![\"Manhattan](\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2017\/10\/simple-strategy-gmat-find-the-assumption-problems-chelsey-cooley.png\")
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Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding! <\/i><\/b>Check out our upcoming courses here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/i><\/b>The basic rule of GMAT Find the Assumption problems on Critical Reasoning is this:<\/span><\/p>\n The right answer is the only one that\u2019s necessary to the argument.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n But what does that actually mean, and how can you apply it on test day?<\/span><\/p>\n Think of an argument as a car. Successfully making an argument is like driving that car to the conclusion. Some parts of a car are truly necessary: the wheels and the engine, for instance. These parts of the car are like assumptions. If you take one away, you can no longer drive that car to where you\u2019re going.<\/span><\/p>\n Other parts of the car, like the air conditioning, the radio, the airbags, or even the doors, aren\u2019t necessary. Having them does make your drive more comfortable, faster, or safer. But these parts of the car are like statements that <\/span>strengthen<\/span><\/i> the argument. They\u2019re nice to have, but when you take them away, you can technically still get to your destination. <\/span><\/p>\n When you do GMAT Find the Assumption problems, some wrong answers can be eliminated quickly. Some of them have absolutely nothing to do with the argument. If your argument is like a car, an irrelevant answer is like a xylophone or a platypus. Since a xylophone isn\u2019t part of a car at all, you don\u2019t need to think too hard to eliminate it. <\/span><\/p>\n Other \u2018easy\u2019 wrong answers are the opposite of what you\u2019re looking for. In our car analogy, an \u2018opposite\u2019 wrong answer would be like a flat tire or a traffic jam. They\u2019re not only unnecessary, they\u2019re also harmful.<\/span><\/p>\n At this point, you\u2019re probably down to two or three answers, and they all look pretty good. None of them disagree with the argument, and none of them are totally nonsensical. <\/span><\/p>\n When you only have a few answer choices left on GMAT Find the Assumption problems, use the Negation Test to spot the right one. To use this test, go one-by-one through the remaining answers. For each one, imagine what would happen if it was <\/span>false<\/span><\/i>. Here\u2019s an example:<\/span><\/p>\n Argument:<\/b> The state government will pay a percentage of university tuition for high school students who attend a four-year university within the state. This will improve the state\u2019s economy by increasing the number of university-educated adults in the workforce. <\/span><\/p>\n Question<\/b>: Which of the following is an assumption made by the state government in proposing this plan?<\/span><\/p>\n A) High school students whose tuition is subsidized will stay within the state after graduating from college. If the first answer choice was false, here\u2019s how it would read:<\/span><\/p>\n High school students whose tuition is subsidized <\/span><\/i>will not<\/i><\/b> stay within the state after graduating from college<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n This takes the wheels off of the argument. If these students leave the state after graduating, they won\u2019t become part of the state\u2019s workforce. It\u2019s no longer possible for this argument to get to its destination. (A) is an assumption.<\/span><\/p>\n If the second answer choice was false, what would happen? This one is a little harder to negate: try it on your own before continuing.<\/span><\/p>\n No <\/i><\/b>students who otherwise would have attended trade schools after high school will instead attend universities within the state.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Even if we get rid of the trade school students, it\u2019s still possible that other students\u2014maybe students who otherwise would have gone to out-of-state universities, or students who wouldn\u2019t have gone to college at all\u2014will accept the tuition discount. Taking away this answer choice is like taking away the air conditioning: the argument isn\u2019t <\/span>quite<\/span><\/i> as good, but it can still reach its destination. That\u2019s why (B) isn\u2019t an assumption.<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s try the third one:<\/span><\/p>\n The majority of students who receive the tuition subsidy <\/span><\/i>will not<\/i><\/b> successfully graduate from college.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n This is a tricky one. It certainly hurts the argument. But is it more like taking the wheels off, or more like removing the radio? The difference is in whether the argument <\/span>could<\/span><\/i> still get to its conclusion. In this case, it still can, even though it\u2019s harder to get there. Even if the majority of students drop out of college, there could be a significant number of students who don\u2019t drop out. In that case, the conclusion could still be reasonable. (C) isn\u2019t an assumption.<\/span><\/p>\n What made (B) and (C) seem reasonable, though? Let\u2019s dive a little deeper.<\/span><\/p>\n (B) actually strengthens the argument. If it were true, that would be a point in favor of the state government\u2019s plan. However, an assumption has to do more than just help the argument. It has to be <\/span>critical<\/span><\/i> to the argument. Strengtheners are tricky wrong answers, because they do relate to the argument, and they do support the conclusion, just like assumptions do. But they break a critical rule of Critical Reasoning: they aren\u2019t <\/span>necessary<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n (C)\u2019s biggest flaw comes from the word <\/span>majority<\/span><\/i>. If the phrase <\/span>the majority of<\/span><\/i> were replaced with <\/span>some,<\/span><\/i> (C) would actually be an assumption. Let\u2019s check it out:<\/span><\/p>\n Assumption:<\/span> Some<\/b> students who receive the tuition subsidy will successfully graduate from college.<\/span><\/p>\n Negation:<\/span> No<\/b> students who receive the tuition subsidy will successfully graduate from college.<\/span><\/p>\n Suddenly, the engine falls out of the argument! If none of these students graduate, there\u2019ll be nobody to join the workforce. But we didn\u2019t need a majority of them to graduate. We just needed <\/span>some<\/span><\/i> of them to get there. <\/span><\/p>\n When you do GMAT Find the Assumption problems, some of the answer choices will be quick to eliminate: they\u2019ll have nothing to do with the argument, or they\u2019ll go against the author\u2019s reasoning. But once you\u2019ve made those eliminations, the best way to handle the trickier answers is with the Negation Test. Reverse each answer choice in your head, then think about what just happened to the argument. Did the engine fall out of it, or was it more like breaking one of the windows? If there\u2019s any way the argument could still get to its conclusion\u2014even by getting there slowly and awkwardly\u2014you didn\u2019t find an assumption. But if the argument ends up broken down on the side of the road, you know you\u2019ve found the right answer. ?<\/span><\/p>\n Want more guidance from our GMAT gurus? You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free! We\u2019re not kidding.\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Check out our upcoming courses here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Chelsey Cooley<\/a> Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. The basic rule of GMAT Find the Assumption problems on Critical Reasoning is this: The right answer is the only one that\u2019s necessary to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,873,929,874,52871,930,2,10],"tags":[189],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-14798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-critical-reasoning","category-for-current-studiers","category-gmat-prep","category-gmat-resources","category-gmat-strategies","category-gmat-study-guide","category-how-to-study","category-verbal-on-gmat","tag-find-the-assumption"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14798"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14833,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14798\/revisions\/14833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14798"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=14798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nTry the Negation Test<\/b><\/h4>\n
\n<\/span>B) Some students who otherwise would have attended trade schools after high school will instead attend universities within the state.
\n<\/span>C) The majority of students who receive the tuition subsidy will successfully graduate from college.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Short Version<\/b><\/h4>\n
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\n![\"Chelsey](\"https:\/\/cdn2.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/11\/chelsey-cooley-150x150.jpg\" "\\"Chelsey")
<\/a>\u00a0is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Seattle, Washington.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/i><\/b>Chelsey always followed her heart when it came to her education. Luckily, her heart led her straight to the perfect background for GMAT and GRE teaching: she has undergraduate degrees in mathematics and history, a master\u2019s degree in linguistics, a 790 on the GMAT, and a perfect 170\/170 on the GRE.\u00a0<\/em><\/i>Check out Chelsey\u2019s upcoming GRE prep offerings here<\/a>.<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"