Assumption questions

Are they necessary assumption or sufficient assumption questions? I don't know if you're using any other study tools but I have been using 7Sage and the Loophole, my score went up tremendously with the combination. I think the Loophole did a good job of explaining some of these questions for me.

For necessary assumption questions, for example, you're looking for an answer that MUST BE TRUE if the conclusion is true, in other words, what is this conclusion assuming is possible? For example, if the conclusion is that "Amy was driving a red car", then a necessary assumption might be that Amy knows how to drive, because the conclusion can't be true if this is wrong. It assumes that she can be behind the wheel to begin with.

But for sufficient assumption questions, you're looking for an answer that forces the conclusion drawn to be true. For the conclusion above, a correct answer might be that all people who live in Amy's city drive red cars (so therefore her car had to be red), or that when Amy drives she does not drive cars that are not red (meaning she only drives red cars). With these questions, you're looking to make the conclusion as strong as possible by blocking out anything that someone could say that would prove it wrong. If everyone in her city drives a red car, then she is not exception and has to also have a red car so the conclusion is true. And if when she drives she only drives cars that are red, then yes, she was driving a red car.

For these questions, I try to remind myself that I'm not looking to negate or contradict the conclusion, simply to find what proves it or forces it to be true, but that said you have to know what kind of question it is as soon as you read it. I don't know if this helped, but if you're not pressed for time (or money) the Loophole was a great resource. It's not for everyone, some people hate it, but it helped me jump my score 7 points after I finished the 7Sage course (I needed things explained like I was a 5 year old and that book does a good job of doing that).

2 comments

Diana Meza
Friday, Oct 24

Are they necessary assumption or sufficient assumption questions? I don't know if you're using any other study tools but I have been using 7Sage and the Loophole, my score went up tremendously with the combination. I think the Loophole did a good job of explaining some of these questions for me.
For necessary assumption questions, for example, you're looking for an answer that MUST BE TRUE if the conclusion is true, in other words, what is this conclusion assuming is possible? For example, if the conclusion is that "Amy was driving a red car", then a necessary assumption might be that Amy knows how to drive, because the conclusion can't be true if this is wrong. It assumes that she can be behind the wheel to begin with.
But for sufficient assumption questions, you're looking for an answer that forces the conclusion drawn to be true. For the conclusion above, a correct answer might be that all people who live in Amy's city drive red cars (so therefore her car had to be red), or that when Amy drives she does not drive cars that are not red (meaning she only drives red cars). With these questions, you're looking to make the conclusion as strong as possible by blocking out anything that someone could say that would prove it wrong. If everyone in her city drives a red car, then she is not exception and has to also have a red car so the conclusion is true. And if when she drives she only drives cars that are red, then yes, she was driving a red car.
For these questions, I try to remind myself that I'm not looking to negate or contradict the conclusion, simply to find what proves it or forces it to be true, but that said you have to know what kind of question it is as soon as you read it. I don't know if this helped, but if you're not pressed for time (or money) the Loophole was a great resource. It's not for everyone, some people hate it, but it helped me jump my score 7 points after I finished the 7Sage course (I needed things explained like I was a 5 year old and that book does a good job of doing that).

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