Drill 11 · Reading & Writing · Hard Command of Evidence
SAT Reading & Writing: Hard Command of Evidence (Drill 11) is a Reading & Writing practice drill covering Hard Command of Evidence. It contains 5 original questions created by Brian Stewart, a Barron's test prep author with over 20 years of tutoring experience.
Five hard Command of Evidence questions on fresh topics, built around new findings and two data displays. Most wrong choices are accurate in themselves but answer a slightly different question than the argument poses. For the graphs, check which contrast the claim actually rests on before choosing.
Students who spread their study of a word list across several days remembered more of it a week later than students who studied the same list in one long sitting. One researcher argued that spacing the sessions out is what strengthens memory, because each return forces the brain to retrieve a fading trace. A second researcher countered that the spaced students might simply have spent more total minutes studying once their sessions were added up.
Question 1. Which finding, if true, would most help distinguish between the two researchers' explanations?
Explanation: Choice B is the best answer because the two explanations differ only on whether spacing or extra total time drives the gain, so the deciding evidence must hold total study time equal. With both groups studying the same total minutes, the spaced group remembering more isolates the schedule itself as the cause and rules out the rival that the spaced students simply studied longer. Choice A is wrong because who chooses to space their study links a trait to the schedule but does not separate spacing from total time, which is the point in dispute. Choice C is wrong because that guides recommend spacing speaks to its reputation, not to which of the two explanations is correct. Choice D is wrong because feeling more confident reports a mood rather than testing whether spacing or extra minutes produced the better recall.
An instrument maker plucked two strings of equal starting loudness and recorded how their sound level fell in the seconds afterward: a thin plain string and a thicker wound string. The maker concluded that the wound string sustains its tone far longer, reasoning that a string holding more of its energy will lose loudness only gradually after the pluck rather than dying away quickly.
Question 2. Which choice best describes data from the graph that support the maker's conclusion?
Explanation: Choice D is the best answer because the conclusion is that the wound string sustains its tone longer, which is a claim about the two decay rates from a shared start. The graph shows both strings beginning near seventy decibels, after which the plain string drops sharply toward the high twenties while the wound string eases down only to about fifty, exactly the slower decay claimed. Choice A is wrong because the plain string's lowest point at the final second is one endpoint and says nothing about how its decay rate compares with the wound string's. Choice B is wrong because the equal starting level is the shared baseline that makes the comparison fair, but on its own it shows no difference in how the tones fade. Choice C is wrong because the wound string staying above fifty decibels describes only one string and never contrasts its decline with the plain string's.
After a company switched its retirement plan so that new hires were enrolled automatically unless they opted out, the share of new hires participating jumped. Analysts proposed that the automatic default itself drove the rise, by making participation the path of least effort. They reasoned that most people simply stay with whatever option is set for them.
Question 3. Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the analysts' proposal?
Explanation: Choice A is the best answer because the proposal credits the automatic default for the jump, so evidence that participation rose just as much at a comparable company that never changed its default, but raised its match instead, shows the increase need not come from the default at all and undercuts the proposed cause. Choice B is wrong because why the company adopted the default is background and does not test whether the default, rather than something else, produced the rise. Choice C is wrong because participants staying longer links participation to tenure but says nothing about what caused the jump in enrollment. Choice D is wrong because a few people opting out is consistent with the default still driving most of the rise, so it does not weaken the proposal.
Four Volcanic Vents in the Month Before a Survey
| Vent | Ground swelling (cm) | Gas temperature rise (°C) |
|---|---|---|
| Vent P | 2 | 14 |
| Vent Q | 9 | 3 |
| Vent R | 8 | 12 |
| Vent S | 4 | 5 |
Geologists watching a volcano treat two signs together as the strongest warning that a vent is moving toward an eruption: the ground above it swelling as magma pushes up, and the gas venting from it growing hotter. They wanted to flag the one vent showing both a large swelling and a large temperature rise, since a vent strong on only one sign is a weaker case than a vent strong on both.
Question 4. Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to identify the vent the geologists should flag?
Explanation: Choice C is the best answer because the warning the geologists trust requires a vent to be high on both signs at once, not just one. Vent R pairs eight centimeters of swelling with a twelve-degree temperature rise, placing it near the top of both columns, while each rival leads on a single measure and lags on the other. Choice A is wrong because Vent Q does show the greatest swelling, but its temperature rise of three degrees is the smallest of any vent, so it is strong on only one sign. Choice B is wrong because Vent P does have the largest temperature rise, yet its two-centimeter swelling is the smallest in the table, again leaving it strong on only one sign. Choice D is wrong because that Vent S trails the leader on each sign is true from the table but identifies a weak vent, the opposite of the one the geologists want to flag.
In an experiment, jays hid extra food in a compartment where they had previously been kept hungry in the morning, rather than in one where they were always fed. Some researchers read this as evidence that the jays anticipate a future need and store food where they expect to want it. Others suggested the birds were merely repeating an action that had paid off before, with no thought of the future at all.
Question 5. Which finding, if true, would most support the interpretation that the jays anticipate a future need?
Explanation: Choice B is the best answer because the rival explanation is that the birds simply repeat a previously rewarded action, so the deciding evidence is behavior that appears before any reward could have shaped it. Favoring the lean compartment on the very first opportunity, with no prior payoff to imitate, fits planning for a future need rather than a learned habit. Choice A is wrong because how fast a jay learns the room links storing to general cleverness but does not show the choice reflects foresight rather than habit. Choice C is wrong because that jays hide and recall many caches is background about their memory and does not address future planning in this task. Choice D is wrong because storing more when more food is available reflects supply on the day, not whether the birds anticipate where they will later be hungry.