Command of evidence: text

Digital SAT · Reading and Writing · Information and Ideas. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

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The idea

You are given a claim: a statement about a poem or novel, or a researcher's hypothesis. You pick the quotation or finding that best supports it or, in some questions, weakens it.

Read the claim slowly and split it into its parts. Say in your own words what the evidence would have to show. Do this before you look at the options.

Then test each option against every part of the claim. For a claim about a poem or novel, the quotation must show the exact idea named, not just the same subject. For a claim in science, the strongest evidence is usually a comparison: the group with the cause shows the effect and the group without it does not.

Rules to remember

The answer must match the whole claim, not half of it.
Predict what the evidence should look like before you read the options.
Support: the result is what the claim predicts.
Weaken: the effect appears without the supposed cause, or the cause is present and the effect is missing.
Being on the same topic is not enough. The option must be about the same link the claim makes.
For quotations, match the meaning, not shared words.
Check whether the question says support or weaken (undermine).

Common mistake

Choosing an option that is about the right topic but does not prove the claim. Ask of each option: if this were true, would the claim be more likely to be true?

Worked example

A researcher claims that street lights at night cause one species of moth to lay fewer eggs. Which finding would most directly support the claim: (A) the moths are seen more often near street lights, or (B) moths kept under night lighting laid fewer eggs than moths kept in darkness, with all other conditions equal?

The claim links a cause (light at night) to an effect (fewer eggs).
(A) is about where the moths are seen. It says nothing about eggs.
(B) compares light with darkness, keeps everything else equal and counts eggs.

Answer: (B), because it shows the effect with the cause and not without it.

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