Reading: choose the answer the passage can support.
A statement can sound reasonable and still be the wrong answer. The useful question is: what does this particular passage let me conclude?
Reviewed · Official ASVAB scope and calculator guidance. Examples are original AptiStep material.
Find the sentence that does the work
For a detail question, locate the part of the passage that answers it. Restate that evidence in simple words before comparing the choices. This makes it easier to notice an answer that adds an unsupported claim.
A main idea should cover the whole passage
A detail may be true without being the main idea. If a passage describes two groups using different features of a tool, its main idea usually connects those examples. An answer about only one feature may be too narrow. An answer about every tool in every workplace may be too broad.
An inference still needs evidence
An inference goes a little beyond the exact wording, but it must follow from the passage. Avoid importing personal experience as proof. If a passage says a road closed after heavy rain, it does not automatically establish the repair cost, who made the decision, or the date it reopened.
Try an evidence check
“A workshop now offers an evening session in addition to its morning session. The instructor added it after several participants said they worked during the day.” Why was the evening session added?
Show the solution
To accommodate participants whose daytime work made attendance difficult. The second sentence supplies the reason. There is no evidence that the morning session was canceled or that the evening session costs less.
Review the tempting wrong answer
After a mistake, mark whether the choice contradicted the passage, added a new claim, or answered a different question. That distinction is more useful than rereading the correct answer alone.
Four fresh questions
Try each example before opening its answer. Then explain the step you used in your own words.
The library extended its Thursday hours. During the first month, Thursday evening borrowing increased. Does this prove that visitors read more books?
Show answer and reasoning
No
The passage supports increased borrowing during that period. It does not measure reading, total weekly borrowing, or why the change occurred. Keep the answer within the reported observation.
A shop added picture labels beside tool names. New workers used the pictures to find unfamiliar tools. What use of the labels is directly supported?
Show answer and reasoning
Helping new workers find unfamiliar tools
That use is stated. The passage does not establish that all workers became faster, that written names were removed, or that mistakes disappeared. Avoid adding a broader outcome.
The path remained open during repairs, except for a short section near the bridge. Is “the entire path was open” supported?
Show answer and reasoning
No
“Except for” identifies a limitation. Most of the path may have stayed open, but the bridge section prevents the absolute claim that the entire path was open.
The team tried two storage layouts. The second required less walking, so they kept it. What reason is given for keeping the second layout?
Show answer and reasoning
It required less walking
The causal connection is explicit in “so they kept it.” Cost, attractiveness and storage capacity might matter in real life, but this passage does not name them as reasons.
Can you explain the method without looking?
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