SAT Reading & Writing · Information and Ideas
Command of Evidence (Quantitative)
A claim, a graph or table, and four choices. The right one uses the data to prove exactly that claim — nothing more, nothing less, and not the reverse.
The rule
Pick the choice that uses the chart data literally and exactly to answer the specific claim. The right answer copies the correct number from the correct row and, if comparing, gets both the groups and the direction right.
Worked example
A student is researching the trends in the topics submitted to a national science fair for high school students. The graph shows the number of submissions by topic that were made each year. Based on the data in the graph, the student claims that there were more medicine and health research topics submitted in 2019 than in any other year.
Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to support the underlined claim?
- A.
In 2016, the number of cellular and molecular biology topic submissions was the same as the number of animal science topic submissions.
- B.
In 2019, there were more physics and space science topic submissions than there were medicine and health topic submissions.
- C.
The lowest number of animal science topic submissions in a year was approximately 95 in 2016.
- D.
The highest number of medicine and health topic submissions during the period shown is approximately 285 in 2019.
Walk through it
Choice D is correct. To support the claim that 2019 had the most medicine and health submissions of any year shown, the strongest evidence is the specific data point showing 2019's count (about 285) is the highest across the period. Choice A compares unrelated categories in 2016, B compares different topics within 2019 rather than medicine/health across years, and C describes animal science data, none of which supports the claim about medicine and health in 2019.
The traps
The number is real but belongs to a different group or year than the claim names.
The choice compares the wrong two groups, or makes a solo statement when the claim requires a comparison.
It claims higher/lower when the data show the opposite or equal values, so the hypothesis is not actually supported.
The procedure
- Pinpoint exactly what the question demands: a single value, a comparison, or data proving a hypothesis.
- Finger-trace the exact cell(s) in the chart for every label mentioned.
- Read the number back literally. For comparisons, verify both values and the direction.
- Kill any choice pulling a number from a different row, year, or group. Then kill any where the comparison direction is reversed or groups are mismatched.
- Select the perfect literal match.
Rule, traps, and procedure drawn from the verified skill playbook for “Command of Evidence (Quantitative)” (drafted against real questions, verified by a second independent pass — see lib/content/playbooks/command-of-evidence-quantitative.md). Worked example is a real, verified SAT practice question from the live question bank, not generated for this lesson.