UCAT Recognising Assumptions: how to solve them
Recognising assumption questions provide a short scenario that contain a proposed action and its intended goals followed by a series of "Yes" and "No" statements. Your job is to find the statement that provides the strongest argument in supporting or opposing the action in the context of what its goal is.
What is a recognising assumptions question?
Recognizing assumption questions are one of the most interesting question types since it flips the script of conventional Decision Making: rather than making an argument yourself, you're judging an argument made by somebody else.
These questions typically lead with a one or two sentence stem that consists of a propsoed action and the goal (or goals) it is meant to serve. You'll then be required to select the strongest argument from a series of "Yes" and "No" statements.
The skill being tested is your ability to isolate an argument from its intended goals - the strongest argument is one that effectively addresses both. A common trap is answers whose claims are correct but meet a goal that has not been set by the question.
High Street Pedestrianisation
Should the council pedestrianise the high street, closing it to cars, in order to increase trade for its shops?
Select the strongest argument from the statements below.
Common mistakes
Trap guides are being published. Links open as each goes live.
Action-Objective-Arguments
How to practice
Recognising assumptions questions follow a simple formula: identify the action, identify the objective, then test each argument against it. Most errors are driven by students overweighting arguments that are factual but fail to meet the action or objective from the question.
MedPath drills recognising assumptions trap by trap, with a worked solution for each, and steers your practice toward the ones you keep getting wrong.
Practise recognising assumptions adaptively.
MedPath drills recognising assumptions trap by trap, with a worked solution for each, and steers practice toward the criterion swaps you keep falling for.
Common questions
Are these the same as the “assumption” questions on the LSAT or GRE?+
No. UCAT recognising assumptions questions are short: a normative question (“Should X happen in order to achieve Y?”) followed by four arguments that each begin with “Yes,” or “No,”. There is no argument paragraph to dissect and no “which of these must be assumed” phrasing. You are picking the argument that best engages what the question asked.
How are they scored?+
As part of Decision Making’s 300–900 scaled score. They are single-best-answer, so unlike the multi-statement Decision Making types there is no partial credit: you need the strongest argument to earn the mark.
What’s the most common mistake?+
Picking a statement that is true but answers a different question. Three of the four options usually make a real, appealing point about cost, fairness, or a side effect that the stem never asked about. Only one engages the actual criterion.