Command of Evidence: Textual

Pick the quotation or finding that best supports, weakens or illustrates a claim. It is part of Information and Ideas in the Reading and Writing section. The book teaches it in Chapter 9, Command of Evidence: Textual and Quantitative, with 10 practice questions, and tests it 6 more times across the two full-length practice tests.

About Chapter 9

Command of Evidence questions hand you a claim and ask you to find the evidence that does a specific job: support it, weaken it or illustrate it. The College Board treats Command of Evidence as one skill with two kinds of evidence. Textual evidence is a quotation from a literary work or a research finding described in words. Quantitative evidence is data from a table, bar graph or line graph. Evidence questions come together in each module, within the Information and Ideas domain. The skill is narrower than it looks. You never decide whether a claim is true in the real world, only whether a piece of evidence bears on it in the way the stem asks.

What the question looks like

  • Which finding, if true, would most directly support the hypothesis?; Kind of evidence: Textual: a finding; Your job: Choose the result the hypothesis predicts
  • Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the claim?; Kind of evidence: Textual: a finding; Your job: Choose the result the claim says should not happen
  • Which quotation from [the work] most effectively illustrates the claim?; Kind of evidence: Textual: a quotation; Your job: Choose the quotation that shows every part of the claim
  • Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the statement?; Kind of evidence: Quantitative; Your job: Choose accurate data that finishes the sentence’s point
  • Which choice best describes data from the graph that support the claim?; Kind of evidence: Quantitative; Your job: Choose accurate data that makes the claim’s comparison

If true means exactly what it says. Treat every finding as established fact, and do not reject one because it is surprising or new to the passage; findings are supposed to be new information. Your only question is what each finding would do to the claim.

Data questions need no calculation beyond reading and comparing values, and there is no calculator in the Reading and Writing section.

How to recognize it

Look for three signals: a claim, hypothesis or conclusion in the passage, often credited to a researcher, historian or student; a stem that uses support, weaken, illustrate or uses data; and, for quantitative questions, a table or graph. Central Ideas questions (Chapter 8) ask what the passage says; evidence questions ask what would back up or undercut something it claims. Some quantitative questions end with a blank, as Inferences questions (Chapter 10) do, but here the choices are data from the graphic.

Common traps

  • On topic, no effect; What it looks like: A finding about the subject that would not change your view of the claim; How to spot it: Ask whether it makes the claim more or less likely
  • Wrong direction; What it looks like: A supporter on a weaken question, or the reverse; How to spot it: Reread the stem’s verb before you choose
  • Half the claim; What it looks like: Evidence for one part of a two-part claim; How to spot it: List the claim’s parts and check each one
  • Expected anyway; What it looks like: A result that would occur whether or not the claim is true; How to spot it: Ask whether it would also appear if the claim were false
  • Misread data; What it looks like: Wrong row, series, year or unit; How to spot it: Check every number against the graphic
  • Accurate but beside the point; What it looks like: True data that skips the claim’s comparison; How to spot it: Name the comparison first, then look for it
  • Shared words; What it looks like: A quotation that echoes the claim’s mood but not its point; How to spot it: Match the meaning of every part of the claim

Video lessons

Two short lessons from independent YouTube creators, chosen for this skill. The notes are ours; the videos belong to their creators, who are not affiliated with this site.

  • Textual evidence questions, worked through (Penguin SAT Prep , 11:31). Watch for: Matching the claim word for word to the quotation that proves it.
  • Support and weaken questions (SAT Mastermind, 11:51, captions). Watch for: What would make a hypothesis stronger or weaker, and why the topic alone is not enough.

Practice this skill

The full method, worked examples and 10 practice questions with every answer choice explained are in Chapter 9 of the book and in the study workspace, where an AI coach can talk you through each one.

Independence

Skill by Skill Prep is independent. SAT® is a trademark registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this website or book. Bluebook™ is a trademark of the College Board. Desmos is a trademark of Desmos Studio PBC. Practice results and ranges are study estimates, not official scores or admission predictions.

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