SAT Reading | Inference Questions | Review

Inference questions ask you to deduce/conclude the meaning of a line, paragraph, or an entire passage.

• True

• False

The ideas being asked about in Inference questions won't be stated explicitly.

• True

• False

There are three main kinds of inference questions: deduction, speculation, and examination

• True

• False

Type 1: Deduction

• Inference questions that fall into the examination subcategory question you about the internal life (thoughts, feelings, motivations) of the narrator, author, or someone mentioned in the passage. They can mostly be summed up as asking "What would [this person] think about [that thing]?" These questions are the most complicated type of inference questions because they ask you to get into the head of the author/narrator/character/other person mentioned in the text. You will often see these sorts of questions on paired passages.

• Inference questions that fall into this subcategory ask you to fill in the missing information. The gist of most of the questions is "If something is said in the passage, what is the logical extension?"

Type 2: Speculation

• These inference questions ask you to guess about the meaning (or "suggested" meaning) of a statement, description, or something else in the passage.

• Inference questions that fall into this subcategory ask you to fill in the missing information. The gist of most of the questions is "If something is said in the passage, what is the logical extension?"

• Inference questions that fall into the examination subcategory question you about the internal life (thoughts, feelings, motivations) of the narrator, author, or someone mentioned in the passage. They can mostly be summed up as asking "What would [this person] think about [that thing]?"

Type 3: Examination

• Inference questions that fall into this category question you about the internal life (thoughts, feelings, motivations) of the narrator, author, or someone mentioned in the passage. They can mostly be summed up as asking "What would [this person] think about [that thing]?" These questions are the most complicated type of inference questions because they ask you to get into the head of the author/narrator/character/other person mentioned in the text. You will often see these sorts of questions on paired passages.

  Fortunately, it is pretty easy to identify examination inference questions, since they do tend to fall into "what does X think about Y" format.

• Inference questions that fall into this subcategory ask you to fill in the missing information. The gist of most of the questions is "If something is said in the passage, what is the logical extension?"

• These inference questions ask you to guess about the meaning (or "suggested" meaning) of a statement, description, or something else in the passage.

• Deduction

• Examination

• Speculation

• Speculation

• Examination

• Deduction

• Deduction

• Speculation

• Examination

Inference questions ask you to identify what the passage suggests or indirectly states.

• True

• False