Bluebook Practice Test 9: Information and Ideas Walkthrough

The Information and Ideas answers on Bluebook practice test 9 are: Module 1 — Q9 D, Q10 C, Q11 C, Q12 D, Q13 D, Q14 A, Q15 D. Module 2a — Q8 C, Q9 B, Q10 D, Q11 D, Q12 A, Q13 A, Q14 B. Module 2b — Q7 D, Q8 C, Q9 B, Q10 A, Q11 B, Q12 C, Q13 B, Q14 A. That is 22 questions across all three Reading and Writing modules of this form.

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Question banks: October 2026 English question bank

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Below, every one of those 22 questions is worked line by line. You get the passage exactly as it appears on screen, the stem, all four choices, and then the reasoning — including why each wrong choice was built to catch you. Six of the 22 items sit on a table or a graph, and every one of those figures is rebuilt here as real HTML so you can read it without the PDF open.

How to use this page

Work one section at a time and try each question before you open the reasoning. The first item in every section is fully modelled for you, the second asks you one question and then shows the answer, and the rest are hidden behind a "Try it first" toggle so you can attempt them cold.

A note on the terms. Information and Ideas is one of the four Reading and Writing domains. It covers four sub-skills: Central Ideas and Details (what the text says), Command of Evidence (which fact or quotation backs a claim), and Inferences (what must follow from what the text says). Command of Evidence splits again into textual (the evidence is a sentence) and quantitative (the evidence is a number in a table or a graph).

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Section 1 — Central Ideas and Details (6 questions)

These questions ask what the text says, not what it implies. The stem usually starts "According to the text" or "Based on the text" or "Which choice best states the main idea." The right answer is always a restatement of something written on the screen. If you find yourself reasoning past the text, you have already gone too far.

Question 8, Module 2a — Information and Ideas: Central Ideas and Details (Easy)

I do — watch me work this one all the way through.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Stem: According to the text, how does the narrator feel about being at summer camp?

1. A) He feels overjoyed.
2. B) He feels peaceful.
3. C) He feels both scared and excited.
4. D) He feels both angry and jealous.

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Question 9, Module 2a — Information and Ideas: Central Ideas and Details (Easy)

We do — you make one decision, then I show you the rest.

Stem: According to the text, how did Richard Wagner achieve moments of extremely high volume in his operas?

1. A) By moving the performances of his operas from outdoor stages to indoor ones
2. B) By increasing the number of musicians playing horns, trombones, and tubas in the orchestra
3. C) By building a concert hall whose shape would cause sounds to echo
4. D) By insisting that the singers undergo special training to sing for extended periods of time

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

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Question 9, Module 1 — Information and Ideas: Central Ideas and Details (Medium)

Your turn — try it before you open the reasoning.

Stem: Based on the text, what is true about Mrs. Ochiltree's acquaintances?

1. A) They try to refrain from discussing topics that would upset Mrs. Ochiltree.
2. B) They are unable to spend as much time with Mrs. Ochiltree as she would like.
3. C) They are too preoccupied with their own concerns to speak with Mrs. Ochiltree.
4. D) They are likely offended by what Mrs. Ochiltree has said about them.

Try it first — then open the reasoning

Mrs. Ochiltree was a woman of strong individuality, whose comments upon her acquaintance[s], present or absent, were marked by a frankness at times no less than startling. This characteristic caused her to be more or less avoided. Mrs. Ochiltree was aware of this sentiment on the part of her acquaintance[s], and rather exulted in it.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Correct: D) They are likely offended by what Mrs. Ochiltree has said about them.
Follow the chain. Her comments about her acquaintances are "frank" to a "startling" degree. That characteristic "caused her to be more or less avoided." People avoid someone whose blunt remarks about them sting. And the last sentence names their reaction as a "sentiment" she is aware of — a negative feeling directed at her. Offence is the reading the text supports.

A) They try to refrain from discussing topics that would upset Mrs. Ochiltree. — reversed direction. The passage has her upsetting them, not them tiptoeing around her. This choice flips who is being protected.

B) They are unable to spend as much time with her as she would like. — opposite. "Unable" implies they want to and cannot, and "as she would like" implies she wants their company. The text says she "rather exulted" in being avoided. Both halves are backwards.

C) They are too preoccupied with their own concerns to speak with her. — wrong cause. The text gives one cause for the avoidance: her startling frankness. This choice supplies a different cause the passage never raises. Right outcome, invented reason.

The move — Attitude Words Beat Plot Words: in a fiction excerpt, the words that carry attitude (frankness, startling, avoided, exulted) decide the question. Track who feels what about whom, and check the direction of each feeling before you pick.

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Question 10, Module 2a — Information and Ideas: Central Ideas and Details (Medium)

Your turn — try it before you open the reasoning.

Stem: Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

1. A) The compilers of The Fifty-Year Mission had lofty goals for their oral history of the Star Trek franchise, but the published work lacks information about many key events in the franchise's history.
2. B) The Fifty-Year Mission includes more accounts from people involved with Star Trek television shows than it does from people involved with Star Trek films.
3. C) The large amount of material compiled into The Fifty-Year Mission is surprising given that many of the people involved in the Star Trek franchise did not participate in the oral history project.
4. D) The Fifty-Year Mission represents a worthwhile attempt to thoroughly recount the history of the Star Trek franchise, but its approach has an important limitation.

Try it first — then open the reasoning

At over a thousand pages across two volumes, The Fifty-Year Mission, compiled by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, is presented as the "complete, uncensored, unauthorized oral history" as told by the people behind the media franchise Star Trek. The work aspires to be comprehensive by, for example, including accounts from cast and crew members of every Star Trek television series and film to date. But while The Fifty-Year Mission is clearly a unique and valuable resource, it has a shortcoming common among oral histories: it lacks a clear authorial point of view that could otherwise unite the various accounts into a cohesive whole.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

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Correct: D) The Fifty-Year Mission represents a worthwhile attempt to thoroughly recount the history of the Star Trek franchise, but its approach has an important limitation.
The passage has two halves joined by "But." First half: it is thorough and "clearly a unique and valuable resource." Second half: it has a "shortcoming" — no unifying authorial point of view. Choice D says "worthwhile attempt" (first half) plus "an important limitation" (second half). It is the only choice that keeps both sides of the "But."

A) Lofty goals, but the published work lacks information about many key events — wrong flaw. The first half of A is fine. The second half names the wrong problem. The flaw in the text is missing point of view, not missing information. In fact the passage says the work includes accounts from every series and film, so it is not short on information.

B) More accounts from television shows than from films — unsupported comparison. The text says "every television series and film," which puts both in, and never compares the two counts. This choice invents a comparison out of a list.

C) The amount of material is surprising given that many people did not participate — contradicts the text. The passage says the book includes accounts from cast and crew of every series and film. C claims many did not participate. That is the reverse of what is written.

The move — Main Idea Must Cover the Turn: when a main-idea passage contains but, however, or yet, the correct answer states what came before the turn and what came after it. A choice that only reports one side is a detail, not the main idea.

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Question 7, Module 2b — Information and Ideas: Central Ideas and Details (Medium)

Your turn — try it before you open the reasoning.

Stem: According to the text, why was Wang and his team's discovery of the Terropterus xiushanensis fossil significant?

1. A) The fossil constitutes the first evidence found by scientists that mixopterids lived more than 400 million years ago.
2. B) The fossil helps establish that mixopterids are more closely related to modern arachnids and horseshoe crabs than previously thought.
3. C) The fossil helps establish a more accurate timeline of the evolution of mixopterids on the paleocontinents of Laurussia and Gondwana.
4. D) The fossil constitutes the first evidence found by scientists that mixopterids existed outside the paleocontinent of Laurussia.

Try it first — then open the reasoning

For many years, the only existing fossil evidence of mixopterid eurypterids—an extinct family of large aquatic arthropods known as sea scorpions and related to modern arachnids and horseshoe crabs—came from four species living on the paleocontinent of Laurussia. In a discovery that expands our understanding of the geographical distribution of mixopterids, paleontologist Bo Wang and others have identified fossilized remains of a new mixopterid species, Terropterus xiushanensis, that lived over 400 million years ago on the paleocontinent of Gondwana.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Correct: D) The fossil constitutes the first evidence found by scientists that mixopterids existed outside the paleocontinent of Laurussia.
The passage tells you the significance in its own words: the discovery "expands our understanding of the geographical distribution." Before, all the evidence came from Laurussia. Now there is a species from Gondwana. That is a new place, which is exactly what "geographical distribution" means. D says that.

A) First evidence that mixopterids lived more than 400 million years ago — true-but-off-goal. The date is in the passage. But it is not what makes the find significant, and nothing says this is the first fossil that old. The passage flags location, not age.

B) More closely related to modern arachnids and horseshoe crabs than previously thought — scope shift. The arachnid comparison sits inside a dash-off definition of what a mixopterid is. It is background, not a finding. "Than previously thought" is added by the choice, not the text.

C) A more accurate timeline of the evolution of mixopterids — wrong axis. A timeline is about when. The passage says the discovery expands understanding of where. This choice swaps the geography axis for the time axis.

The move — The Significance Is the New Part: when a stem asks why a finding matters, compare the old state of knowledge with the new state. The answer is whatever changed between them. Everything the passage already knew is a distractor.

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Question 8, Module 2b — Information and Ideas: Central Ideas and Details (Hard)

Your turn — try it before you open the reasoning.

Stem: Which statement about the difrasismo in cuauhtli in ocelotl is most strongly supported by the text?

1. A) Its metaphorical significance derives from the semantic equivalence of the two nouns constituting the difrasismo.
2. B) Its unintelligibility may cause its formal function within a line of verse to go unnoticed by present-day readers.
3. C) Its apparent obscurity can be resolved when considered in the proper cultural context.
4. D) Its frequency in Classical Nahuatl poetry confirms its intelligibility to the Aztec audience.

Try it first — then open the reasoning

Poetry in Classical Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec Empire, relies on difrasismo, or a parallel noun construction that conventionally operates as a single metaphor. For example, the common difrasismo in cuauhtli in ocelotl (literally, "the eagle, the jaguar") signifies "warrior." The device's function is both formal—providing structure to lines of verse—and ritual: semantic relations among the two nouns and the concept they signify can be tenuous, as in the previous example, such that difrasismos are often only intelligible according to the conceptual associations observed in Aztec ceremonial culture.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Correct: C) Its apparent obscurity can be resolved when considered in the proper cultural context.
Two clauses do the work. First, "semantic relations among the two nouns and the concept they signify can be tenuous, as in the previous example" — and the previous example is in cuauhtli in ocelotl. So this specific difrasismo is one of the obscure ones. Second, difrasismos are "often only intelligible according to the conceptual associations observed in Aztec ceremonial culture." Obscure, but readable if you know the culture. That is C, word for word in different words.

A) Its metaphorical significance derives from the semantic equivalence of the two nouns — opposite. The text says the semantic relations "can be tenuous," which means weak. "Equivalence" means the nouns and the concept line up neatly. Eagle and jaguar do not obviously equal warrior; that is the point.

B) Its unintelligibility may cause its formal function within a line of verse to go unnoticed — unsupported link. Both pieces are in the passage: it can be hard to understand, and it has a formal function. But the passage never connects them. Two true facts wired together with an invented "causes" is one of the most common Information and Ideas traps.

D) Its frequency confirms its intelligibility to the Aztec audience — overstated. "Common" appears in the text. "Confirms" does not. Frequency is not proof of comprehension, and the passage makes a conditional claim ("only intelligible according to the conceptual associations observed in Aztec ceremonial culture"), not a confirmation.

The move — Support Means Restated, Not Repeated: "most strongly supported by the text" wants a choice that is the passage rephrased. If a choice recycles two of the passage's words but adds a new relationship between them — causes, confirms, proves — the new relationship is what makes it wrong.

Check yourself: if you missed two or more of Module 2a Q8, Module 2a Q9, Module 1 Q9, Module 2a Q10, Module 2b Q7 and Module 2b Q8, the gap is Central Ideas and Details: specifically, holding on to both halves of a contrast sentence. That is a re-reading habit, not a vocabulary problem. Practice Central Ideas items in the October 2026 English question bank, then come back and redo these six in under seven minutes.

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Section 2 — Command of Evidence, Textual (5 questions)

Here the passage hands you a claim — something a scholar, a student, or a researcher asserts — and asks which quotation or finding would support it, illustrate it, or weaken it. The trick is that the claim is usually one clause long, and the whole question turns on that clause. Read the claim twice before you look at a single choice.

Question 12, Module 2a — Information and Ideas: Command of Evidence, Textual (Medium)

I do — watch me work this one all the way through.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Stem: Which finding, if true, would most strongly support the scholar's claim?

1. A) The percentage of authors published by Random House who were Black rose in the early 1970s and stabilized throughout the decade.
2. B) Black authors who were interviewed in the 1980s and 1990s were highly likely to cite Toni Morrison's novels as a principal influence on their work.
3. C) The novels written by Toni Morrison that were published after 1983 sold significantly more copies and received wider critical acclaim than the novels she wrote that were published before 1983.
4. D) Works that were edited by Toni Morrison during her time at Random House displayed stylistic characteristics that distinguished them from works that were not edited by Morrison.

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Question 10, Module 1 — Information and Ideas: Command of Evidence, Textual (Medium)

We do — you make one decision, then I show you the rest.

Stem: Which quotation from Mrs. Spring Fragrance's letters most effectively illustrates the claim?

1. A) "My honorable cousin is preparing for the Fifth Moon Festival, and wishes me to compound for the occasion some American 'fudge,' for which delectable sweet, made by my clumsy hands, you have sometimes shown a slight prejudice."
2. B) "Next week I accompany Ah Oi to the beauteous town of San José. There will we be met by the son of the Illustrious Teacher."
3. C) "Forget not to care for the cat, the birds, and the flowers. Do not eat too quickly nor fan too vigorously now that the weather is warming."
4. D) "I am enjoying a most agreeable visit, and American friends, as also our own, strive benevolently for the accomplishment of my pleasure."

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

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Question 11, Module 1 — Information and Ideas: Command of Evidence, Textual (Medium)

Your turn — try it before you open the reasoning.

Stem: Which statement, if true, would most directly support the student's claim?

1. A) The text of the poem as published in the quarterly journal is not identical to the text of the poem published in the stand-alone volume.
2. B) Many critics believe that the poet's explanatory notes remove certain ambiguities of the poem and make it less interesting as a result.
3. C) The publishers of the stand-alone volume requested the explanatory notes from the poet in order to make the book attractive to readers who already had a copy of the poem in a journal issue.
4. D) Correspondence between the poet and the publisher reveals that the poet's explanatory notes went through several drafts.

Try it first — then open the reasoning

A student is examining a long, challenging poem that was initially published in a quarterly journal without explanatory notes, then later republished in a stand-alone volume containing only that poem and accompanying explanatory notes written by the poet. The student asserts that the explanatory notes were included in the republication primarily as a marketing device to help sell the stand-alone volume.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Correct: C) The publishers of the stand-alone volume requested the explanatory notes from the poet in order to make the book attractive to readers who already had a copy of the poem in a journal issue.
The claim is about motive: the notes exist to sell books. Choice C gives you the motive directly. The publishers asked for the notes, and the stated purpose was to make people who already owned the poem buy it again. Selling to someone who already has the product is the definition of a marketing device.

A) The two printed texts of the poem are not identical — irrelevant. A revised poem tells you nothing about why notes were added. If anything it points toward artistic revision, which cuts against the marketing story.

B) Critics think the notes make the poem less interesting — wrong question. This is about the notes' effect on quality. The claim is about the reason they were commissioned. A bad artistic outcome does not prove a commercial intent.

D) The notes went through several drafts — true-but-off-goal, and mildly against. Careful drafting suggests the poet took the notes seriously as writing. It says nothing about sales, and it slightly weakens the idea that they were a throwaway sales hook.

The move — Support the Motive, Not the Fact: when a claim contains primarily as, in order to, or because, the claim is about why something happened. Only a choice that speaks to somebody's reason can support it. Facts about quality, length, or revision are decoration.

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Question 10, Module 2b — Information and Ideas: Command of Evidence, Textual (Hard)

Your turn — try it before you open the reasoning.

Stem: Which finding from the researchers' study, if true, would most strongly support their claim?

1. A) Participants who had been looking at the trees helped the experimenter pick up significantly more pens than did participants who had been looking at the building.
2. B) Participants who helped the experimenter pick up the pens used a greater number of positive words to describe the trees and the building in a postexperiment survey than did participants who did not help the experimenter.
3. C) Participants who did not help the experimenter pick up the pens were significantly more likely to report having experienced a feeling of awe, regardless of whether they looked at the building or the trees.
4. D) Participants who had been looking at the building were significantly more likely to notice that the experimenter had dropped the pens than were participants who had been looking at the trees.

Try it first — then open the reasoning

Psychologists Dacher Keltner and Jonathan Haidt have argued that experiencing awe—a sensation of reverence and wonder typically brought on by perceiving something grand or powerful—can enable us to feel more connected to others and thereby inspire us to act more altruistically. Keltner, along with Paul K. Piff, Pia Dietze, and colleagues, claims to have found evidence for this effect in a recent study where participants were asked to either gaze up at exceptionally tall trees in a nearby grove (reported to be a universally awe-inspiring experience) or stare at the exterior of a nearby, nondescript building. After one minute, an experimenter deliberately spilled a box of pens nearby.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Correct: A) Participants who had been looking at the trees helped the experimenter pick up significantly more pens than did participants who had been looking at the building.
Set the study up as an if-then. The trees are the awe condition. The building is the control. Helping with the pens is the altruism measure. The claim predicts awe leads to more altruism, so it predicts trees group helps more. Choice A is exactly that result, in exactly that direction.

B) Helpers used more positive words about the trees and the building — wrong variable. Positive words are not awe, and describing both the trees and the building positively erases the very contrast the study was built around. It also reverses the direction: it makes helping the predictor rather than the outcome.

C) Non-helpers were more likely to report awe — opposite. This says more awe went with less helping. That is the claim running backwards, so it weakens rather than supports.

D) The building group was more likely to notice the dropped pens — wrong outcome. Noticing is attention, not altruism. And it favours the control group, which points away from the claim rather than toward it.

The move — Support Means the Predicted Direction: in a two-group study, write the prediction as an arrow before you read: awe group → more helping. Then keep only the choice whose arrow points the same way. Choices that swap the groups, swap cause and effect, or measure a different behaviour are all out.

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Question 12, Module 2b — Information and Ideas: Command of Evidence, Textual (Hard)

Your turn — try it before you open the reasoning.

Stem: Which finding from Washington and Mullainathan's study, if true, would most directly weaken the claim made by people who favor the traditional view of voter behavior?

1. A) Subjects' attitudes toward the winning candidate two years after a given election were strongly predicted by subjects' general political orientation, regardless of whether subjects were old enough to vote at the time of the election.
2. B) Subjects who were not old enough to vote in a given election held significantly more positive attitudes towards the winning candidate two years later than they held at the time of the election.
3. C) Subjects who voted in a given election held significantly more polarized attitudes toward the winning candidate two years later than did subjects who were not old enough to vote in that election.
4. D) Two years after a given election, subjects who voted and subjects who were not old enough to vote were significantly more likely to express negative attitudes than positive attitudes toward the winning candidate in that election.

Try it first — then open the reasoning

Political scientists who favor the traditional view of voter behavior claim that voting in an election does not change a voter's attitude toward the candidates in that election. Focusing on each US presidential election from 1976 to 1996, Ebonya Washington and Sendhil Mullainathan tested this claim by distinguishing between subjects who had just become old enough to vote (around half of whom actually voted) and otherwise similar subjects who were slightly too young to vote (and thus none of whom voted). Washington and Mullainathan compared the attitudes of the groups of subjects toward the winning candidate two years after each election.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Correct: C) Subjects who voted in a given election held significantly more polarized attitudes toward the winning candidate two years later than did subjects who were not old enough to vote in that election.
The traditional claim says voting does not change attitudes. The study's design isolates one difference between the two groups: one voted, one could not. So if the voters end up with different attitudes — more polarized — than the otherwise similar non-voters, the act of voting looks like it did change something. That contradicts the claim, which is what "weaken" asks for.

A) Attitudes were predicted by general political orientation regardless of voting eligibility — strengthens instead. If something other than voting explains the attitudes and eligibility makes no difference, that supports the traditional view. Weaken questions punish you for grabbing the choice that sounds most scientific.

B) Non-voters became more positive over two years — wrong group. This describes change in the group that could not vote. Any change there cannot be caused by voting, so it says nothing about the claim.

D) Both groups leaned negative two years later — no contrast. When both groups do the same thing, the comparison the study was designed around collapses. A finding that treats the groups identically cannot weaken a claim about what voting does.

The move — Weaken by Breaking the Link: a "weaken" answer must show the thing the claim says has no effect actually lining up with a difference. Look for the choice where the two groups come out unlike each other. Any choice where the groups match, or where the difference comes from something other than the variable under test, is safe to cross out.

Check yourself: if you missed two or more of Module 2a Q12, Module 1 Q10, Module 1 Q11, Module 2b Q10 and Module 2b Q12, the gap is textual Command of Evidence. Almost always it is the same error — you read the choices before you pinned down the claim. Fix it by drilling claim-first reading in the SkillDrill categories, then retry these five with the claim covered up until you have written it out in six words.

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Section 3 — Command of Evidence, Quantitative (6 questions)

Six of the 22 items on this form put a table or a graph on the left of the screen. None of them require arithmetic. Every one is a reading task: find the row, find the bar, compare two numbers in the direction the passage cares about. If you are calculating, you have misread the question.

Question 11, Module 2a — Information and Ideas: Command of Evidence, Quantitative (Easy)

I do — watch me work this one all the way through.

The figure is a four-row table and every value in it is printed on screen, so nothing below is an estimate. Here it is rebuilt exactly, with the row the question wants marked.

Recordings of Female Bottlenose Dolphins with Their Calves — all values printed on the test

Dolphin ID	Recording year
FB07	2012
FB25	1989
FB43 — the row the stem names	1992 — the evidence
FB79	2018

green, solid = the evidence row. The other three rows are the distractor pool: each of their years appears as a wrong choice or is designed to look like one.

Stem: According to the table, in which year was the dolphin with the ID FB43 recorded with her calf?

1. A) 1999
2. B) 2012
3. C) 2020
4. D) 1992

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Question 13, Module 1 — Information and Ideas: Command of Evidence, Quantitative (Medium)

We do — you make one decision, then I show you the rest.

Every number in this five-row table is printed on the test screen, so the reconstruction below carries exact values, not estimates.

Characteristics of Five Recently Discovered Gas Exoplanets — all values printed on the test

Exoplanet designation	Mass (Jupiters)	Radius (Jupiters)	Orbital period (days)	Distance from the Sun (parsecs)
TOI-640 b	0.88	1.771	5.003	340
TOI-1601 b	0.99	1.239	5.331	336
TOI-628 b	6.33	1.060	3.409	178
TOI-1478 b	0.85	1.060	10.180	153
TOI-1333 b	2.37	1.396	4.720	200

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Stem: Which choice best describes data from the table that support Rodriguez and colleagues' assertion?

1. A) None of the planets have an orbital period of more than 10 days, and TOI-628 b has a mass of 6.33 Jupiters.
2. B) TOI-1478 b has an orbital period of 153 days, and the masses of all the planets range from 0.85 to 6.33 Jupiters.
3. C) All the planets have a radius between 1.060 and 1.771 Jupiters, and only TOI-1333 b has an orbital period of more than 10 days.
4. D) Each of the planets has a mass greater than 0.25 Jupiters, and all except for TOI-1478 b have an orbital period of less than 10 days.

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Question 12, Module 1 — Information and Ideas: Command of Evidence, Quantitative (Medium)

Your turn — try it before you open the reasoning.

About the figure. This item shows a bar graph with four bars. The graph does print a numbered vertical axis — 0 to 700 parts per million in steps of 100 — with a horizontal gridline at every labelled step. What it does not print is a value label on any individual bar. So the numbers below are read from that printed scale rather than stated by the test, and because the gridlines sit 100 apart, each reading is reliable to roughly the nearest 25 parts per million. Every value read that way is written with the word "about" so you can never mistake it for a printed number.

Metal Content of Plants with and without Kanamycin Exposure — APPROXIMATE values read from the printed 0–700 axis (gridline every 100); the bars themselves carry no data labels

Experimental condition	Zinc, metal content (parts per million)	Iron, metal content (parts per million)
Printed vertical axis (gridline at every label)	0 · 100 · 200 · 300 · 400 · 500 · 600 · 700 parts per million
without kanamycin (the control group)	about 390	about 625
with kanamycin	about 300	about 225

Stem: Which choice best describes data in the graph that support Ayalew and her colleagues' hypothesis?

1. A) The control plants contained higher levels of zinc than iron, but plants exposed to kanamycin contained higher levels of iron than zinc.
2. B) Both groups of plants contained more than 200 parts per million of both iron and zinc.
3. C) Zinc levels were around 300 parts per million in the control plants but nearly 400 parts per million in the plants exposed to kanamycin.
4. D) The plants exposed to kanamycin showed lower levels of iron and zinc than the control plants did.

Try it first — then open the reasoning

The same rebuild again, now marked up. Nothing in the numbers has changed — the green cells are simply the ones the correct answer actually uses.

Metal Content of Plants with and without Kanamycin Exposure — APPROXIMATE values read from the printed 0–700 axis (gridline every 100); the bars themselves carry no data labels

Experimental condition	Zinc, metal content (parts per million)	Iron, metal content (parts per million)
Printed vertical axis (gridline at every label)	0 · 100 · 200 · 300 · 400 · 500 · 600 · 700 parts per million
without kanamycin (the control group)	about 390	about 625
with kanamycin	about 300	about 225
Direction of change — the only thing the answer needs	down with kanamycin	down with kanamycin

green, solid = the evidence. The graph's own legend labels the pale bars zinc and the dark bars iron. Notice that the correct answer needs only the two words in the bottom row, never a number — which is why approximate readings are enough.

Many plants lose their leaf color when exposed to kanamycin, an antibiotic produced by some soil microorganisms. Spelman College biologist Mentewab Ayalew and her colleagues hypothesized that plants' response to kanamycin exposure involves altering their uptake of metals, such as iron and zinc. The researchers grew two groups of seedlings of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, half of which were exposed to kanamycin and half of which were a control group without exposure to kanamycin, and measured the plants' metal content five days after germination.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Correct: D) The plants exposed to kanamycin showed lower levels of iron and zinc than the control plants did.
The hypothesis says exposure alters metal uptake. To support that you need the exposed group to differ from the control group on the metals. Compare the pairs: zinc goes from about 390 down to about 300, iron from about 625 down to about 225. Both drop. Kanamycin changed metal uptake, in one clear direction. Note that D quotes no value at all — it only needs the direction, which is why reading the bars against the printed axis is enough.

A) Control had more zinc than iron, exposed had more iron than zinc — contradicts the graph, twice. In the control group iron (about 625) is well above zinc (about 390), and in the exposed group zinc (about 300) is above iron (about 225). Both halves are backwards.

B) Both groups contained more than 200 ppm of both metals — true-but-off-goal. Reading the bars, every one of the four does clear 200. But a fact that is equally true of both groups shows no alteration, and alteration is the entire hypothesis. A statement with no comparison in it can never support a comparison claim.

C) Zinc around 300 in control but nearly 400 in exposed — groups swapped. The two numbers are roughly right but attached to the wrong groups. Control zinc reads about 390; exposed zinc reads about 300. This choice also runs the wrong way for the hypothesis, since it shows uptake going up rather than the graph's clear drop.

The move — Compare in the Direction the Hypothesis Predicts: on a graph item, first write the hypothesis as a comparison — here, exposed group differs from control group. Then keep only the choice that compares those two groups. A choice comparing zinc to iron inside one group, or reporting a value both groups share, is answering a different question.

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Question 13, Module 2a — Information and Ideas: Command of Evidence, Quantitative (Medium)

Your turn — try it before you open the reasoning.

All ten values in this table are printed on the test screen. The rows are not in depth order on the original either — that is deliberate, and it is part of the difficulty.

Number and Origin of Clamshell Tools Found at Different Levels Below the Surface in Neanderthal Cave — all values printed on the test, in the original row order

Depth of tools found below surface in cave (meters)	Clamshells that Neanderthals collected from the beach	Clamshells that Neanderthals harvested from the seafloor
3–4	99	33
6–7	1	0
4–5	2	0
2–3	7	0
5–6	18	7

Stem: Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to support the research team's conclusion?

1. A) at each depth below the surface in the cave, the difference in the numbers of tools of each type suggests that shells were easier to collect from the beach than to harvest from the seafloor.
2. B) the highest number of tools were at a depth of 3–4 meters below the surface, which suggests that the Neanderthal population at the site was highest during the related period of time.
3. C) at each depth below the surface in the cave, the difference in the numbers of tools of each type suggests that Neanderthals preferred to use clamshells from the beach because of their durability.
4. D) the higher number of tools at depths of 5–6 meters below the surface in the cave than at depths of 4–5 meters below the surface suggests that the size of clam populations changed over time.

Try it first — then open the reasoning

The same rebuild again, now marked up. Nothing in the numbers has changed — the green cells are simply the ones the correct answer actually uses.

Number and Origin of Clamshell Tools Found at Different Levels Below the Surface in Neanderthal Cave — all values printed on the test, in the original row order

Depth of tools found below surface in cave (meters)	Clamshells that Neanderthals collected from the beach	Clamshells that Neanderthals harvested from the seafloor
3–4	99	33
6–7	1	0
4–5	2	0
2–3	7	0
5–6	18	7

green, solid = the evidence column. In every single row the beach number is larger than the seafloor number. That "every row" pattern, not any one value, is the answer.

Studying tools unearthed at a cave site on the western coast of Italy, archaeologist Paola Villa and colleagues have determined that prehistoric Neanderthal groups fashioned them from shells of clams that they harvested from the seafloor while wading or diving or that washed up on the beach. Clamshells become thin and eroded as they wash up on the beach, while those on the seafloor are smooth and sturdy, so the research team suspects that Neanderthals prized the tools made with seafloor shells. However, the team also concluded that those tools were likely more challenging to obtain, noting that  

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Correct: A) at each depth below the surface in the cave, the difference in the numbers of tools of each type suggests that shells were easier to collect from the beach than to harvest from the seafloor.
The blank has to finish "those tools were likely more challenging to obtain." Seafloor tools are the hard ones. So you want data showing fewer seafloor tools than beach tools. Check all five rows: 99 to 33, 1 to 0, 2 to 0, 7 to 0, 18 to 7. Beach wins every time. Fewer seafloor tools at every depth is exactly what "harder to obtain" would produce.

B) The highest number of tools was at 3–4 meters, suggesting a higher population — right-answer-to-a-different-question. The row is real: 99 plus 33 is the biggest total. But population size is nowhere in the team's conclusion. The conclusion is about difficulty of obtaining seafloor shells.

C) Neanderthals preferred beach clamshells because of their durability — contradicts the passage. The first half copies A word for word, so it feels safe. But the passage says beach shells are "thin and eroded" and seafloor shells are "smooth and sturdy." Durability points to the seafloor, not the beach, and the team says the seafloor tools were the prized ones.

D) More tools at 5–6 meters than at 4–5 meters suggests clam populations changed — unsupported inference. The counts are accurate (18 and 7 versus 2 and 0), but tool counts in a cave cannot tell you the size of clam populations, and clam populations are not what the team concluded anything about.

The move — At Each Depth Means Check Every Row: when a choice claims a pattern holds "at each" level, category, or year, you must verify every row, not the first one. One counter-example kills the choice. Here all five rows agreed, so the pattern claim survived — and the two choices that failed did so on their second half, not their data.

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Question 11, Module 2b — Information and Ideas: Command of Evidence, Quantitative (Hard)

Your turn — try it before you open the reasoning.

About the figure. This is a four-bar graph. Its vertical axis is numbered — 0 to 18 percent in steps of 2, with a gridline at every labelled step — but no individual bar carries a value label. So every number in the reconstruction below is read from that printed scale rather than stated by the test, and each such cell says "about." The graph's legend labels the pale bars spray coating and the dark bars spin coating.

Power Conversion Efficiency of Lowest and Highest Performing Spin-coated and Spray-coated Electron Transport Layers — APPROXIMATE values read from the printed 0–18 percent axis (gridline every 2); the bars themselves carry no data labels

Thickness	Spray coating, power conversion efficiency (%)	Spin coating, power conversion efficiency (%)
Printed vertical axis (gridline at every label)	0 · 2 · 4 · 6 · 8 · 10 · 12 · 14 · 16 · 18 percent
lowest performing	about 15.5	about 11.8
highest performing	about 17.2	about 13.6

Stem: Which choice best describes data from the graph that support Taylor and colleagues' conclusion?

1. A) Both the ETL applied through spin coating and the ETL applied through spray coating showed a power conversion efficiency greater than 10% at their lowest performing thickness.
2. B) The lowest performing ETL applied through spray coating had a higher power conversion efficiency than the highest performing ETL applied through spin coating.
3. C) The highest performing ETL applied through spray coating showed a power conversion efficiency of approximately 13%, while the highest performing ETL applied through spin coating showed a power conversion efficiency of approximately 11%.
4. D) There was a substantial difference in power conversion efficiency between the lowest and highest performing ETLs applied through spray coating.

Try it first — then open the reasoning

The same rebuild again, now marked up. Nothing in the numbers has changed — the green cells are simply the ones the correct answer actually uses.

Power Conversion Efficiency of Lowest and Highest Performing Spin-coated and Spray-coated Electron Transport Layers — APPROXIMATE values read from the printed 0–18 percent axis (gridline every 2); the bars themselves carry no data labels

Thickness	Spray coating, power conversion efficiency (%)	Spin coating, power conversion efficiency (%)
Printed vertical axis (gridline at every label)	0 · 2 · 4 · 6 · 8 · 10 · 12 · 14 · 16 · 18 percent
lowest performing	about 15.5	about 11.8
highest performing	about 17.2	about 13.6

green, solid = the two cells the correct answer compares — spray's worst against spin's best. Because the gap between them is roughly two whole axis steps, the comparison holds even if your eye reading is off by a point.

Perovskite solar cells convert light into electricity more efficiently than earlier kinds of solar cells, and manufacturing advances have recently made them commercially attractive. One limitation of the cells, however, has to do with their electron transport layer (ETL), through which absorbed electrons must pass. Often the ETL is applied through a process called spin coating, but such ETLs are fairly inefficient at converting input power to output power. André Taylor and colleagues tested a novel spray coating method for applying the ETL. The team produced ETLs of various thicknesses and concluded that spray coating holds promise for improving the power conversion efficiency of ETLs in perovskite solar cells.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Correct: B) The lowest performing ETL applied through spray coating had a higher power conversion efficiency than the highest performing ETL applied through spin coating.
The conclusion says spray coating is better than spin coating. The strongest possible version of that is: spray's worst beats spin's best. Read the two green cells — spray at its lowest is about 15.5%, spin at its highest is about 13.6%. Spray's floor is above spin's ceiling. That is a comparison, not a measurement, so an eye reading of the two bar tops is all you need.

A) Both showed efficiency greater than 10% at their lowest thickness — true-but-off-goal. Reading the bars, both lowest-performing bars do clear 10. But a statement that treats the two methods as equals cannot support a conclusion that one is better than the other.

C) Highest spray about 13%, highest spin about 11% — misread values. The direction is right but both numbers are too low. Spray's highest bar sits above 17, and spin's highest sits close to 13.6. The two figures quoted here are roughly the values of spin's highest and spin's lowest, not the two highest bars.

D) Substantial difference between the lowest and highest spray ETLs — wrong comparison, and false. This compares spray with spray, never mentioning spin, so it cannot show spray is the better method. It is also not what the bars show: about 15.5 to about 17.2 is the smallest gap on the whole graph.

The move — Cross-Compare the Extremes: when a figure shows a lowest and a highest value for two methods, the strongest supporting statement is usually the better method's worst against the weaker method's best. Look for that cross-comparison first. Any choice that stays inside one method, or that reports a number both methods share, is not supporting a superiority claim.

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Question 9, Module 2b — Information and Ideas: Command of Evidence, Quantitative (Hard)

Your turn — try it before you open the reasoning. This is the hardest item on the page.

About the figure. This is a two-line graph with ten plotted points per line. Both axes are numbered — the vertical axis 0 to 100 micromoles per mole in steps of 10, the horizontal axis 2 to 20 thousand years before present in steps of 2 — and a full gridline mesh runs across the plot. What the test does not print is a value label on any individual point. So every number in the reconstruction below is read from that printed scale rather than stated by the test, and each such cell says "about."

Ratio of Manganese to Calcium in Samples from Alboran Sea and Mauritanian Coast — APPROXIMATE values read from the printed axes (vertical 0–100 in tens, horizontal 2–20 in twos, full gridline mesh); the points themselves carry no data labels

Approximate years before present (in thousands)	Alboran Sea — manganese to calcium ratio (micromoles per mole)	Mauritanian coast — manganese to calcium ratio (micromoles per mole)
Printed axes (full gridline mesh)	vertical 0 · 10 · 20 · 30 · 40 · 50 · 60 · 70 · 80 · 90 · 100 micromoles per mole  ·  horizontal 2 · 4 · 6 · 8 · 10 · 12 · 14 · 16 · 18 · 20 thousand years before present
2	about 63	about 12
4	about 100	about 15
6	about 68	about 13
8	about 83	about 13
10	about 32	about 17
12	about 58	about 16
14	about 56	about 19
16	about 64	about 13
18	about 51	about 15
20	about 42	about 12

Stem: Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to complete the statement?

1. A) a substantial increase in oxygenation in the Alboran Sea corresponded with the local decline in L. pertusa, but the opposite relationship between oxygenation and L. pertusa was found near the Mauritanian coast.
2. B) L. pertusa declined in the Alboran Sea during a period of substantial local decline in oxygenation, but L. pertusa declined near the Mauritanian coast during a period of little local change in oxygenation.
3. C) oxygenation in the Alboran Sea was higher before the decline in L. pertusa than after the decline, whereas oxygenation near the Mauritanian coast was relatively low both before and after the decline in L. pertusa.
4. D) oxygenation in the Alboran Sea tended to be substantially higher than oxygenation near the Mauritanian coast during the period studied.

Try it first — then open the reasoning

The same rebuild again, now marked up. Nothing in the numbers has changed — the green cells are simply the ones the correct answer actually uses.

Ratio of Manganese to Calcium in Samples from Alboran Sea and Mauritanian Coast — APPROXIMATE values read from the printed axes (vertical 0–100 in tens, horizontal 2–20 in twos, full gridline mesh); the points themselves carry no data labels

Approximate years before present (in thousands)	Alboran Sea — manganese to calcium ratio (micromoles per mole)	Mauritanian coast — manganese to calcium ratio (micromoles per mole)
Printed axes (full gridline mesh)	vertical 0 · 10 · 20 · 30 · 40 · 50 · 60 · 70 · 80 · 90 · 100 micromoles per mole  ·  horizontal 2 · 4 · 6 · 8 · 10 · 12 · 14 · 16 · 18 · 20 thousand years before present
2	about 63	about 12
4	about 100	about 15
6	about 68	about 13
8	about 83	about 13
10	about 32	about 17
12	about 58	about 16
14	about 56	about 19
16	about 64	about 13
18	about 51	about 15
20	about 42	about 12

green, solid = the evidence cells. On the Alboran line, the jump from about 32 at 10 thousand years to about 83 at 8 thousand years brackets the 9,000-year coral decline. On the Mauritanian line, the value near 11 thousand years sits inside a band that never leaves the middle teens across the whole graph.

The population of the coral Lophelia pertusa declined significantly around 9,000 years ago in the Alboran Sea and around 11,000 years ago near the Mauritanian coast. Using the ratio of manganese to calcium, which inversely correlates with ocean oxygenation levels, marine scientist Rodrigo da Costa Portilho-Ramos and colleagues evaluated whether oxygenation played a role in the declines of L. pertusa. The researchers concluded that oxygenation may have been important in the Alboran Sea but not near the Mauritanian coast, since  

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

⚠ Trap: the graph plots manganese to calcium ratio, and the passage says that ratio inversely correlates with oxygenation. So a line going up means oxygenation going down. Every choice talks about oxygenation, not about the ratio. If you read the graph without flipping, you will pick the exact opposite answer.

Correct: B) L. pertusa declined in the Alboran Sea during a period of substantial local decline in oxygenation, but L. pertusa declined near the Mauritanian coast during a period of little local change in oxygenation.
Work the Alboran line around 9,000 years ago. That sits between the point at 10 (about 32) and the point at 8 (about 83). Moving forward in time from 10 thousand years ago to 8 thousand years ago, the ratio climbs steeply — and because the ratio is inverse, a steep climb means oxygenation fell substantially. Coral declined exactly there. Now the Mauritanian line around 11,000 years ago: the squares hover in the low-to-mid teens across the entire graph, moving only a few units. Little change in ratio means little change in oxygenation, so oxygenation cannot explain that decline. Both halves of B match, and both halves are shapes rather than values — which is why approximate readings are enough.

A) A substantial increase in oxygenation in the Alboran Sea — the inverse trap, taken. The Alboran ratio rises sharply toward 9,000 years ago. Because the correlation is inverse, that is oxygenation falling, not increasing. A also invents an "opposite relationship" near Mauritania, where the passage says oxygenation was simply not a factor.

C) Oxygenation near the Mauritanian coast was relatively low both before and after the decline — flipped again. The Mauritanian ratio is consistently the low line, and a low ratio means high oxygenation. C also misses the point: the researchers' reason for dismissing oxygenation near Mauritania is that it barely moved, not that it was low.

D) Alboran oxygenation was substantially higher than Mauritanian oxygenation — flipped, and wrong question. Alboran runs far higher on the ratio, which means far lower oxygenation. And even if the direction were right, comparing the two sites to each other says nothing about whether oxygenation changed at the times the coral declined, which is the whole conclusion.

The move — Flip the Inverse Before You Read: when a passage says a plotted quantity inversely correlates with the thing the choices discuss, write "up = down" on your scratch paper before touching the choices. Then translate the graph once, out loud, and only then compare. This single habit is worth a point on almost every form, because inverse-axis items are always placed late in the module where you are rushing.

Check yourself: if you missed two or more of Module 2a Q11, Module 1 Q13, Module 1 Q12, Module 2a Q13, Module 2b Q11 and Module 2b Q9, the gap is quantitative Command of Evidence. Sort which kind it was: reading the wrong row or column, or comparing in the wrong direction. Those are different fixes. Both are drilled in the SkillDrill categories under Information and Ideas, and the free practice tests will tell you which one you keep repeating.

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Section 4 — Inferences (5 questions)

Every inference item on this form uses the same stem: "Which choice most logically completes the text?" The passage stops mid-sentence and you finish it. An inference here means the conclusion the passage's own sentences force. It is not a guess and it is never new information.

Question 14, Module 1 — Information and Ideas: Inferences (Medium)

I do — watch me work this one all the way through.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Stem: Which choice most logically completes the text?

1. A) had an important role in Egypt's government.
2. B) lived after rather than before the First Dynasty of Egypt.
3. C) traveled beyond Egypt's borders often.
4. D) created a new form of writing in Egypt.

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Question 13, Module 2b — Information and Ideas: Inferences (Medium)

We do — you make one decision, then I show you the rest.

Stem: Which choice most logically completes the text?

1. A) face-like stimuli are likely perceived as harmless by newborns of social species that practice parental care but as threatening by newborns of solitary species without parental care.
2. B) researchers should not assume that an innate attraction to face-like stimuli is necessarily an adaptation related to social interaction or parental care.
3. C) researchers can assume that the attraction to face-like stimuli that is seen in social species that practice parental care is learned rather than innate.
4. D) newly hatched Testudo tortoises show a stronger preference for face-like stimuli than adult Testudo tortoises do.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

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Question 15, Module 1 — Information and Ideas: Inferences (Medium)

Your turn — try it before you open the reasoning.

Stem: Which choice most logically completes the text?

1. A) is more useful for studying informal language than for studying formal or official language.
2. B) appears to be exerting an exceptionally strong influence on the evolution of Bahasa Indonesia.
3. C) may give linguists a somewhat misleading sense of how languages are changing.
4. D) does not merely register changes in language usage but can facilitate such changes.

Try it first — then open the reasoning

The widespread use of social media enables linguists to study changes in language usage in real time. A notable recent example is the proliferation of the affix meng- among speakers of Bahasa Indonesia, the official language of Indonesia. Linguists observed meng- originate as an onomatopoetic tag that social-media users applied to images of cats they posted; over time, users increasingly applied it as a prefix to existing words (e.g., mengsedih affixes meng- to the word for sad) in text that they posted. From there, it has begun to move into spoken Bahasa Indonesia. Linguists have noted many similar examples of this phenomenon occurring in other languages, suggesting that social media  

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Correct: D) does not merely register changes in language usage but can facilitate such changes.
Track the story of meng-. It was born on social media as a cat-picture tag. It spread on social media as a prefix. Then it left social media and entered speech. Social media did not observe that change — it caused it. The first sentence set up the "register" idea ("study changes in language usage in real time"); the last sentence, with similar examples in other languages, upgrades it to "facilitate." D holds both halves.

A) more useful for studying informal language than formal — unsupported comparison. The passage never contrasts formal and informal registers. It even notes Bahasa Indonesia is the official language, and the new prefix is moving into general speech.

B) exerting an exceptionally strong influence on the evolution of Bahasa Indonesia — too narrow, and overstated. The final sentence widens the scope to "other languages," so an answer about Bahasa Indonesia alone ignores the sentence the blank is attached to. "Exceptionally strong" is also a size claim the passage never makes.

C) may give linguists a somewhat misleading sense of how languages are changing — opposite. Nothing suggests the picture is distorted. The passage treats the observations as accurate and interesting, not as a measurement error.

The move — Strong Words Need Strong Evidence: check the size of every claim word — exceptionally, more useful than, misleading. The passage must have earned that size. Here the only claim the evidence earns is the modest one: social media does not just watch, it also pushes. Modest and fully covered beats dramatic and half covered.

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Question 14, Module 2a — Information and Ideas: Inferences (Hard)

Your turn — try it before you open the reasoning.

Stem: Which choice most logically completes the text?

1. A) allow judges to craft judicial opinions without needing to consult philosophical works.
2. B) help judges improve the arguments they put forward in their judicial opinions.
3. C) make judicial opinions more comprehensible to readers without legal or philosophical training.
4. D) bring judicial opinions in line with views that are broadly held among philosophers.

Try it first — then open the reasoning

In documents called judicial opinions, judges explain the reasoning behind their legal rulings, and in those explanations they sometimes cite and discuss historical and contemporary philosophers. Legal scholar and philosopher Anita L. Allen argues that while judges are naturally inclined to mention philosophers whose views align with their own positions, the strongest judicial opinions consider and rebut potential objections; discussing philosophers whose views conflict with judges' views could therefore  

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Correct: B) help judges improve the arguments they put forward in their judicial opinions.
Chain it. Premise one: the strongest opinions consider and rebut objections. Premise two: philosophers who disagree with a judge are a source of objections. Therefore discussing them gives the judge objections to rebut, which makes the opinion stronger. "Stronger opinion" and "improved argument" are the same idea. The word "therefore" in the passage is telling you a conclusion is due.

A) allow judges to write opinions without consulting philosophical works — opposite. The whole sentence is about the value of discussing more philosophers, including hostile ones. Concluding that judges need fewer of them reverses the argument.

C) make opinions more comprehensible to untrained readers — scope shift. Allen's standard is argumentative strength, not readability. Adding philosophical debate would, if anything, make an opinion harder for a general reader, not easier.

D) bring opinions in line with views broadly held among philosophers — wrong goal. Rebutting an objection means answering it, not adopting it. And "broadly held" introduces a popularity standard the passage never uses.

The move — Follow the "Therefore" Chain: when the sentence containing the blank starts with therefore, thus, or so, the blank is a conclusion drawn from the clause right before it. Read only that clause, state the conclusion in your own words, then find the matching choice. Everything earlier in the passage is setup.

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Question 14, Module 2b — Information and Ideas: Inferences (Hard)

Your turn — try it before you open the reasoning.

Stem: Which choice most logically completes the text?

1. A) could suggest that there are differences in cognitive ability among the monkeys even though such differences may not actually exist.
2. B) are useful for identifying tasks that the monkeys lack the cognitive capacity to perform but not for identifying tasks that the monkeys can perform.
3. C) should not be taken as indicative of the cognitive abilities of any monkey species other than C. imitator.
4. D) reveal more about the monkeys' cognitive abilities when solving artificial problems than when solving problems encountered in the wild.

Try it first — then open the reasoning

In a study of the cognitive abilities of white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus imitator), researchers neglected to control for the physical difficulty of the tasks they used to evaluate the monkeys. The cognitive abilities of monkeys given problems requiring little dexterity, such as sliding a panel to retrieve food, were judged by the same criteria as were those of monkeys given physically demanding problems, such as unscrewing a bottle and inserting a straw. The results of the study, therefore,  

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Correct: A) could suggest that there are differences in cognitive ability among the monkeys even though such differences may not actually exist.
Picture two monkeys of identical intelligence. One gets a sliding panel; one gets a bottle and a straw. The second struggles — not because it thinks worse, but because the task is physically harder. Since both were scored by the same criteria, the second looks less capable. So the study will show a cognitive difference that is really a dexterity difference. A says exactly that: an apparent difference that may not be real.

B) Useful for identifying what monkeys cannot do but not what they can — unsupported split. The flaw contaminates the whole comparison, in both directions. A monkey may fail a hard task it is smart enough to solve, so failures are no more trustworthy than successes.

C) Not indicative of any species other than C. imitator — wrong flaw. This is a generalisation problem, which is a real issue in science but not the one the passage raises. The flaw here is within the study, comparing capuchins to capuchins.

D) Reveal more about artificial problems than wild ones — unsupported contrast. Wild problems are never mentioned. The passage's contrast is easy dexterity versus hard dexterity, both in the lab.

The move — Name the Flaw, Then Limit the Claim: when a passage says researchers neglected to control for something, say out loud what that uncontrolled thing could fake. Here uncontrolled dexterity fakes a cognitive gap. The correct completion is always the one that limits the study's conclusion in exactly that way — no wider, no narrower.

Check yourself: if you missed two or more of Module 1 Q14, Module 2b Q13, Module 1 Q15, Module 2a Q14 and Module 2b Q14, the gap is Inferences — and it is almost always the same failure: picking the choice that says the most. Reread your four wrong answers and check whether each was bigger than the evidence. Drill inference sizing in the SkillDrill categories before you sit another full form.

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Rules and shortcuts from this test

Ten rules, each earned from a specific item above. Each one says when it fires, what you do, and what it saves you.

Cheat sheet — every rule on this page

Screenshot this. Every rule name below appears word for word inside the question it cites.

Rule (question that taught it)	When it fires	What you do
Both-Words Test (M2a Q8)	Two feelings joined by "but" or "and also"	Keep only choices carrying both
Answer From the Sentence That Says It (M2a Q9)	Stem opens "According to the text"	Answer from the one sentence with the key noun
Attitude Words Beat Plot Words (M1 Q9)	A fiction excerpt about how people relate	Track who feels what about whom, and the direction
Main Idea Must Cover the Turn (M2a Q10)	Main-idea passage contains "but" or "however"	Demand both sides of the turn
The Significance Is the New Part (M2b Q7)	Stem asks why a finding matters	Compare old knowledge with new; answer is what changed
Support Means Restated, Not Repeated (M2b Q8)	Stem says "most strongly supported by the text"	Reject choices that add a new relationship between the passage's words
Name the Claim in Six Words (M2a Q12)	Someone "asserts," "claims," or "argues"	Compress the claim before reading choices
Match the Illustration to the Worry (M1 Q10)	Stem says a quotation "illustrates the claim"	Underline the claim's emotion word and its place or object; need both
Support the Motive, Not the Fact (M1 Q11)	Claim contains "primarily as" or "in order to"	Keep only choices about somebody's reason
Support Means the Predicted Direction (M2b Q10)	A two-group study with a predicted effect	Write the prediction as an arrow; keep the matching arrow
Weaken by Breaking the Link (M2b Q12)	Stem contains the word "weaken"	Find where the two groups come out unlike each other
Read the Row, Not the Story (M2a Q11)	Stem says "according to the table" plus a label	Read straight across; skip the prose
Turn the Definition Into Two Filters (M1 Q13)	A category is defined with numbers	Write the filters; use only those columns
Compare in the Direction the Hypothesis Predicts (M1 Q12)	A graph sits beside a hypothesis	State the comparison first; match it
At Each Depth Means Check Every Row (M2a Q13)	A choice claims a pattern holds "at each" level	Verify every row; one counter-example kills it
Cross-Compare the Extremes (M2b Q11)	A figure shows lowest and highest for two methods	Test the better method's worst against the weaker one's best
Flip the Inverse Before You Read (M2b Q9)	Passage says the plotted quantity "inversely correlates"	Write "up = down"; translate the graph once
Finish the Sentence the Text Started (M1 Q14)	Any "most logically completes the text" item	Read the words right before the blank as the setup
The Blank Must Answer the Setup's Question (M2b Q13)	A result breaks the expectation the passage built	Prefer the cautious "should not assume" choice
Strong Words Need Strong Evidence (M1 Q15)	A choice uses a size word	Check the passage earned that size
Follow the "Therefore" Chain (M2a Q14)	The blank's sentence starts with "therefore" or "so"	Draw the conclusion from the clause immediately before
Name the Flaw, Then Limit the Claim (M2b Q14)	Researchers "neglected to control for" something	Say what the uncontrolled thing could fake; limit the conclusion to that

Answer key — Bluebook practice test 9, Information and Ideas

All 22 correct letters, in module order. These come from the verified Bluebook practice test 9 Reading and Writing key.

Module	Question and answer
Module 1	Q9 D · Q10 C · Q11 C · Q12 D · Q13 D · Q14 A · Q15 D
Module 2a (easier branch)	Q8 C · Q9 B · Q10 D · Q11 D · Q12 A · Q13 A · Q14 B
Module 2b (harder branch)	Q7 D · Q8 C · Q9 B · Q10 A · Q11 B · Q12 C · Q13 B · Q14 A

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Questions quoted here come from Bluebook Digital SAT Practice Test 9, Reading and Writing, an official College Board practice form. Passages, stems and answer choices are reproduced verbatim from that form for the purpose of explanation. The three figures that label no individual bars or points — Module 1 Q12, Module 2b Q11 and Module 2b Q9 — are reconstructed from readings taken off the printed axes and are labelled approximate throughout. All explanations, rules, annotations and the cheat sheet are The Test Advantage's own work.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the Information and Ideas answers on Bluebook test 9?

Module 1: Q9 D, Q10 C, Q11 C, Q12 D, Q13 D, Q14 A, Q15 D. Module 2a: Q8 C, Q9 B, Q10 D, Q11 D, Q12 A, Q13 A, Q14 B. Module 2b: Q7 D, Q8 C, Q9 B, Q10 A, Q11 B, Q12 C, Q13 B, Q14 A. Every one is worked with the passage in full.

How do I answer inference questions on the Digital SAT?

Read the words immediately before the blank as a setup you have to finish, then pick the smallest choice the passage fully earns. On all five inference items on this form the correct answer was the modest one; every wrong answer either added new information or claimed more than the evidence allowed.

How do I use the graph in a command-of-evidence question?

You compare, you do not calculate. Write the hypothesis or conclusion as a comparison first, then find the bars, rows or points it names. None of the six figure items on this form needed an exact value; every correct answer was a direction or a pattern.

How many Information and Ideas questions are on the test?

On Bluebook practice test 9 there are 22 across the three Reading and Writing modules: seven in Module 1, seven in Module 2a and eight in Module 2b. It is the largest of the four domains on this form.

What is the difference between central idea and detail questions?

A central idea question asks what the whole passage adds up to and usually says 'main idea'. A detail question asks what one sentence states and usually says 'according to the text'. On this form Module 2a Q10 is the main-idea item and Module 2a Q9 is the detail item.

Which test 9 evidence question is hardest?

Module 2b Q9, the manganese-to-calcium line graph, because the plotted quantity runs inversely to the oxygenation the choices discuss. Module 2b Q12, the voter-behaviour weaken item, is the hardest of the textual evidence questions.

Why is my inference answer always too strong?

Because the strongest-sounding choice feels most complete. Check every size word in the choice and ask which sentence earned it. If you cannot point at one, the choice is oversized. That check alone removes three wrong answers on this form.

How do I practise data-interpretation questions?

Work them in batches rather than whole tests. Redo the six figure items with a 70-second timer, then run the Information and Ideas drills in the SkillDrill categories, and sit a full form only once the batch work stops producing errors.

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