Pentru elevii români: La română, comentariul literar cere interpretare personală și argumentare amplă; la SAT, răspunsul corect este cel susținut strict de text. Orice variantă care merge dincolo de ce spune pasajul, chiar dacă e adevărată în realitate sau pare interesantă, este greșită.
What the SAT tests here
The Information and Ideas domain of the Reading and Writing section asks you to understand what a text says and to use evidence. It includes three skills:
- Central Ideas and Details: "Which choice best states the main idea of the text?" or a question about a specific detail.
- Command of Evidence: textual evidence ("Which finding, if true, would most directly support the hypothesis?" or "Which quotation most effectively illustrates the claim?") and quantitative evidence ("Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the statement?").
- Inferences: "Which choice most logically completes the text?", where the blank is the logical conclusion of the passage.
Each question comes with its own short text, sometimes paired with a table or graph.
Key rules
Main idea = the whole text, not one sentence. The correct choice covers the entire passage's point. Many texts follow a pattern: a common belief, then however, then new evidence. The main idea is usually the new view.
Support questions = match the claim exactly. Break the claim or hypothesis into its parts. The correct finding or quotation must address every part. For "weaken" questions, look for the choice that shows the opposite relationship.
Quantitative questions = two checks. The correct choice must (1) describe the data accurately and (2) support the specific claim in the text. Many wrong choices state true numbers that are irrelevant to the claim.
Inferences = the most cautious conclusion. The answer follows directly from the evidence without adding new assumptions. Extreme words such as always, never, proves, and all are warning signs.
Worked examples
Example 1 (main idea).
Studies in many cities have found that neighborhoods with more tree cover tend to be cooler on summer afternoons than nearby neighborhoods with little shade. Urban planner Mihaela Stan argues that this pattern should change how cities think about trees: rather than treating them as decoration, cities should treat them as public-health infrastructure, planting them first in the hottest neighborhoods.
Main idea: Stan argues that because trees cool neighborhoods, cities should treat tree planting as a public-health priority, especially in hot areas. A choice that says only "tree-covered neighborhoods are cooler" is a supporting detail, not the main idea, because it leaves out Stan's argument.
Example 2 (supporting a hypothesis).
Economist Daniel Ferraro hypothesizes that small bookstores that host regular community events retain customers better than small bookstores that do not.
Which finding would most directly support the hypothesis? The answer must involve both events and customer retention, for example: "Among small bookstores studied over five years, those holding monthly events kept a larger share of their customers than those holding no events." A finding about large chain stores, or about events without any customer data, does not test the hypothesis.
Example 3 (quantitative evidence).
| Crop | Yield without irrigation (tons per hectare) | Yield with irrigation (tons per hectare) |
|---|---|---|
| Wheat | 3.1 | 4.6 |
| Maize | 4.0 | 7.2 |
| Sunflower | 1.9 | 2.4 |
A student claims that irrigation increased yields for all three crops but made the largest difference for maize. The best support: "Irrigation raised maize yields by 3.2 tons per hectare, compared with 1.5 for wheat and 0.5 for sunflower." (Check: ; ; .) A choice that only says "maize had the highest irrigated yield" is accurate but does not show the difference irrigation made.
Test-taking strategy
- Read the question first. Knowing whether you need a main idea, support, or an inference tells you what to look for in the text.
- Paraphrase the claim in a few words before reading choices, for example: "nectar goes up when bees are active."
- For data questions, read titles, labels, and units before the numbers. Then find the exact rows or columns the claim mentions.
- Eliminate actively. Cross out choices that are off-topic, too broad, too narrow, or too extreme.
- Do the arithmetic. If a claim says "more than twice," multiply and compare; do not estimate by eye.
- Stay inside the text. If you need outside knowledge to justify a choice, it is wrong.
Common traps
- True but irrelevant. A choice can be accurate according to the text or table and still not support the claim.
- Too narrow. A detail from one sentence offered as the main idea.
- Too broad or extreme. "Trees solve all urban health problems" overstates the text.
- Half-matches. A finding that addresses only one part of a two-part hypothesis.
- Reversed relationship. A choice that would weaken the claim but uses the same vocabulary as the passage.
- Outside knowledge. A fact you know from school that the text never states.
Summary
Information and Ideas questions are about disciplined reading. State the main idea of the whole text, match every part of a claim when choosing evidence, verify that data choices are both accurate and relevant, and select the most cautious inference the text supports. When in doubt, point to the exact words or numbers that justify your answer.