Evidence in Text - SAT Reading & Writing

1. Which finding, if true, would most directly support the anthropologist's claim?
   Answer: Voyage logs and oral histories show that islands in the exchange held seasonal regattas where novices learned star paths matching the gift routes, and islands that stopped exchanging lost those star-path terms within two generations despite steady trade. The best answer links the exchange to organized navigation training (regattas where novices learn star paths along the gift routes) and shows that knowledge decayed only when exchanges stopped, even though trade continued. That matches both conditions the anthropologist named. The prestige-titles option describes status competition, not the teaching of navigation, so it addresses the critics' alternative rather than the claim. The motorboat option describes knowledge fading because of a later technological shift, not because exchanges ceased, so it fits a rival explanation and the wrong timeframe. The maritime-schools option shows only a correlation between exchange islands and later schools; it never ties the exchange itself to navigation training or shows loss when exchange stops, so it cannot establish the proposed function.
2. Which finding, if true, would most directly support the scholar's claim?
   Answer: In a controlled experiment, identical courtyards—one shaded by fabric sails and the other by mature trees—received equal shade, yet the treed courtyard's air temperature was 3 degrees lower with higher humidity. C isolates evapotranspiration by holding shade constant yet finding extra cooling from trees. A is correlational, B is anecdotal and from a different timeframe, and D is tangential to cooling mechanisms.
3. Which quotation from a critic's close reading would most effectively illustrate Deshpande's claim?
   Answer: "After the singing, the protagonist stops avoiding neighbors and chooses to join their work, redirecting the chapter's stakes." Deshpande argues that communal music scenes in Morrison's novels function as narrative 'hinges' that shift characters from isolation toward collective responsibility, marked by immediate changes in their decisions. To illustrate this claim, we need a quotation showing a character making different choices right after a music scene, specifically moving toward community engagement. Choice B perfectly illustrates this: after singing, the protagonist stops avoiding neighbors and joins their work, showing the immediate decision change from isolation to collective action. Choice A contradicts the claim by stating music doesn't alter plot direction. Choice C places responsibility themes in non-musical scenes. Choice D discusses memory and ancestry but not the isolation-to-responsibility shift. When looking for textual evidence of a literary mechanism, focus on examples that show both components—here, the music scene and the immediate behavioral change.
4. Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the scholar's claim?
   Answer: In a five-year randomized trial across 20 schools, early immersion students outperformed dual-language peers on standardized science and history assessments in both languages, controlling for baseline proficiency and socioeconomic status. The claim is that sustained instruction in both languages best builds content knowledge that transfers across languages. The winning finding meets exactly the test the scholar sets: a long-term, randomized, controlled comparison of both models on content assessments in both languages. If immersion students still outperform dual-language peers on science and history in both languages, that directly contradicts the claim. The finding about faster everyday vocabulary gains after one semester is short-term and about conversational language, not the long-term disciplinary transfer the claim concerns—it even notes content was never measured. The single-school case study describes an implementation problem (turnover, uneven delivery) at one site, which says nothing about whether the dual-language model itself fosters transfer. The funding-and-labs comparison is a correlation across schools that offers a confounding explanation rather than evidence that immersion produces better cross-language content learning. Only the controlled trial tests the scholar's actual criterion, so it is the single best answer.
5. Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the archaeologist's claim?
   Answer: Across multiple enclosures, dozens of projectile points are embedded in interior palisade posts, and mass graves with defensive wounds date to peak occupation layers. The claim is that these hilltops were mainly ceremonial, not defensive. The finding about projectile points buried in interior posts plus mass graves with defensive wounds—all dated to the height of occupation—shows sustained violent conflict during the very period the sites were in use, directly undercutting a primarily ritual interpretation. The shell beads and communal-meal bones actually support ritual feasting, so they reinforce the archaeologist's view rather than weaken it. The radiocarbon dates target the wrong timeframe: showing the walls predate recorded warfare says nothing about how the sites were used and does not establish a defensive purpose. The ridgeline sightlines note only a location pattern; good visibility is correlation, not evidence of combat, and the archaeologist already concedes high ground can be strategic. Only the evidence of actual fighting during occupation truly challenges the ceremonial-function argument.
6. Which finding, if true, would most directly support the scholar's claim?
   Answer: At a museum that removed fees, visits from low-income zip codes rose 48% relative to a matched museum that kept charging, once marketing and exhibit changes were accounted for. The scholar's claim is narrow: removing admission fees, by itself, raises visits from low-income residents specifically. The best support compares a fee-free museum to a similar museum that still charges, shows a large jump precisely among low-income zip codes, and rules out marketing and exhibit changes as the cause—matching the claim exactly. The finding about gift shop receipts and membership donations measures spending, not who is visiting, so it says nothing about attendance by low-income residents. The free-admissions pilot draws the wrong group: a spike in out-of-town tourists is the opposite of the local, lower-income visitors the scholar predicts. The attendance rise tied to a citywide advertising campaign is only a correlation—because the ads launched at the same time, you cannot credit fee removal, and total attendance ignores income entirely. Only the matched-comparison finding isolates fee removal's effect on the targeted community.
7. Which quotation from the ledger (in translation) most effectively illustrates the historian's claim?
   Answer: "Let it be known to all partners that through my singular prudence, no venture has failed; our returns exceed the common rate, a testament to my steady hand." Choice D contains explicit self-praise and boasts of superior returns, matching a self-promotional purpose. A and C are routine transactional notes, and B records a regulation change, none of which advances the advertising claim.
8. Which finding, if true, would most directly support the scholar's claim?
   Answer: In a randomized experiment, teens assigned a 20-minute nap immediately after studying foreign words recall significantly more items later that day than teens kept awake under identical conditions. The claim is specifically about whether a brief, well-timed nap right after studying causes better same-day memory. The randomized experiment does exactly that: because teens are assigned to nap or stay awake under identical conditions, any recall difference can be pinned on the nap itself—directly supporting the memory-consolidation mechanism. The classroom survey shows only mood and motivation improving, which is the very alternative explanation critics raise, not a memory effect. The transcript finding relies on students choosing to nap (self-selection) and, worse, links senior-year napping to junior-year grades—a backward, correlational timeframe that can't show causation. The word-list study concerns adults 65 and older, the wrong population for a claim about teenagers, and actually reports no benefit. Only the randomized teen experiment isolates sleep as the cause of improved recall.
9. Which finding, if true, would most directly support Tanaka's hypothesis?
   Answer: Across villages, taboo months match the peak spawning periods of locally dominant shellfish species, differing by coastline region. The anthropologist argues that coastal shellfish harvesting taboos originated as ecological management strategies rather than purely religious prohibitions, predicting taboos should align with local spawning calendars and vary by region with different species. To support this, we'd need evidence showing taboo timing matches ecological cycles and varies geographically with species differences. Choice A directly supports Tanaka's hypothesis by showing taboo months match peak spawning periods of locally dominant shellfish species and differ by coastline region, confirming both ecological alignment and geographic variation based on species distribution. Choice B contradicts the hypothesis by showing identical taboos across regions despite different species, suggesting cultural rather than ecological origins. Choice C offers an alternative explanation for reduced harvesting unrelated to taboos. Choice D emphasizes religious aspects over ecological timing. When evaluating functional explanations for cultural practices, evidence of precise environmental matching across varied contexts strongly supports adaptive origins.
10. Which finding, if true, would most directly support the scholar's claim?
    Answer: A longitudinal study following children from ages 2 to 7, matched on socioeconomic status and parental education, found that early bilingual exposure predicted greater gains in inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility, even after controlling for home enrichment. The scholar's claim requires evidence that isolates bilingualism from advantage: a longitudinal design that matches children on socioeconomic factors, tracks growth over time, and still finds a bilingual effect after enrichment is controlled. The correct finding does exactly this—it follows the same children from ages 2 to 7, matches them on socioeconomic status and parental education, and shows gains persisting even after controlling for home enrichment. The adult-switching study tests the wrong population; the scholar's claim is about children developing over time, not a single adult snapshot. The cross-sectional survey of affluent districts captures one moment and never controls for wealth or enrichment, so any gap could be a proxy for advantage—the very confound the scholar wants ruled out. The reading-and-enrichment survey shows only that bilingual families differ in enrichment, which actually illustrates the confound rather than removing it, and it never measures executive function or tracks growth. Only the longitudinal, matched design supports an independent contribution of bilingualism.
11. Which quotation from Morrison's fiction would most effectively illustrate Rios's claim?
    Answer: "The river kept their names the way the elders did—passing them along when the porch filled with voices." The literary scholar claims that in Morrison's novels, water imagery functions primarily as a marker of collective memory rather than personal cleansing or rebirth, especially when water appears alongside communal storytelling. To illustrate this claim, we'd need a quotation where water imagery is explicitly connected to shared, communal memory and storytelling. Choice B perfectly illustrates this: "The river kept their names the way the elders did—passing them along when the porch filled with voices" directly links water (the river) to collective memory preservation (keeping names) and communal storytelling (elders passing stories when the porch filled with voices). Choices A and C show water as personal cleansing/rebirth, while Choice D merely describes water aesthetically without any memory or storytelling connection. In literary analysis questions, the correct quotation must contain all elements of the claim—here, both water imagery and collective memory/storytelling.
12. Which finding, if true, would most directly support Tanaka's claim?
    Answer: In a study of 300 firms with similar remote-work rates, those that reduced leased square footage by at least 20 percent saw net emissions drop, while those keeping prior space saw no significant change. A directly links office downsizing, not just telework rates, to net emissions reductions. B is tangential, C relies on an emergency timeframe, and D is confounded correlation.
13. Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the scholar's claim?
    Answer: In a preregistered, randomized study with expectancy masked, participants assigned to two-minute passive phone scrolling improved just as much on sustained attention as those assigned to two-minute light movement, with no difference between groups. The scholar claims that only breaks involving bodily movement improve sustained attention, and that this is causal. The best answer describes a controlled experiment—randomized, preregistered, with expectancy masked—in which passive scrolling produced attention gains equal to movement. Because those controls rule out expectancy and selection effects, equal benefit directly undermines the movement-specific causal claim. The option about workers who prefer stretching relies on self-reported preferences and self-reported alertness, not on randomized assignment to break type, so its correlation can't establish that movement itself causes the gain. The option about elite athletes tests a special, highly fit population; even a null result there says little about ordinary monotonous-work conditions, so it doesn't address the general claim. The option about falling error rates after a "take breaks" campaign is an uncontrolled before-and-after comparison that lumps all break types together and can't isolate movement, and lower error rates aren't even the same outcome as sustained attention. Only the finding of equal benefit from passive breaks under rigorous controls speaks directly against the theory.
14. Which quotation from a recent translation of the epic most effectively illustrates the claim?
    Answer: I go because the city calls; my name is nothing if the walls fall.' C explicitly grounds the hero's courage in communal duty over personal renown. A merely describes fearlessness (tangential), B centers on fame (opposite motive), and D shows public acclaim without linking it to his motivation (correlation without causation).
15. Which quotation from Smith's 2015 translation most effectively illustrates the scholar's claim?
    Answer: "We lift our signs like dawn, flooding the square with a river of voices." A explicitly evokes collective protest—crowds, signs, and public voice—supporting the claim about political emphasis. B centers nature (tangential), C emphasizes private introspection (wrong scope from individual to collective), and D mentions rulers without indicating civic action (wrong focus/timeframe).
16. Which finding, if true, would most directly support the scholar's claim?
    Answer: Excavations reveal standardized sluice gates, elevated pavements, and canal berms aligned with mapped paleochannels, all sealed beneath layers that predate the earliest monumental temples. The best answer shows hydraulic works—sluice gates, raised pavements, canal berms matched to old river courses—buried beneath layers older than the first monumental temples. That stratigraphy directly demonstrates flood-control engineering came first, exactly what the scholar claims. The reliefs of kings diverting rivers describe later royal image-making, not the original purpose of city planning; iconography of power over nature does not show what shaped the earliest layouts. The seventh-century levee added to a single district is both too small in scope (one neighborhood, not citywide design) and far too late—it postdates the temples rather than preceding them, so it cannot show flood control drove the original plan. The temples that coincide with canals and broad avenues at the same level show only that ceremonial and hydraulic features existed together; correlation at one stratum does not establish that flood management came first or caused the design. Only the sealed, deeper hydraulic infrastructure gives the timing evidence the debate requires.
17. Which finding, if true, would most directly support the psychologist's claim?
    Answer: Across multiple firms, remote employees report far less commute frustration but log an average of 55 more minutes of work per day, and their weekly cortisol averages do not decline relative to office peers. The claim needs evidence for a specific chain: commuting stress drops, workdays get longer, and overall stress stays flat. The winning finding shows all three at once—less commute frustration, 55 extra minutes of work daily, and cortisol (a physiological marker) that does not fall. That matches both the mechanism (longer hours) and the outcome (unchanged global stress). The choice about higher satisfaction and fewer morning errands documents commute relief but says nothing about longer hours or overall stress, so it cannot support the full claim. The national survey compares drivers to train and home-office workers on general stress; it addresses commute mode, not whether remote work leaves total stress unchanged despite longer days. The startup report describes only twelve people and relies on the founder's impression that everyone feels less pressured—too small and too subjective to test a physiological, cross-firm claim, and it actually suggests reduced stress, contradicting the argument. Only one finding tracks all the moving parts the psychologist specifies.
18. Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the scholar's claim?
    Answer: Rice grains from the earliest River Glen layer carry nonlocal genetic markers matching a distant valley and lie alongside imported ceramics in the same sealed context. The scholar predicts that if rice were imported, the earliest layers would show nonlocal genetic signatures and trade goods tied directly to rice. The correct choice supplies exactly that: rice grains with nonlocal markers matching a distant valley, sitting with imported ceramics in one sealed layer. That co-occurrence directly connects trade to the rice itself, undercutting local domestication. The climate-warming finding names an environmental change but occurs long before any rice appears, so it says nothing about whether rice was local or imported. The isotopic finding shows one person ate rice, which fits either origin and speaks only to diet, not to how rice arrived. The shell-ornament finding proves trade networks existed in the region but never links that trade to rice remains, so it fails the specific connection the scholar's argument requires. Only the first choice ties nonlocal rice to imported goods in the same context, so it is the strongest challenge.
19. Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the economist's claim?
    Answer: In a permitting-lottery experiment, areas randomly authorized to build large projects saw significant citywide rent increases over the following five years relative to areas that lost the lottery. The economist says the strongest test uses quasi-random variation in construction and tracks citywide rents over years. The finding about a permitting lottery meets exactly those conditions—random authorization, citywide scope, a five-year window—and shows rents rose, which is the opposite of what the claim predicts, so it most directly weakens the claim. The resident survey measures how people feel about neighborhood character, not what happens to rents, so it is beside the point. The finding that high-construction neighborhoods have higher incomes is only a correlation and could reflect where builders choose to build; it doesn't isolate construction's causal effect the way the economist demands. The single-building, one-month case study fails on both scope and timeframe: it looks at one building's local rents for a month, but the claim is about citywide rents over several years. Only one option satisfies the economist's own standard for evidence and cuts against his prediction.
20. Which finding, if true, would most directly support the scholar's claim?
    Answer: Surviving guild ledgers from 1330 to 1390 list women as masters or principal account holders across multiple trades in both towns. Osman's claim is that ordinary women, not just a few elite ones, were regular participants in fourteenth-century urban commerce. Guild ledgers from 1330 to 1390 listing women as masters or principal account holders across multiple trades directly documents women acting as commercial principals during exactly the period she studies—the strongest support for widespread participation. The chronicles about noblewomen donating to monasteries describe charity, not commerce, and highlight the very handful of elite women Osman says are beside the point. The 1640 census comes from the seventeenth century, roughly 250 years too late to say anything about the fourteenth-century markets in question. The merchants' letters mention wives and daughters only in domestic contexts, which shows women were talked about but not that they held commercial roles—mentions without agency. Only the guild ledgers show women themselves conducting trade at the scale Osman claims.

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