SAT Reading Comprehension: Inference Questions

Inference questions in the SAT Reading sections ask you to consider statements from a reading passage and reach a logical conclusion based upon them. So the answers to inference questions are never directly stated in a passage. But inferences do not appear magically. They are based upon the facts in the passage.

Example
Statement: "Cereal can only be eaten in the morning, and Sacajewea is eating cereal."
Inference: Sacajawea is eating cereal in the morning.

See how the statement itself has main ideas (nouns). The main ideas in the statement always appear in the inference. The trick is to read the statement that the reading question asks about and to identify its main ideas.

WHAT DO INFERENCE QUESTIONS LOOK LIKE?

Line __ suggests that / Line __ implies that / The passage implies that
Which of the following would the author most likely add?
The example in line __ suggests that
The author uses the word (phrase) to suggest that
In line __, the reference to __ most directly implies
Lines __ most directly suggest that
In the passage, the word (phrase) indicates that

TIPS FOR INFERENCE QUESTIONS

Tip 1
Inference questions can almost always be identified because they have one of the three following verbs: “suggest”, “imply”, and “indicate”.

Tip 2
Remember that an inference is not the same as an opinion. An opinion is subjective, and several opinions can be drawn from reading the same passage. An inference, on the other hand, is objective. It is a logical conclusion at which you, and any other reader, can arrive.

SAT Reading: Inference Questions

Lesson Includes:

—Approaching Inference Questions

—What do Inference Questions Look Like?

—Tips for Inference Questions

SAT Math

SAT Writing

SAT Reading

SAT Vocabulary