Identifying Justify the Conclusion Question Stems

A large number of test preparation companies continue to erroneously classify Justify
questions as Assumption questions.
A Justify the Conclusion question requires you to prove the conclusion; you are not asked to
“kind of” or “somewhat” prove the conclusion.Because of this certainty, most students find
these questions easier than Assumption questions.
Do not expect to see JustifyX questions—the task of proving the conclusion is
too difficult for multiple answers that justify the conclusion.
Justify the Conclusion questions can be difficult to identify because they often
appear to be Assumption questions to the uninformed test taker. Many Justify
question stems use the word “assumed” or “assumption,” and this leads to
confusion.
Most Justify the Conclusion question stems contain some of the following three
features:
1. The stem uses the word “if” or another sufficient condition indicator.
Because a Justify question stem introduces an answer that is
sufficient to prove the conclusion, a sufficient condition indicator will
often be present.
2. The stem uses the phrase “allows the conclusion to be properly
drawn” or “enables the conclusion to be properly drawn.”
These phrases are a way for Law Services to convey that the correct
answer is sufficient. In the majority of cases, the presence of either
phrase indicates a Justify question.
3. The stem does not lessen the degree of justification.
Justifying a conclusion is an exacting task with strict requirements.
Any question stem that permits a lessened degree of justification, for
example by using the phrase “most justifies” or “does the most to
justify,” allows for an answer that does not justify the conclusion
100%. This violates the principle behind Justify questions. Thus,
questions with the “most justify” construction are properly classified
as Strengthen questions. Remember, a Strengthen question can
support the argument anywhere from 1% to 100%. A Justify the
Conclusion question must prove the conclusion 100%.
Part of the difficulty in identifying Justify questions is that the first two
indicators above are not consistently present (the third is always present). You
must look at each question stem carefully and discern precisely what the test
makers intend. Sometimes one of the indicators will be present, sometimes
none, occasionally both.
Question stem examples:
“The conclusion above follows logically if which one of the following
is assumed?”
“Which one of the following, if assumed, would allow the conclusion to
be properly drawn?”
“Which one of the following, if true, enables the conclusion to be
properly drawn?”
“Which one of the following, if assumed, enables the argument’s
conclusion to be properly inferred?”
“Which one of the following is an assumption that would serve to justify
the conclusion above?”
“The environmentalist’s conclusion would be properly drawn if it were
true that the”
“The conclusion above is properly drawn if which one of the following
is assumed?”