SAT® Reading Practice Question: Inference

Learn to quickly draw valid logical conclusions for higher SAT® scores.

Today’s practice is an Inference Question. For many students, these are some of the most difficult questions on SAT® Reading and Writing. However, they can be mastered by learning to apply effective strategies.

For proper time management on test day, you should aim to answer this question correctly in a maximum of about 75 seconds. To gain access to all answer explanations and additional practice questions, become a premium subscriber.

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Mock SAT® Inference Question

In a recent study, Drs. Jones and Martinez compared the problem-solving behaviors of a group of engineering students taking a traditional lecture-based course with those taking a flipped classroom course where lectures were watched at home and class time was spent solving problems. The researchers noted that previous studies in educational psychology have shown that providing students with fully worked-out solutions, as is common in lecture-based settings, may inadvertently foster the development of mechanically repetitive (i.e., mindlessly habitual) approaches by reducing the need for deep conceptual engagement; the researchers were therefore not wholly surprised to find that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) when solving novel problems, students from the lecture-based course repeatedly used memorized formulas even when inapplicable, while students from the flipped classroom did not.

B) lecture-based female students showed more reliance on peer discussion than flipped classroom female students, while male students in both groups showed similar levels of peer engagement.

C) when given problems without worked-out solutions, lecture-based students demonstrated repetitive approaches similar to those that flipped classroom students used for solving novel problems.

D) students from the lecture-based course showed a repetitive pattern of checking their answers multiple times, while flipped classroom students showed a repetitive pattern of outlining before solving.

(Answer Explanations and Strategy Brief Below.)

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Answer Explanations and Strategy Brief