Command of evidence — Digital SAT Reading & Writing practice
Pick the evidence that supports or weakens a claim, including data.
Key ideas to know
Strengthen vs Weaken Claims
Claim: Daily meditation reduces stress hormones. Which finding most strengthens this? (A) Meditators felt calmer. (B) Blood tests showed lower cortisol in the group. (C) Many find meditation relaxing. (D) Hormones fluctuate daily.
(B). Strengthening requires evidence that makes the claim more likely to be true. Lower cortisol directly supports reduced stress hormones. (A) and (C) are subjective, not direct proof.
Watch out: Choosing an answer that sounds positive but does not measure the exact variable in the claim.
Match Evidence to Specific Claims
The passage argues that remote work boosts productivity because employees avoid long commutes. Which sentence best supports this specific claim? (A) Remote workers save ten hours weekly on travel. (B) Companies offer flexible schedules. (C) Office buildings use less energy. (D) Commuting stresses drivers.
(A). The claim specifies productivity gains from avoiding commutes. Saving ten travel hours directly provides the mechanism that strengthens the link between no commute and higher output.
Watch out: Picking a choice that shares the topic but fails to connect directly to the exact mechanism or outcome stated in the claim.
True but Irrelevant Evidence
Claim: School uniforms improve grades by teaching discipline. Evidence used: 'Uniform schools report 15% fewer dress-code violations.' Why does this fail to support the claim?
The evidence measures behavioral compliance, not academic performance. To support the claim, data must show improved test scores or grades, not just fewer clothing rule breaks.
Watch out: Accepting a fact that is undeniably true but measures a different outcome than the one the author claims to improve.
Reading Data for Evidence Questions
Graph shows City A rainfall 2010-2023. Claim: Recent years are drier than early 2010s. Which data supports this? (A) 2011: 18 in. (B) 2015: 14 in. (C) 2020: 9 in. (D) 2023: 11 in.
(C). The claim compares recent years to early 2010s. Since 2011 recorded 18 inches, the lowest value among recent options (9 inches in 2020) most strongly supports the drier argument.
Watch out: Comparing the wrong years on the chart or misreading the axis labels, leading to a choice that looks extreme but misses the claim's timeframe.
Sample questions
Question 1
A psychologist hypothesizes that people remember information better when they expect to teach it to someone else than when they expect to be tested on it.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the psychologist's hypothesis?
- Participants told they would teach a passage to another person recalled more of it than participants told they would take a test on it.
- Participants who took practice tests scored higher on final exams than those who only reread material.
- Teachers reported remembering course material better than their students did.
- Participants recalled emotionally vivid passages better than neutral ones.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Participants told they would teach a passage to another person recalled more of it than participants told they would take a test on it.
The hypothesis compares expecting to teach vs. expecting to be tested. Only choice A manipulates that exact expectation and finds better recall in the teaching condition.
Question 2
Art historian Miriam Chen argues that the anonymous 17th-century painting known as <i>The Cartographer's Study</i> was produced by an artist with direct knowledge of navigational practice, not merely of studio conventions for depicting scholars.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support Chen's claim?
- The painting's instruments are shown in the exact configuration used for plotting a course, a detail absent from other scholar portraits of the period.
- The painting uses the same pigments as other portraits produced in the same city.
- Several 17th-century portraits depict scholars surrounded by books and globes.
- The painting was owned by a wealthy merchant family for two centuries.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: The painting's instruments are shown in the exact configuration used for plotting a course, a detail absent from other scholar portraits of the period.
Chen's claim is about the artist's practical navigational knowledge. Instruments arranged as actually used for navigation — unlike standard scholar portraits — directly evidences that expertise.