Rank 2 by frequency | 537 questions in corpus (21.7% of all questions)
Asks the test-taker to locate and identify information that is explicitly stated in the passage. These are factual recall questions — the answer is directly grounded in passage text, not inferred. The correct answer is a paraphrase (not a direct quote) of something the passage states. The test-taker's job is to find the relevant text and match it to the answer that captures the same idea in different words.
Specific Reference has 8 distinct subtypes, making it the second most diverse type after Inference:
The signature phrasing. Directly signals that the answer is stated in the text. - "According to the passage, which one of the following is true of [X]?" - "According to the author, [X] because..." - "According to the passage, [person] believed that..." - "According to passage A/B, ..."
What makes it distinct: The most explicit signal that this is a detail question. "According to" = "the passage says."
Uses "states" or "indicates" instead of "according to." - "The passage indicates which one of the following?" - "The author of the passage states which one of the following about [X]?"
What makes it distinct: Functionally identical to Variation A, but slightly more formal phrasing.
Points to a specific location in the passage. - "Which one of the following is mentioned in the passage as [X]?" - "The uncertainty mentioned in line [X] refers to..." - "The [thing] referred to in line [X] is..."
What makes it distinct: Includes line references or specific passage locations, making it the easiest subtype to research — the test-taker knows exactly where to look.
A meta-question: asks which question the passage contains enough information to answer. - "The passage provides information that answers which one of the following questions?" - "Information in the passage most helps to answer which one of the following questions?" - "The passage contains information sufficient to answer which one of the following questions?"
What makes it distinct: Instead of asking "what does the passage say about X?", it asks "about which of these topics does the passage provide information?" This requires broader passage comprehension since the test-taker must evaluate all five answer choices as potential questions.
Asks about the purpose of a specific detail — why the author included it. - "The author mentions [X] primarily in order to..." - "The fact that [X] is cited by the author primarily in order to..."
What makes it distinct: This is a hybrid — it references a specific detail (like a Specific Reference question) but asks about its function (like an Organization question). It falls under Specific Reference when the answer describes factual purpose ("to provide evidence for," "to illustrate that") rather than structural role.
Asks about the role of a specific passage element. - "The use of the words [X] serves which one of the following functions?" - "The author sees the judge's primary role as..."
What makes it distinct: Similar to Variation E but focuses on a broader element (a phrase, a concept, a person's role) rather than a specific mention.
The question writer identifies a specific fact, claim, or piece of information stated in the passage. Ideal targets are: - Facts buried in the middle of a dense paragraph (not the opening or closing sentence) - Claims attributed to a specific person or school of thought - Qualifications or exceptions to a general rule - Causal explanations ("X because Y") - Lists where one item is easy to confuse with another
The correct answer restates the passage information using different vocabulary and sentence structure. It never uses the exact same words. The paraphrase must be: - Semantically identical to the original - Written at approximately the same level of specificity - Free of additions or omissions that would change the meaning
Trap Type 1: Distortion / Half-Right Contains one clause that matches the passage and one that doesn't. Example: If the passage says "Critics praised the novel's structure but found its characters flat," a distortion might say "Critics praised the novel's structure and its vivid character development."
Trap Type 2: Wrong Attribution Assigns a view to the wrong entity. If the passage describes Critic A's view and Critic B's view, a wrong answer attributes Critic A's view to Critic B.
Average 18.5 words. Often names a specific person, concept, or line reference to direct the reader to the relevant portion of the passage. The shortest stems are "According to the passage..." formulations (~12 words); the longest include conditional setups (~30 words).
Average 12.5 words per choice — shorter than most other types because the answers are factual claims, not extended arguments. The brevity reflects the fact that these are paraphrases of specific passage statements rather than complex analytical constructs.
Source: PT88, Q2 A straightforward question asking what the passage says about a specific topic. The answer is a close paraphrase of a single passage sentence. This represents the easiest form of detail retrieval.
Source: PT56, Q9 Uses "states" language to signal explicit information. The answer requires finding the relevant sentence and recognizing its paraphrase among the choices.
Source: PT87, Q8 > "The passage contains information sufficient to answer which one of the following questions?"
The test-taker must evaluate each answer choice as a potential question and determine which one the passage has enough information to answer. This is the hardest subtype despite being classified as detail-retrieval, because it requires broad passage comprehension.
On comparative passages, these frequently ask what one specific passage states, requiring the test-taker to isolate information from the correct passage.