Digital SAT · Command of Evidence (Data)
How to Solve Using Data to Support a Claim on the Digital SAT
A short text makes a claim, and a graph or table sits beside it. You pick the choice that completes the text with data that backs that specific claim. Two things must hold at once: the option has to be accurate to the figure, and it has to speak to the claim the sentence makes. Options that misread the graph, or read it right but support a different point, are the traps.
- per test
- 3 per test per test
- typical difficulty
- Medium typical difficulty
- practice questions
- 309 practice questions
Frequency reflects how often this question type appears on a full-length Digital SAT. The difficulty mix reflects every question of this type across our bank.
What the question bank shows
The answer must be accurate to the figure and support the specific claim in the text.
Most of these questions sit on science passages, so the figures are experiments and measurements.
The double condition pushes the difficulty above the reading-section norm.
How to recognize using data to support a claim questions
- A graph or table accompanies a short paragraph.
- The text sets up a claim, hypothesis, or prediction to be supported.
- The prompt asks which choice best uses the data to complete or support it.
- Each choice cites a number, trend, or comparison from the figure.
Why students miss these
The step-by-step method
- 1
Pin the claim
State in your own words what the sentence needs the data to show.
- 2
Read the figure's axes
Note what each axis measures, the units, and any grouping or category shown.
- 3
Test each choice twice
Is it accurate to the figure, and does it support this claim? Both must be yes.
- 4
Match direction and specifics
Keep the choice whose numbers and trend point the way the claim requires.
Worked examples
Easy example
A national park reported visitor counts across four seasons. A ranger claimed that summer drew the most visitors of the four seasons.
A: Incorrect. This identifies the least-visited season, not summer.
B: Incorrect. This true comparison does not involve summer.
C: Incorrect. This reports one value without comparing it to summer.
D: Correct. Summer's 320 thousand is the highest, supporting the most-visitors claim.
Explanation
Summer's 320 thousand visitors exceeds every other season, supporting the claim.
Easy example
Agronomists measured the soil nitrogen remaining after growing four crops. They concluded that fields planted with clover retained the most nitrogen.
| Crop | Soil nitrogen (kg/ha) |
|---|---|
| Corn | 22 |
| Wheat | 28 |
| Clover | 61 |
| Barley | 30 |
A: Correct. Clover's 61 kg/ha is the highest, supporting the most-nitrogen conclusion.
B: Incorrect. This identifies the lowest crop, not clover.
C: Incorrect. This true comparison does not involve clover.
D: Incorrect. This reports one value without comparing it to clover.
Explanation
Clover's 61 kg/ha exceeds every other crop, supporting the conclusion.
Easy example
Microbiologists measured the zone of inhibition (the clear area where bacteria did not grow) around discs of four antibiotics. They concluded that Antibiotic C was most effective against the bacterium.
A: Correct. Antibiotic C's 26 mm zone is the largest, indicating it was most effective, as concluded.
B: Incorrect. This identifies the least effective antibiotic, not C.
C: Incorrect. This true comparison does not involve C.
D: Incorrect. This reports one value without comparing it to C.
Explanation
Antibiotic C's 26 mm zone exceeds every other antibiotic, supporting the most-effective conclusion.
The common traps
| Pattern | What it does | The tell |
|---|---|---|
| True but off-claim | Reads the figure correctly but supports a different point. | Check the choice against the exact claim, not the graph alone. |
| Misread the figure | Cites a value or trend the figure does not show. | Trace every number back to the axis and category named. |
| Wrong direction | Uses real data that moves against the claim. | Confirm the trend rises or falls the way the claim needs. |
Try it: two real questions
Educators who design programs to close achievement gaps must reckon with a stubborn pattern: an intervention that lifts the average student may do little for those who struggle most, and may even widen the very disparities it was meant to narrow. To compare an intensive small-group tutoring program with a conventional after-school study hall, education researcher Priya Anand assigned comparable students from schools at four levels of economic disadvantage to one program or the other and recorded the mean gain each group made on a standardized reading assessment. Examining how the two programs compared as the schools' disadvantage deepened, Anand concluded that the tutoring program outperformed the study hall by an increasingly wide margin at the most disadvantaged schools, though the two yielded similar gains where disadvantage was least.
| School disadvantage | Tutoring program | Study hall |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest | 12 | 11 |
| Moderate | 15 | 10 |
| High | 18 | 8 |
| Highest | 21 | 6 |
Which choice best describes data from the table that support Anand's conclusion?
Economists studying displaced workers have noted that the programs meant to return them to employment frequently serve the young far better than the old, whose accumulated experience can prove difficult to translate into the skills a changing labor market now rewards. To test whether a new digital-skills program narrows that gap, labor economist Marcus Feld enrolled laid-off workers in four age brackets in either the new program or a standard job-search workshop and recorded the share of each group reemployed within six months. Examining how the two programs compared as workers' ages rose, Feld concluded that the digital-skills program reemployed a far greater share of older workers than the standard workshop did, while the two performed about equally among the youngest.
| Age bracket | Digital-skills program | Standard workshop |
|---|---|---|
| Under 30 | 82 | 80 |
| 30-44 | 76 | 66 |
| 45-59 | 69 | 48 |
| 60 and over | 58 | 27 |
Which choice best describes data from the table that support Feld's conclusion?
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Related reading
Common questions
How do you answer data support questions on the SAT?
Read the claim in the text first, then read the figure's axes and categories. Choose the option that is both accurate to the figure and supports that exact claim; a choice that fails either test is out.
Why is a choice that matches the graph still wrong?
Because it can be true yet support a point the text is not making. The answer must serve the specific claim, so accuracy alone is not enough.
Do I need to calculate anything?
Rarely. These reward careful reading of the figure and the claim, not computation. Occasionally you compare two values, but the numbers are read straight off the graph or table.
What is the fastest way to check the figure?
Identify what each axis measures and the units before looking at choices. Then each choice is a quick two-part test: is it true to the figure, and does it back the claim?
Practice using data to support a claim the way it is tested
Start with the free 16-question diagnostic, then drill this type with step-by-step reasoning on every question.
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