Unless the building permit is obtained by February 1 of this year or

Question

Unless the building permit is obtained by February 1 of this year or some of the other activities necessary for construction of the new library can be completed in less time than originally planned, the new library will not be completed on schedule. It is now clear that the building permit cannot be obtained by February 1, so the new library will not be completed on schedule.

The conclusion drawn follows logically from the premises if which one of the following is assumed?

(A) All of the other activities necessary for construction of the library will take at least as much time as originally planned.

(B) The officials in charge of construction of the new library have admitted that it probably will not be completed on schedule.

(C) The application for a building permit was submitted on January 2 of this year, and processing building permits always takes at least two months.

(D) The application for a building permit was rejected the first time it was submitted, and it had to be resubmitted with a revised building plan.

(E) It is not possible to convince authorities to allow construction of the library to begin before the building permit is obtained.

Bunuel · Answer

EXPLANATION FROM Fox LSAT

Nonsensical logic here. It’s like saying, “Unless I get into Harvard or Yale, I won’t be able to make a lot of money. But I know I’m not going to get into Harvard, so I know I’m not going to make a lot of money.” The obvious objection is, “What happened to Yale?”

The same objection applies to this argument. “What happened to completing some of the other activities necessary for construction in less time than originally planned? Why the hell would you bring that up, only to ignore it?”

We’re asked to make the conclusion “follow logically,” which in this case means we have to eliminate the alternative routes. The correct answer will be in the form of “you’re not getting into Yale.” I think “we know we can’t complete any of the other activities necessary for construction ahead of the original schedule” is what we’re looking for.

A) Well, this nicely matches our prediction. So it’s probably the answer.

B) The opinion of the officials isn’t relevant here. The only things that are relevant are the facts and logic that have been presented. If it’s a fact that the only ways to complete the building on schedule are to get the permit before February 1 or finish some of the other activities early, then we can  prove  that we can’t finish construction on schedule if we know we are not going to get the permit before February 1  and  we also know, as answer A says, that we’re not going to finish the other activities early. A would  prove  our case. I suppose B would strengthen our case somewhat, but A would strengthen our case beyond a shadow of a doubt.

C) This does nothing, because we already know we’re not going to get the permit on time.

D) Again, we already know we are not going to get the permit on time. So this is irrelevant.

E) ***** shut up about the permit already!

A is the only answer that closes off our alternate route to on-time completion. If A is true, then we are not going to finish on time. That’s the conclusion we were
trying to justify, so A is our answer.

Himank123 · Answer

Can anybody please explain option E in detail ? and also why A is correct

kevsaf95 · Answer

Helly any updates aboit explaining option E in detail?

nasgmatbag · Answer

Hi guys, this took me a while but here's my reasoning:

Premises (to complete the library on schedule the following needs to happen)
1) the building permit  needs  to be obtained by Feb. 1st this year
2) some of the activities necessary for construction can be completed  in less time

Conclusion
"the new library will not be completed on schedule"

Why?
Well, because the building permit  cannot  be obtained by Feb. 1st

Approach
Notice that the library will not be completed on schedule because the building permit cannot be obtained by Feb. 1st. In the passage it was mentioned that if that  didn't happen  the library  could still be completed on schedule  if some of the activities necessary for construction  can be completed in less time.  So we must assume something about the activities, since this is the only factor left to complete the library in time.

Answer choices (since there is only confusion about A and E, I will only focus on those answer choices)
A: if all of the activities necessary for construction of the library will take at least as much time as originally planned then the library cannot be completed anymore (since this was the only option left to complete the library in time). This follows logically from the premises into the conclusion (keep)
E: well we already knew that we couldn't obtain the building permit on time, so it doesn't matter wether we convince the authorities to allow construction of the library to begin. We needed an answer choice where something was assumed about the time of the activities (eliminate)

nightblade354 · Answer

I'll lend some additional information to this question and say that you can't solve by negation. This is a sufficient assumption question (see the if in the actual question) and not a necessary assumption question (found on the GMAT and can be negated). These questions aren't found on the GMAT, so if you struggled please don't overthink it.

unraveled · Answer

Unless the building permit is obtained by February 1 of this year or some of the other activities necessary for construction of the new library can be completed in less time than originally planned, the new library will not be completed on schedule. It is now clear that the building permit cannot be obtained by February 1, so the new library will not be completed on schedule.

The conclusion drawn follows logically from the premises if which one of the following is assumed?

(A) All of the other activities necessary for construction of the library will take at least as much time as originally planned. - CORRECT. POE helps.

(B) The officials in charge of construction of the new library  have admitted  that it probably will not be completed on schedule. - WRONG. Admission is not a guarantee that completion happens on time.

(C) The application for a building permit was submitted on January 2 of this year, and  processing building permits always takes at least two months . - WRONG. We don't know for sure if this is true.

(D) The application for a building permit was rejected the first time it was submitted, and it had to be resubmitted with a revised building plan. - WRONG. Not necessarily true.

(E) It is not possible to  convince authorities to allow construction of the library  to begin before the building permit is obtained. - WRONG. Whether it is possible or not it does not matter since convincing does not equates to completion on schedule. Convincing equates to admission as in option B.

Answer A.

ashutosh_73 · Answer

This is a sufficient assumption question, a purely mathematical one.
UNLESS(the building permit is obtained by February-1 OR some of the other activities be completed in less time than originally planned) --->the new library will not be completed on schedule

UNLESS(X OR Y) ---> Z
(UNLESS = IF NOT)
IF NOT(X OR Y) ---> Z
Not X AND NOT Y --->NOT Z

NOT X has been mentioned in the conclusion, so we can expect that options will mention NOT Y, which is option (A)

playthegame · Answer

Thanks, yes by the negation technique both A and E are strong contenders. I ended up marking E as the answer. I think as a learning my takeaway is that the conclusion already said that the thing is not on time so I was trying to change that reality. I took too long to solve this as well about 3mins.....

Your note is helpful in the sense that these types will not show up on the GMAT.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Unless the building permit is obtained by February 1 of this year or

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