Mastering SAT Reading (Part 2)
Strategies for Command of Evidence Questions
This post is part of my SAT Reading and Writing series, where I break down different question types and show you how to tackle them like a pro. If you missed the first post on Central Ideas and Details questions, you can check it out here.
Today, we’re diving into Command of Evidence questions. These are part of the Information and Ideas domain, which makes up 26% of the Reading and Writing section. These questions test your ability to evaluate evidence—both in the text and in data from charts, graphs, and tables—and figure out how it supports (or sometimes weakens) a claim.
Before we get into strategies for these questions—definitely one of the trickier types, even for top scorers—let’s do a quick review of some Reading Comprehension basics to set you up for success.
SAT passages have three key parts: the passage, the question, and the answer choices. But here’s a tip—don’t read them in that order!
Instead, start with the question. This keeps you focused on what’s being asked and helps you read with a purpose, saving you time and mental energy. Here’s the step-by-step strategy I recommend:
Read the question. What kind of question is it?
Read what you need based on the question type—no more, no less.
Answer it in your own words before looking at the choices.
Find the best match among the answer choices.
By sticking to this method, you’ll stay focused and avoid getting distracted by unnecessary details.
What Are Command of Evidence Questions?
The term Command of Evidence is a bit of a holdover from the old version of the SAT. Back then, you had to choose the best piece of evidence from the passage to support your answer to the previous question. Those questions? Brutal.
On the digital SAT, the category name stuck around, but the question format is totally different. Now, like all the other questions in the Reading and Writing section, Command of Evidence questions appear in isolation, each paired with a short passage (usually no more than 150 words).
There are two main types of Command of Evidence questions:
Textual questions, which ask you to identify written evidence that supports or weakens a claim in the passage.
Quantitative questions, which require you to analyze data from a table or graph and determine how it relates to the passage.
How to Spot Command of Evidence Questions
These questions stand out because they require you to support or weaken a claim using explicit textual or graphical information. These questions may ask you to identify a quotation that illustrates a claim, determine which finding supports or weakens a hypothesis, or select the choice that best uses data from a graph. Common keywords include “support,” “weaken,” “illustrate,” “quotation,” “finding,” and “data.”
Common question stems for Command of Evidence questions include:
Textual
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researcher’s/team’s/student’s hypothesis/conclusion/claim?
Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the researcher’s/team’s/student’s hypothesis/conclusion/claim?
Which quotation would best illustrate the researcher’s/team’s/student’s conclusion or claim?
Which quotation from the described literary work most effectively illustrates the claim?
Which statement, if true, would most strongly support or weaken the underlined claim?
Which finding about the thing in the passage, if true, would most directly support the person’s conclusion/hypothesis?
Quantitative
Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph or table to complete the example/claim?
Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph/table to justify the underlined claim?
Which choice best describes data from the graph/table that supports the researcher’s/team’s/student’s conclusion?
Which choice best describes data from the graph/table that weakens the team’s/researcher’s/student’s hypothesis?
Notice the pattern? Almost every Command of Evidence question asks you to either support or weaken a claim, hypothesis, or conclusion. The phrasing may vary, but the strategy stays the same.
The exception? Literary Command of Evidence questions. These focus more on conceptual alignment than direct evidence—think big-picture ideas rather than specific data.
Despite their varied forms, all of these question types test your ability to evaluate and apply information with precision.
Strategy: Textual Command of Evidence Questions (Non-Literary)
Command of Evidence questions ask you to support or weaken a claim using specific evidence—whether from the text or a data graphic. Your goal is to find the claim, hypothesis, or conclusion and determine what kind of evidence would directly reinforce or challenge it.Follow these steps:
Identify what needs to be supported or weakened.
Is it a hypothesis, conclusion, or claim? Pay close attention to the question stem.Locate the “partner verb” in the passage (e.g., hypothesize, conclude, claim).
You’ll usually find it toward the end of the passage. Read carefully to understand what’s being stated.Predict the kind of information that would support or weaken the claim.
Ask yourself: What kind of evidence would back this up—or contradict it?Select the answer that best aligns with your prediction.
Avoid choices that are vague, off-topic, or contradict the question’s focus.
Example
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researchers’ hypothesis?
Since we’re asked to support a hypothesis, we start by going to the end of the passage and looking for the word hypothesize.
Although many transposons, DNA sequences that move within an organism’s genome through shuffling or duplication, have become corrupted and inactive over time, those from the long interspersed nuclear elements (LINE) family appear to remain active in the genomes of some species. In humans, they are functionally important within the hippocampus, a brain structure that supports complex cognitive processes. When the results of molecular analysis of two species of octopus—an animal known for its intelligence—were announced in 2022, the confirmation of a LINE transposon in Octopus vulgaris and Octopus bimaculoides genomes prompted researchers to hypothesize that that transposon family is tied to a species’ capacity for advanced cognition.
The last part of the final sentence states the hypothesis: that that transposon family is tied to a species’ capacity for advanced cognition.
What is that transposon family? We see it mentioned in the first sentence—transposons are DNA sequences that move within an organism’s genome through shuffling or duplication and the LINE family of them appears to remain active in the genomes of some species. Going back to the last sentence, we see that two species of octopus—an animal known for its intelligence—were shown to have this LINE family of transposons.
We need evidence showing that the LINE transposon family is active in another species with advanced cognition, besides the two octopus species mentioned.
Let’s look at the answers.
A. The LINE transposon in O. vulgaris and O. bimaculoides genomes is active in an octopus brain structure that functions similarly to the human hippocampus.
B. The human genome contains multiple transposons from the LINE family that are all primarily active in the hippocampus.
C. A consistent number of copies of LINE transposons is present across the genomes of most octopus species, with few known corruptions.
D. O. vulgaris and O. bimaculoides have smaller brains than humans do relative to body size, but their genomes contain sequences from a wider variety of transposon families.
A, B, and D all mention humans—another species capable of advanced cognition—B does not mention the octopus species, so it isn’t providing the evidence we need. D mentions brains as relative to body size, which is beyond the scope of the passage. Our answer is A. The LINE transposon in O. vulgaris and O. bimaculoides genomes is active in an octopus brain structure that functions similary to the human hippocampus.
Strategy: Textual Command of Evidence Questions (Literary)
These questions ask you to choose a quotation that best illustrates or supports a given claim. Unlike other Command of Evidence questions, the focus here isn’t on scientific or factual reinforcement—you’re selecting a quotation that aligns conceptually with the brief claim. These passages are typically very short and describe the literary work rather than excerpting it.
Find the claim.
It’s usually near the end of the question.
Be careful not to confuse the claim with the description of the work.
The first part of the passage often introduces the work and isn’t relevant to the answer.
Predict what kind of description would best illustrate the claim.
Focus on the core theme or idea, not just matching keywords.
Look for an answer that captures the essence of the claim.
The best choice reflects the deeper meaning, not just restating the claim.
Eliminate choices that are too literal, overly broad, or introduce unrelated ideas.
If you’re stuck, ask yourself: Does this quote demonstrate the claim or concept in action?
Example
Which quotation from The Land of Enchantment most effectively illustrates the claim?
The question lets us know this is a literary Command of Evidence question. Let’s go find the claim in the (very short, two-sentence passage).
The Land of Enchantment is a 1906 travel book by Lillian Whiting. In the book, which describes the experience of traveling through the southwestern United States by train, Whiting reflects on the escape from everyday life that such a journey provides: __________
Breaking it down:
The first sentence just introduces the work—it’s irrelevant to the answer.
The nonessential clause after “the book” also gives context but doesn’t help.
The final sentence contains the claim: Whiting reflects on the escape from everyday life that such a journey provides.
We’re looking for something about how traveling through the southwestern U.S. by train offers an escape from ordinary life.
Here are the answers:
A. “The opportunities and advantages already offered and constantly increasing are greater than would at first be considered possible.”
B. “The social and the picturesque charm of the long journey is singularly enhanced by the leisurely stops made for refreshment.”
C. “The real journey begins, of course, at Chicago, and as these trains leave in the evening the traveller fares forth in the seclusion of his berth.”
D. “One experiences a certain sense of detachment from ordinary day and daylight duties that is exhilarating.”
A is tempting because it references “opportunities and advantages” being “greater than would at first be considered possible”, which aligns with the idea of a unique journey. However, it doesn’t mention escaping everyday life, so it’s incorrect. C is another trap—the test-makers use the word “journey” to make it seem relevant, but it doesn’t address the core idea of escape.
D, however, states that “One experiences a certain sense of detachment from ordinary day and daylight duties that is exhilarating.” This directly supports the idea of escaping everyday life, making it the correct answer.
Strategy: Quantitative Command of Evidence Questions
Quantitative Command of Evidence questions ask you to use data from a graph or table to either support, justify, or weaken a claim. Your goal is to identify which part of the data aligns with or contradicts the claim and choose the most relevant answer.
The first two steps are the same as the strategy for non-literary textual Command of Evidence questions:
Identify what needs to be supported or weakened.
Is it a hypothesis, conclusion, or claim? Pay attention to the question stem.Locate the “partner verb” in the passage (e.g., hypothesize, conclude, claim).
This is usually found toward the end of a discussion or argument. Read carefully to understand what’s being stated.
After that, here’s what to do with the graph or table:
Determine what the graph or table represents.
Check major axes, variable titles, and assess any general trends.Find the relevant data in the graph or table.
Focus on the section that directly corresponds to the claim and ignore unrelated data.Eliminate choices that misinterpret or misuse the data.
Watch out for these common pitfalls:Data from the wrong part of the graph.
Accurate but irrelevant data.
Choices that contradict the task (support vs. weaken).
Select the answer that accurately reflects the data and matches the question’s goal.
Example
Which choice best describes data from the graph that support the students’ conclusion?
We’re being asked to describe data that supports the conclusion, so our first step is to find the conclusion—just like in Textual Command of Evidence questions, look for the partner verb (concludes) to figure out what the conclusion is.
To understand how expressions of anger in reviews of products affect readers of those reviews, business scholar Dezhi Yin and colleagues measured study participants’ responses to three versions of the same negative review—a control review expressing no anger, a reviewing expressing a high degree of anger, and a review expressing a low degree of anger. Reviewing the data, a student concludes that the mere presence of anger in a review may not negatively affect readers’ perceptions of the review, but a high degree of anger in a review does worsen readers’ perceptions of the review.
The conclusion is that the mere presence of anger in a review may not negatively affect readers’ perceptions of the review, but a high degree of anger in a review does worsen readers’ perceptions of the review.
Let’s look at the graph:
The graph shows how participants in the three groups (no anger, high anger, and low anger) rated both the helpfulness of the review and their attitude toward the reviewed product.
We can ignore data about attitude toward the product because it’s unrelated to the conclusion.
For helpfulness, the no anger and low anger ratings are about the same, but high anger ratings are noticeably lower.
We’re looking for an answer that points out how high anger reduces perceptions of helpfulness.
A. On average, participants’ ratings of the helpfulness of the review were substantially higher than were participants’ ratings of the reviewed product regardless of which type of review participants had seen.
B. Compared with participants who saw the control review, participants who saw the low-anger review rated the review as slightly more helpful, whereas participants who saw the high-anger review rated the review as less helpful.
C. Participants who saw the low-anger review rated the review as slightly more helpful than participants who saw the control review did, but participants’ attitude toward the reviewed product was slightly worse when participants saw the low-anger review than when they saw the no-anger review.
D. Compared with participants who saw the low-anger review, participants who saw the high-anger review rated the review as less helpful and had a less positive attitude toward the reviewed product.
Answers A, C, and D all talk about participants’ attitude toward the reviewed product, which is a huge distractor in this question. The conclusion has nothing to do with the product! In fact, if you were to read the entire passage, you wouldn’t see product mentioned anywhere. B, Compared with participants who saw the control review, participants who saw the low-anger review rated the review as slightly more helpful, whereas participants who saw the high-anger review rated the review as less helpful, is correct because it correctly uses data from the graph to support the conclusion.
Common Traps and How to Avoid Them
Even top scorers stumble on Command of Evidence questions. Here’s what to watch out for:
Focusing on irrelevant parts of the passage or data. Always align your answer with the specific claim or hypothesis in the question.
Choosing answers with extreme language. Be wary of words like "always," "never," or "completely," which are rarely correct.
Ignoring question-specific tasks. If the question asks you to support a claim, don’t pick something that weakens it—or vice versa.
Forgetting to scan the graph fully. Ensure you read axis labels, titles, and data points carefully to avoid misinterpretation.
Mastering Command of Evidence questions takes practice, but with these strategies, you’ll approach them with confidence. Remember to focus on the claim or hypothesis and stay rooted in the data or passage for your answers.
In the next post, we’ll explore Cross-Text Connections questions, which challenge you to compare and contrast ideas across two passages. Stay tuned and keep practicing!
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