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by sana.noor » Wed Oct 23, 2013 9:04 am
Graduate schools have begun to check whether applicants for admission are in default on government-guaranteed student loans. Any application submitted by an applicant who fails this test is not processed. Though all applications are tested, it is thought that the 3 percent of the applications that fail represent only three-quarters of the incoming applications from individuals in default. Consequently, approximately 1 percent of the applications that are processed are those of applicants in default who remain undetected.

Which of the following is an assumption in the argument above?


Before being processed, the applications from individuals in default on their government-guaranteed student loans are not rejected for other reasons.

Applicants in default on their government-guaranteed student loans will not make any loan payments in the future.

In all likelihood, more than 3 percent of the applications actually fail the default test.

Only a small fraction of the individuals in default on their government-guaranteed student loans apply to graduate school.

Individuals in default on their government-guaranteed student loans apply to graduate school in the same numbers in which they do not apply to graduate school.

OA is A
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by ceilidh.erickson » Wed Oct 23, 2013 1:47 pm
When you're looking for an assumption, think: what would be necessary to make this conclusion true? One easy way to find the assumption is to think of ways that the conclusion might not be true, given the premises.

Given:
- any application from an applicant in default on gov-issued loans will not be processed
- all applications tested
- 3% fail this test
- it is thought that the 3% is only 3/4 of applications from individuals in default

Conclusion:
- 1% of applications processed are from applicants in default who remain undetected

Does this HAVE to be the case? Do we know that this 1% is actually processed? We know that they don't fail the test, but does that necessarily mean that they're processed? What if the applicants withdraw, or the applications are disqualified first for some other reason?

Assumption:
All applications that do not fail this particular test are then processed.

A. This basically states what our assumption stated. Correct.

B. Future behavior is irrelevant to whether these application have already been processed.

C. We're told that 3% fail. Even though it may be true that more than exactly 3% fail, it doesn't have to be true.

D. We're given no information to compare those who apply to those who don't apply.

E. Same reasoning as D.
Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education