How Watson Glaser assumptions questions work
Each set gives you a short statement, usually a plan, a recommendation or a claim, followed by several proposed assumptions. For each one you choose Assumption Made or Assumption Not Made.
An assumption here is something the speaker takes for granted without saying it. It counts as made only if the statement depends on it. Whether it is sensible, or true in real life, does not matter.
Judge each proposed assumption separately. One being made tells you nothing about the next.
How to spot an assumption
Run every proposed assumption through the same checks:
- Restate what the speaker concludes or recommends in a few words.
- Turn the assumption into its opposite and add it to the statement.
- If the statement now falls apart or stops making sense, the assumption is made.
- If the statement still stands, the assumption is not made.
- Check the scope. A speaker who relies on some people doing something has not assumed that everyone will.
Worked example
Statement: “We should hold next year’s staff conference online, because travel took up most of this year’s conference budget.”
- “An online conference would cost less in travel than an in-person one.” Assumption Made. Flip it: if going online saved no travel, the reason given would make no sense.
- “Staff prefer online conferences to in-person ones.” Assumption Not Made. The argument is about cost, and it still stands if staff would rather meet in person.
- “Every member of staff has the equipment to join online.” Assumption Not Made. If a few people lacked equipment, the cost argument would still hold. The speaker needs online to be workable, not perfect.
Tips for the real assumptions questions
- Do not grade the assumption. A far-fetched one can be made, and a sensible one can be not made.
- Look for the words that carry the reasoning, such as should, because, so and will. The assumption usually sits between the reason and the conclusion.
- Be suspicious of proposed assumptions with all, always, every or only in them. Statements rarely need that much.
- Ask whether the speaker would have to defend the assumption if challenged. If they would, it is probably made.
Practise Recognition of Assumptions on CogniPrep
Our game gives you 12 statement and assumption pairs a run, drawn from a pool of 24, with 40 seconds on each. An unanswered item counts as wrong, and you cannot go back. The score out of 100 is mostly accuracy, plus smaller parts for pace, for doing equally well on Made and Not Made items, and for getting the Not Made ones right. Pearson publishes no time per item, so the 40 seconds is ours.