The twenty-one subskills
that decide your score.

Bridges the argument. Never strengthens. Negate-the-answer is the canonical method.

Closes the gap by force. The answer that, if true, makes the conclusion inevitable.

Tightens the analogy or the causal chain. Match the answer to the metric in the conclusion.

Breaks the strongest link. Find the alternative cause or the analogy-killing disanalogy.

Names the structural error that licenses the conclusion. Trap: real-world worries vs structural diagnosis.

What must be true if the stimulus is true. Trap: confusing what is supported with what feels right.

Match the abstract rule to the concrete case. Strength of fit, not topic of fit.

Resolve without explaining away. Both facts stay true; the answer adds context.

Shape, not topic. Compare argument structure, not subject matter. Diagram first.

The author’s conclusion, restated. Distinguish from supporting claims and from rhetorical asides.

Names HOW the author argues, not what. Abstract description of the structure.

Names the role of a specific claim. Premise, sub-conclusion, opposing view, or analogy.

The claim both speakers stake a position on, in opposite directions. Two-speaker check.

The claim both speakers explicitly endorse. The narrow thing they agree on inside a larger disagreement.

The thesis the passage builds toward, in one sentence. Different from "the topic."

Why the author wrote the passage. Describe, advocate, critique, compare, propose.

Out-of-passage detail traps. Mark sentences without paraphrasing on the first read.

What the passage supports, not what feels implied. Caution is not preference.

The author’s stance, read from diction. Hedged language signals moderate, not strong.

Why the author wrote this sentence. Function tags before content tags.

How Passage A and Passage B relate. Agree, disagree, address different aspects, or complement.