I am seeing too many responses to assumption questions that indicate an answer choice is wrong because it is "not mentioned in the stimulus," or words to that effect, or because it "cannot be proven by the stimulus," or words to that effect. THAT IS THE WHOLE POINT OF AN ASSUMPTION QUESTION. As we discussed at the beginning of the term, an assumption is something the author has taken for granted and therefore left out, but that is so important to the argument's reasoning and validity that the whole thing falls apart if it is not true. Wrong choices in assumption questions are wrong not because they are "not mentioned in the stimulus," or because they "can't be proven," but because the argument does not depend on them being true; i.e., the argument remains valid even if they are false.
If you want to receive full credit for an explanation, you need to pay attention to the question and explain precisely WHY each answer choice is right or wrong. If your explanation indicates that you do not understand the question, or are answering the wrong question, you will not receive the full two (2) points for the explanation.
To review:
In an assumption question, the correct choice is the one on which the argument depends; the one which, if it were not true, would cause the argument to fail.
In a strengthen or support question, the correct choice is the one which makes the author's conclusion more likely to be correct.
In a weaken, dispute, undermine or rebuttal question, the correct choice is the one which makes the author's conclusion less likely to be correct.
In an inference or conclusion question, the correct choice is the one which can be most reasonably, logically and/or reliably drawn from the statements in the stimulus.
New question types will be introduced next marking period, so be on your toes.
