Self-study
Editorial: The most vocal proponents of the proposed law are not permanent residents of this island but rather a few of the wealthiest summer residents, who leave when the vacation months have passed. █████ ██████ ████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ███ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ███ ████████ ███ ██ ███████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ █ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████████ ████████ ███ ███ ████████ █████████ ██████████
Objective: Identify a Necessary Assumption
The editorial discusses a proposed law for a particular island, which is primarily supported by wealthy residents who only stay on the island during the summer. The editorial concludes that supporters of the proposed law only serve the interests of these summer residents, to the detriment of the island's permanent residents. Why? Because the summer residents will benefit from the law, but will avoid any problems associated with the law.
The editorial takes an approach of weighing costs and benefits of the law. The editorial identifies that summer residents will benefit from the law but won't experience costs, while permanent residents will experience costs. But the editorial doesn't address whether permanent residents will also experience benefits from the law.
To support the conclusion that supporters of the law "only" serve the summer residents' interests, the editorial needs to assume that the law isn't also in permanent residents' interests when taken as a whole. This means assuming that the costs to permanent residents outweigh any possible benefits.
10.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ████████
a
The average income ██ ███ ████████ ██████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████
The average income of different groups of residents doesn't play any role in the argument, so it's not necessary to assume. The editorial only mentions that the summer residents are wealthy as part of the context for the proposed law.
b
The problems associated ████ ████ ███ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ███████ ███ ████████ █████████ ██████████
(B) is necessary to support the conclusion that the law "only" serves the interests of summer residents. If we negate (B), the argument falls apart: if the law overall benefited permanent residents as well, then it would be in everyone's interests.
c
Most of the ████████ ██████ █████████ █████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ████
We already know that some summer residents would benefit from the law; whether most summer residents would doesn't make a difference. The assumption we need is that permanent residents overall would not benefit.
d
Most of the ████████ ██████ █████████ ███████ ███████ ██ ████ ████
The editorial focuses on the actual effects of the proposed law, and mentions who supports it only as context. It's not necessary to assume that anyone supports or opposes the law.
e
Most of the ████████ █████████ █████████ ██████ ███████ ██ ████ ████
(E) has the same problem as (D): support for the law is only mentioned as context, while the argument's true focus is on the actual effects of the law. Knowing who supports or opposes the law isn't necessary to determining its effects.