Question

Although most of the fastest growing jobs in today's economy require a college degree, many of the new jobs being created, from home health aide to desktop publisher, need knowledge other than that gained from earning a degree. For workers in those jobs, good basic skills in reading, communication, and mathematics play an important role in getting a job and developing a career.

42. From the information given above, it can be validly concluded that, in today's economy:

• A. Skills in reading, communication and mathematics play an important role in developing a career as a desktop publisher.
• B. The majority of the new jobs being created require knowledge other than that gained from earning a college degree.
• C. A job as a home health aide will rely more on communication skills than on basic skills in reading and mathematics.
• D. If a job is one of the fastest growing jobs, it will require a college degree.

Hint:

Look for the option that restates a claim the passage makes directly, without adding words like "majority" or "always" that go beyond it.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

A different way to check "validly concluded" questions is to ask: does the passage state this directly, or does it require adding new information the passage never gives?

1. Skills in reading, communication and mathematics help a desktop publisher's career: the passage's own sentence covers exactly this claim, with no outside assumption needed, so it stands.
2. Majority of new jobs need non-degree knowledge: to accept this we would have to assume "many" means "more than half", which the passage never says, so it needs an outside assumption and fails.
3. Home health aide relies more on communication than reading/maths: to accept this we would need a ranking of the three skills that the passage never gives, so it needs an outside assumption and fails.
4. Fastest growing job implies it needs a degree: to accept this we would have to turn "most" into "all", an assumption the passage does not support, so it fails.

Testing each option for whether it needs an outside assumption shows only the first option needs none.

Let's summarize:

• A valid conclusion needs zero added assumptions beyond the passage.
• Only the desktop publisher option clears that bar.

So option A is correct.