A conservation report gives the number of nesting pairs recorded in four wetlands: Wetland A, 18; Wetland B, 31; Wetland C, 27; Wetland D, 22. Which statement is supported by the data?

Wetland B had 4 more nesting pairs than Wetland C.

Wetland A had 13 more nesting pairs than Wetland B.

Wetland D had 9 more nesting pairs than Wetland B.

Wetland C had 5 fewer nesting pairs than Wetland A.

Which quotation from *The Wonderful Wizard of Oz* most effectively illustrates the claim? *The Wonderful Wizard of Oz* is a 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum. In the novel, the narrator describes a character's house as having become very faded in appearance over time: ______

"Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else."

"Once more [Dorothy and her companions] could see fences built beside the road; but these were painted green, and when they came to a small house, in which a farmer evidently lived, that also was painted green."

"Then [Dorothy] went back to the house, and having helped herself and Toto to a good drink of the cool, clear water, she set about making ready for the journey to the City of Emeralds."

"When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country."

Which quotation from *Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge* most effectively illustrates the claim? *Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge* is an 1838 historical account by Elleanor Eldridge and Frances Harriet Whipple Green. In the book, the authors assert that all people naturally have an emotional attachment to where they live, writing, ______

"Home is home, to the lowly as well as the great; and no rank, or color, destroys its sacred character, its power over the mind, and the affections."

"How careful ought we to be to speak nothing but the truth, even in regard to the most trifling circumstances; and not only so, but to be well assured that what we suppose to be true, is truth, before we receive it as such."

"Blessed are the slumbers of the innocent! They are kindlier than balm, and they refresh and gladden the spirit of childhood, like ministerings from a better world."

"To give some idea of the high esteem in which the subject of the following narrative is held, and the strong interest her misfortunes have excited, a few, from the great number of recommendations in her possession, are selected."

Reading & Writing · Information and Ideas

Command of Evidence

Select the evidence that best supports a claim or completes an argument.

What the SAT Tests

Command-of-Evidence questions give you a claim or hypothesis and ask you to pick the data point, quote, or finding that most directly supports or weakens it. On the SAT, these often involve tables or figures.

Key Tips for Command of Evidence

State exactly what the claim is in your own words before evaluating choices.
Match specific numbers from tables to specific wording in the claim.
Eliminate answers that are off-topic or that support a different claim.

How to recognize Command of Evidence questions

Look for Information and Ideas signals in the stem: evidence, purpose, transition, grammar rule, vocabulary-in-context, or synthesis task.
Before reading choices, state what the correct answer must do in the sentence or passage.
The official College Board skill label is Command of Evidence; use that label to drill only this question type.

Fast solving workflow

Name the question type before reading the choices; the SAT repeats the same jobs with different passages.
Predict the job of the correct answer in plain English, then compare choices against that job.
Require proof from the text or sentence structure. A choice that sounds reasonable but is not supported should be eliminated.

Common traps

Choosing a true statement that does not answer the exact question.
Overextending an inference beyond what the passage supports.
Ignoring contrast words such as however, although, or nevertheless.

Sample Command of Evidence Questions

These are real practice questions pulled from our SAT bank. Try each one before reading the highlighted correct answer.

Question 1 · Easy
A conservation report gives the number of nesting pairs recorded in four wetlands: Wetland A, 18; Wetland B, 31; Wetland C, 27; Wetland D, 22. Which statement is supported by the data?
- A. Wetland A had 13 more nesting pairs than Wetland B.
- B. Wetland B had 4 more nesting pairs than Wetland C.Correct
- C. Wetland D had 9 more nesting pairs than Wetland B.
- D. Wetland C had 5 fewer nesting pairs than Wetland A.
Question 2 · Easy
Which quotation from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz most effectively illustrates the claim?
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum. In the novel, the narrator describes a character's house as having become very faded in appearance over time: ______
- A. "Once more [Dorothy and her companions] could see fences built beside the road; but these were painted green, and when they came to a small house, in which a farmer evidently lived, that also was painted green."
- B. "Then [Dorothy] went back to the house, and having helped herself and Toto to a good drink of the cool, clear water, she set about making ready for the journey to the City of Emeralds."
- C. "Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else."Correct
- D. "When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country."
Question 3 · Easy
Which quotation from Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge most effectively illustrates the claim?
Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge is an 1838 historical account by Elleanor Eldridge and Frances Harriet Whipple Green. In the book, the authors assert that all people naturally have an emotional attachment to where they live, writing, ______
- A. "How careful ought we to be to speak nothing but the truth, even in regard to the most trifling circumstances; and not only so, but to be well assured that what we suppose to be true, is truth, before we receive it as such."
- B. "Home is home, to the lowly as well as the great; and no rank, or color, destroys its sacred character, its power over the mind, and the affections."Correct
- C. "Blessed are the slumbers of the innocent! They are kindlier than balm, and they refresh and gladden the spirit of childhood, like ministerings from a better world."
- D. "To give some idea of the high esteem in which the subject of the following narrative is held, and the strong interest her misfortunes have excited, a few, from the great number of recommendations in her possession, are selected."

Practice Command of Evidence Questions

Drill command of evidence questions in the SAT Reading & Writing question bank, or take a full-length practice module to see how this skill appears under test conditions.

Practice block	What to do	Move on when
Warmup	Solve 10 untimed command of evidence questions and write the rule used for each.	You can explain 8 of 10 without reading the explanation.
Timed drill	Solve 20 filtered bank questions at real module pace.	Accuracy is at least 80% and misses are not repeating.
Transfer	Take a mixed timed module and mark each Information and Ideas miss.	The skill still holds up when mixed with other question types.

FAQs

What is Command of Evidence on the SAT?

How hard are command of evidence questions?

Command of Evidence questions appear at every difficulty level on the SAT Reading & Writing section. The hardest versions gate access to the top scaled scores in the hard Module 2.

How do I practice command of evidence?

Use the 1600.now question bank to filter for command of evidence questions, solve at least 20 in a row, and review every miss with the written explanation.