Spot the flaw in short arguments and learn why each example is misleading.
20 questions
8 min
Free, no sign-up
Every answer shown afterwards
Sign in to keep this result and see how you change.
Free · no sign-up · a guess costs nothing
About this test
Read 20 short arguments and choose the fallacy each one uses. Results show how many you identified across relevance, presumption, and structure or cause, with an explanation for each question.
What this test looks at
relevance · 8
presumption · 6
structure and cause · 6
Time
8 minutes
Questions
20
Result
score by question type, every answer explained
Retakes may include familiar questions. Use the answer explanations to practise the skills you find difficult.
Your answers are kept in this browser for 48 hours so you can continue where you left off; start over to erase them. If you sign in, you can save your result (not your answers). When session replay is on, it can include visible questions, choices and results. Privacy details.
Your progress
Review
You answered every question
See your result now, or go back and change your answers.
Your answers were not sent or stored. Restart, or contact support with error code MTA-LOCAL-1—not your answers.
Use the result
What this test adds
Review each argument beside its fallacy name and explanation, then practise identifying the reasoning pattern in new examples.
A small next step
For a missed question, rewrite the argument so that it no longer commits the fallacy, then check whether it still supports its conclusion.
Questions people ask
What does this test ask me to do?
It shows twenty short arguments and asks which fallacy each one commits. They fall into three groups: fallacies of relevance, where the argument answers something other than the claim in question; fallacies of presumption, where something unearned is assumed; and problems of structure and cause. Accuracy is reported for the three separately.
How should I review an answer?
Read the explanation beside the argument and state how its reasoning departs from the conclusion. The questions practise recognition from four choices; real arguments can combine several moves.
Are these the official names for the fallacies?
The fallacy names follow standard textbook usage. Textbooks differ on some boundaries, so the review explains which reading each question uses.
Can an argument fit more than one label?
Sometimes. The review explains which reading each question uses; the names follow common textbook usage.
Allow Microsoft Clarity cookies for optional session replay? It records clicks and visible page content on eligible general pages and selected puzzle and skill tests, including questions, choices and results. Typed text and account controls stay masked. Personality, health, children's and private pages are excluded. How we use it
