Identify the claim
Ask what the passage actually states, which people or events it covers, and how certain the claim is.
Original example: After mulch was added to the trial beds, the amount of tap water used for them fell. Rainfall also increased during that period. The team plans to compare dry weeks next.
The passage reports two changes and a plan. It does not report a completed comparison of dry weeks.
Separate observation from explanation
Lower tap-water use followed the addition of mulch, but the passage does not isolate the contribution of mulch from other changes. It does not establish mulch as the sole cause. It also does not establish that mulch had no effect. Avoid turning missing causal evidence into proof of the opposite claim.
Check each option against the text
- Stated: directly supported by the passage.
- Inferred: supported by the passage's information without an unwarranted extra premise.
- Contradicted: incompatible with what the passage states.
- Not given: neither established nor ruled out by the available information.
A sentence need not appear word for word to support an inference. Strong words such as only, always, and all are not automatically wrong: check whether the evidence supports their full scope. A limited claim about all three observed beds, for example, does not establish a claim about every possible bed.
In multiple-select questions, select all and only the options that meet the question's requirements. Finding one supported option does not prove the others false.