The Negative Filter Test™

When the SAT® Flips the Facts

Remember those photo negatives from the days before digital cameras? Where dark areas appeared light and light areas appeared dark—essentially inverting the actual image? This provides an apt metaphor for one of the SAT® Reading & Writing section's most common traps: relationship reversals.

The SAT® test makers are masters at creating incorrect answer choices that flip the relationships described in a passage. They know that students who skim or read carelessly might grab onto familiar words or concepts but miss crucial logical connections. This is why I developed the Negative Filter Test™ as part of my Cross-Examiner's Toolbox™—to catch these relationship reversals before they catch you.

The Negative Filter Test™ is especially vital when passages contain scattered but related details that must be connected accurately. When information about a single concept appears in multiple places throughout a passage, test makers will often create tempting wrong answers that reverse or distort these relationships, betting that you won't take the time to verify each connection.

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Today’s SAT® Practice Question

In a 2023 geological survey of Volcano National Park, researchers mapped 15 previously undocumented lava tubes beneath the eastern section of the park. Twelve of these tubes follow the downhill direction of the surface topography, while the remaining three run perpendicular to the terrain slope. All except one of the 15 tubes were formed through typical magma drainage processes after surface eruptions. The outlier tube runs perpendicular to the terrain but contains unusual mineral deposits including rare earth elements and sulfur compounds, which may suggest it formed through hydrothermal rather than magma drainage processes.

Based on the text, which choice best describes the lava tube with the distinctive mineral composition?

A) Though it doesn't follow the downhill direction of the surface topography, it likely formed through the same processes as the tubes that do follow the downhill terrain.

B) Its path through the underground landscape is so irregular that it can't be classified as either running downhill or perpendicular to the terrain slope.

C) Though it follows the downhill terrain, it was likely formed through magma drainage processes.

D) It runs perpendicular to the terrain slope and may have formed through different processes than the other previously undocumented tubes.

(Answer Explanations and Strategy Guide Below)

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🔍 Quick Tip: Apply the Negative Filter Test™ by checking if any answer choice reverses a relationship stated in the passage. When you spot a reversal, eliminate that choice immediately.

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Answer Explanations and Strategy Guide