Tips and tricks for Necessary Assumption questions?

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• 1 Like

  nameisnotmike Alum Member

  February 2020 27 karma

  I think a huge realization for me was that it really means NECESSARY. So any extraneous information would make that answer choice incorrect. Say for example, that on a given question you know that the conclusion is asking you for the link that all lions have large teeth, an incorrect answer choice might say something like all lions and tigers have large teeth. Based on the extra information about the tigers this answer would be incorrect. Also, there are two main categories of assumption questions: Linking assumptions and defender assumptions. Linking is similar to sufficient assumption questions in that you are trying to link the premise to the argument. The main difference is what I previously highlighted at the beginning about the assumption being only what is necessary. These answers are a bit easier to predict before actually seeing the answers. Defenders just eliminate any outside ideas that may weaken the conclusion. Let's say a hypothetical conclusion read as follows, " Humans only have sex because of their genetically programmed interest in producing offspring." A correct answer choice to this might read along the lines of "Humans do not have sex for pleasure." The reason defender answer choices are a bit more difficult for me is because of the huge scope of possibilities the LSAT writers can draw from. Also, I'm not sure if you've done the core curriculum already, but JY has great explanations and I find the negation technique to be especially helpful.
• 5 Likes

  jmarmaduke96 Member Sage ⭐

  February 2020 2891 karma

  I agree with the above, the negation technique can be very helpful especially on the very hard curve-breaker questions. Also, I am not sure how many other people agree, but I have found that necessary assumption questions are easier for me if I approach them almost like a MBT question. Rather than being in the frame of mind of "okay, what is the stimulus missing?" I approach the question in the mindset of "well I know that A, B and C are true according to the stimulus and that the author believes that all this leads to Z, so what must be true?" This approach worked well for me on the older tests when many of the necessary assumption question can be broken down into conditional logic much like standard MBT questions. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I think this approach is serving me reasonably well on the newer tests as well.
• Trusttheprocess Member

  February 2020 776 karma

  Hey,

  So the #1 mistake i would say a lot of students make is not trully understanding and focusing on the conclusion in this question type. The conclusion is the golden ticket...

  what do i mean by this is the following:
  what type of a conclusion is it? very strong ... like for example "the ecnomists must NOT/cannot do the investment" or something supportive like - "taylor should not buy a car"....

  based upon the conclusion - i would get an idea of how the conclusion in general (not always) will show this pattern in NA:
  - strong conclusions = its like gold. you want to protect the crap of it. thus, you want to "block" the conclusion from being destroyed. in these types of stimuleses you will see not many premises, or that the premises will give barely any support. hence, think of it like this: less premises/support means you are open to "ATTACK" - hence lets protect the conclusion = the AC in many of these NAs will be blocking

  • weak/recommendation/supportive conclusions: in these stimulises you will start to notice that there is a lot of premises but theres is something not being told....the cookie crumbs that the LSAT wants you to use is there in these premises. the AC many a times for these questions will act as a supportive bridge using the cookie crumbs in the premises ... but its your job to find these cookie crumbs

  now this is a general pattern i have noticed. theres some other detailed nuances as well.... but yeah it takes tom much time to type up. mind my spelling and typos....but DM and would love to help and show you some specific examples. i am just typing this up really fast before i start my masters assignment LOL

  hope this helps
• 1 Like

  lexxx745 Alum Member Sage ⭐

  February 2020 3190 karma

  Negation technique is the only way to go lol
• Andrew_Neiman Alum Member

  February 2020 258 karma

  If the conclusion is true, what must be true? Filter down to 2 and use negation technique if necessary.