Digital SAT · Reading & Writing
Command of Evidence (Data) on the Digital SAT: All Question Types
Quantitative Command of Evidence pairs a short text with a graph or table and asks you to complete or support it with data. Two questions live here: reading a value the figure shows, and choosing the data that backs a specific claim. The support version has a double condition, the option must be accurate to the figure and it must serve the claim, so a true reading of the graph can still be wrong. Most of these sit on science passages, so the figures are experiments and measurements. This is an Information and Ideas skill, and it rewards reading the axes and the claim before the choices. No calculation is usually needed; the work is careful reading of the figure against what the text asserts.
College Board skill: Information and Ideas: Command of Evidence (Quantitative)
How Command of Evidence (Data) is tested
- how often it appears
- ~4 per test how often it appears
- typical difficulty
- Medium typical difficulty
- practice questions in our bank
- 399 practice questions in our bank
Read the graphic first
Study the title, axes, units, and labels of the table or graph before the choices. Then find the data point the claim depends on.
Frequency and difficulty come from this skill's questions across our assembled full-length Digital SAT forms; the practice count is how many drills of these types are in our bank.
3 question types in Command of Evidence (Data)
A sentence needs a number or comparison from an accompanying graph or table to complete it.
A short text makes a claim, and a graph or table sits beside it.
A claim is stated and a graph or table sits beside it, and you choose the data point that, if cited, would most undercut the claim.
Common questions
Do I need a calculator for these questions?
Almost never. The figure is given and the task is reading it accurately against the claim. At most you compare two values you have already read straight off the graph or table.
Why is a choice that matches the graph sometimes wrong?
Because it can be true yet support a claim the text is not making. The answer must be both accurate to the figure and on-point for the specific claim, so accuracy alone is not enough.
What is the fastest way to read the figure?
Identify what each axis measures and the units before looking at choices. Then each choice is a quick check: is it true to the figure, and does it do what the sentence needs?
Practice Command of Evidence (Data) the way it is tested
Start with the free 16-question diagnostic, then drill any of these types with step-by-step reasoning.