Study Notes

STRONG & WEAK

Study Notes (STRONG & WEAK)

An argument is a statement or series of statement in which a certain point of view is put up,
expressing different opinions for or against something.

The purpose of such questions is to assess your decision making ability. You are supposed to
analyze the arguments to select the appropriate answer option.

Basics of Strong and Weak Arguments:

 A “Strong” argument is one which is both important and directly related to the question.

 A “Weak” argument is one which is of minor importance and also may not be directly
related to the question or may be related to a trivial aspect of the questions.

Steps to plan a solution:

To solve problems based on Strong and Weak we follow a four step plan as:

1. Rejecting in first reading:

There shall be some arguments that you will be able to reject at the first reading itself.
These arguments may be one of the followings:

 Ambiguous Arguments: They leave doubtful or confused impression on your

mind. They are not very clear. Example:” I have never tasted chicken cooked that
way before”. Now here we are unable to decide was the chicken cooked good or
bad?

 Interrogative arguments: These arguments throw back a question. Like “should

there be one religion nationwide”. Question back Argument would say “Yes, why
not?”.

 Half Explained arguments: They are in form of small sentence but do not give
any evidence or fact to it. Example: “Should arts be made illegal?”. Too Simple
argument says “No, it’s important “Now here it has not been explained why is arts
important. Its’ kind of half explained without any facts or evidence.
 Comparative arguments: Such arguments compare the course of action taken in
different country or place or situation. Example “Should plastic bags be banned in

India”. Comparative Argument would say “Yes, even America has banned
plastic”

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Study Notes (STRONG & WEAK)

 Use of words like “Only”,” Each”,” Every”, “Never” etc. They make an argument a
weak argument. Example “Should mid-day meals be mandatory in private
schools too?”. Argument says “Yes, mid-day meals are the only way to keep
children healthy”. Now clearly Mid-day meals are not the “Only” way, there are
other ways too to keep a child healthy.

2. Checking the correctness of Arguments:

An argument is correct if it follows one of the below conditions:

 The Argument is an established fact:

 An established fact may be scientifically proven or Universally
acknowledged.

 Example “Should Electric car be preferred over petrol or diesel cars?”.

Established fact/argument would say “Yes, Electric cars are environment
friendly” which is true and scientifically proven fact.

 The argument is correct by ‘Experience’:

 Sometimes argument may not be an established fact but it’s correct
based on our past experiences.

 Example “Should there be no invigilator in the examination halls?”.

Experienced predict/argument would say “No, it would encourage
candidate’s malpractice” which is true though not scientifically but through
experience in past.

 The argument is correct by ‘Logic and Common Sense’:

 Sometimes there may not be any past experience with respect to the
argument or it may not be an established fact but your logic and common
sense says this will work.

 Example “Should small states be formed out of bigger states in India”.

Logical argument would say “Yes, there will be greater administrative
convenience”

 The argument supports ‘Prevailing Notion of Truth’.

 Such arguments may not be established fact but they are acknowledged
by the society and universally accepted.
 Example: ‘Simple living and high thinking should be our followed’.
Prevailing truth would say “Yes, these virtues make a person great”.

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Study Notes (STRONG & WEAK)

Please note none of the above examples mentioned are the final answers. They
have just qualified the second step and will proceed to the next step for further
judgement.

3. Checking the desirability in case of positive argument or harmful in case of negative

results:

 Checks whether the course of action in the argument is desirable with respect to
the statement.

 Example “Should music be made compulsory in schools?”. The argument says

“Yes, it will increase the number of music teachers”. Now here though the
argument logic is correct but is it desirable? Why would school care for
increasing the number of music teachers, it might have made more sense with
respect to the school had it been said “it would increase enrollment of new
students”.

4. Checking the connectivity of Argument and Statement:

 In this final step we check whether the course of action in the argument and the
statement are balanced as in the steps taken in the argument should not be too
strong or too weak with respect to the statement.

 They should go in proportion with the intensity of issue given in the statement.
Such arguments should not be too harsh or use very big tool for a simple issue or
they should not be too small with respect to the issue.
Example “Should there be compulsory military training in schools?”. Too strong
argument would say “Yes, it will bring sense of discipline in students”. Now
military training is too harsh for brining discipline. There are other methods too to
bring discipline in students.

Summary
Development of Nation

Nation’s Security

STRONG ARGUMENTS Universal Truth

Experience based Facts

Any High command Instructions like Supreme

court , RBI etc.

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Study Notes (STRONG & WEAK)

Comparative Arguments

Ambiguous arguments
WEAK ARGUMENTS Too simple or half explained

Superfluous or Over-exaggeration

Use of words like

ONLY,ALL,EVERY,EACH,NEVER

Example:
Statement: “Should road repair work in big cities be carried out only at late at night?

Arguments:

I. No, this way the work will never get completed.

II. No, there will be unnecessary use if electricity.
III. Yes, the commuters will face a lot of problems due to repair work during the day.
-Canara Bank (PO) 2010

Let us try solving step by step:

Step 1: Preliminary Screening

Argument I) Doing the” first reading “and following the above table we can reject this argument
at first go, since it uses the word “never”. Also the argument is too simple. It is not supported by
any fact as to why the work will not get completed. Logically if we see it argument (I) is not true
for all cases of road construction. There are many roads which are constructed at nights in
phases and do get completed.

Argument II) We can’t reject the argument at just viewing or screening it since it gives a fact that
electricity will be wasted.so It will go to second step.

Argument III) We can’t reject this argument at first step since it is supported by the fact that
commuters will face problems. This will proceed to second step.

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Study Notes (STRONG & WEAK)

Step 2: Checking the correctness of Arguments

Argument (I): In second step we see that the argument is correct as there will be requirement of
electricity at night for construction workers. So this argument goes to the third step.

Argument (II): This argument is also correct based on our past experience that yes road
constructions do cause problems to the commuters. This will also get to the third step.

Step 3: desirability in case of positive argument or harmful in case of negative results:

Argument (II): Here if we see, calling electricity unnecessary for the construction work would be
wrong. Looking at the table for “Strong arguments” this step would lead to development of the
country so electricity can’t be termed as unnecessary for this purpose. So this step would not
qualify for the fourth step.

Argument (III): This step is desirable since it talks about concern for the commuters which is an
important aspect

Step 4: Checking the connectivity of Argument and Statement

Argument (III): Now we can see that this argument is very much related with the statement. Also
it specifies general concern for commuters which is of priority whenever such construction work
is taken into account. Hence this argument is a strong one.