Question about NA

[zzy1215]

If an answer choice is must be true according to the premise, but has no relationship with the conclusion, would that be a correct answer choice?

[Dave Killoran]

You mean in an Assumption question is something that known to be true automatically the correct answer? No, it wouldn't be. You're looking for an assumption of the argument, which is an unstated premise. The answer will be something that must be true in order for the argument to be true. That may sound like I'm saying "if it's true then it's right," but I'm not. It's something typically unstated that the conclusion needs.

Which leads us to considering the difference between Must Be True answers and Assumption (NA) answers. In Must questions, the correct answer must follow from what you have been given; in Assumption questions the correct answer must be true in order for the conclusion to be true (or, differently stated, it must be true on the way to the conclusion). This is a difference of "before" and "after" the conclusion, and it allows for discrepancies wherein the answer to a Assumption question could have the characteristic of Must Be True but still not be correct.

The above aside, the test makers tend not to play around with this concept all that often because it's inherently confusing.

Thanks!