Unplugged Practice Test: Logical Reasoning Set 1, Question 13 (Necessary Assumption)
Taking the test? Finish it first. This page shows the answer.
- Necessary Assumption questions ask for the unstated premise the argument depends on.
- Try the negation test. If negating a choice wrecks the argument, that choice is the necessary assumption.
- Every question on this test is original, written to the same logical skeletons as real questions, and Steve checked every one himself before release.
The question
Safety officer: The purpose of a workplace inspection regime is to keep workers from creating hazards for others while pursuing the quickest route through their own tasks. Hence, if most workers are thoroughly trained in safe procedures, the scope of the inspection regime should be narrower.
13. Which one of the following is an assumption on which the safety officer's argument depends?
- (A)An inspection regime cannot by itself bring most workers to be thoroughly trained in safe procedures.
- (B)An inspection regime can serve its purpose without slowing down the work that it oversees.
- (C)Workers who are most intent on finishing their own tasks quickly are the workers least often harmed by hazards that others create.
- (D)Workers who are thoroughly trained in safe procedures are less likely to create hazards for others than are workers who lack such training.
- (E)Workers who create hazards for others are eventually exposed to hazards created by those same workers.
DWhy (D) is correct
The safety officer reasons that if most workers are thoroughly trained in safe procedures, inspections can cover less ground, because the whole point of the regime is to stop workers from creating hazards for others while they rush through their own tasks. That move only holds if training actually cuts down on hazard creation. (D) states that link. Workers thoroughly trained in safe procedures are less likely to create hazards for others than workers who lack such training. Take that away and training could leave hazard creation unchanged, and the conclusion has nothing to stand on.
Why the other answers are wrong
AWhy (A) is wrong
(A) says an inspection regime alone can't produce widespread training, but the argument never claims inspections cause the training, so this isn't needed.
BWhy (B) is wrong
(B) asks whether inspections can do their job without slowing work down, which the argument doesn't depend on either way.
CWhy (C) is wrong
(C) compares how often workers most intent on speed get harmed by others' hazards, but the argument is about who creates hazards, not who gets hurt by them.
EWhy (E) is wrong
(E) claims hazard creators eventually face hazards of their own making, a point the argument never relies on to connect training to a smaller inspection scope.
Common questions
What type of question is this?
Necessary Assumption. Necessary Assumption questions ask for the unstated premise the argument depends on.
How do I get better at Necessary Assumption questions?
Try the negation test. If negating a choice wrecks the argument, that choice is the necessary assumption. The free LSAT cheat sheet lists the wrong-answer patterns to watch for on every type.
