Most Strongly Supported vs Strengthen Questions

Most Strongly Supported (MSS) and Strengthen questions are frequently confused with one another because they are both dealing with support. After all, if you are strengthening something, you are supporting it. The subtle distinctions between the wording of these question types are extremely important because we must know what the question is asking for in order to arrive at the correct answer. In this post, we will discuss exactly how to identify each type and how these questions differ.

Since both of these questions deal with support, they can both use language such as "most strongly support". For this reason, it's extremely important that you don't rely on keywords alone. Make sure you understand what the question is asking for.

Most Strongly Supported

• Task: Find the answer that is most likely to be true based on the passage. In other words, we are asked to use the passage to support the answer choices.

• We are concerned about whether the answer choices are true, so we are not assuming they are true

  • An answer that is unlikely to be true based on the passage is incorrect for this question type. We should be skeptical of answers that bring up concepts that were never discussed or suggested in the passage

• This question type is asking us to derive a conclusion, not do something to a conclusion already provided by the passage

Strengthen

• Task: Find the answer that would make the conclusion in the passage more likely to be true. In other words, we are asked to use the answer choices to support something in the passage.

• We are not concerned about whether the answer choices are true--we are supposed to assume the answers are true and see if they complete the task at hand.

  • For this reason, sometimes the correct answer for Strengthen questions can mention topics that were never discussed in the passage

• This question is asking us to provide support to the conclusion already provided by the passage, not to create our own conclusion

Examples:

• "Which one of the following, if true, most strongly supports the reasoning above?"

  • This is a Strengthen question. Here are some clues that can help us determine this.

    • "Which one of the following" is always referring to the answer choices. By saying "the following, if true..." the question is implying that we are to assume or pretend the answer choices are true, so we aren't concerned about whether they actually are true. This implies it cannot be a Most Strongly Supported question.

    • We are being asked to support "THE reasoning", implying that we are being asked to support something that was already provided in the passage, not the answer choices.

• "The statements above, if true, most strongly support which one of the following?"

  • This is a Most Strongly Supported question. Here's how we know:

    • "The statements above" is always referring to the passage. We are supposing the passage is true

    • We are being asked to use the passage to support the answer choices, not the other way around

• "Which one of the following conclusions is most strongly supported?"

  • This is a Most Strongly Supported question. Here's how we know:

    • Since the answer choices are being described as conclusions, we are being asked to derive a conclusion, not to do something to a preexisting conclusion. This also implies that the passage is used as support for the answers (since all conclusions must have support), not the other way around

• "Which one of the following statements most strongly supports the conclusion?"

  •  This is a Strengthen question. Here's how we know:

    • We are being asked to use the statements in the answer choice to provide support to a conclusion already provided in the passage (as indicated by "THE" conclusion)

Summary - Let's Recap

• Never rely on keywords alone because both question types can use very similar language

• Most Strongly Supported questions are asking us to derive a conclusion that is supported by the passage (Think top-down). This means we are concerned with whether the answers are true.

• Strengthen questions ask us to find the answer that supports something in the passage (Think bottom-up). This means we do not care whether the answer choices are true and are assuming them to be true.

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