Command of Evidence: Textual

##What are "textual evidence" questions?

On the Reading and Writing section of your SAT, some questions will introduce a claim about an unfamiliar subject. The question will then ask you to identify the piece of evidence that most strongly supports that claim.

Textual evidence questions will look like this:

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##How should we think about textual evidence questions?

There are two types of textual evidence questions, and we need to think about each type a little differently.

###Scientific evidence

In these textual evidence questions, a hypothesis will be presented about a subject in science or social science, usually in the context of new research or experimentation.

We won't need to rely on any previous science knowledge: everything we need will be contained in the short passage. Our task is to interpret the researchers' hypothesis, identify the research outcome that would support that hypothesis, and then select the choice that offers that outcome.

This task should remind you of your science classes, in which you've likely needed to confirm or refute a hypothesis based on the outcomes of an experiment.

###Literary evidence

In these textual evidence questions, the passage will make an argument concerning a particular literary work, like a poem or novel. The choices will then offer a set of quotations from that literary work.

We don't need any previous knowledge of the literary work under discussion. What we will need is the ability to evaluate whether the content of each quotation serves as direct evidence for the argument identified in the question.

This task should remind you of your English classes, in which you've likely needed to pull quotations from a text to support your arguments in an analytical essay.

While these two types of questions might seem quite different, the skills we need to succeed on them, and our approach to finding the answer, should be quite similar for both.

##How to approach textual evidence questions

To solve a textual evidence question, consider following these steps:

Step 1: Identify the argument

Every textual evidence question, whether scientific or literary, will introduce a central argument for the question. It might be a research hypothesis, or it might be an interpretation of a literary text, but either way it will be clearly stated. Your first job is to identify that argument and draw it out from the text.

For instance, in the example question at the start of this article, you can identify the following hypothesis: "the sail-like structure running down the back of the dinosaur Spinosaurus aegyptiacus improved the animal’s success in underwater pursuits of prey species capable of making quick, evasive movements".

Step 2: Create a test phrase

Once you've identified the argument you want to support, you should rephrase that argument in the simplest terms possible.

For example, consider that hypothesis about Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. The claim is that a sail would help the dinosaur hunt quick prey while underwater. You could simplify that as follows:

Sail on back = quicker underwater movement

The best choice will make this same argument.

Step 3: Test the choices

Read each choice while keeping your test phrase in mind. Does the choice say something different than the test phrase? If so, eliminate that choice.

Once you find a choice that makes the same argument as your test phrase, you've found the answer. You can select that choice with confidence.

##Your turn

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In this article, we go over helpful tips for command of textual evidence questions, as well as tips that may apply to any question type on the SAT Reading and Writing test! Try them out yourself with the example questions at the bottom.

Note that these tips won’t all apply to every question: rather, you might find one or two of them to be useful on any given question. Read our overview article on command of textual evidence questions for the main strategy and approach we recommend for all questions of this type.

##Command of textual evidence: top tips

###Be strict!

If a choice almost or kind of feels like evidence, you can likely eliminate it. If you need to connect too many dots to make the evidence match the argument, then it’s probably not strong evidence. This type of reasoning isn’t what we want when we’re looking for strong support.

###Stay specific!

Don't stray beyond the focus of the passage. Eliminate choices that broaden or blur the ideas discussed in the text. And look out for small twists and turns that make a choice seem relevant when it actually expresses something unsupported by the passage.

###Read the question carefully!

Most command of textual evidence questions will ask you which choice best “supports” the claim in the text. However, some will ask you which choice best “undermines” or “challenges” the claim. In these cases, you must find the evidence that disagrees with the claim. It’s important to read command of textual evidence questions carefully to make sure you understand how you should be connecting the evidence in the choices to the claim in the text.

##General SAT Reading and Writing top tips

###Ditch the details!

Simplifying and summarizing a text down to its “bare bones” can help you get to the correct answer on many SAT Reading and Writing questions. Details like the title of a book or an author’s or researcher’s name usually don’t help us arrive at the answer. By summarizing the text in your own words and removing these unnecessary details, you can more easily identify the key concepts and ideas.

###Don’t get hung up on unfamiliar words!

Even though some words in the text may be unfamiliar to you, we can still usually summarize the text and get to the gist of it without trying to define these words. When you encounter unfamiliar words, try to guess at their meanings based on the context, but don’t waste time trying to figure out their exact definitions. It’s more important to focus on the big picture of what’s happening in the text. In fact, by focusing on the big picture, you’ll probably get a better sense of what the unfamiliar words mean anyway!

###Abbreviate the jargon!

“Jargon” refers to special words that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand. On the SAT Reading & Writing test, it’s normal to see scientific and technical jargon, such as the latin name of an animal species or the technical name of a substance. Instead of trying to read these terms fully and perfectly, abbreviate them! For instance, if the species is Dermochelys coriacea, abbreviate this to “D.C.” in your mind as you read. SAT Reading and Writing questions will never ask you to define or decode jargon. By mentally abbreviating, you can better focus on the bigger picture: what the passage is actually saying about those things.

###Use the process of elimination and guess!

Eliminate the choices that you know are wrong and narrow it down. Once you’ve eliminated all the choices you know are wrong, go ahead and guess one of the remaining choices—there’s no penalty for guessing.

##Try it!

Can you use any of the top tips above on these two examples? Try it yourself first, then click “show explanation” to see how we do it!

####Example 1

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####Example 2

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