Reading & Writing · Checkpoint 12 of 30 · Information and Ideas · ~12 min
The difference between plausible and supported — with text, tables, and graphs.
The 30-second version
an SAT "inference" is barely a step beyond the text — if the passage says every observed sample melted below 40°, you may infer a sample that didn't melt wasn't observed below 40°. You may not infer why, or what happens at 45°. The standard is must be true, not "sounds reasonable." For evidence questions, the right choice is the one that would make the claim harder to deny — test each option against the claim like a lawyer.
Inference questions end with a blank: "…which suggests that ____" or "it most logically follows that ____." Treat the passage as a contract. The correct completion is guaranteed by what's written; everything else — however sensible — is unsupported.
Wrong answers are usually more interesting than right ones. The test rewards the boring, airtight step.
These give you a claim (a hypothesis, a researcher's assertion) and four findings or quotations; you pick the one that best supports (or sometimes weakens) it. Method: restate the claim as a bet — "the researcher bets that X causes Y" — then ask of each choice, "if this finding is true, does the bet get stronger?" A finding can be on-topic, accurate, and still do nothing for the bet; that's the standard trap.
Some questions attach a small table or graph. Three rules: read the axis labels and units before the shape; find the specific rows/points the claim needs rather than the overall vibe; and check that the choice's numbers match the graphic exactly — off-by-one-row errors are the wrong answers' favorite disguise.
Text: "In the survey, every participant who biked to work reported higher energy levels than they had the previous year. However, fewer than a tenth of participants biked to work." It most logically follows that ____
If fewer than a tenth biked, then more than nine-tenths didn't — so most participants can't have reported the bikers' benefits. That's arithmetic on the text: it must be true. A claims causation from a survey (never licensed); C compares non-bikers to bikers, which the text never does.
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Question Bank filters: Information and Ideas → Inferences and Command of Evidence (both textual and quantitative). When you miss one, write down the exact words that made the right answer provable.