Question 162·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Information and Ideas

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Theater historians often reconstruct the repertoires of traveling companies from newspaper advertisements. Such advertisements record intentions, however, not necessarily outcomes. Cultural historian Maren Kwan compared surviving advertisements with company managers’ nightly account books. Roughly one in five advertised performances never occurred, often because storms delayed travel or an actor became ill. Yet nearly every performance entered in the account books had also been advertised. Moreover, newspaper runs often survive for towns whose account books have been lost. Taken together, Kwan’s findings suggest that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

For an inference question, identify the precise relationship among the passage’s facts rather than selecting a merely related claim. Here, analyze the evidence in both directions: whether every advertised event occurred and whether actual events were usually advertised. Then reject options that make unsupported claims about missing records, relative frequencies, or the equivalence of different sources.

Hints

Hint 1
Identify each source’s function
Ask what advertisements record directly and what account books record directly.
Hint 2
Consider both directions
Compare the proportion of advertised events that occurred with the proportion of actual events that had been advertised.
Hint 3
Avoid unsupported assumptions
The passage does not establish that cancellation rates were consistent across plays or that missing records explain known cancellations.

Step-by-step

Step 1
Distinguish intentions from outcomes
Advertisements show what companies intended to perform. Account books, by contrast, document performances that actually occurred.
Step 2
Interpret both findings
Because about one-fifth of advertised performances were canceled, an advertisement does not confirm an actual performance. However, because nearly every documented performance had been advertised, performances without advertisements were uncommon.
Step 3
Complete the inference
Therefore, choice D is correct: an advertisement is stronger evidence that a performance was planned than that it occurred, while a lack of advertisement makes occurrence comparatively unlikely.

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SAT Reading: Information and IdeasAdvancedCoreSAT inference questions: complete the text logically

Question 162·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Information and Ideas

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