A Reading and Writing type (7.3% of the bank) with the clearest standard in the section: the answer must be FORCED by the text, not merely consistent with it. Covers reading the connector before the blank, predicting the conclusion before seeing the choices, rejecting reasonable real-world statements the passage does not license, and recognising the choice that overshoots by adding a cause or a generalisation — with six worked examples, four traps and three checks.
Subject: SAT Prep · 61 slides · applied lesson
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Title
SAT Reading & Writing · Type 9 of 10
7.3% of the question bank — 124 of 1688 questions
Objectives
A short passage that presents evidence and stops just short of a conclusion, with a blank at the very end. The answer is whatever the text forces you to conclude. Three of the four choices will be consistent with the passage and reasonable in the world, and consistency is not the standard.
One standard governs the type: forced, not merely consistent. Three choices will be reasonable; only one is required.
Naruhodo Tutoring — SAT Reading and Writing question bank export (sat-english-question-index.json) — 124 tagged questions of this type in the site's bank
Section
Section 1
Concept
A short passage that presents evidence and stops just short of a conclusion, with a blank at the very end. The answer is whatever the text forces you to conclude. Three of the four choices will be consistent with the passage and reasonable in the world, and consistency is not the standard.
You will see it phrased in these ways:
The blank is nearly always the last thing in the passage, and the connector immediately before it tells you which direction the conclusion must run.
Picture it
The same three-panel card as the survey deck, so the shorthand carries over: what identifies it, what you write first, and what is built to catch you.
Figure (svg): Inferences: the tell, the move, and the trap
The red panel names the hardest thing about this type. You have to actively set aside what you know, and use only what the passage supplies.
Prediction
Consistency is not enough.
Predict first
What must the correct completion be?
Correct: Forced by the information in the text
Why: The correct answer is the conclusion the passage requires you to draw. Three of the four choices will be consistent with the text — that is what makes them plausible — and consistency is a much weaker standard than necessity. Real-world likelihood is irrelevant, since the passage may describe an unusual case. And a statement already mentioned in the text is a restatement rather than a conclusion.
Concept
Three shapes, distinguished by the connector before the blank.
| connector before the blank | the conclusion must | typical shape |
|---|---|---|
| therefore, thus, so | follow from the evidence just given | evidence, then its consequence |
| however, but, yet | contrast with what precedes it | expectation, then its violation |
| no connector | complete the argument's final step | premises, then what they add up to |
The connector is doing a lot of work. Reading it before the choices sets the direction and eliminates half the options on many questions.
Definition probe
The distinction the whole type rests on.
Sort into buckets
A passage says a bird species began nesting in cities only after a predator disappeared. Which conclusions does it force?
Discrimination
The word before the blank determines the shape of the conclusion.
Sort into buckets
What must follow each connector?
Warm-up
Say the conclusion yourself.
Discussion prompt
"Coll and colleagues reported almost twice as many species as the earlier census. Only part of this can be explained by newly described invertebrates. The two studies reported similar numbers of vertebrates, plants and algae. This suggests that ___" What must the conclusion be?
Hint: What group is left once vertebrates, plants and algae are ruled out?
Answer:
The difference lies mainly in the microorganisms.
How the passage forces it: the gap is large, new invertebrates explain only part of it, and three other groups were counted similarly. Only one category remains to absorb the difference.
What would NOT be forced, however reasonable: that the later study was more thorough, that classification methods are unreliable in general, or that the sea has become more diverse.
Each of those is compatible with the passage and none is required by it.
The passage worked by elimination, and the conclusion is whatever the elimination leaves standing.
Pattern
Three steps, and the choices stay covered for the first two.
Read the connector immediately before the blank and note the direction it sets.
Why: Therefore and thus require a consequence; however and but require a contrast. This eliminates roughly half the choices on many questions.
With the choices covered, say the conclusion the passage forces, in your own words.
Why: Three of the four choices are consistent with the text, so reading them first makes all of them seem defensible.
Uncover and find the choice closest to your prediction, rejecting anything that adds information.
Why: A conclusion that introduces a cause, a generalisation or a prediction has gone beyond what the passage supplies.
This is the same cover-and-predict habit as Words in Context and Transitions. Together the three types are about 32 per cent of the section.
Section
Section 2
Concept
The correct answer is the conclusion the text requires; the wrong ones are conclusions it permits.
This is the sharpest standard on the whole section, and applying it deliberately is what separates this type from guesswork.
Concept
The word immediately before the blank tells you whether the conclusion follows from or contrasts with what precedes it.
| connector | the conclusion must | eliminates |
|---|---|---|
| therefore, thus, so, hence | follow as a consequence | any choice contradicting the evidence |
| however, but, yet, nevertheless | cut against what precedes | any choice simply agreeing |
| in other words, that is | restate what precedes | any choice adding new content |
| no connector | complete the argument | nothing on direction alone |
Students frequently read the whole passage and never notice the connector, which is the cheapest piece of information in the question.
Prediction
One word, and half the choices go.
Predict first
A passage describes strong evidence for a hypothesis and ends: however, ___. What must the conclusion do?
Correct: Cut against the evidence just described
Why: However signals contrast, so whatever fills the blank must complicate or oppose what preceded it. Restating and reinforcing both agree with the evidence, which would make however meaningless. Predicting future research is neither agreement nor contrast — it changes the subject rather than concluding.
Concept
A statement that is true in the world but unsupported by the passage is wrong.
Ask of every choice: which sentence of the passage tells me this? If you cannot point at one, it is not forced.
Prediction
Could the passage be true and this false?
Predict first
A passage says the alloy fails only at temperatures below minus 40. Which conclusion is FORCED?
Correct: At temperatures above minus 40, the alloy does not fail
Why: The word only makes the low temperature a necessary condition for failure, so above that threshold no failure occurs — that is a restatement of what was said. The other three are all consistent with the passage and none is required: the alloy might be perfectly suitable for aircraft, other alloys are not discussed, and nothing is said about replacement.
Concept
A choice explaining WHY something happened has usually gone beyond a passage that only reports THAT it happened.
If the passage never discusses a mechanism, a conclusion naming one is adding information.
Concept
A choice extending the passage's finding to all cases has gone beyond it.
This is the same scope discipline as the main-idea questions, applied to a conclusion rather than to a summary.
Prediction
Reporting that is not explaining why.
Predict first
A passage reports that a lake's fish population fell after a nearby factory opened. Which conclusion overshoots?
Correct: The factory's discharge caused the decline
Why: The passage reports a sequence in time and says nothing about discharge or mechanism. A causal conclusion adds an explanation the text never supplies, and other factors could account for the timing. The other three all restate the reported sequence without claiming why it happened.
Concept
A choice about what WILL happen has usually gone beyond a passage describing what HAS happened.
Together with causes and generalisations, these three overshoots account for most of the distractors on this type.
Concept
The correct conclusion frequently combines two things the passage said, without adding anything.
If a choice seems too obvious, that is weak evidence in its favour rather than against it.
Prediction
One case does not license all cases.
Predict first
A passage describes one glacier retreating faster on its southern face. Which conclusion overshoots?
Correct: Glaciers always retreat faster on southern faces
Why: The word always extends a finding about one glacier to every glacier, which the passage cannot support. The other three all stay within the single case the passage described. Absolute words — always, all, never — are the reliable signal of this overshoot.
Two truths and a lie
Three of these statements about inference questions are correct. The one left standing is false.
Eliminate the wrong options
Which statement is FALSE?
Survives elimination: c
Why: Real-world truth is irrelevant. The question is what THIS passage establishes, and a passage may describe an unusual case where general knowledge does not apply. Distractors are frequently built from statements that are perfectly true and simply unsupported by the text — which makes them feel like knowledge rather than like guesses. The only test is whether the passage forces the conclusion.
Check
Could the passage be true and this false?
Check your understanding
"Every recorded eruption of the volcano has been preceded by a swarm of small earthquakes, and no swarm has occurred without an eruption following. It follows that ___" Which choice most logically completes the text?
Answer: A
Why: The passage states that swarms always precede eruptions and never occur without one, which makes a swarm a reliable indicator at this volcano. That is a restatement of both halves of the given information.
The three distractors are the three standard overshoots — cause, generalisation and prediction — which is a common construction on this type.
Section
Section 3
Worked example
"The later census reported almost twice as many species. Only part of this is explained by newly described invertebrates. Both studies reported similar numbers of vertebrates, plants and algae. This suggests that ___"
Figure (svg): Three sentences successively narrowing the possible explanations
Note the structure: a gap is stated, then explanations are ruled out one by one.
Why: An elimination structure forces whatever remains.
Four groups are accounted for: invertebrates partly, and vertebrates, plants and algae fully.
Why: The remaining difference must lie somewhere else.
So the conclusion is that microorganisms account for most of the difference.
Why: It is the only category the passage has not accounted for.
Elimination structures are common on this type and they are the clearest cases of forcing: the passage closes off every option but one.
Verify: check the conclusion adds nothing: it names a category the passage has left over.
Why: No new fact is introduced, which is the signature of a forced inference.
Answer: the difference lies mainly in the microorganism counts
Worked example
"The drug performed well in laboratory conditions, reducing bacterial growth by 90 per cent. In living tissue, however, ___"
Figure (svg): A strong laboratory result followed by a contrasting clause
Read the connector: however, which signals contrast.
Why: The conclusion must oppose the laboratory success in some way.
Predict: the result was weaker, or did not hold.
Why: Prediction fixes the direction before the choices can blur it.
Reject any choice that agrees with the laboratory finding, however plausible.
Why: A choice reinforcing the success would make however meaningless.
The connector alone eliminated every choice pointing the same way as the laboratory result — usually two of the four.
Verify: test a reinforcing choice: the drug was equally effective in living tissue. That makes however incoherent.
Why: The incoherence confirms the contrast requirement.
Answer: the effect was substantially smaller, or absent
Worked example
"The species began nesting in urban parks only after the peregrine falcon disappeared from those areas. This suggests that ___"
Figure (svg): One forced conclusion and two reasonable but unsupported ones
Identify the key word: only. It makes the predator's absence a necessary condition.
Why: Only is one of the strongest logical words the SAT uses.
Predict: the birds could not nest there while the predator was present.
Why: That is a restatement of the necessary condition.
Reject choices about food or adaptation — the passage mentions neither.
Why: Each adds a fact the text never supplies, however plausible it is.
Both rejected choices are things a knowledgeable person might well believe about urban birds. That is exactly what makes them effective distractors.
Verify: ask of each rejected choice: which sentence tells me this? Neither can be pointed at.
Why: Inability to point at a supporting sentence is the practical test for unsupported.
Answer: the predator's presence had prevented the birds from nesting there
Step zero
Before the passage, even.
Discussion prompt
You reach an inference question with a blank at the end. What single word do you look for first, and what does it tell you?
Hint: It sits immediately before the blank.
Answer:
The connector immediately before the blank.
Therefore, thus, so, hence mean the conclusion must FOLLOW from the evidence just given.
However, but, yet mean it must CONTRAST with what preceded — the passage set up an expectation and the conclusion violates it.
In other words, that is mean the conclusion restates what came before, adding nothing.
Why it comes first: it eliminates roughly half the choices before any of them is read, and it costs one second. Students routinely read the entire passage and never notice it.
Worked example
"Wheat yields in the region fell by a third during the decade in which average rainfall declined by 20 per cent. Therefore ___"
Figure (svg): A reported coincidence with two causal overshoots
Note what the passage reports: two declines over the same period.
Why: It describes a coincidence in time and no mechanism.
A causal conclusion would require ruling out other factors — soil, disease, changes in planting.
Why: The passage rules out nothing, so cause is not forced.
The forced conclusion stays at the level of association.
Why: It restates what the passage established without explaining it.
This is the same discipline as the Math statistics types. Observation supports association; only a controlled comparison supports cause.
Verify: ask whether the passage could be true with rainfall NOT being the cause: yes, easily.
Why: That possibility is exactly what shows the causal conclusion is unforced.
Answer: the decline in yields coincided with the decline in rainfall
Worked example
"Membership of the society has fallen in each of the past eight years. Thus ___"
Figure (svg): A past trend with one forced conclusion and three overshoots
Note the tense: the passage reports what HAS happened over eight years.
Why: Past evidence rarely forces a claim about the future.
Predict: the current membership is lower than it was at the start.
Why: That follows necessarily from eight consecutive falls.
Reject the two predictions and the causal claim: none is forced.
Why: A trend can stop, and fees are never mentioned.
The forced conclusion here feels almost trivially obvious. That flatness is characteristic — a conclusion adding nothing cannot be doubted.
Verify: ask whether the passage could be true and the society not close: obviously yes.
Why: The trend could level off or reverse next year, which the passage does not exclude.
Answer: membership is now lower than it was eight years ago
Faded example
From memory. Four lines that carry the type.
Fill in the blanks
The answer must be forced by the text, not merely consistent with it. The connector before the blank sets the direction. Real-world knowledge is not evidence. And the test is: could the passage be true and the conclusion false?
Why: The fourth line is the operational version of the first. Forced is an abstract standard; could the passage be true and this false is a question you can actually ask about each choice in about three seconds.
Worked example
"Every specimen containing the pigment has been dated to after 1610, and no specimen from before that date contains it. It follows that ___"
Figure (svg): One flat forced conclusion and two more interesting overshoots
State exactly what the passage asserts: the pigment appears in post-1610 specimens and in no earlier ones.
Why: Both halves of the statement matter.
The forced conclusion simply reverses it: containing the pigment implies a post-1610 date.
Why: It adds nothing and cannot be doubted if the premises hold.
The invention date and the quality of earlier pigments are both unsupported additions.
Why: The passage discusses appearance in specimens, not manufacture or quality.
A useful heuristic: if the correct answer feels obvious and the alternatives feel interesting, you are probably on the right track.
Verify: check the forced conclusion introduces no new term: pigment, specimen and 1610 all appear in the passage.
Why: A conclusion using only the passage's own terms is a good sign it adds nothing.
Answer: any specimen containing the pigment was made after 1610
Fill the middle
Most distractors commit one of three.
Fill in the blanks
A choice can overshoot by adding a cause, explaining why something happened when the passage only reported that it did. It can add a generalisation, extending a finding about one case to all cases. It can add a prediction, claiming what will happen from evidence about what has. And the signal words for the second are all, always, never.
Why: These three overshoots account for the large majority of wrong answers on this type, and each has a vocabulary signal — causal words, absolutes, and future tense. Scanning for those signals catches most distractors before you have evaluated them on content.
Estimation
One question separates forced from consistent.
Predict first
Which question tells you whether a conclusion is forced?
Correct: Could the passage be true and this conclusion false?
Why: If the passage can be true while the conclusion is false, the conclusion is not forced — it is merely consistent. That is the exact test, and it is decisive. Likelihood and reasonableness are the standards the distractors are built to satisfy, and word overlap is a trap here as elsewhere, since a distractor can reuse the passage's vocabulary while claiming something new.
Check
Read the word before the blank.
Check your understanding
"In laboratory trials the compound suppressed the bacterium almost completely. In clinical use, however, ___" Which choice most logically completes the text?
Answer: A
Why: However demands a contrast with the strong laboratory result, so the conclusion must report something less favourable in clinical use. A weaker effect is exactly that contrast.
The connector alone eliminated three choices here. Reading it before the choices is the cheapest move available on this type.
Section
Section 4
Trap
The trap. A choice is entirely plausible, matches what you know about the subject, and is consistent with the passage.
You select it because nothing about it seems wrong — and nothing is wrong with it as a statement about the world.
The passage simply does not establish it. Being reasonable is not the standard.
The fix. Ask of every choice: could the passage be true and this false?
If yes, the conclusion is not forced, however sensible it is.
Trap
The trap. You read the passage carefully, form a sense of what it is about, and choose a conclusion that fits that sense.
But the blank follows however, and your conclusion agrees with the passage rather than cutting against it.
The word sat immediately before the blank and was never read.
The fix. Read the connector before anything else.
It eliminates roughly half the choices at no cost.
Error analysis
A student's choice on an inference question. The statement is probably true.
Annotate
On: \( \text{Yields fell as rainfall fell.} \;\Rightarrow\; \text{chose: reduced rainfall caused the yield loss} \)
This is the hardest discipline in the type. You have to set aside what you know and use only what the passage supplies, which feels like reasoning worse rather than better.
Trap
The trap. The passage reports that two things happened together, and a choice explains why.
The explanation is plausible and the passage never mentions a mechanism, rules nothing out, and compares nothing.
So the causal conclusion adds information the text did not supply.
The fix. Scan for causal language: because, due to, caused by, led to, resulted in.
Then check whether the passage actually establishes the mechanism.
Elimination
"The fungus has been found only in soils with a pH above 7.5. Therefore ___"
Eliminate the wrong options
Which conclusion is forced? Ask of each: could the passage be true and this false?
Survives elimination: a
Why: Only the first is a restatement of what the passage asserts, so it cannot be false if the passage is true. Each other choice fails the forcing test in a different way: an unsupported impossibility claim, a generalisation, and a prediction. Note that all three are reasonable things to believe — and reasonableness is exactly the standard the distractors satisfy.
Trap
The trap. The passage describes one species, one site or one decade, and a choice says all, always or never.
The absolute makes the conclusion feel decisive, which is why it appeals.
But a single case cannot force a universal claim.
The fix. Scan for absolute words and compare them against the passage's scope.
The correct answer usually stays inside the case the passage described.
Counterexample
A standard that feels like careful reading.
Discussion prompt
A student says: if a conclusion is consistent with the passage and sounds sensible, it must be the answer. Give a counterexample.
Hint: Find a passage where several sensible conclusions are all consistent.
Answer:
Counterexample: a passage stating that a bird species began nesting in cities only after a predator disappeared.
Consistent and sensible: cities offer better nesting material. Also consistent: the birds have become bolder. Also consistent: urban food supplies are richer.
All three are reasonable and none is forced. The passage mentions no materials, no boldness and no food.
The forced conclusion is the flat one: the predator's presence had prevented urban nesting. It restates the word only and adds nothing.
The mechanism: a great many statements are consistent with any passage, so consistency cannot select one. Only necessity can.
The corrected standard: could the passage be true and this conclusion false? If yes, reject it however sensible it sounds.
Edge cases
Forced, not consistent. How strictly?
Discussion prompt
Does a forced conclusion have to be a literal restatement, and what if two choices both seem forced?
Hint: Consider combining two statements from the passage.
Answer:
Not a literal restatement. A forced conclusion may COMBINE two things the passage said, or draw out the logical consequence of a word like only or every.
What it may not do is add a term the passage never used — a cause, a category, a prediction, an evaluation.
If two choices both seem forced, check which uses only the passage's own terms. The other has usually smuggled in a small addition.
Also check the connector direction. One of the two may be forced by the evidence and yet point the wrong way for the connector before the blank.
And check strength. A choice saying some when the passage supports most is weaker than necessary, and the question asks for the conclusion that most logically completes the text.
The practical order: direction first, then forcing, then strength.
Check
Use only what the passage supplies.
Check your understanding
"The manuscript's parchment has been dated to the twelfth century, but its binding uses a technique not developed until the fifteenth. Therefore ___" Which choice most logically completes the text?
Answer: A
Why: The parchment predates the binding technique by three centuries, so the binding must have been applied after the parchment was made. That follows necessarily from the two dates given.
Choice D is instructive: when two datings conflict, doubting one is a reasonable response and it is not forced. The passage's own resolution is that the two things happened at different times.
Section
Section 5
Matching
The passage: yields fell during a decade when rainfall fell.
Match the pairs
Why: Five distinct overshoots from one passage, and every one of them is a reasonable thing to think. The forced conclusion is the flattest statement on the list, which is characteristic — adding nothing is what makes a conclusion impossible to doubt.
Sorting
The passage: this alloy fails only below minus 40 degrees.
Sort into buckets
Is each conclusion forced by the text?
Three of the six are the same forced conclusion in three phrasings, which is worth noticing: a real question offers only one of them and fills the rest with overshoots.
Comparison
Fill the blanks from memory.
Comparison matrix
| a forced conclusion | a merely consistent one | |
|---|---|---|
| Relationship to the text | cannot be false if the passage is true | could be false while the passage is true |
| What it adds | nothing — it restates or combines | a cause, a generalisation, or a prediction |
| How it feels | flat, almost obvious | interesting and reasonable |
| The test | point at the sentence supporting it | you cannot point at one |
The third row is the most useful and the least intuitive. On this type, an interesting conclusion is weak evidence against a choice, and a flat one is weak evidence in its favour.
Trade off
Fill in what each eliminates.
Comparison matrix
| filter | cost | what it removes |
|---|---|---|
| Read the connector | one second | choices pointing the wrong direction |
| Scan for causal and absolute words | three seconds | the cause and generalisation overshoots |
| Apply the forcing test | about five seconds per choice | everything merely consistent |
| Choose by plausibility | no time | nothing — it selects the distractors |
The first three cost about ten seconds between them and usually leave one choice standing. The fourth is what most students do instead, and it is precisely what the distractors are designed to reward.
Real world
One minute on why the distinction matters.
Discussion prompt
Distinguishing what evidence forces from what it merely permits is a general skill. Where does confusing them go wrong?
Answer:
In reading research. A study showing two things vary together permits a causal explanation and does not force one, which is exactly the association-and-causation distinction from the Math section.
In news reporting. A finding about one group is regularly reported as a claim about everyone, which is the generalisation overshoot.
In forecasting. A trend observed over eight years permits the prediction that it continues and does not force it, which is how confident predictions get made from insufficient evidence.
And in ordinary argument. Most disagreements about evidence are really disagreements about whether it forces a conclusion or merely allows one.
The habit that transfers: ask whether the evidence could be exactly as stated while the conclusion is false. If it could, the conclusion needs more support than has been given.
Ranking
The passage: this species has been recorded only in caves above 2,000 metres. Order from forced to furthest beyond.
Put in order
Why: The first restates the passage exactly. The second adds an impossibility claim — not recorded somewhere is not the same as unable to live there, since lower caves may simply not have been searched. The third generalises from one species to cave-dwellers at large. The fourth adds both a prediction and a causal mechanism involving temperature. Each step adds one more thing the passage does not supply, which is the gradient the distractors are built along.
Concept
This type is 7.3 per cent of the section and turns on a single standard, which makes it quick to improve once that standard is held firmly.
| session | what you do | why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Twenty questions, reading the connector before anything else and noting the direction. | The cheapest filter, applied until automatic. |
| 2 | Fifteen questions with the choices covered until a conclusion has been predicted aloud. | Prevents being talked into a merely consistent choice. |
| 3 | For fifteen wrong choices, name which overshoot each commits. | Cause, generalisation and prediction cover most distractors. |
| 4 | Ten questions applying the forcing test explicitly to each choice. | Could the passage be true and this false — asked four times, deliberately. |
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Explain it to yourself
Close the deck.
Discussion prompt
Without looking, state the standard this type applies, the operational test for it, and the three overshoots.
Hint: One standard, one question, three failure modes.
Answer:
The standard: the conclusion must be FORCED by the text, not merely consistent with it.
The operational test: could the passage be true and this conclusion false? If yes, it is not forced.
The three overshoots: adding a cause, adding a generalisation, and adding a prediction.
Their signals: causal words such as because and caused by; absolutes such as all, always and never; and future tense such as will and eventually.
If you also noted that the connector before the blank sets the direction, you have the filter that runs before all of this.
Explain it
Two minutes, out loud.
Discussion prompt
A friend picks the most sensible-sounding conclusion and gets these wrong regularly. How do you explain what the question is asking?
Answer:
Grant that their choice is sensible. That is not in dispute, and it is why the distractors work.
Separate two questions: is this conclusion plausible, and does THIS passage establish it? The test asks the second.
Give the test as a question they can ask: could everything in the passage be true while this conclusion is false? If yes, the passage does not force it.
Show it with an example. A passage says birds nested in cities only after a predator left. Cities offer better food is plausible, consistent, and completely absent from the text.
Then warn them about the feeling: the correct answer usually seems flat, almost too obvious, because it adds nothing. The interesting choices are the ones that overshoot.
Commit first
Commit before you check.
Predict first
"No specimen collected above 3,000 metres showed the mutation, while every specimen below 1,000 metres carried it. It follows that ___" Which is forced?
Correct: the mutation's presence varies with altitude in this sample
Why: The passage reports a difference between two altitude bands within the specimens collected, and stating that variation restates the evidence without adding to it. Causation is not established. The claim about everywhere above 3,000 metres generalises beyond the specimens actually collected. And nothing at all is said about the band between 1,000 and 3,000 metres, so any claim about it is invented.
Connect it up
Blank paper.
Draw it
Draw a passage as three stacked boxes of evidence with a blank box at the bottom, and write the connector on the arrow leading into the blank — labelling it therefore for a consequence or however for a contrast. Beside the blank write the standard in large letters: FORCED, NOT MERELY CONSISTENT, and beneath it the operational test: could the passage be true and this false? To one side, list the three overshoots with their signal words: cause with because and caused by, generalisation with all and always, and prediction with will and eventually. At the bottom write the warning: the correct answer usually feels flat, and the interesting choices overshoot.
Exit ticket
One question before you close the deck.
Predict first
Two choices are both consistent with the passage and both sound reasonable. What separates them?
Correct: Whether the passage could be true while the choice is false
Why: That question is the operational form of the forcing standard, and it is decisive. Real-world likelihood is exactly what the distractors are built to satisfy, so it selects them. Vocabulary overlap is a trap here as elsewhere, since a distractor can reuse the passage's own terms while adding a claim. And specificity is not a virtue in itself — a more specific conclusion frequently adds information the passage never supplied.
Recap
One type, one standard: forced, not merely consistent.
| never do this | do this instead |
|---|---|
| Choose the most sensible-sounding conclusion | Ask whether the passage forces it |
| Ignore the word before the blank | Read the connector first — it halves the field |
| Accept a causal explanation from a reported coincidence | Reporting that is not explaining why |
| Extend a finding about one case to all cases | Stay within the passage's scope |
| Predict the future from a past trend | A trend does not force its own continuation |
| Reject a choice for being too obvious | Flatness is the signature of a forced inference |
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