Assumption questions

[LaurenC87]

I'm having a lot of issues with the Assumption questions. I've read thoroughly read all the instructions, have listened to the class lesson more than once, and read all the explanations of the problems I get wrong; yet I seem to still get super confused and don't know how to mentally attack them when I'm trying to solve problems.

I worked on Assumption questions for 9 hours yesterday and I was more puzzled by the end than I started in the beginning. I've gotten into a habit of many times eliminating all the incorrect choices and then being between two answer choices, one of which more often than not is the correct answer. And I almost faithfully always choose the wrong answer of the two. I've tried to eliminate some answer choices as incorrect if their wording is too strong, but I've noticed this isn't fool proof because more than one correct answer choice has had strong, exclusive wording. Granted, when I look at the explanation for why the answer is wrong, I usually understand the logic behind it; it's just trying to predict that train of thought while tackling the problem isn't going very well for me. I have almost no problem with Justify questions or strengthen questions. So I'm wondering if I'm trying to process Assumption questions in the same vein.

Some examples of my answer choices are as follows:

5-44: Assumption Question 21, I answered A that "John never takes a vacation of more than one week in length" when the answer should have been D "[he] worked neither on Saturday nor on Sunday". Upon inspection of the answer, I see why that was correct.

5-45 Question 23, I chose C between my two contenders of C and D. The correct answer was D which refers to the government not providing research scientists with fringe benefits that more than compensate for the lower salaries.

5-47 Question 30, I was between A and C, I chose C instead of correct answer A which stated that complex, goal-oriented behavior requires intelligence. I think by this point my frustration was winning and I was attracted to all the incorrect answers.

I didn't want to exhaust all my incorrect answer choices, but I'm sure this will give some insight into the mistakes I'm making.

Thank you,
Lauren

Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.

[Ladan Soleimani]

Hey Lauren,

First of all, I am very impressed with you dedication to working on assumption questions. These can be some of the most difficult questions on the test so don't feel bad about struggling with them. However, I would not recommend studying these for such long periods of time at once. It can be overwhelming and you are likely to get burned out. Try spreading out your studying and taking some well deserved breaks.

You are on the right track if you can usually narrow it down to two answers, one of them being the correct answer. You are right that the extreme wording is not fool proof, you do not want to rely on that to get your answer.

Are you using the Assumption Negation Technique? If not, I would recommend doing so, especially when you are down to two answer choices. It should help you see the logic as you are working through the problem, not just after going through the explanation. Negate both answer choices you are deciding between, whichever one attacks the conclusion or weakens the argument is the correct answer.

For example, question 21: The conclusion is that John "must have worked in the insurance company on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday last week." If you negate answer choice (A) to get that John sometimes takes vacations of more than one week in length, you can see that this won't affect the conclusion because the stimulus already told you that John was not on vacation last week; it doesn't matter how long his vacations are.

Answer choice (D) becomes: last week John worked either on Saturday or Sunday. This makes the conclusion impossible. If John worked four days at the insurance company last week, because he wasn't on vacation and there were no holidays, and he worked on either Saturday or Sunday, it would be impossible for him to have worked at the company on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Try using this technique during your practice to see if it clarifies the correct answer for you. If it doesn't help then we can look at other things that might be tripping you up. And take some breaks! Anyone is bound to get fed up after studying for so long.

Ladan

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi Lauren,

Let me second Ladan's excellent advice above. Truth be told, I used to hate Assumption questions: how can they ask me what the author must have thought (or assumed) when making her argument?

Here's the thing. Conceptually, Assumption questions are closer to Must Be True questions than they are to, say, Justify questions, in part because assumptions do not really strengthen the conclusion: they are simply statements that must be true for the conclusion to follow from the premises, or else the conclusion is logically invalid. When reviewing the answer choices, ask yourself: does this have to be true for the author's conclusion to work? What if it weren't? Which brings me to my second point...

The Assumption Negation Technique saves you the trouble of "guessing" what the author must have thought or assumed. It's an awesome technique, because it works. Every. Single. Time. By applying it religiously, you will basically turn every Assumption question into a Weaken question. The key is to know how to quickly - and accurately - negate each answer choice that you regard as a contender. To help you out, I've included a few blog posts on that subject:

http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/negatin ... statements
http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/bid/253 ... ifferences
http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/bid/283 ... Bedfellows

Hope this helps a bit!

[LaurenC87]

I have tried the negation technique and it makes sense when I see someone else go step by step through the thought process, but when I try it for myself it unleashes a quagmire in my brain and I can't seem to create any logical formulations of the passage's ultimate goal and what the assumption should be. I am able to identify the conclusion consistently, but there's just something missing in my logic or how I'm identifying with what is given to what is needed.

Thank you both for the suggestions and the blog websites. I'm referring to these also in the hopes that some lightbulb will go off in this assumption confusion.

Thank you,
Lauren

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Lauren,

This may or may not help, but instead of looking at the Assumption Negation Technique as some complicated process, think of it instead as turning a harder question type into an easier question type.

Most people are actually quite good at Weaken questions. Overall, they typically rank as a question type that a lot of people like, and are naturally good at. On the other hand, Assumption questions are often quite difficult for most students, and most people really don't like them. So, the process of negation, although it sounds complicated, is actually the process of turning a hard Assumption question into an easier Weaken question. How do we do that? Usually by adding "nots" or taking them away. So, instead of getting caught up in the process of the various steps of conversion and what it means, instead simply put in or remove a "not," and ask yourself if it hurts the argument. If it does, that's the answer! From what you've said, you are probably thinking about the process as opposed to the end result. That's very common, but if you can get past that, you will find that the technique is foolproof when applied properly. Maybe take a few of these questions and do them several times over, to the point that you aren't thinking about the conversion and are just looking at whether the answer weaken the argument. that might lock it in for you.

It's something to think about, at least. Thanks!