SAT Writing: Command of Evidence (Textual) | Reading and Writing for Digital SAT PDF Download

What are "textual evidence" questions?

During the Reading and Writing section of your SAT, you may encounter questions that present a statement regarding an unfamiliar topic. You will then be prompted to determine the evidence that provides the strongest support for that particular 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?
(a) The model with a sail took significantly longer to travel a specified distance while submerged than the model without a sail did.
(b) The model with a sail displaced significantly more water while submerged than the model without a sail did.
(c) The model with a sail had significantly less battery power remaining after completing the tests than the model without a sail did.
(d)The model with a sail took significantly less time to complete a sharp turn while submerged than the model without a sail did.

Correct Answer is Option (d)
First we need to focus in on the hypothesis our evidence needs to support:

• "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"

We can simplify this hypothesis to make our lives a bit easier:

• Sail on back = quicker movements

Which choice strengthens this idea?

• Choice A does focus on speed of movement, but finds that a sail on the back = slower movement. This is the opposite of what we want to support. We can eliminate this choice.
• Choice B focuses on water displacement, not the speed of movement. We can eliminate this choice.
• Choice C focuses on the "power" needed to move, not the speed of movement. We can eliminate this choice.

Choice D focuses on speed of movement, and finds that having a sail made sharp turns take "significantly less time". In other words: sail on back = quicker movements. This supports the hypothesis made by the scientists. Choice D is the answer.

How should we think about textual evidence questions?

• When it comes to textual evidence questions, scientific and literary evidence are the two types that you may encounter on the SAT. For scientific evidence, a hypothesis about a scientific or social science subject will be presented, and your task will be to identify the research outcome that would support that hypothesis. The passage will contain everything you need to answer the question, and no prior knowledge is required. This type of question should remind you of confirming or refuting a hypothesis in your science classes.
• On the other hand, for literary evidence questions, the passage will make an argument about a particular literary work, and you will be presented with a set of quotations from that work. No prior knowledge of the literary work is necessary, but you will need to evaluate whether the content of each quotation provides direct evidence for the argument in question. This type of question should remind you of pulling quotations to support your arguments in an analytical essay in your English classes.
• Although these two types of questions may appear different, the skills required to succeed on both and the approach to finding the answer should be quite similar.

How to approach textual evidence questions

If you want to answer a textual evidence question correctly, try following these steps:

Step 1: Identify the argument

• In every textual evidence question, you'll find a main argument presented in the form of a hypothesis or an interpretation of a literary work. Your first task is to pinpoint this argument and extract it from the passage. For instance, the example question given in this article features a hypothesis about Spinosaurus aegyptiacus.

Step 2: Formulate a test phrase

• Once you've identified the argument, rephrase it in a straightforward and concise way. For instance, the hypothesis about Spinosaurus aegyptiacus can be restated as "a sail on the dinosaur's back helped it move quickly in water." This will serve as your test phrase.

Step 3: Evaluate the choices

• Read each choice carefully and compare it with your test phrase. Does the choice express the same idea as your test phrase? If so, it's likely to be the correct answer. If not, you can eliminate it as a possibility. By following these steps, you should be able to find the answer that matches the argument presented in the question.

Top Tips

1. Stay specific: Make sure to stay within the boundaries of the passage's main focus and avoid choices that expand or obscure the argument you're supposed to be backing. Be cautious of subtle deviations that might make a choice appear pertinent, but in reality, shifts the attention away from the central argument.

Look at the choices in our example question:

• Choice A introduces a new idea of "power" without connecting it to speed of movement. We can eliminate this choice.
• Choice B introduces the idea of "water displacement", which isn't discussed in the passage. We can eliminate this choice.

2. Be strict: Keep in mind that the evidence you select should be the strongest and most direct in supporting the argument. Any choice that feels uncertain or requires a lot of assumptions to fit the argument is likely not the best evidence. Avoid choices that only "almost" or "kind of" fit, as they may not be the most convincing option.

In our example question, choice A introduces the idea of "power".

Now, if we made a whole bunch of extra leaps, we might be able to connect the idea of "power" to the main argument about "speed". You could say:

• The sail used up more power, so maybe it's more powerful, and that might mean that the sail makes the dinosaur swim faster"

But this type of extended, indirect reasoning isn't what we want when we're looking for strong support.
See how you had to use the word "might"? "Maybe" isn't strong enough, and it's a good indication that there's not enough evidence in the passage to support this choice. For example, the additional power consumption also might imply that the sail is inefficient.