Digital SAT Prep Overview

​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:
Jan Gimsa, Robert Sleigh, and Ulrike Gimsa have hypothesized that 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. To evaluate their hypothesis, a second team of researchers constructed two battery-powered mechanical models of S. aegyptiacus, one with a sail and one without, and subjected the models to a series of identical tests in a water-filled tank.

Which finding from the model tests, if true, would most strongly support Gimsa and colleagues’ hypothesis?

​Textual Evidence Questions

​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.
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.

​Top tips

Stay specific

Don't stray beyond the focus of the passage. Eliminate choices that broaden or blur the argument you're meant to be supporting. And look out for small twists and turns that make a choice seem relevant when it actually changes the focus of the argument.
Be strict

Remember, we're looking for the strongest and most direct evidence. 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.

Multiple Choice

“Mr. Cornelius Johnson, Office-Seeker” is a 1900 short story by Paul Laurence Dunbar. In the story, the narrator describes Mr. Cornelius Johnson’s appearance as conveying his exaggerated sense of his importance: ______

Which quotation from “Mr. Cornelius Johnson, Office-Seeker” most effectively illustrates the claim?

• “He carried himself always as if he were passing under his own triumphal arch.”

• “The grey Prince Albert was scrupulously buttoned about his form, and a shiny top hat replaced the felt of the afternoon.”

• “Mr. Cornelius Johnson always spoke in a large and important tone.”

  
  

Multiple Choice

Jan Gimsa, Robert Sleigh, and Ulrike Gimsa have hypothesized that 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. To evaluate their hypothesis, a second team of researchers constructed two battery-powered mechanical models of S. aegyptiacus, one with a sail and one without, and subjected the models to a series of identical tests in a water-filled tank.

Which finding from the model tests, if true, would most strongly support Gimsa and colleagues’ hypothesis?

• The model with a sail took significantly longer to travel a specified distance while submerged than the model without a sail did.

• The model with a sail displaced significantly more water while submerged than the model without a sail did.

• The model with a sail had significantly less battery power remaining after completing the tests than the model without a sail did.

• The model with a sail took significantly less time to complete a sharp turn while submerged than the model without a sail did.