9 original Command of Evidence: Textual questions, easiest first. Which quotation or finding would most strengthen — or weaken — a stated claim. Answer them all, then submit once to see every answer explained.
A psychologist claims that people are more likely to complete an online course when they receive a personalized welcome message from an instructor than when they receive a generic, automated welcome message.
Which finding would most directly support the psychologist's claim?
D — In a controlled experiment, students who received a personalized welcome message completed the course at a significantly higher rate than students who received a generic message.. This is a direct experimental comparison of the two conditions the psychologist's claim is about (personalized vs. generic message), with completion rate results supporting the claim; the other choices don't test this specific comparison.
A climatologist argues that reforestation efforts in a particular river basin have measurably reduced downstream flooding by improving the soil's capacity to absorb rainfall.
Which finding would most directly support the climatologist's argument?
A — Data show that after reforestation began, soil absorption rates in the basin increased and downstream flood frequency decreased.. The claim links reforestation to both soil absorption and reduced flooding; a finding showing both changes occurred together after reforestation directly supports the causal claim. The other findings don't address the flooding/absorption mechanism.
A climatologist argues that planting drought-resistant cover crops between growing seasons has measurably reduced topsoil erosion on a particular set of farms by improving the soil's structural stability.
Which finding would most directly support the climatologist's argument?
D — Data show that after cover crop planting began, soil stability measurements on the farms increased and topsoil erosion decreased.. The claim links cover cropping to both soil stability and reduced erosion; a finding showing both changes occurred together after planting began directly supports the causal claim. The other findings don't address the erosion/stability mechanism.
A psychologist claims that people are more likely to donate to an unfamiliar charity when the request includes a small, unsolicited gift, such as a sticker, than when the request includes no gift at all.
Which finding would most directly support the psychologist's claim?
A — In a controlled experiment, participants who received a small sticker with a donation request gave at a significantly higher rate than participants who received the same request without a sticker.. This is a direct experimental comparison of the two conditions the psychologist's claim is about (gift vs. no gift), with donation rate results supporting the claim; the other choices don't test this specific comparison.
A nutritionist argues that offering a free side salad option at a fast-casual restaurant leads customers to order fewer fried side dishes overall, not just to occasionally add a salad to their usual order.
Which finding would most directly support the nutritionist's argument?
D — A study found that after the free salad option was introduced, orders of fried side dishes dropped by 14% at the restaurants studied.. The claim is specifically about fried side orders decreasing, not just salad orders increasing. A finding showing fried side orders actually dropped directly supports this specific substitution effect; the other choices address unrelated measures.
A public health official claims that a citywide campaign promoting mask use during flu season significantly reduced flu-related emergency room visits among elderly residents specifically.
Which finding would most directly support the official's claim?
B — Hospital records show that flu-related ER visits among elderly residents dropped in the city after the campaign, while such visits in a similar nearby city without the campaign stayed flat.. A comparison of flu-related ER visits among elderly residents between the campaign city and a similar city without the campaign directly tests the campaign's specific effect, matching the claim precisely; the other choices don't measure actual health outcomes.
A sleep researcher hypothesizes that keeping a consistent wake-up time, even on weekends, improves sleep quality more than simply increasing total hours of sleep does.
Which finding would most directly support the sleep researcher's hypothesis?
B — In a sleep lab study, participants who kept a consistent wake-up time reported higher sleep quality than participants who slept more total hours but woke up at varying times.. This is a direct controlled comparison between wake-time consistency and total sleep duration on sleep quality, exactly matching the researcher's hypothesis; the other options don't isolate this specific comparison.
Researchers claim that a newly identified species of frog uses a previously undocumented call to attract mates. To strengthen their claim, they need evidence linking the call specifically to mating behavior.
Which finding would most directly support the researchers' claim?
B — The frogs produce the call only during the breeding season, and females consistently move toward its source.. To tie the call to mating, the best evidence connects it to the breeding season and to females' responses—exactly what B provides. Range (A), audible distance (C), and other species (D) say nothing about mating function.
A psychologist claims that people are more likely to donate to charity when they are shown a photo of a single identifiable individual in need rather than statistics about a large group of people in need.
Which finding would most directly support the psychologist's claim?
A — In a controlled experiment, participants shown a single child's photo and story donated on average twice as much as participants shown statistics about a famine affecting millions.. This is a direct experimental comparison of the two conditions the psychologist's claim is about (single identifiable individual vs. statistics), with donation results supporting the claim; the other choices don't test this specific comparison.
Score:
Every question above is now marked up: the correct answer is highlighted, any wrong option you picked is flagged, and each explanation is open.
No. Every question here is original, written to the College Board's published Digital SAT Reading & Writing specification for the Command of Evidence: Textual skill. No retired or copyrighted College Board material appears anywhere on this site.
Command of Evidence (Textual) describes a claim, hypothesis or argument and asks which quotation, finding or example would most directly support it, illustrate it, or weaken it. The passage sets up the claim; the choices are the candidate evidence.
Restate, in one sentence, exactly what has to be proven — including any qualifier like "in cities", "before 1900", "for adults only". Then test each choice against that sentence alone. Evidence that is true, interesting and about the right topic still fails if it does not bear on the specific claim, and "weaken" questions are lost almost entirely by candidates who answer them as "support" questions.
No, and deliberately so. This drill is 9 Command of Evidence: Textual questions back to back; a real Reading & Writing module is 27 questions in 32 minutes drawn from all eleven skills. Use a drill to fix one weakness, then take a full module to practice the real thing.
No. The SAT has no penalty for a wrong answer — a blank and a wrong guess both score zero — so answer every question, including the ones you have to guess.