LSAT Assumption Question June 1995

[David@VeritasPrep]

Here is another assumption question to try. It is in conjunction with this article https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/06/ ... -an-expert

Organization president: The stationary and envelopes used in all of the mailings from our national headquarters are made from recycled paper, and we never put anything but letters in the envelopes. When the envelopes have windows, those windows are also made from recycled material. Therefore the envelopes, and thus the mailings, are completely recyclable.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the organization president's argument depends?

A) All the paper used by the organization for purposes other than mailings is recycled.

B) The mailings from the organization's national headquarters always use envelopes that have windows.

C) The envelope windows made from recycled material are recyclable.

D) The envelopes and stationary used in the organization's mailings are always recycled.

E) The organization sends mailings only from its national headquarters.

Official Answer after a little discussion...

[HBSEntrant]

Is E the answer?

[Sherry Au]

Its C. isnt it? There is a gap right there.

[niketdoshi123]

Here is another assumption question to try. It is in conjunction with this article https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/06/ ... -an-expert

Organization president: The stationary and envelopes used in all of the mailings from our national headquarters are made from recycled paper, and we never put anything but letters in the envelopes. When the envelopes have windows, those windows are also made from recycled material. Therefore the envelopes, and thus the mailings, are completely recyclable.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the organization president's argument depends?

A) All the paper used by the organization for purposes other than mailings is recycled. => out of scope/new information

B) The mailings from the organization's national headquarters always use envelopes that have windows. => Extreme as well as new information

C) The envelope windows made from recycled material are recyclable. => If the envelope windows are not recyclable then the envelopes cannot be completely recyclable.

D) The envelopes and stationary used in the organization's mailings are always recycled. =>out of scope and extreme.

E) The organization sends mailings only from its national headquarters. => Extreme

[rajcools]

C

C) The envelope windows made from recycled material are recyclable.

using infomercial
if The envelope windows made from recycled material are not recyclable ,then the mailings are not recyclable.
But C clarifies that they r cyclable

[sandeep_thaparianz]

+1 for C

[avik.ch]

Organization president:
The stationary and envelopes used in all of the mailings from our national headquarters are made from recycled paper, and we never put anything but letters in the envelopes. - facts
When the envelopes have windows, those windows are also made from recycled material. - facts
Therefore the envelopes, and thus the mailings, are completely recyclable. - conclusion.

A. this is out of scope. If the argument discuss "X", then we are not concerned for what is "not X".

B. the argument don't discuss what the national headquarter always do --- or sometimes do -- irrelevant, out of scope.

C - yes, its assumed here that what is "recycled" is "recyclable". This is an assumption in a supporter role.

D - there is a difference between "recyclable" and "are recycled".

"recyclable" is a property that the conclusion mention - "are recycled" is a passive voice, its an action taken by someone. We cannot assume that all those material
those are recycled are always completely recyclable. This is too irrelevant.

E - again irrelevant.

[vk_vinayak]

My vote is also for C.

[David@VeritasPrep]

OA is C.

Terrific discussion by all who answered.

As rajcools put it choice C brings out a possible flaw in the argument and then prevents that flaw.

Conclusion: the envelopes are completely recyclable.

Evidence: when envelopes have windows, those windows are also made from recycled material.

It all sounds good. But what if the windows are not recyclable? That would be a problem. Yet, choice C tells us that they are recyclable so that prevents our evidence and conclusion from being harmed. That is just want we want. Not new completely new evidence, but protecting our current evidence and conclusion from harm.

[ajaysharma003]

Hi David,

First of all, I want to say a big Thank you for your article on "Approaching assumptions questions like an expert". It gave me a new perspective on how to approach Assumption questions.

For this question, I got the right answer, but I was thinking can we eliminate all other choices just on the basis of them being extreme?

I know this technique is not a foolproof technique but i was wondering whether i can use this technique to eliminate an answer choice in case i am not sure of it.

Again Thank you for your efforts.

[kutlee]

Hi David,
C is no doubt the answer. But there is a slight hint on E being the answer.
How do you rule out E? the argument begins with premise that mails are sent from national headquarters. The conclusion states that - Therefore the envelopes, and thus the mailings, are completely recyclable. So An assumption can be that mailings are only sent from the headquarters.
Thanks,
Mahesh.

[GMATGuruNY]

How do you rule out E? the argument begins with premise that mails are sent from national headquarters. The conclusion states that - Therefore the envelopes, and thus the mailings, are completely recyclable. So An assumption can be that mailings are only sent from the headquarters.
Thanks,
Mahesh.

Conclusion: Therefore THE envelopes, and thus THE mailings, are completely recyclable.
Here, THE envelopes and THE mailings clearly refer to THE envelopes used in all of THE mailings from our national headquarters.
Since the conclusion is limited to these mailings, any answer choice about envelopes and mailings from OTHER sources is irrelevant.