusion is about access to portable

defibs NOT bulky defibs.

E. The defibrillator from Portable Defibrillators uses the

same mechanism to cure tachycardia as bulky
defibrillator does.

E. Is the performance of the defibrillator an

issue that the author wants to address?

Question 2 Cell phones v/s landlines

Over the last five years, the number of new cell phones in India has far outpaced the
number of new landlines. This does not mean, however, that people dont need landlines
and that land lines are being or will soon be replaced by cell phones. The average
number of minutes spent per landline has constantly increased over the last five years.
Which of the following, if true, will support the outcome of the study described above?
A. Of those who bought cell phones in the past five years, only a small fraction currently
do not own a landline.
B. Landlines do not cost higher on a per minute basis than cell phones do.
C. While most of the country is covered by a cell phone network, landline networks have
not reached the nooks and corners of the country.
D. In spite of the technical advantages on the cell phone, the voice quality on cell phones
is not better than that on the landlines.
E. People who own a smartphone, a special type of cell phone, also use it to check email
and to send short messages.

Logical Structure
Over the last five years, the number of new cell phones in India has far outpaced the number of new landlines.
This does not mean, however, that people dont need landlines and that land lines are being or will soon be
replaced by cell phones. The average number of minutes spent per landline has constantly increased over the last
five years.

the # of new cell

phones has far
outpaced the number
of new landlines

Average usage of
landlines has
increased

LL still have some utility that

most people need

Strengtheners

Land lines will stay relevant,

and people will still need
landlines

1. Land lines have some features that

cell phones cant match
2. Cell phones are deployed where there
is no landline coverage
3. Evidence indicating that cell phones
are not replacing LL

Answer Choice Analysis

Over the last five years, the number of new cell phones in India has far outpaced the
number of new landlines. This does not mean, however, that people dont need
landlines and that land lines are being or will soon be replaced by cell phones. The
average number of minutes spent per landline has constantly increased over the last
five years.
A. Of those who bought cell phones in the past 5
years, only a small fraction currently do not own a
landline.
B. Landlines do not cost higher on a per minute
basis than cell phones do.
C. While most of the country is covered by a cell
phone network, land line networks have not
reached the nooks and corners of the country.
D. In spite of the technical advantages on the cell
phone, the voice quality on cell phones is not
better than that on the landlines
E. People who own a smartphone, a special type of
cell phone, also use it to check email and to send
short messages.

Correct: Shows evidence that cell phones

are not replacing LL

B. Not higher could also mean just as

expensive.

C. Indicates a comparative advantage of

cellphones, not LL.
D. Not better could also mean equally good!

E. This choice lists benefits of a kind of

cellphone and not LL!

TYPE 2: CAUSAL
PASSAGES

General Structure of this passage

Given context: Y happened because of X

OR

X Caused Y

Fundamental Assumption: Z did not cause Y

A very common causal argument

X and Y have occurred. Therefore, X caused Y.
Other Possibilities

Coincidence

Y caused X

Z caused both X and Y

I met Joe six months back; he was unemployed and happy. I met him yesterday. He
was employed and sad. Therefore, Joe is sad because of his job.

General Structure of this passage

Joe is sad because

of his job
(X caused Y)

Joe got a job to

overcome his sadness
(Y caused X)

Joe is employed
(X) and sad (Y)
(X and Y have
occurred)

Joe is sad because his

team lost the final
(X, Y - coincidental)

Joes ailing mother, the

reason for his sadness,
asked him to get a job
(Z caused X and Y)

A very common causal argument

X and Y have occurred. Therefore, X caused Y
Other Possibilities

Coincidence

Y caused X

Z caused both X and Y

Assumptions
1. Y did not cause X
2. Occurrence of X and Y was not coincidental
3. Z did not cause X and Y
I met Joe six months back; he was unemployed and happy. I met him yesterday. He
was employed and sad. Therefore, Joe is sad because of his job.

General Structure of this passage

A study followed a group of teenagers who had never smoked and tracked
whether they took up smoking and how their mental health changed. After one
year, the incidence of depression among those who had taken up smoking was
four times as high as it was among those who had not. Since nicotine in cigarettes
changes brain chemistry, perhaps thereby affecting mood, it is likely that smoking
contributes to depression in teenagers.
What is X?

Smoking

What is Y?

Depression

Another study found that the

incidence of depression was zero
in a group that was not allowed
to smoke.

Assumptions:
1. People who were depressed were not more likely to take up smoking than
others (Y did not cause X)
2. During the year, some teenagers in the study group did not enter the college
where the incidence of smoking and depression is quite high (Z did not cause
X and Y)

Exposure to Asbestos/SV 40 (GMAT Prep)

Although exposure to asbestos is the primary cause for mesothelioma, a slow-developing
cancer, researchers believe that infection by the SV40 virus is a contributing cause, since in
the US 60 percent of tissue samples from mesotheliomas, but none from healthy tissue,
contain SV40. SV40 is a monkey virus; however, in 1960 some polio vaccine was
contaminated with the virus. Researchers hypothesize that this vaccine was the source of
the virus found in mesotheliomas decades later.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the researchers' hypothesis?
A. Immigrants who entered US after 1962 and have mesothelioma do not show any evidence
of SV40 virus present in their tissue.
B. People in Africa, who were bitten by monkeys and exposed to Asbestos, showed traces of
SV40 in their blood.

C. SV 40 does not cause cancer in monkeys even if the monkey acts as a carrier of virus
throughout its life.
D. The only feasible way to kill SV40 virus is to expose it to UV radiation, such as that done
during chemotherapy.
E. In a small percentage of cases of mesothelioma there is no evidence of direct exposure to
asbestos.

Passage Analysis
Although exposure to asbestos is the primary
cause for mesothelioma, a slow-developing
cancer, researchers believe that infection by
the SV40 virus is a contributing cause

Primary cause: Asbestos

Belief:
Secondary/Contributing Cause: SV40

since in the US 60 percent of tissue samples

from mesotheliomas, but none from healthy
tissue, contain SV40

Reason for the belief:

60% of cancer tissues contain SV40
0% of healthy tissues contain SV40

SV40 is a monkey virus; however, in 1960

some polio vaccine was contaminated with
the virus

SV40: Not found in humans generally

: contaminated polio vaccine

Researchers hypothesize that this vaccine

was the source of the virus found in
mesotheliomas decades later

Hypothesis:
Vaccine cause of SV40 in cancer
tissues

Pre-thinking
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the researchers' hypothesis?

SV40 virus is a contributing cause of Mesothelioma

Conclusion

Polio vaccine is the cause of SV40 found in cancer

tissues

Answer Choice Analysis

Although exposure to asbestos is the primary cause for mesothelioma, a slow-developing cancer,
researchers believe that infection by the SV40 virus is a contributing case, since in the US 60 percent of
tissue samples from mesotheliomas, but none from healthy tissue, contain SV40. SV40 is a monkey
virus; however, in 1960 some polio vaccine was contaminated with the virus. Researchers hypothesize
that this vaccine was the source of the virus found in mesotheliomas decades later.
A. Immigrants who entered US after 1962 and
have mesothelioma do not show any evidence of
SV40 virus present in their tissue.

Correct: No cause, no effect

B. People in Africa, who were bitten by monkeys

and exposed to Asbestos, showed traces of SV40 in
their blood .
C.SV 40 does not cause cancer in monkeys even if
the monkey acts as a carrier of virus throughout
its life.

B. Weakener as it shows other ways of getting

infected

D. The only feasible way to kill SV40 virus is to

expose it to UV radiation, such as that done during
chemotherapy

D. Irrelevant: no relation to conclusion

E. In a small percentage of cases of mesothelioma

there is no evidence of direct exposure to asbestos.

E. Irrelevant: no relation to conclusion

C. Are we concerned about whether SV40

causes cancer in monkeys?

TYPE 3 HISTORICAL
PASSAGES

OG 12, Q 13
In Swartkans territory archaeologists discovered charred bone fragments dating
back one million years. Analysis of fragments, which came from a variety of
animals, showed that they had been heated to temperatures no higher than those
produced in experimental campfires made from branches of white stinkwood, the
most common tree around Swartkans.

Which of the following, if true, would, together with the information above, provide
the best basis for the claim that the charred bone fragments are evidence of the use
of fire by early hominids?

Option Statements

1. Apart from the Swartkans discovery, there is reliable evidence that early
hominids used fire as many as 500,000 years ago.
2. The bone fragments were found in several distinct layers of limestone that
contained primitive cutting tools known to have been used by early hominids.

General Structure of this passage

2
1
3
Context + 2 somewhat related events (X, Y), Y
occurred because of X.

Here, the relationship itself needs to be

established.
In Swartkans territory, archaeologists discovered charred bone fragments dating
back one million years. Analysis of fragments, which came from a variety of
animals, showed that they had been heated to temperatures no higher than those
produced in experimental campfires made from branches of white stinkwood, the
most common tree around Swartkans.
Which of the following, if true, would, together with the information above, provide
the best basis for the claim that the charred bone fragments are evidence of the use
of fire by early hominids?

OG 12, Q 13
In Swartkans territory archaeologists discovered charred bone fragments dating
back 1 million years. Analysis of fragments, which came from a variety of animals,
showed that they had been heated to temperatures no higher than those produced
in experimental campfires made from branches of white stinkwood, the most
common tree around Swartkans.

Which of the following, if true, would, together with the info above, provide the
best basis for the claim that the charred bone fragments are evidence of the use of
fire by early hominids?

Linkage of bone fragments to

hominids

Come from
Animals

Temp. similar to those

produced from branches
of stinkwood

Charred
bone
fragments

Evidence of use of fire

by early hominids

OG 12, Q 13
In Swartkans territory archaeologists discovered charred bone fragments dating
back one million years. Analysis of fragments, which came from a variety of
animals, showed that they had been heated to temperatures no higher than those
produced in experimental campfires made from branches of white stinkwood, the
most common tree around Swartkans.

Which of the following, if true, would, together with the info above, provide the
best basis for the claim that the charred bone fragments are evidence of the use of
fire by early hominids?

Option Statements

1. Apart from the Swartkans discovery, there is reliable evidence that early
hominids used fire as many as 500,000 years ago.
2. The bone fragments were found in several distinct layers of limestone that
contained primitive cutting tools known to have been used by early hominids.

Excavation of Cyprus
Excavation of the ancient city of Kourion on the island of Cyprus revealed a pattern of debris
and collapsed buildings typical of towns devastated by earthquakes. Archaeologists have
hypothesized that the destruction was due to a major earthquake known to have occurred
near the island in A.D.365.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the archaeologists hypothesis?

A. Bronze ceremonial drinking vessels that are often found in graves dating from years
preceding and following A.D.365 were also found in several graves near Kourion.
B. No coins minted after A.D.365 were found in Kourion, but coins minted before that year were
found in abundance.

C. Most modern histories of Cyprus mention that an earthquake occurred near the island in
A.D.365.
D. Several small statues carved in styles current in Cyprus in the century between A.D.300 and
400 were found in Kourion.
E. Stone inscriptions in a form of the Greek alphabet that was definitely used in Cyprus after
A.D.365 were found in Kourion.

Logical Structure and Assumptions

Excavation of Kourion,
on Cyprus revealed
debris

The debris were

typical of earthquake

Assumptions
Earthquake was lethal enough
to destroy the island
Reason to believe that destruction
was due to this earthquake

Destruction was due to a

major earthquake known to
have occurred near the island
in A.D.365

Strengtheners

1. Remains before AD 365 but not after

2. Epicenter of earthquake => next to
Kourion + powerful

Answer Choice Analysis

Excavation of the ancient city of Kourion on the island of Cyprus revealed a pattern of debris
and collapsed buildings typical of towns devastated by earthquakes. Archaeologists have
hypothesized that the destruction was due to a major earthquake known to have occurred
near the island in A.D.365.
A.

Bronze ceremonial drinking vessels that are often

found in graves dating from years preceding and
following A.D.365 were also found in several
graves near Kourion.

A. Weakener: Since it talks about events

before and after the earthquake

B.

No coins minted after A.D.365 were found in

Kourion, but coins minted before that year were
found in abundance.

C.

Most modern histories of Cyprus mention that an

earthquake occurred near the island in A.D.365.

D.

Several small statues carved in styles current in

Cyprus in the century between A.D.300 and 400 were
found in Kourion.

A. Weakener: Since it talks about statues

before and after the earthquake (AD 365)

Stone inscriptions in a form of the Greek alphabet

that was definitely used in Cyprus after A.D.365 were
found in Kourion.

A. Weakener: Since it talks about events

after the earthquake

E.

B. Correct: since there were no coins minted

after AD365 indicating a disruption.
C. We already know that the earthquake
occurred near the island

List of questions to attempt

OG 12 questions: 5, 11, 13, 14, 16, 21, 24, 25, 32, 34, 38, 42, 46, 51, 53, 65,
67, 68, 82, 92, 94, 99, 100, 109, 113, 115, 119, 121, 122
Verbal Review (Blue): 2, 6, 9, 17, 23, 29, 30, 32, 33, 35, 38, 45, 51, 53, 55, 60,
62, 68, 71, 77

OG 13: 1, 5, 11, 14, 16, 19, 23, 29, 30, 31, 35, 40, 45, 50, 52, 56, 64, 67, 95,
101, 102, 108, 111, 118, 120, 121