Digital SAT Command of Evidence Mastery, Part 1
Succeed on SAT Reading and Writing: Introduction to Logical Operations and Key Strategies to Support and Weaken Claims.
Welcome to Part 1 of my comprehensive guide to mastering one of the most common, and challenging, question types on SAT Reading: Command of Evidence Questions!
"Command of Evidence" is the term used by the College Board. However, I find it more helpful to refer to these as “Logical Operations” questions. As we’ll see later, that’s because mastering them requires learning and applying some basic tools of “formal logic.”
Introduction to Logical Operations: Understanding the Three Main Subtypes
Logical Operations Questions can be divided into three main subtypes:
Logical Operations: Support (LO:S)
Logical Operations: Weaken (LO:W)
Logical Operations: Deduction (LO:D)
Identifying Subtypes
Speaking generally, these questions ask you to do one of three things:
LO:S Questions ask you to support a specific claim stated in the passage.
For example: “Which finding from Smythe and Saxone's research, if true, would most directly support their claim?"
Another example: “Which quotation from the short story "Cabby" most effectively illustrates the claim?”
LO:W Questions ask you to weaken a specific claim made in the passage.
For example: “Which choice best describes data from the graph that weaken the student’s conclusion?”
LO:D Questions require you to draw a logical conclusion from what’s stated in the passage.
These are always worded exactly as follows: “Which choice most logically completes the text?”
Some other question types are similarly worded, so be careful!
Video Lesson: Introduction to Logical Operations Strategy
Later in this article, we’ll be doing a deep dive into the foundational strategies for Logical Operations strategies, including example questions with step-by-step walk throughs and detailed answer explanations. But, to get us started, here’s a brief overview:
Now that you have a handle on some of the basics, let’s take a closer look at the strategies and work together through some example questions!
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Walker Prep to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.