PrepTest 148, Section 4, Question 20
At Tromen University this semester, some students taking(32 more words not shown)
The conclusion drawn above follows(15 more words not shown)
- AFrench Literature 205(7 more words not shown)
- BOnly biology majors(6 more words not shown)
- CThere are more(7 more words not shown)
- DThere are more(7 more words not shown)
- EIt is not(9 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What if they're double majors?
Some students take both courses. Because everyone in Biology 218 is a biology major, those overlapping students are biology majors. So far, so good. But that doesn't tell us they aren't also French-literature majors. A student could be studying both subjects and meet every fact in the passage.
What we’re looking for
To make the conclusion follow, rule out that overlap in majors. We don't need a ban on all double majors at Tromen; we only need to know that a biology major can't also be a French-literature major. Then the students we found in both courses will supply the required examples of French Literature 205 students who aren't French-literature majors.
Working the answers
- A
Requiring French-literature majors to take French Literature 205 doesn't prevent biology majors from taking it too. It also doesn't tell us whether those biology students have a second major. Knowing who must take a course doesn't tell us that everyone taking it belongs to only one major.
- B
This reinforces that the students in Biology 218 are biology majors. We already know that about the overlapping students. Making biology a requirement for admission to the course still leaves them free to be French-literature majors as well. The missing restriction concerns combining majors, not entering the biology class.
- C
Extra biology majors could be elsewhere at the university, outside French Literature 205. Meanwhile, every biology student in that French course could be a double major. A comparison of the university's total major counts doesn't establish the particular non-French-major students the conclusion needs in this course.
- D
Having more French-literature majors than biology majors also leaves double majors possible. All the biology students in the French course could belong to both majors, with additional French-literature majors elsewhere. The total counts don't tell us which majors the overlapping course-takers have.
- ECorrect
The two majors cannot be combined. We already have some French Literature 205 students who are biology majors because they also take Biology 218. E now establishes that those students cannot be French-literature majors. That gives us exactly what the conclusion claims: some students in the French course are not majoring in French literature.
More Sufficient Assumption questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Sufficient Assumption questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.