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SAT Math

Evaluating Statistical Claims

Evaluating Statistical Claims is a skill in the Problem-Solving and Data Analysis domain of the Digital SAT Math section. These are practice questions on it, and each answer choice comes with an explanation of why it is right or wrong.

9 questions. After every answer you’ll see why each choice is right or wrong, not just the one you picked.

Round length
Difficulty (none selected means all)

Sample questions

Open a question to see the answer choices and the correct answer.

A magazine dedicated to marathon running wants to know how frequently adults in its country exercise. It emails a survey to its magazine subscribers and finds that 90% of respondents exercise at least five times per week. Which of the following best explains why this survey should not be used to estimate how frequently all adults in the country exercise?
  1. A. The subscriber list is not representative of all adults in the country, since people who subscribe to a running magazine likely exercise more than the general population. ✓
  2. B. Email surveys always produce less accurate results than phone surveys.
  3. C. The sample size of subscribers who responded is too small to draw any conclusion.
  4. D. A 90% result is too high a number to be believable.

Correct answer: A. The sample was drawn only from running-magazine subscribers, a group likely to exercise far more than the general population, so the sample is biased and not representative.

A study finds that, across many countries, countries with more registered libraries per capita also have higher average adult literacy rates. A news article concludes that building more libraries causes literacy rates to rise. Which of the following, if true, would most directly weaken this conclusion?
  1. A. The study included data from more than fifty countries collected over ten years.
  2. B. Countries with higher literacy rates and stronger economies, both of which stem from greater investment in public education, also tend to fund the construction of more libraries. ✓
  3. C. Some libraries in the study also offer free internet access to visitors.
  4. D. Literacy rates are typically measured using standardized reading assessments.

Correct answer: B. This identifies a plausible common cause (investment in public education) driving both more libraries and higher literacy, suggesting the library-literacy correlation may not reflect a direct causal effect of libraries themselves.

Researchers wanted to test whether a new study technique improves test scores. They recruited volunteers from a single university and randomly assigned each volunteer to either use the new technique or a standard technique before a test. The group using the new technique scored significantly higher on average. Which of the following is most accurate about what this study design supports?
  1. A. Because participants were randomly assigned to groups, the results can be generalized to all students everywhere.
  2. B. Because participants volunteered rather than being randomly sampled, no causal conclusion about the technique's effect can be drawn at all.
  3. C. The study supports a causal conclusion that the technique improved scores for participants in the study, but the results should not be assumed to generalize beyond volunteers similar to those at that university. ✓
  4. D. Because the volunteers were not randomly sampled, the difference in scores was most likely due to chance.

Correct answer: C. Random assignment supports a causal conclusion within the study, but because the sample was not randomly drawn from a broader population, the finding should not automatically be generalized beyond students like those studied.

A researcher observes that students who eat breakfast daily have higher average GPAs than students who skip breakfast, based on survey responses from one high school. The study did not randomly assign students to eat or skip breakfast. Which conclusion is most appropriate?
  1. A. The data show an association between breakfast habits and GPA at this school, but they cannot establish that eating breakfast causes higher GPA, since other factors may explain both. ✓
  2. B. Eating breakfast daily causes an increase in students' GPA.
  3. C. Since correlation does not equal causation, no meaningful relationship exists between breakfast habits and GPA.
  4. D. The results show that students nationwide who eat breakfast have higher GPAs.

Correct answer: A. Correct — because the study is observational, not a randomized experiment, it can only support a claim of association; confounding variables such as household income or sleep habits could independently affect both breakfast habits and GPA.

A city wants to gauge residents' opinions on a proposed transit tax by randomly dialing landline phone numbers between 1 pm and 3 pm on weekdays. Which of the following best describes a limitation of this sampling method?
  1. A. Because the phone numbers were randomly dialed, the sample is representative of all city residents.
  2. B. The sample likely underrepresents working-age adults, who are less likely to be home to answer a landline during weekday afternoons. ✓
  3. C. The sample size is too small to draw any conclusions.
  4. D. Landline users are more likely to support the transit tax than the general population.

Correct answer: B. Correct — the timing of the calls systematically excludes people who are at work during those hours, so the sample is not representative of the full adult population even though the phone numbers themselves were randomly dialed.