5.

Supporting and Undermining Question / Quotation Question

● Question Prompt:

- Which statement would most directly support / undermine the author’s claim?

- Which quotation from the text most effectively illustrates the claim?

● How to Approach:

- When these questions appear, the passage will always provide a claim or hypothesis.

- If it is a supporting question, select the answer choice that directly aligns with the main idea. If

it is an undermining question, choose the option that clearly contradicts or challenges it.
Q1. Given that stars and planets initially form from the same gas and dust in space, some
astronomers have posited that host stars (such as the Sun) and their planets (such as those in
our solar system) are composed of the same materials, with the planets containing equal or
smaller quantities of the materials that make up the host star. This idea is also supported by
evidence that rocky planets in our solar system are composed of some of the same materials as
the Sun.

Which finding, if true, would most directly undermine the astronomers’ claim?
A) Most stars are made of hydrogen and helium, but when cooled they are revealed to contain
small amounts of iron and silicate.
B) A nearby host star is observed to contain the same proportion of hydrogen and helium as
that of the Sun.
C) Evidence emerges that the amount of iron in some rocky planets is considerably higher than
the amount in their host star.
D) The method for determining the composition of rocky planets is discovered to be less
effective when used to analyze other kinds of planets.

Q2. In the twentieth century, ethnographers made a concerted effort to collect Mexican
American folklore, but they did not always agree about that folklore’s origins. Scholars such as
Aurelio Espinosa claimed that Mexican American folklore derived largely from the folklore of
Spain, which ruled Mexico and what is now the southwestern United States from the sixteenth
to early nineteenth centuries. Scholars such as Américo Paredes, by contrast, argued that while
some Spanish influence is undeniable, Mexican American folklore is mainly the product of the
ongoing interactions of various cultures in Mexico and the United States.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support Paredes’s argument?

A) The folklore that the ethnographers collected included several songs written in the form of a
décima, a type of poem originating in late sixteenth-century Spain.
B) Much of the folklore that the ethnographers collected had similar elements from region to
region.
C) Most of the folklore that the ethnographers collected was previously unknown to scholars.
D) Most of the folklore that the ethnographers collected consisted of corridos—ballads about
history and social life—of a clearly recent origin.
Q3. In a research paper, a student criticizes some historians of modern African politics, claiming
that they have evaluated Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of what is now the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, primarily as a symbol rather than in terms of his actions.

Which quotation from a work by a historian would best illustrate the student’s claim?
A) “Lumumba is a difficult figure to evaluate due to the starkly conflicting opinions he inspired
during his life and continues to inspire today.”
B) “The available information makes it clear that Lumumba’s political beliefs and values were
largely consistent throughout his career.”
C) “Lumumba’s practical accomplishments can be passed over quickly; it is mainly as the
personification of Congolese independence that he warrants scholarly attention.”
D) “Many questions remain about Lumumba’s ultimate vision for an independent Congo; without
new evidence coming to light, these questions are likely to remain unanswered.”

Q4. “The Bet” is an 1889 short story by Anton Chekhov. In the story, a banker is described as
being very upset about something: _______

Which quotation from “The Bet” most effectively illustrates the claim?
A) “Then the banker cautiously broke the seals off the door and put the key in the keyhole.”
B) “It struck three o’clock, the banker listened; everyone was asleep in the house and nothing
could be heard outside but the rustling of the chilled trees.”
C) “The banker, spoilt and frivolous, with millions beyond his reckoning, was delighted at the
bet.”
D) “When [the banker] got home he lay on his bed, but his tears and emotion kept him for hours
from sleeping.”
6. Paired Passage Question

● Question Prompt:

- Based on the texts, what would the author of Text 2 most likely say about Text 1’s “X”?

● How to Approach:

- You are given two short passages (“Text 1” and “Text 2”) that present two views about a topic.

- Text 1 and Text 2 each have their own main idea. The key is to identify these main ideas and

determine how they relate to each other.

Text 1
Graphic novels are increasingly popular in bookstores and libraries, but they shouldn’t be
classified as literature. By definition, literature tells a story or conveys meaning through
language only; graphic novels tell stories through illustrations and use language only sparingly,
in captions and dialogue. Graphic novels are experienced as series of images and not as
language, making them more similar to film than to literature.

Text 2
Graphic novels present their stories through both language and images. Without captions and
dialogue, readers would be unable to understand what is depicted in the illustrations: the story
results from the interaction of text and image. Moreover, Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home and many
other graphic novels feature text that is as beautifully written as the prose found in many
standard novels. Therefore, graphic novels qualify as literary texts.

Q5. Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the overall
argument presented in Text 1?
A) By asserting that language plays a more important role in graphic novels than the author of
Text 1 recognizes
B) By acknowledging that the author of Text 1 has identified a flaw that is common to all graphic
novels
C) By suggesting that the story lines of certain graphic novels are more difficult to understand
than the author of Text 1 claims
D) By agreeing with the author of Text 1 that most graphic novels aren’t as well crafted as most
literary works are
7. Infographic Question

● Question Prompt:

- Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph/table to support/undermine the

researcher’s claim?

- Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the example?

● How to Approach:

- You will be given a passage usually based on research.

- Infographics (a table, chart, graph, etc) will show data based on the topic discussed in the text.

- The question can overlap with other question types: usually supporting/undermining or text

completion.

● Remember this step:

- Understand the Main Idea:

Begin by identifying the main idea in the passage.

- Avoid Premature Infographic Analysis:

Do not jump straight into analyzing the infographics.

- Evaluate Answer Choices Against the Main Idea:

Carefully review the answer choices, eliminate the wrong answer choices, and select those that

align best with the main idea of the passage.

- Analyze Infographic Information:

Once you’ve identified potential answers, examine the infographic to understand how its

information connects to the remaining answer choices.

- Select the Best Answer!

Q6. Geographer Adebayo Oluwole Eludoyin and his colleagues surveyed small-scale farmers in
three locations in Ondo State, Nigeria—which has mountainous terrain in the north, an
urbanized center, and coastal terrain in the south—to learn more about their practices, like the
types of crops they mainly cultivated. In some regions, female farmers were found to be
especially prominent in the cultivation of specific types of crops and even constituted the
majority of farmers who cultivated those crops; for instance, _______

Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to complete the example?
A) most of the farmers who mainly cultivated cereals and most of the farmers who mainly
cultivated non–root vegetables in south Ondo were women.
B) more women in central Ondo mainly cultivated root crops than mainly cultivated cereals.
C) most of the farmers who mainly cultivated non–root vegetables in north and south Ondo were
women.
D) a relatively equal proportion of women across the three regions of Ondo mainly cultivated
cereals.
8. Detail Questions

● Question Prompt:

- According to the text, what is true about X?

- Based on the text, how did the researchers X?

- WH-questions are often summarized as 5W 1H, which includes: (Who, What, Where, When,

Why, How)

● How to Approach:

- The only little picture question in the reading section

- Little picture questions focus on details provided in the text.

- They are the most straightforward type of question; they simply identify what a passage

indicates or states.

- However, they can be challenging because the text or answer choices sometimes include

challenging vocabulary or complex syntax.

Q7. The following text is from Jane Austen’s 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility.

Elinor lives with her younger sisters and her mother, Mrs. Dashwood. Elinor, this eldest
daughter, whose advice was so effectual, possessed a strength of understanding, and coolness
of judgment, which qualified her, though only nineteen, to be the counsellor of her mother, and
enabled her frequently to counteract, to the advantage of them all, that eagerness of mind in
Mrs. Dashwood which must generally have led to imprudence. She had an excellent heart;—her
disposition was affectionate, and her feelings were strong; but she knew how to govern them: it
was a knowledge which her mother had yet to learn; and which one of her sisters had resolved
never to be taught.

According to the text, what is true about Elinor?

A) Elinor often argues with her mother but fails to change her mind.
B) Elinor can be overly sensitive with regard to family matters.
C) Elinor thinks her mother is a bad role model.
D) Elinor is remarkably mature for her age.

Q8. Recently, scientists looked at data collected by NASA’s InSight lander to learn more about
seismic activity on Mars, known as marsquakes. The data show that the marsquakes all started
from the same location on the planet. This discovery was surprising to scientists, as they
expected that the marsquakes would originate from all over the planet because of the cooling of
the planet’s surface. Now, scientists believe that there could be areas of active magma flows
deep beneath the planet’s surface that trigger the marsquakes.

According to the text, what was surprising to scientists studying the seismic activity data from
NASA’s InSight lander?
A) The surface temperature of Mars has been rising.
B) There were different types of seismic waves causing marsquakes.
C) NASA’s InSight lander collected less data than scientists had expected.
D) All the marsquakes started from the same location on the planet.
Q9. The ancient writing system used in the Maya kingdoms of southern Mexico and Central
America had a symbol for the number zero. The earliest known example of the symbol dates to
more than 2,000 years ago. At that time, almost none of the writing systems elsewhere in the
world possessed a zero symbol. And the use of zero in Mexico and Central America may be
even more ancient. Some historians suggest that Maya mathematicians inherited it from the
Olmec civilization, which flourished in the region 2,400–3,600 years ago.

According to the text, what do some historians suggest about Maya civilization?
A) Maya civilization acquired the use of zero from the Olmec civilization.
B) Maya civilization respected its historians more than it respected its mathematicians.
C) Maya civilization was highly secretive about its intellectual achievements.
D) Maya civilization tried to introduce its writing system to other civilizations.