Command of evidence: text
Information and Ideas is about 26% of the Reading and Writing section (12–14 of 54 questions). In the textual evidence questions you read a short passage about a claim, hypothesis or character and choose the quotation or finding that most directly supports or weakens it.
Two kinds of question
In the first kind, a scientist, historian or economist makes a claim, and you choose the finding that would support it (or weaken it). In the second kind, you read a poem, story or play excerpt and choose the quotation that best illustrates a statement about it. Both kinds ask the same thing: which choice connects most directly to the exact claim?
| Type | Typical question | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Findings | Which finding, if true, would most directly support / weaken the claim? | Ask: if this were true, what would it tell us about the claim? |
| Quotations | Which quotation from the text best illustrates the claim about …? | Find the words that show the idea, not just the topic. |
A five-step routine
Do not read the choices until you have the claim clear. Say the claim in your own words, underline its exact parts (who or what, what happens, in which direction), and predict what the perfect evidence would look like. Then test every choice against all the parts of the claim.
Support, weaken and “directly”
A finding supports a claim if it makes the claim more likely; it weakens the claim if it makes it less likely. Read the verb in the question twice: students often choose the right idea for the wrong direction. “Most directly” means that the choice must speak to the very thing the claim says, not to a nearby topic. If a claim says that A causes B, evidence about only A, or only B, is not enough; look for a comparison that links them.
| Wrong-answer type | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Related but irrelevant | True and on the same topic, but says nothing about the claim |
| Partial match | Fits one part of the claim and ignores the other |
| Opposite direction | Weakens when you need support, or the reverse |
| Too strong or too general | Says always or all when the claim is about one case |
Quotations: look for the feeling, not the topic
For a literature question, the claim is often about a feeling, a change, a relationship or a theme (“the speaker feels lonely”, “the character becomes braver”). The right quotation shows that idea through actions, images or the character’s own words. A wrong quotation often mentions the same object or place but does not show the feeling. Always check that the quotation appears in the passage and says what the claim says.
Experiments: ask what we would expect to see
A hypothesis predicts something. If a scientist says that birds sing louder in noisy places, then we would expect louder songs in noisy streets than in quiet parks. Choose the result that matches the prediction and compares the right groups. A result that shows no difference, or a difference in something else, does not support the claim. To weaken a claim, look for a result that is the opposite of the prediction, or one that shows another explanation for the same result.
Ecologist Nigora Rashidova hypothesizes that birds of the same species sing at a higher pitch in busy cities than in quiet parks because the low notes of their songs are drowned out by traffic noise.
- Birds in the city begin nesting a few weeks earlier in spring than birds in parks.
- Songs recorded on noisy streets had a higher average pitch than songs of the same species recorded in quiet parks.
- Birds in parks sing more often at dawn than birds in the city do.
- The songs of city birds and park birds were found to have the same average pitch.
- The claim: city birds sing higher than park birds (the same species), because traffic noise hides low notes.
- The perfect evidence: recordings that show higher pitch in noisy places than in quiet ones.
- Choice B says exactly that, so it supports the hypothesis.
- A and C are about other behavior, and D is the opposite result.
Education researcher Sardor Ismoilov claims that having a vegetable garden at a school increases student attendance because students want to take care of their plants.
- Schools with gardens spend more money on tools than schools without gardens.
- Students at schools with gardens said that they enjoy science lessons.
- Attendance at schools with gardens was no higher than at similar schools without gardens.
- Most schools with gardens are located in rural areas.
- The claim: gardens increase attendance.
- To weaken it, we need evidence that attendance does not rise when there is a garden.
- Choice C says attendance was the same at similar schools, so the garden made no difference.
- A, B and D are true-sounding facts that never mention attendance.
The market lamps are lit tonight, / but not the ones I know. / I buy a pear I do not want / and watch the people go. / My mother’s kitchen, small and warm, / is a thousand miles away; / I hold the pear and think of her / at the end of the day.
- “The market lamps are lit tonight”
- “I buy a pear I do not want”
- “and watch the people go”
- “My mother’s kitchen, small and warm, / is a thousand miles away”
- The claim has two parts: sadness and distance from home.
- Choice D names the speaker’s home (“mother’s kitchen”) and the distance (“a thousand miles away”).
- A only describes the scene. B and C show the speaker doing something, but not feeling sad about home.
Marine biologist Zarina Alieva hypothesizes that young sea turtles use Earth’s magnetic field to decide which way to swim. She places hatchlings in a round tank surrounded by electric coils that can reverse the direction of the magnetic field around the tank.
- The hatchlings swam in the same direction whether the field was normal or reversed.
- The hatchlings swam faster in warm water than in cool water.
- When the coils reversed the magnetic field, the hatchlings turned and swam in the opposite direction.
- The hatchlings swam toward the brightest lamp in the room.
- The hypothesis predicts that if the magnetic field changes, the swimming direction should change too.
- Choice C describes exactly that.
- A is the opposite result (it weakens the hypothesis). B is about temperature. D suggests the turtles follow light, another explanation.
- Choosing a related factAsk: would this fact change how likely the claim is? If not, it is only related. The right answer must speak to the claim itself.
- Matching only part of the claimUnderline every part of the claim (who, what, direction, reason). The right choice covers them all.
- Mixing up support and weakenCircle the verb in the question. Before choosing, say aloud: “This makes the claim more / less likely.”
- Falling for a quotation that mentions the topic but not the feelingThe claim says what the quotation must show: sadness, pride, change. A description of a place or an object is not enough.
- Choosing an extreme statementWords such as always, all, never and only are usually too strong. Evidence for one case does not prove a rule for every case.
- Ignoring the comparison groupFor experiments, support needs a comparison: a group with the factor against a group without it. A result with no comparison proves little.