Supporting Details

Detail questions are the most common type on the subtest and the closest thing it has to free points, because the answer is written down and you are allowed to look at it.

The way to lose them is to answer from memory of the passage instead of going back to it.

The method

1. Read the question and pick out its most distinctive word.
2. Scan the passage for that word, or for a synonym of it.
3. Read that sentence and its neighbors.
4. Compare each choice against the text, word by word.

Always go back. The passage is on the screen and you have nearly three minutes. Answering a detail question from memory is the most avoidable error on this subtest.

Scanning for the anchor

You are not re-reading; you are locating.

Hydraulic brake fluid absorbs moisture from the air over time. Absorbed water lowers the fluid's boiling point, and fluid that boils under hard braking forms vapor in the lines. Because vapor compresses and fluid does not, the pedal travels further and the brakes feel soft. Most manufacturers recommend a fluid change every two years regardless of mileage.

According to the passage, absorbed water in brake fluid causes

(A) corrosion in the lines (B) a lower boiling point (C) increased mileage between changes (D) higher pedal pressure

The distinctive phrase is absorbed water. It appears in sentence two: "Absorbed water lowers the fluid's boiling point".

(B).

Check the others against the text. Corrosion is never mentioned - that is an outside-the-passage choice, and it is a real consequence in the world, which is what makes it tempting. "Increased mileage between changes" inverts the passage's point. "Higher pedal pressure" reverses the direction: the passage says the pedal travels further and feels soft.

Read the neighbors

The qualifier is frequently not in the sentence you found.

From the same passage:

According to the passage, how often is a fluid change recommended?

(A) every two years (B) every two years or by mileage, whichever comes first (C) whenever the pedal feels soft (D) every two years, regardless of mileage

Sentences (A) and (D) both look right, and (D) is better, because the passage says "regardless of mileage" and (B) contradicts that explicitly.

This is the shape to watch for. When two choices say the same thing and one adds a qualifier that is in the passage, the one with the qualifier is the answer.

Comparing word for word

The characteristic wrong answer here reuses the passage's vocabulary and changes one thing.

Things that get altered:

Read the choice against the line, not against your memory of the line. The distortion is usually one word.

Questions that ask what is NOT stated

A variant worth naming: "all of the following are mentioned EXCEPT" or "which is not stated".

Three of the four will be in the passage. The job is to find the one that is not, which means checking all four rather than stopping at the first match.

The efficient route is to locate each of the three that are there and cross them off. The survivor is the answer, and confirming three is faster than proving a negative about one.

What you can skip

• Drilling NOT and EXCEPT questions. The section above covers them because the form exists, but only one question in our bank uses EXCEPT and a handful use NOT. Keep the method in reserve.

Work one in under a minute

A parachute landing fall distributes the impact of landing across five points of the body in sequence: the balls of the feet, the side of the calf, the thigh, the hip, and the side of the back. Taking the impact on any single point, most commonly by landing stiff-legged, concentrates the force and is the usual cause of injury. The technique is practiced from a platform before it is used from an aircraft.

According to the passage, injury usually results from

(A) landing from too great a height (B) practicing from a platform (C) concentrating the force on one point (D) landing on the side of the back

The distinctive word is injury, and it appears in sentence two: concentrating the force "is the usual cause of injury".

(C).

(D) is a real item from the passage's list but it is the fifth point of a correct landing, not a cause of injury - the wrong-sentence trap. (A) is outside the passage. (B) inverts the last sentence.

Where this leads

Locating a line is the skill every other question type depends on, including inference, where the supporting line is the thing an inference has to rest on.