On the test
Usually questions 8 to 14 of each Reading and Writing module (27 questions per module, 2 modules). The module order is Craft and Structure, then Information and Ideas, then Standard English Conventions, then Expression of Ideas.
12 to 14 questions in the whole test (about 6 or 7 in each module). Usually questions 8 to 14 of each module.
How I approached it
A small story from Aime
I used to think inference questions were about guessing what the writer secretly meant. Then I remembered walking past a house in the evening. I smelled onions frying and I heard a pot lid rattling. Nobody told me that dinner was being cooked, but I knew. The smell and the sound were clues, and I only took the next small step that the clues allowed. I did not decide that the family was making a feast for twenty people. I stayed close to what I had. The SAT inference question works the same way. The text gives clues, and you choose the one answer that must follow from them, nothing bigger. Stay close to the clues and take only the step they allow.
An inference is not a guess. It is a small, careful step, and with a little practice that step becomes easy to see.
What is inside this part
You decide what a result suggests about a cause, using what was changed and what happened.
experiment results · before and after situations · what a result suggests
You use numbers or comparisons in the text to decide what must be true.
totals that stay the same · group A versus group B · if the pattern holds
You use what a person does or says to decide what they feel or know.
hidden feelings · what a person knows · why a person acts
How to know a question is from this part
A short text that ends with an unfinished sentence, and four options to complete it.
- The question says: which choice most logically completes the text
- The text ends with a blank or a phrase like This suggests that
- Signal words appear before the blank: therefore, thus, so, which means
- The text is a small study, a comparison, or a short story
- Each option is a full phrase that could finish the sentence
The lesson
1. What this skill is
Inference questions ask you to complete a text in a way that is logical. The text ends with a blank, like "These results suggest that ____." You choose the option that fits the blank and follows from the facts you were given.
The test writers call this using reasoning to draw a conclusion. In simple words, you read the clues and decide what must be true.
2. What the question is really asking
The usual question is: Which choice most logically completes the text? The word logically is the key. The best answer is the one that the text already points toward.
An inference is NOT your opinion and NOT a prediction about the far future. It is the next small step from the clues. If an option needs a new fact that is not in the text, it is wrong.
3. Words you need to know
Inference: a conclusion you reach from clues in the text.
Evidence: the facts in the text that the conclusion depends on.
Support: to make a claim more likely to be true.
Hedge words: words like may, might, suggests and likely. They show the writer is careful. Correct answers often use them too.
Extreme words: words like always, never, all, only and proves. They are risky because the text rarely gives enough proof.
4. The method, step by step
Step 1. Read the sentence with the blank first, and notice which signal words come before it: so, therefore, thus, suggests that, which means.
Step 2. Read the full text and underline two or three key facts, especially comparisons and results.
Step 3. Ask: what is the smallest next step these facts allow? Write it in your own words.
Step 4. Test each option. Does the text give a clue for every part of it? Cross out any option that adds a new fact.
Step 5. Choose the option that is supported and no bigger than the evidence.
5. Worked example 1: a simple science result
Look for what was changed and what was the result.
Fatuma planted two bean seeds in identical pots and watered both daily. She put one pot in a sunny window and the other in a dark cupboard. After two weeks the plant in the window was tall and green, while the plant in the cupboard was pale and short. Which choice most logically completes the text? Fatuma's results suggest that a bean plant needs ____ A. light to grow healthily. B. less water than most plants. C. a larger pot. D. a cupboard to grow.
Show the steps
- Only one thing differed: light. Water and pots were the same.
- So the difference in growth is linked to light.
- Options B and C talk about water and pot size, which were equal.
- Option D reverses the result.
- Option A is the next small step.
A
6. Worked example 2: staying small
The most tempting wrong option is often a big claim that sounds exciting. Watch for it.
The bakery's bread usually sells out by 9 a.m. On Monday there were still loaves at noon. That same morning a new bakery opened next door. The owner concluded that ____ A. the new bakery may have taken some of her customers. B. her bread had become worse overnight. C. she must close her shop. D. customers in town no longer like bread.
Show the steps
- Clues: normal sales, then slow sales, same day a new shop opened.
- A links these two clues carefully with the hedge word may.
- B, C and D add facts that the text never gives.
A
7. Worked example 3: a character
Inference also works with people. Behavior is a clue to feelings.
Ravi pretended to study his map while the others argued about which road to take. He had already seen that the left road led to the quarry, a place the old man had warned them to avoid, but he said nothing, hoping someone else would speak first. Which choice most logically completes the text? Ravi is ____ A. hesitant to share what he knows. B. unable to read the map. C. eager to visit the quarry. D. angry at the old man.
Show the steps
- He saw the danger, so B is false.
- He hoped someone else would speak, so he is not eager. C is false.
- Nothing shows anger at the old man, so D is not supported.
- Pretending to study and hoping others speak shows hesitation.
A
8. Common traps
Trap 1: The big leap. The option is interesting, but the text does not give enough evidence.
Trap 2: The reversal. The option uses the right words but flips the direction, for example more instead of less.
Trap 3: The outside fact. The option may be true in life, but it needs knowledge that is not in the text.
Trap 4: The half-right option. The first half matches, but the second half adds something new. Test every part.
See it
- 1Read the sentence with the blank
- 2Find the clues: comparisons, results, behavior
- 3Write the smallest next step in my own words
- 4Test each option: is every part supported?
- 5Pick the one no bigger than the clues
- Uses clues from the text
- Careful words: may, suggests, likely
- Small next step
- Every part can be checked
- Needs a fact not in the text
- Extreme words: always, never, proves
- Big jump to a far result
- Reverses the direction of the clues
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