PSAT/NMSQT Reading: Command of Evidence 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In a Command of Evidence question, what does the phrase 'best supports the answer to the previous question' typically require you to do?
- Identify the line or quotation in the passage that justifies your prior choice (Correct answer)
- Summarize the entire passage in one sentence
- Find a vocabulary word and define it
- Count how many times an idea is repeated
Correct answer: Identify the line or quotation in the passage that justifies your prior choice
Textual evidence questions ask you to locate the specific lines that prove your previous answer.
Question 2: A passage claims that urban gardens reduce neighborhood crime. Which sentence would best serve as supporting evidence?
- A statistic showing a 20% drop in reported incidents near garden sites (Correct answer)
- A description of the flowers planted in the garden
- An opinion that gardens are pretty
- A note about the gardener's favorite season
Correct answer: A statistic showing a 20% drop in reported incidents near garden sites
A measurable statistic directly backs the claim about reduced crime.
Question 3: When a quantitative (data) Command of Evidence question accompanies a graph, what should you do first?
- Read the axis labels and units before interpreting the data (Correct answer)
- Guess based on the title alone
- Skip the graph and read only the passage
- Choose the answer with the largest number
Correct answer: Read the axis labels and units before interpreting the data
Understanding axis labels and units prevents misreading the data.
Question 4: Which answer choice is LEAST likely to be correct evidence for a claim about an author's tone?
- A line containing the author's word choice and emotional language
- A neutral table of numerical figures (Correct answer)
- A sentence with vivid descriptive adjectives
- A passage with sarcastic phrasing
Correct answer: A neutral table of numerical figures
A neutral numerical table conveys no tone, so it cannot support a tone claim.
Question 5: A student selects lines 12-14 as evidence, but those lines describe an opposing viewpoint. What is the problem?
- The evidence contradicts rather than supports the intended claim (Correct answer)
- The lines are too long to be evidence
- Evidence must always come from the first paragraph
- The lines contain no punctuation
Correct answer: The evidence contradicts rather than supports the intended claim
Evidence must agree with the claim it is meant to prove, not oppose it.
Question 6: In a paired passage set, evidence for a comparison question should come from where?
- The relevant text in whichever passage the question targets (Correct answer)
- Only the first passage
- Only the conclusion of both passages
- Any random sentence in either passage
Correct answer: The relevant text in whichever passage the question targets
You must cite the passage the question is actually asking about.
Question 7: Why are 'extreme' answer choices using words like 'always' or 'never' often wrong in Command of Evidence questions?
- Passages rarely support absolute claims without qualification (Correct answer)
- They are grammatically incorrect
- They are too short to be evidence
- They never appear in the passage
Correct answer: Passages rarely support absolute claims without qualification
Texts usually make measured claims, so absolute language often overstates the evidence.
PSAT/NMSQT Reading: Command of Evidence 2
In a Command of Evidence question, what does the phrase 'best supports the answer to the previous question' typically require you to do?