PSAT/NMSQT Reading: Command of Evidence 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A passage argues that bees are vital pollinators. Which detail best supports this claim?
- A figure stating bees pollinate about one-third of food crops (Correct answer)
- A description of a bee's striped coloring
- A statement that bees live in hives
- A note that bees can sting
Correct answer: A figure stating bees pollinate about one-third of food crops
The crop-pollination figure directly demonstrates the bees' importance.
Question 2: When two answer choices both seem to support a claim, how should you decide?
- Choose the one that supports the claim most directly and specifically (Correct answer)
- Choose the longer quotation
- Choose the one that appears earlier in the passage
- Choose the one with more difficult vocabulary
Correct answer: Choose the one that supports the claim most directly and specifically
The most direct and specific support is the strongest evidence.
Question 3: A data question asks which statement is consistent with a graph showing rising temperatures from 2000 to 2020. Which is consistent?
- Temperatures increased over the two-decade period (Correct answer)
- Temperatures stayed flat after 2010
- Temperatures fell sharply in 2015
- Temperatures were highest in 2000
Correct answer: Temperatures increased over the two-decade period
A rising trend means temperatures increased across the period.
Question 4: What is the main risk of choosing evidence based on a single matching keyword?
- The keyword may appear in lines that do not actually prove the claim (Correct answer)
- Keywords are never in correct answers
- It takes too much time
- Keywords change the passage's meaning
Correct answer: The keyword may appear in lines that do not actually prove the claim
A shared word does not guarantee the lines support the claim's logic.
Question 5: An author writes that a policy 'may have unintended consequences.' Which evidence best supports calling the author's stance cautious?
- The hedging phrase 'may have' showing uncertainty (Correct answer)
- A list of the policy's official sponsors
- The date the policy was enacted
- The number of pages in the report
Correct answer: The hedging phrase 'may have' showing uncertainty
Tentative wording like 'may have' signals a cautious, qualified stance.
Question 6: In a science passage, the best evidence for an experimental conclusion usually appears in which section?
- The results or discussion describing what the data showed (Correct answer)
- The introduction's background
- The list of materials
- The author's biography
Correct answer: The results or discussion describing what the data showed
Conclusions are supported by the results and discussion of findings.
Question 7: Why should you answer the content question before the evidence question in a paired set?
- Your content answer guides which lines you search for as evidence (Correct answer)
- Evidence questions are always harder
- The order is required by test rules
- Evidence questions have no correct answer
Correct answer: Your content answer guides which lines you search for as evidence
Knowing your claim first lets you find the lines that prove it.
PSAT/NMSQT Reading: Command of Evidence 3
A passage argues that bees are vital pollinators.
Which detail best supports this claim?