This set mixes the four skills from claims, reasons and evidence: sorting claims from reasons, testing evidence, finding assumptions and fitting conclusions. Every text and figure below is invented for practice, and none refers to a real source or event.
Attempt each question on paper first. Write your sorting of claim, reason and evidence before you judge anything, then open the answer. The questions run from easier to harder.
Questions
Q1 (sorting). “Schools should teach touch typing, because most coursework is typed.” Name the claim and the reason.
Show answer
Claim: schools should teach touch typing. Reason: most coursework is typed. “Because” introduces the reason.
Q2 (sorting). “The pool is safe to use. It is cleaned every day and the water is tested every week.” Name the claim, and say how many reasons support it.
Show answer
Claim: the pool is safe to use. There are two reasons: it is cleaned every day, and the water is tested every week.
Q3 (sorting). “Our club should meet on Thursdays. Fewer students have tuition that day, and the hall is free.” What is the claim, and what does each reason rely on?
Show answer
Claim: the club should meet on Thursdays. Reason 1 relies on fewer students having tuition on Thursday. Reason 2 relies on the hall being free on Thursday. Neither has a figure behind it, so no evidence is given.
Q4 (evidence). Statement: “Everyone in Form 4 owns a laptop.” Evidence: 25 of the 30 students in Class 4A say they own one. Does the evidence support it?
Show answer
No. 25 ÷ 30 ≈ 0.83, so about 83% of one class, not “everyone”. It also covers only Class 4A, not all of Form 4.
Q5 (evidence). Statement: “The recycling bin was fuller in week 2 than in week 1.” Evidence (invented): 12 kg of paper in week 1 and 18 kg in week 2. Does it support the statement, and what does it not show?
Show answer
Yes. 18 kg is 6 kg more than 12 kg. It does not show why the amount rose, for example whether week 2 had a test, a tidy-up or more school days.
Q6 (evidence). Statement: “Joining the choir improves students’ grades.” Evidence (invented): choir members have an average of 78 and non-members have an average of 70. Does it support the statement?
Show answer
It partly supports a smaller statement: choir members’ average is 8 points higher (78 − 70 = 8). It does not show that joining the choir caused the difference. Students with strong study habits may be the ones who join.
Q7 (assumption). “The shop is full of customers at noon, so it must be making a profit.” State one assumption and apply the collapse test.
Show answer
Assumption: customers spend more than the shop’s costs. Collapse test: if most noon visitors only browse, or costs such as rent are high, a crowd tells us nothing about profit, and the argument fails.
Q8 (assumption). “This study app is rated 4.5 out of 5, so it must help students learn.” State one assumption and say how the author could support it.
Show answer
Assumption: the rating measures learning, not just how pleasant the app looks. The author could support it by showing evidence on how much users learned, such as before and after quiz results.
Q9 (revising). Evidence: 9 of 12 members of one school football team said they enjoy team sports. Conclusion: “Teenagers enjoy team sports.” Rewrite the conclusion to fit.
Show answer
For example: “In one school football team, 9 of the 12 members interviewed (75%) said they enjoy team sports.” 9 ÷ 12 = 0.75. Add a limit: footballers may enjoy team sports more than other teenagers.
Q10 (mixed). A poster in a fictional town market says: “Our market is the cheapest in the region. In a survey of 10 shoppers, rice was RM2 lower here than at the Sunrise supermarket.” (Sunrise is an invented supermarket.) (a) Name the claim and the evidence. (b) Does the evidence support the claim? (c) Rewrite the claim to fit.
Show answer
(a) Claim: the market is the cheapest in the region. Evidence: 10 shoppers reported rice RM2 lower than at the Sunrise supermarket.
(b) No. The evidence covers one product (rice), one comparison shop and 10 people, while the claim covers everything in the whole region.
(c) For example: “According to a survey of 10 shoppers, rice cost RM2 less at this market than at the Sunrise supermarket.”
If you got these wrong
| Where you slipped | What it usually means | Go to |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 to Q3: named a fact as the claim | You looked for the most specific sentence, not what the author wants | Distinguish a claim from a supporting reason |
| Q4 to Q6: accepted a figure because it was exact | You did not match who, how much and when | Explain whether cited evidence supports a statement |
| Q7 and Q8: repeated the reason as the assumption | You did not look for the unwritten step | Identify an assumption |
| Q9 and Q10: kept the word “all” or lost the figure | You did not match the scope of the conclusion to the evidence | Revise an overgeneralised conclusion |
If your answers were right but slow, redo Q1 to Q3 with a timer, and then try Q10 again from a blank page.
How to use this set well
Do the questions in two sittings rather than one. On the second sitting, redo only the ones you missed, and write the answer in your own words before opening it.
When you feel steady, move on to data interpretation and limitations, which applies these habits to tables and charts.
These skills are the ones a teacher can practise with you on your own reading. Our online one-to-one Global Perspectives tuition does this without writing any assessed work for you.