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SAT Reading and Writing Practice
Inferences

Draw logical conclusions that are strongly supported by, but not explicitly stated in, a passage.

59 original inferences questions in the SAT Ranker bank, with instant scoring and an Elo-based rank once you sign up. Below are a few free samples with full explanations.

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Sample question 1 · medium

A hospital moved its hand-sanitizer dispensers from beside the doors to the foot of each bed. Hand-hygiene compliance among staff rose substantially in the following months, though no new training was introduced and staffing levels were unchanged.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

the staff had not previously known that hand hygiene mattered before the programme began at all.
✓ how convenient a behavior is can influence how often it is performed.
training is the only way to change staff behavior.
the hospital hired more staff during this period.

With training and staffing held constant, only the dispensers' placement changed, so convenience is the supported explanation. The passage explicitly rules out new training and staffing changes, and nothing suggests staff were unaware hygiene mattered.

Sample question 2 · hard

Analyzing a medieval manuscript, conservators found that the parchment had been scraped and reused: beneath the visible prayer book lay a scientific treatise, erased centuries earlier. Ultraviolet imaging recovered much of the older text, which proved to be the only surviving copy.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

✓ the practice of reusing parchment inadvertently preserved a work that would otherwise have been lost.
the prayer book was of no historical value.
medieval scribes deliberately preserved scientific texts beneath religious ones when they wrote the religious ones over them.
ultraviolet imaging was available to medieval conservators.

The erased treatise survived only because the parchment was scraped and reused, and it is the only surviving copy, so the reuse preserved it unintentionally. Nothing indicates deliberate preservation, and the other options are unsupported or anachronistic.

Sample question 3 · hard

The mill's wage books record piece rates that fell steadily from 1857 to 1863, and its output books record rising earnings per worker across the same years. Neither set was kept for a historian's benefit, and there is no sign either was falsified. Taken together the two series indicate that over this period the workers ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

were leaving the mill for better-paid work elsewhere.
were being paid less than the agreed rate for their output.
had negotiated a new contract with the mill's owners.
✓ were producing substantially more in the time they worked.

If the rate paid per piece fell while earnings per worker rose, the number of pieces each worker produced must have increased enough to more than offset the cut. Nothing indicates underpayment against the agreed rate, since the books are accepted as accurate, and neither a contract nor departures would reconcile the two series.

Sample question 4 · medium

Desert lizards of one species bask on dark rocks in the cool early morning, then retreat to pale sand as the day heats up. Researchers observed that lizards prevented from reaching pale sand in the afternoon overheated, while those with access regulated their body temperature normally.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

the lizards cannot survive in an environment that offers only one surface colour.
the lizards prefer dark rocks to pale sand at every hour of the day and night.
pale sand is warmer than dark rock during the hottest part of the afternoon.
✓ the lizards' movement between surfaces helps them manage their body temperature.

Basking on dark rock when cool and moving to pale sand when hot, plus overheating when denied the sand, supports the inference that moving between surfaces regulates body temperature. The passage does not support a constant preference, that pale sand is warmer, or a claim about survival.

Sample question 5 · hard

In a study of decision-making, participants who were asked to justify their choices aloud tended to pick options that were easy to explain, even when they had earlier rated a harder-to-explain option as more appealing. Participants who chose silently more often selected the option they had rated most appealing.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

✓ requiring people to explain a choice can shift them toward more easily justified options.
people are quite unable to explain any of the preferences that they hold to anyone else.
decisions made silently are always more accurate than decisions spoken aloud.
the appeal of an option depends only on how easy that option is to explain.

Those who justified aloud drifted toward explainable options despite preferring others, while silent choosers stuck with their favorites. This supports the inference that being required to explain can shift choices toward justifiable options. The other choices overreach beyond the evidence.

More topics
SAT Reading and Writing skills
Words in ContextCentral Ideas and DetailsCommand of EvidenceText Structure and PurposeCross-Text ConnectionsRhetorical SynthesisTransitionsBoundariesForm, Structure, and Sense