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655-705 (Hard)|   Assumption|         
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Legendaddy
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Twenty years ago the Republic of Rosinia produced nearly 100 million Updated on: 21 Jan 2020, 07:15
Originally posted by Legendaddy on 30 Sep 2012, 06:11.
Last edited by Bunuel on 21 Jan 2020, 07:15, edited 1 time in total.
Renamed the topic and edited the question.
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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

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65% (hard)

Question Stats:

56% (02:02) correct 44% (02:11) wrong based on 1777 sessions

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Twenty years ago the Republic of Rosinia produced nearly 100 million tons of potatoes, but last year the harvest barely reached 60 million tons. Agricultural researchers, who have failed to develop new higher-yielding strains of potatoes, are to blame for this decrease, since they have been concerned only with their own research and not with the needs of Rosinia.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?


(A) Any current attempts by agricultural researchers to develop higher-yielding potato strains are futile.

(B) Strains of potatoes most commonly grown in Rosinia could not have produced the yieldslast year that they once did.

(C) Agricultural researchers often find concrete solutions to practical problems when investigating seemingly unrelated questions.

(D) Wide fluctuations in the size of the potato crop over a twenty-year period are not unusual.

(E) Agricultural research in Rosinia is funded by government grants.
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B
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Twenty years ago the Republic of Rosinia produced nearly 100 million 30 Sep 2012, 07:14
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Legendaddy
Twenty years ago the Republic of Rosinia produced nearly 100 million tons of potatoes, but last year the harvest barely reached 60 million tons. Agricultural researchers, who have failed to develop new higher-yielding strains of potatoes, are to blame for this decrease, since they have been concerned only with their own research and not with the needs of Rosinia.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
(A) Any current attempts by agricultural researchers to develop higher-yielding potato strains are futile.
out of scope as it mentions no where that whether the effort now will be futile or fruitful
(B) Strains of potatoes most commonly grown in Rosinia could not have produced the yieldslast year that they once did.
Correct answer. As this is required to put the blame on the researchers as it has been done in the argument. Without this assumption the argument falls apart,as there could be many reasons for low yield such as rain, not enough effort by the farmers, crop disease etc. By stating this all those reasons are eliminated since it says that WHATEVER MAY HAPPEN yield could not have been more than this.
(C) Agricultural researchers often find concrete solutions to practical problems when investigating seemingly unrelated questions.
out of scope
(D) Wide fluctuations in the size of the potato crop over a twenty-year period are not unusual.
contradicts the argument
(E) Agricultural research in Rosinia is funded by government grants.
out of scope
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Hope you find this useful :)
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Twenty years ago the Republic of Rosinia produced nearly 100 million 06 Oct 2012, 01:36
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20 yrs ago's yield: 100 m tons
last yrs' yield: 60 m tons
Agricultural researchers are to blame for this decrease (failure to develop new higher yielding strains)

ASSUMPTION:
The strains are not high yielding (What the strains are high yielding but some other external factors interrupted)
(B) is correct!

(A) Any current attempts by agricultural researchers to develop higher-yielding potato strains are futile.
Not all attempts are futile. Futile in what sense, perhaps they were able to discover something else despite failure to create a high yield strain... Whether futile or not futile, it has no bearing on the conclusion that they are to blame for the reason stated by the author

(C) Agricultural researchers often find concrete solutions to practical problems when investigating seemingly unrelated questions.
Apply assumption negation. Agricultural researchers always find concrete solutions to practical problems. Does this cause the argument to fall apart? They are still to blame if the strains of potatoes are not of high-yield. Still holds!

(D) Wide fluctuations in the size of the potato crop over a twenty-year period are not unusual.
Potato Size - is irrelevant to potatoes yield in volume

(E) Agricultural research in Rosinia is funded by government grants
government grants is no where hinted in the argument. so this needs not be assumed.
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Twenty years ago the Republic of Rosinia produced nearly 100 million 14 Jun 2014, 16:31
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hi,

im confused with this :
i know that the assumption is a new piece of information (so it can not be a rephrasing to a premise or conclusion)
answer B "Strains of potatoes most commonly grown in Rosinia could not have produced the yieldslast year that they once did" is a rephrasing to the premise (but last year the harvest barely reached 60 million tons). in the premise we can see that last year the production is less than it used to be.
so, how can answer B an assumption ??? it is more an inference than an assumption .
can any one explain that please ?

thanks
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Twenty years ago the Republic of Rosinia produced nearly 100 million 01 Apr 2016, 03:37
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shagalo
hi,

im confused with this :
i know that the assumption is a new piece of information (so it can not be a rephrasing to a premise or conclusion)
answer B "Strains of potatoes most commonly grown in Rosinia could not have produced the yieldslast year that they once did" is a rephrasing to the premise (but last year the harvest barely reached 60 million tons). in the premise we can see that last year the production is less than it used to be.
so, how can answer B an assumption ??? it is more an inference than an assumption .
can any one explain that please ?

thanks
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Premise - harvest decreased last year
Conclusion - decrease is a result of no new higher-yeilding strains of potatoes are developed
Assumption - New higher-yielding strains are necessary to increase the harvest, OR, the older strain is not sufficient to increase the harvest

Also try negating B ->
B) Strains of potatoes most commonly grown in Rosinia could not have produced the yields last year that they once did.
Negating B -> Strains of potatoes most commonly grown in Rosinia COULD HAVE produced the yields last year that they once did - which means the reason for a decrease in harvest is something else and not the inability of agricultural researchers to produce new higher yielding strains. This completely weakens the conclusions and hence B) has to be the correct assumption, without it the argument falls apart.

Negation really works well in assumption questions. I have only started trying it and it does wonders. I would suggest this technique to anyone facing issues with assumption. It will take long initially but over time you will become quick at it.

Hope this helps. :)
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Twenty years ago the Republic of Rosinia produced nearly 100 million 21 Jan 2020, 11:50
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The structure of the sentence is - Premise + missing premise (or assumption) - conclusion.

So if the missing premise is given, the conclusion will be more solid.

Also there is no direct link between the given premise and conclusion, so the missing premise has to fill this void.

Now let's look at option B : Strains of potatoes most commonly grown in Rosinia could not have produced the yieldslast year that they once did.

Now let's use negation technique and let's see whether conclusion holds or not.

Negating option B : Strains of potatoes most commonly grown in Rosinia could have produced the yieldslast year that they once did.

So after negating the option B, the conclusion does not hold, so option is the missing premise/assumption required by the argument.
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Twenty years ago the Republic of Rosinia produced nearly 100 million 10 Nov 2023, 09:07
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Twenty years ago the Republic of Rosinia produced nearly 100 million tons of potatoes, but last year the harvest barely reached 60 million tons. Agricultural researchers, who have failed to develop new higher-yielding strains of potatoes, are to blame for this decrease, since they have been concerned only with their own research and not with the needs of Rosinia.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

(A) Any current attempts by agricultural researchers to develop higher-yielding potato strains are futile. - WRONG. Supports the conclusion rather.

(B) Strains of potatoes most commonly grown in Rosinia could not have produced the yieldslast year that they once did. - CORRECT. If that had been possible then blaming researchers makes sense.

(C) Agricultural researchers often find concrete solutions to practical problems when investigating seemingly unrelated questions. - WRONG. Again irrelevant.

(D) Wide fluctuations in the size of the potato crop over a twenty-year period are not unusual. - WRONG. 2nd best but doesn't impact the conclusion. Even if they are usual then the conclusion still holds anyway.

(E) Agricultural research in Rosinia is funded by government grants. - WRONG. Irrelevant.

Answer B.
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Twenty years ago the Republic of Rosinia produced nearly 100 million 03 Dec 2023, 09:51
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Quote:
Twenty years ago the Republic of Rosinia produced nearly 100 million tons of potatoes, but last year the harvest barely reached 60 million tons. Agricultural researchers, who have failed to develop new higher-yielding strains of potatoes, are to blame for this decrease, since they have been concerned only with their own research and not with the needs of Rosinia.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

Show more

Type: Argument
Conclusion: Agricultural researchers, who have failed to develop new higher-yielding strains of potatoes, are to blame for this decrease
Premise 1: Decreased harvest
Premise 2: Concerned only with their own research
Assumption: New higher-yielding strains of potatoes is necessary
Answer: (B) Strains of potatoes most commonly grown in Rosinia could not have produced the yields last year that they once did.
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Twenty years ago the Republic of Rosinia produced nearly 100 million 19 Jan 2025, 03:38
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