June 1991 LSAT Section 4 Question 22

A fourteen–year study of finches on the Galapagos islands concluded that there is a definite relationship between cli...

Jaime-Brown on April 12, 2021

Strengthen with Necessary Premise

I have the same question as Luis below! :) Could someone clarify if this is considered a Strengthen with Necessary Premise Question? I believe I've seen this question stem/answer elsewhere. Is there something about this question/answer that makes it a sufficient premise?

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Emil-Kunkin on August 27 at 02:29AM

I would call this a necessary assumption question. It asks what must be assumed for the argument to be justified. While it is likely the answer will also be a sufficient assumption, it must be one that is necessary, that is, something that if were not true would kill the argument.

I would note that this is a more common way they asked question in the past, and more modern tests will usually not have such a convoluted stem. That said, if one were to get a question like this on the test, you should try to just answer what the stem asks for. That is, something that is necessary to justify the conclusion- something that must be true for the conclusion to be justified.