These boldface questions can be tricky, especially since the GMAT likes to make the arguments in these questions very long and complex. Your first job is determine if the boldface sections are Conclusion, Supporting the Conclusion (Premise), or Something Else (counter premise, background, counter-conclusion). The most important part is to correctly identify the conclusion because only after you know the conclusion can you see if the other statements support/don't support that conclusion.
Once you have the 2 boldface parts identified, my preferred approach is to start with the first boldface statement and review each answer choice to see if the description matches that statement. You should be able to easily eliminate 2-3 answer choices that don't match. Watch out for every word - if it's an opinion it can't be described as evidence, the language may seem to be for a supporting statement except for the very last word that says "opposes", and so on. Once you've made eliminations from the first statement, move to the second boldface determine which one of the remaining choices matches most accurately.
The difficulty is matching the language in the answer choices with Conclusion, Support or Something Else because the GMAT will use very confusing language with several twists. Practice will help.
If you find it too difficult to follow the logic of the argument (it happens frequently due to the complexity of these arguments), you can fall back to a method where you just identify if the statement is a Fact or Opinion (and Conclusion if you can). Noting the difference between fact or opinion statements will often allow you to make several eliminations and improve your chances when you are in "guess mode".
KW
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Kyle Widdison | Manhattan GMAT Instructor | Utah
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