20 easy SAT Command of Evidence — Textual questions

Which quotation from Mitchell's research report would most directly support her claim?

• A"Wolves are apex predators that primarily hunt elk, deer, and other large ungulates in the Yellowstone region."
• B"Wolf populations in Yellowstone have remained relatively stable since reintroduction, with pack sizes averaging between 8 and 12 individuals."
• C"After wolves returned, elk began avoiding certain valleys, allowing willow and aspen trees to regenerate in those areas, which in turn provided habitat for beaver populations that had declined, and the beaver dams created wetlands that supported amphibians, waterfowl, and fish species."
• D"Some ranchers near Yellowstone have expressed concerns about wolves potentially threatening livestock outside park boundaries."

Which quotation from a historical document would most effectively illustrate Santos's argument?

• A"The construction of the canal required unprecedented engineering innovations, including the development of massive locks that could raise and lower ships by over 80 feet."
• B"Before the canal opened in 1914, a ship traveling from New York to San Francisco had to journey around the southern tip of South America, a voyage of approximately 13,000 miles that took several weeks; after the canal's completion, the same trip was reduced to just 5,200 miles."
• C"Despite the canal's completion, many shipping companies continued to use traditional routes around Cape Horn because they were concerned about the canal's toll fees."
• D"The canal's opening marked an important moment in engineering history and demonstrated American technical capabilities to the world."

Which quotation from Walsh's research paper would most directly support her conclusion?

• A"The transit method has been used successfully by the Kepler space telescope to identify thousands of potential exoplanets since its launch in 2009."
• B"Alternative detection methods, such as radial velocity measurements, can identify planets at various orbital distances but require different types of observational data."
• C"Planets with orbital periods of less than 10 days, which orbit very close to their stars, transit approximately every few days and block up to 2% of their star's light, while planets with year-long orbits transit only annually and block less than 0.01% of the light, making the close-orbiting planets far easier to detect and confirm."
• D"The transit method has limitations, as it can only detect planets whose orbital plane is aligned with our line of sight from Earth."

Which quotation from one of Lee's short stories would most effectively illustrate Park's claim?

• A"The restaurant was always busy on Friday nights, with customers lined up outside waiting for tables."
• B"My mother often prepared traditional American dishes for dinner, believing it would help our family fit in better with our neighbors."
• C"As she carefully folded each dumpling, her hands moving in the same rhythm her grandmother had taught her decades ago, she felt the weight of everything she had left behind—and everything she could never quite explain to her American-born children."
• D"He enjoyed cooking Korean food and often shared recipes with his friends."

Which quotation from a research study would most directly support Dr. Torres's claim?

• A"Adult participants who learned to play musical instruments showed significant improvements in memory tests compared to control groups."
• B"Memory improvements were equally strong among participants who learned musical instruments and those who learned complex new languages, suggesting general cognitive challenge drives the benefit."
• C"Participants whose music practice involved focused attention exercises showed significantly greater memory gains than those who practiced the same total hours but with frequent interruptions and divided attention."
• D"Brain scans revealed increased activity in regions associated with both memory and auditory processing among participants who learned musical instruments."

Which quotation from a historical document would most effectively illustrate Chen's claim?

• A"The railroad companies employed thousands of workers, including many Chinese immigrants who faced dangerous working conditions and discrimination."
• B"What once seemed impossibly far now feels within reach—California no longer appears a separate country but rather a neighbor we might visit in a week's time."
• C"Despite the railroad's completion, many rural communities remain isolated and continue to rely on traditional forms of transportation."
• D"The journey westward has become faster, though the expense of rail travel remains prohibitive for ordinary families."

Which quotation from a research study would most directly support Dr. Martinez's proposal?

• A"GPS tracking data revealed that urban coyotes spend over 60% of their foraging time near garbage bins and dumpsters, while rural coyotes spend less than 5% of their time near human food sources."
• B"Urban coyote populations have grown steadily over the past two decades, coinciding with increased suburban development."
• C"Interviews with urban residents showed that 78% reported seeing coyotes in their neighborhoods, indicating successful adaptation to city life."
• D"Coyote populations in cities with extensive green spaces and wildlife corridors have remained stable, while those in densely developed areas have declined."

Which quotation from a historical document would most directly support Rodriguez's argument?

• A"The new library's architecture features marble columns and grand reading rooms that rival the finest private institutions in elegance and beauty."
• B"Yesterday I observed factory workers and wealthy merchants sitting side by side in the public library, each absorbed in their studies, with no distinction made between them in their right to access the collection."
• C"The library has become quite popular, though many working-class residents report they cannot visit during operating hours due to their long work schedules."
• D"The library's collection includes many important volumes on history and science, making knowledge more available to city residents."

Which quotation from Mendoza's study would most directly support his claim?

• A"Cities with automatic registration saw youth turnout increase by an average of 12 percentage points, while cities without automatic registration that experienced similar increases in youth political activism saw youth turnout increase by only 3 percentage points."
• B"Survey data revealed that young voters in cities with automatic registration reported feeling more enthusiastic about participating in local politics than their counterparts in other cities."
• C"Across all cities in the study, youth turnout in local elections remained substantially lower than turnout among voters aged 45 and older."
• D"Young voters in cities with automatic registration were more likely to cast ballots than young voters in cities without such systems."

Which quotation from a poem in the collection would most effectively illustrate Warner's argument?

• A"I speak without concern for the accusation that poetry is not a useful tool in the modern world."
• B"I have been woman for a long time / beware my smile / I am treacherous with old magic."
• C"I inherited Jackson, Mississippi, but I live in New York City, where I write poems about what I see and experience every day."
• D"I am a black woman / turning / mawu / afrekete / yemanje / over and over / inside my name."

Which quotation from a research report would most directly support Dr. Park's claim?

• A"Both groups of children showed improvements in physical fitness and social skills after the six-month study period."
• B"Children in the unstructured outdoor play group demonstrated significantly higher scores on problem-solving assessments than those in the structured play group, despite identical play durations."
• C"Parents reported that children who participated in structured activities seemed more focused and followed instructions better than those in unstructured settings."
• D"Children in the unstructured play group showed more creativity in their play activities."

Which quotation from an interview with a community elder would most effectively illustrate Mburu's conclusion?

• A"Our storytelling gatherings usually take place in the evening after the day's work is done, when families can gather together around the fire."
• B"Young people today prefer to watch television or use their phones rather than listen to the old stories, which is unfortunate."
• C"When I tell the story of our people's migration to this land, I am teaching the children about the courage of their ancestors and the importance of perseverance. Through these stories, they learn who they are and what our community expects of them."
• D"The stories often feature clever animals who outwit their enemies, which the children find very amusing."

Which quotation from Chen's research report would most directly support her conclusion?

• A"Survey responses indicated that 78% of small business owners in the study supported some form of minimum wage increase, though they expressed concerns about the pace of implementation."
• B"Employment levels in small businesses remained stable or increased slightly in 68% of the towns studied, while business owners reported adjusting schedules, reducing waste, and implementing modest price increases to offset higher labor costs."
• C"In urban areas with higher costs of living, minimum wage increases were associated with more complex employment effects that varied significantly by industry sector."
• D"Small business owners reported that higher wages helped them attract and retain more qualified employees."

Which quotation from Okonkwo's field interviews would most directly support her conclusion?

• A"The stories our elders tell are beautifully crafted, with clever wordplay and dramatic moments that keep listeners engaged throughout the performance."
• B"When my grandmother recounts the tale of the tortoise and the garden, she's actually teaching us which crops to plant together and when to harvest them—I learned more about farming from her stories than from any instruction manual."
• C"Young people in the community gather every week to hear traditional stories told by designated storytellers who have memorized hundreds of narratives."
• D"The stories contain valuable moral lessons about honesty, courage, and respect that help guide children's behavior as they grow up."

Which quotation from Yamamoto's observational study would most directly support his claim?

• A"Analysis of 500 recorded conversations showed that bilingual children code-switched an average of 12 times per conversation, significantly more often than bilingual adults, who averaged 7 times per conversation."
• B"One three-year-old subject, Maria, consistently spoke Spanish with her grandmother, who is monolingual Spanish-speaking, but switched to English when addressing her bilingual father in the same room. When her father responded in Spanish, Maria continued in Spanish; when he responded in English, Maria switched back to English."
• C"Some researchers have argued that code-switching in young children represents linguistic confusion rather than competent bilingualism, suggesting that children have not yet fully separated their two language systems."
• D"Bilingual children in the study demonstrated age-appropriate vocabulary in both of their languages."

Which quotation from Vitruvius's writings would most directly support Fernandez's argument?

• A"The architect should be equipped with knowledge of many branches of study and varied kinds of learning, for it is by his judgement that all work done by the other arts is put to test."
• B"In all matters, but particularly in architecture, there are these two points: the thing signified, and that which gives it its significance. That which is signified is the subject of which we may be speaking; and that which gives significance is a demonstration on scientific principles."
• C"Let him be educated, skillful with the pencil, instructed in geometry, know much history, have followed the philosophers with attention, understand music, have some knowledge of medicine, know the opinions of the jurists, and be acquainted with astronomy and the theory of the heavens."
• D"Practice and theory are the parents of architecture. Practice is the continuous and regular exercise of employment where manual work is done with any necessary material according to the design of a drawing. Theory, on the other hand, is the ability to demonstrate and explain the productions of dexterity on the principles of proportion."

Which quotation from Matsuda's longitudinal study would most directly support his claim?

• A"Bilingual children face unique cognitive demands as they must learn to navigate two distinct linguistic systems simultaneously."
• B"After three years, children who engaged in code-switching at home knew an average of 2,840 words combined across both languages, while children who maintained strict language separation knew an average of 2,320 words."
• C"Parents reported that children who mixed languages frequently seemed comfortable expressing themselves in family conversations."
• D"Children who maintained strict separation between their two languages showed stronger ability to focus on single-language tasks without interference from the other language."

Which quotation from a historical account would most directly support Hassan's argument?

• A"Einstein's 1905 papers on special relativity were derived entirely from thought experiments and mathematical reasoning, without requiring any laboratory equipment or empirical measurements."
• B"At Göttingen, renowned as a center for theoretical physics, researchers maintained extensive laboratory facilities where they conducted daily experiments with spectroscopes and particle detectors, and these empirical results directly informed the theoretical models being developed."
• C"The physics community of the early 1900s included both theoreticians and experimentalists, though they typically worked at different institutions and rarely collaborated."
• D"Funding for physics research increased dramatically during this period, enabling universities to expand their faculty and student enrollment."

Which quotation from Patel's excavation report would most directly support her claim?

• A"Chemical analysis of pottery fragments found at the site indicates that the clay used to make them was sourced locally from deposits within five kilometers of the settlement."
• B"Among the artifacts recovered were several cylinder seals carved from lapis lazuli, a material known to originate exclusively from Afghan mines and commonly used in Mesopotamian administrative practices of that period."
• C"The site shows evidence of a thriving agricultural community, with grain storage facilities and tools for processing wheat and barley."
• D"Several of the structures at the site feature architectural elements common to other settlements in the region from the same time period."

Which quotation from Foster's research findings would most effectively illustrate her conclusion?

• A"Humpback whale songs can be heard underwater from distances of up to 20 miles and consist of complex patterns of moans, howls, and cries."
• B"Analysis of recordings from 1970 and 2020 reveals that whales have shifted the frequency of their vocalizations higher by an average of 15 percent; this shift correlates with measured increases in low-frequency shipping noise, suggesting the whales adjusted their songs to avoid acoustic interference."
• C"Whale songs vary considerably between different ocean populations, with Atlantic humpbacks producing distinctly different patterns from their Pacific counterparts."
• D"Male humpback whales produce songs during the breeding season, and these vocalizations appear to play a role in attracting potential mates."