Brian@VeritasPrep wrote:Good point, Mundasingh - the addition of gold is new information, but the assumption really isn't because the assumption basically exists to say that we won't add that new information. The assumption is required because, without it, we can bring in that new information to void the argument.

I'm going to totally rip this off from David@VeritasPrep, but I love his analogy. The correct answer in an Assumption question isn't a sword - it's not a piece of offense that furthers your case - but rather a shield. It protects your argument from attack. That's why I love treating Assumption questions as Weaken questions - it makes me think about how my argument is vulnerable to attack. In this case, if I were Frobisher trying to attack the argument that my methods were weak, I'd try to claim that some crazy event happened to tamper with my results. So if I'm defending - shielding - the argument, I want to protect it from that attack by saying "Gold WAS NOT added to the sample". If I do that, then he can't use that defense.

So in summary...in an Assumption question the correct answer isn't likely to be brand-new information, but it should protect the argument from someone bringing in new information.


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@Aspirant - I'm glad this helped for Assumptions. For Strengthen/Weaken questions the best quick advice I can give you (or anyone) is to:

1) Pay particular attention to the conclusion. Above you should notice that I used all CAPS for "THE METHODS" - I thought that was the crux of the conclusion. The conclusion wasn't that the survey RESULTS were wrong - they clearly were since they showed gold where there was none - but that THE METHODS were wrong. The particular degree of the conclusion is really important - the GMAT is great at getting you to infer a conclusion that's just slightly different in scope from what they're really saying.

2) Read critically. Especially with weaken questions, you should see those flaws in the argument pretty quickly - you will never see a Strengthen/Weaken question with an airtight argument! So if you can recognize that gap between the facts and the conclusion, you can already have a good idea of what's missing when you get to the answer choices.

Brian@VeritasPrep wrote:Good point, Mundasingh - the addition of gold is new information, but the assumption really isn't because the assumption basically exists to say that we won't add that new information. The assumption is required because, without it, we can bring in that new information to void the argument.

I'm going to totally rip this off from David@VeritasPrep, but I love his analogy. The correct answer in an Assumption question isn't a sword - it's not a piece of offense that furthers your case - but rather a shield. It protects your argument from attack. That's why I love treating Assumption questions as Weaken questions - it makes me think about how my argument is vulnerable to attack. In this case, if I were Frobisher trying to attack the argument that my methods were weak, I'd try to claim that some crazy event happened to tamper with my results. So if I'm defending - shielding - the argument, I want to protect it from that attack by saying "Gold WAS NOT added to the sample". If I do that, then he can't use that defense.

So in summary...in an Assumption question the correct answer isn't likely to be brand-new information, but it should protect the argument from someone bringing in new information.


_________________________________________________

@Aspirant - I'm glad this helped for Assumptions. For Strengthen/Weaken questions the best quick advice I can give you (or anyone) is to:

1) Pay particular attention to the conclusion. Above you should notice that I used all CAPS for "THE METHODS" - I thought that was the crux of the conclusion. The conclusion wasn't that the survey RESULTS were wrong - they clearly were since they showed gold where there was none - but that THE METHODS were wrong. The particular degree of the conclusion is really important - the GMAT is great at getting you to infer a conclusion that's just slightly different in scope from what they're really saying.

2) Read critically. Especially with weaken questions, you should see those flaws in the argument pretty quickly - you will never see a Strengthen/Weaken question with an airtight argument! So if you can recognize that gap between the facts and the conclusion, you can already have a good idea of what's missing when you get to the answer choices.