MCAT assumptions

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browncomputer

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for a goldstandard exam in a physical sciences passage, the previous question (#29) said for a specific reaction in the passage "A researcher proved that the ideal gas equation was a valid approximation of the pressure, volume and temperature changes in Reaction 1. Why can ideal gas law be used?"
For the next question (#30), the question asked a stoichiometric question that you couldn't answer without ideal gas law rules, but the passage never said the reaction was under ideal gas conditions. And I said, "cannot be determined" for the question.

The explanation for #30 said that "since we established in the previous question that we are dealing with ideality thus the ideal gas equation applies"...

MY question is can we assume this on the MCAT? Just because the previous question said something, are we supposed to apply that additional information to the next question?
Please help me out, thanks!

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No, do not use information from a previous question to answer a later question, they are normally independent of one another.

Here question 29 tells you in statement form that reaction 1 does follow ideal gas behavior. Then asks a question. Based on the statement you definitively know that rxn 1 follows ideal behavior. It was not hypothetical.
If question 29 had said "If reaction 1 followed ideal gas behavior, blah blah?". Then Question 30 would be unable to be determined.

I haven't seen any AAMC questions that ambiguous or subjective to questions you previously answered correctly.
Any wrong answer should not lead to repeated wrong answers, unless you just poorly interpret passage information.
 
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