Practice Test Geeks(CCTST) California Critical Thinking Skills Test Practice Test
← All CCTST Flashcard Decks

Argument Assessment Flashcards

7 cards from real CCTST practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 Argument Assessment flashcards as text

  1. A politician argues: 'We should not legalize recreational marijuana because my colleague who supports legalization was once arrested for drug possession.' This is an example of which fallacy?

    Answer: Ad hominem

    Attacking the personal history of the person making an argument rather than addressing the argument itself is an ad hominem fallacy.

  2. Which of the following best describes a 'cogent' argument in the context of inductive reasoning?

    Answer: A strong inductive argument with true premises

    A cogent argument is an inductive argument that is both strong (the premises make the conclusion probable) and has true premises.

  3. Maria says: 'Either you support this policy completely or you are against helping the poor.' What is wrong with this argument?

    Answer: It presents a false dilemma by ignoring middle-ground positions

    This is a false dilemma (false dichotomy) because it presents only two extreme options when other positions likely exist.

  4. An argument's conclusion that 'All swans are white' is drawn from observing 500 white swans with no counter-examples. This argument is best described as:

    Answer: Inductively strong but not deductively valid

    Generalizing from observed cases to a universal claim is inductive reasoning, which can be strong but is never deductively valid since a single counter-example could defeat it.

  5. In evaluating an argument, which question is MOST important to ask about the premises?

    Answer: Do the premises provide adequate evidence for the conclusion?

    The central evaluative question is whether the premises actually support or provide sufficient evidence for the conclusion being drawn.

  6. A researcher concludes: 'Since countries with higher chocolate consumption have more Nobel laureates, chocolate consumption causes intellectual achievement.' What error is present?

    Answer: Conflating correlation with causation

    The argument confuses a statistical correlation between two variables with a causal relationship, ignoring possible confounding factors.

  7. Which scenario demonstrates a 'straw man' fallacy?

    Answer: Misrepresenting an opponent's view as more extreme to make it easier to attack

    A straw man fallacy involves distorting or exaggerating an opponent's position into a weaker version that is easier to refute.

How this page was made: written with AI tools and published by Nathan Beja, founder of Practice Test Geeks, who is responsible for its content. Exam facts are checked against the official sources listed below. Not reviewed by a subject-matter expert. Editorial policy

Sources & references

Exam facts on this page (fees, format, dates, passing scores) are checked against these official sources; the date is our last check. Editorial policy

  1. insightassessment.com — Test delivery, eligibility, exam format, passing score, score release, time limit, score validity, exam information · verified Nov 2026