How to spot it

The choice reads smoothly and stays on topic. Every name and idea in it appeared somewhere in the passage. Then you go back to find the line that proves it, and there is no line. There is a nearby line that leans that way, and you finish the thought yourself.

Common surface signals:

• The choice names a cause the passage never named.
• The choice says what someone should do when the passage only reported what happened.
• The choice turns one listed factor into the whole explanation.
• The choice uses a word the passage avoided, such as best, proves, or main reason.

What it looks like

An invented question in the style of the exam.

Passage: Okonkwo surveyed 60 apartment buildings that had added rooftop gardens. In July, those buildings used about 8 percent less power for cooling than buildings without gardens. Okonkwo notes that most of the garden buildings also replaced their windows that spring.

Question: Which choice best states what the survey supports?

A. Rooftop gardens are an effective way to lower a building's summer power use. B. Buildings with rooftop gardens used less power for cooling in July than buildings without them.

B is correct. A is the trap. The survey reports two changes, the gardens and the windows, and one result. It never separates them. Calling the gardens effective credits one change with the whole effect, and no sentence in the passage does that. B claims only what was counted.

Why it works on people

Reading is partly guessing. You take in a fact, supply a reason that fits it, and store the pair as a single memory. A minute later you cannot tell which half you read and which half you added. The wrong choice hands your own guess back to you. It feels familiar, and familiar feels like proof, so you recognize it instead of checking it. Tired readers do this more, which is why these choices cost the most late in a section.

How to beat it

Run this in order, on every reading question:

1. Say what the question is asking in your own words, before you look at the choices.
2. Pick the choice you like, then hunt for the words in the passage that make it true.
3. Underline those words. If you cannot point to specific wording that backs up every important part of the choice, the choice is out. The wording can come from more than one place in the passage.
4. Check the choice for words the passage avoided, such as best, should, proves, main reason, or all.
5. If two choices survive, keep the one that says less. A smaller claim is easier to support.

The underlining step is the whole habit. Most students already do the rest, then skip that one when time is short.

How often it shows up

Counted in September 2026: 653 of the 19,627 questions in our practice bank contain this trap, across 912 separate answer choices. Some questions use it more than once.

Related patterns

• Claim goes too far overstates something the passage did say, usually with a word like all or always. This pattern states something the passage never said at all.
• True but not asked is fully supported by the passage but answers a question nobody asked. This pattern has no support in the passage to begin with.
• Reversed relationship keeps both of the passage's ideas and flips which one acts on the other. This pattern adds an idea the passage does not contain.