Target Test Prep EA Verbal Challenge Question 3

Solution:

Breakdown of the argument:

Background: Currently, many material needs of our nation's citizens are not being met.

Premise: With each year of strong economic growth, citizens have access to and are able to afford more products and services.

Conclusion: As long as we have strong economic growth, the material needs of our nation's citizens will be increasingly met.

In order to correctly answer an Assumption question, we have to clearly identify the conclusion. Notice that the conclusion to the argument made is not that there will be strong economic growth, and the conclusion is not that the material needs of the citizens will be met. The conclusion involves a cause-and-effect scenario, which is that, as long as there is strong economic growth (the cause), the material needs of the citizens will be increasingly met (the effect).

Another interesting aspect of the passage is that the premise mentions “more products and services,” while the conclusion mentions “material needs.” This difference in wording is related to a gap in the argument, and the correct answer fills that gap.

(A) As the nation's economy grows, the citizens who are the least financially secure will become increasingly able to move into relatively high-paying jobs.

This choice is tempting, because it mentions what could be seen as a requirement for people's material needs to be met. The truth is, however, that this very specific development, those who are “the least financially secure” moving into “high-paying jobs,” is not necessary in order for people's needs to be increasingly met through strong economic growth.

(B) In some future years, the nation's rate of economic growth will be greater than it has been in any year so far.

If we aren't clear about exactly what the conclusion is and, instead, mistakenly perceive the conclusion to be, for example, that people's material needs will be increasingly met, we could easily choose this answer. However, the truth is that the commerce secretary does not have to assume anything about the rate of economic growth.

The commerce secretary's conclusion is that, if there is strong economic growth, people's needs will be increasingly met. The rate at which either of these developments occurs has no bearing on the conclusion, which is about the impact of one occurrence (economic growth) on the other (meeting needs).

CORRECT ANSWER(C) Not all of the nation's economic growth will result from people's selling to each other unneeded products and services.

Since it does not mention anything that obviously would affect economic growth or material needs, this choice could seem to be unrelated to the argument. However, often the choice that seems the least likely to affect an argument turns out to be the correct answer. Let's take a closer look at this answer choice.

In concluding that strong economic growth will result in the citizens' needs being increasingly met, the commerce secretary must be assuming that some of the nation's economic growth will result from people's selling to each other needed products and services (which would meet people's needs). If all of the economic growth were to result from the sale of unneeded products and services, then the conclusion that the growth would result in people's needs being increasingly met would not make sense.

So, the commerce secretary must be assuming that “not all of the nation's economic growth will result from people's selling to each other unneeded products and services” (which, by definition, would not meet people's needs).

(D) There will not be future years in which the nation's rate of economic growth will be lower than its rate of population growth.

This choice could tempt a test-taker who notices that, if economic growth does not exceed population growth, then per capita income will not increase. However, the truth is that economic growth does not have to exceed population growth every year in order for per capita income to increase. Citizens' material needs could be increasingly met even if, in some years, the economy grows at a lower rate than the population. So, the secretary's argument does not depend on the assumption that, in every future year, economic growth will exceed population growth.

(E) Competition from businesses based in other nations will not hamper wage growth and drive down the prices of many products.

This choice could be very tempting because it seems to express an assumption necessary for concluding that there will be economic growth and/or that people's needs will be increasingly met. It is, however, wrong on two levels.

For one thing, strong economic growth could occur even if competition hampered wage growth and drove down product prices. Similarly, people's needs could be increasingly met even if wage growth were hampered. Furthermore, driving down prices actually could result in people's needs being met even more than they would have been otherwise.

More importantly, the conclusion is not that there will be strong economic growth or that needs will be met. The conclusion is that, if such growth occurs, people's needs will be increasingly met. Thus, we are looking for an assumption necessary for arriving at this cause-and-effect conclusion.