The short answer
Find the one claim an argument is trying to get you to accept — and everything else falls into place.
Written and checked by GAMSAT tutors — not AI-generated.
Try the reasoning style
We treat forgetting as a failure — a lapse to be patched with reminders and records. Yet a mind that kept everything could not think; it would drown in the undifferentiated noise of every moment it had ever lived. To forget is not so much to lose information as to decide, mostly without our noticing, what was never worth keeping.
The author's argument relies most directly on which unstated assumption?
Pick an option to see how the tutor reasons to the answer — not just whether you were right.
Not quite — the answer is B.
Work backwards from the conclusion: a mind that ‘kept everything’ supposedly ‘could not think.’ That only follows if thinking means leaving most of experience out — so B is the premise the argument quietly rests on. A raises reliability, which the passage never weighs; C contradicts ‘mostly without our noticing’; D smuggles in a claim about intellect the passage never makes. The question rewards finding the hidden premise, not recalling a fact.
Every argument has a conclusion — the main point it wants you to accept — supported by premises (the reasons). Find the conclusion first and the structure of the whole passage snaps into focus. Most Section I questions get easier once you know what's being argued.
The 'therefore / because' test
A premise can follow the word "because"; a conclusion can follow "therefore." Try inserting them: "Because [premise], therefore [conclusion]." Whichever claim the others support is the conclusion — it's the claim with no further justification offered for it.
Finding the conclusion
1. Ask: what's the author trying to convince me of?
Strip away the examples and reasons. The leftover main claim is usually the conclusion.
2. Watch for signal words
'Therefore', 'thus', 'so', 'hence', 'it follows that' often flag a conclusion; 'because', 'since', 'given that' flag premises.
3. Don't assume it's last
The conclusion can appear first, last, or in the middle. Position is a hint, not a rule.
Main vs intermediate conclusions
Long arguments have sub-conclusions that then support a bigger, main conclusion. The main conclusion is the one that everything else ultimately serves and that supports nothing further. Ask: "Is this claim used to support something else?" If yes, it's intermediate.
Worked example
"Cycling to work cuts carbon emissions and improves fitness. Since the city wants both a healthier population and lower emissions, it should build more bike lanes." What is the conclusion?
Check yourself
Which word most reliably signals that a conclusion is about to follow?
Key takeaways
- The conclusion is the main claim the argument wants you to accept.
- Premises support it; the conclusion is supported but supports nothing further.
- 'Therefore/thus/so' flag conclusions; 'because/since' flag premises.
- The conclusion isn't always the last sentence.
- Separate the main conclusion from intermediate sub-conclusions.
Practise this with real GAMSAT-style questions
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