Which argument has stronger evidence?
Compare two original passages, check the support behind each claim, and write a short explanation. Includes five questions with worked answers.
Plan your essay in 5 minutes
1:051-page summary: Plan your GED® test essay in 5 minutes
- You read 2 short passages that take opposite sides.
- Your job: explain which side has better evidence. It does not have to be the side you agree with.
- Write each writer's main claim in a few words.
- List each side's evidence. Facts, numbers and experts are strong. Feelings and guesses are weak.
- Pick the side with stronger support. That is your thesis.
- Save about 5 minutes at the end to reread and fix mistakes.
Read the transcript
On the Reasoning Through Language Arts test, you write one essay. You get 45 minutes.
You'll read two short passages that take opposite sides. Your job is to explain which side is better supported by evidence. It doesn't have to be the side you agree with.
Spend the first 5 minutes on a plan.
First, write each writer's main claim in a few words.
Second, list the evidence each one uses. Facts, numbers, and expert sources are strong. Feelings and guesses are weak.
Third, pick the side with stronger support. That's your thesis.
Now you have a simple outline. An opening that states your thesis. Two or three body paragraphs, each with one reason and a quote or detail from the passages. Then a short closing.
Leave about 5 minutes at the end to reread and fix mistakes.
A clear plan makes the writing faster. Try it with the essay practice on FinishHigh.
Captions are on by default. Narrated with an AI voice (ElevenLabs).
Judge the support, not your favorite idea
A writer makes a claim: something they want a reader to accept. Your job in this lesson is to compare how two writers support their claims. You can prefer a proposal and still notice that the other writer has supplied better evidence.
If claim and evidence are new to you, start with the free lesson “Read the evidence before choosing an opinion” in the related links below. This lesson adds a second passage and asks you to compare both writers.
The center, people, counts and costs below are entirely fictional FinishHigh practice. They are not visitor statistics, research findings, GED® test questions or a report about an actual program.
Passage A: continue a small evening trial
Letter from Mara: Our learning center should continue its Monday evening study room for four more weeks before deciding on a permanent schedule. During a four-week trial, the sign-in book recorded 24, 26, 25 and 25 visits across the four Monday sessions. These counts show use on those evenings, although one person could have visited more than once.
The room is already available, and the trial cost $80 in extra staff time in total. A further trial would let us track attendance and costs again. We have not tested Saturdays, so these records do not show that Monday evenings are better than Saturdays. They do give us a reason to continue checking whether the evening option is useful.
Passage B: replace evenings with Saturdays
Letter from Leo: The center should stop the evening trial and open a Saturday study room instead. I work late on Mondays, and two neighbors told me they would prefer Saturday. A weekend room could help people whose work makes evening study difficult.
I am sure Saturdays will bring twice as many visits and cost less to staff. Everyone knows weekends are more convenient. We should make this a permanent change now. I have not collected Saturday attendance records or a staffing estimate, but the preferences of people I know are enough to show that Saturday is the better choice.
Compare the same things in both passages
First, name each proposal. Mara supports another short Monday trial. Leo wants to replace evenings with a permanent Saturday schedule. Neither letter proves which schedule would serve everyone best.
Next, connect each detail to the proposal it can support. The sign-in record shows that the four evening sessions were used. The $80 cost is specific and attributed to the trial, but there is no Saturday cost for comparison. Two neighbors’ preferences support checking whether some people want Saturday access. They do not establish attendance for the wider community.
Finally, mark the gaps. Leo predicts twice the visits and lower costs without a Saturday count or estimate. Mara limits her proposal to more observation and explicitly acknowledges the missing Saturday comparison. Specific numbers are useful only when their source, meaning and connection to the claim are clear. An unexplained number is not automatically strong evidence.
One worked comparison
Mara gives the better-supported argument for a further trial. She refers to recorded use over four Mondays and a stated trial cost. Those details give a concrete basis for collecting more information. Leo raises a relevant concern about people who work late, but his two-neighbor example cannot establish community-wide demand, and he supplies no evidence for doubling visits or reducing costs.
The conclusion has a limit: the evidence supports continuing investigation, not declaring Mondays permanently best. The attendance total is 100 visits, not necessarily 100 different people. To compare the schedules fairly, the center would need Saturday attendance and staffing information gathered in a comparable way.
Build a short explanation of your own
Try three moves: state which argument is better supported for its stated proposal; refer to a particular detail from each passage; explain why the difference matters. Add a limit where the evidence stops. You can identify a useful point in the weaker argument without accepting all its claims.
Keep your wording focused on what the passages actually say. Do not invent a study, a larger survey, a missing cost or a passing score. A claim–detail–explanation pattern can help you plan, but this short practice is not a complete official extended response, an official scoring rubric or a promise of a score.
Finish with the five tasks below. Open the worked answers after trying. More than one wording can be reasonable when it uses the passage accurately and explains the support.
Your turn.
Try each question before opening the explanation. These are FinishHigh practice examples, not GED® test questions.
What does each writer want the center to do? Give both claims.
Show the answer and why
Mara wants four more weeks of the Monday evening trial before a permanent decision. Leo wants to stop that trial and switch permanently to Saturdays. Naming the actual proposals matters: support for a limited trial is different from proof that one schedule is always best.
Name one piece of evidence from each passage. What can each support, and what can it not show?
Show the answer and why
Passage A: the sign-in counts of 24, 26, 25 and 25 support the claim that people used four Monday sessions. They cannot establish Saturday demand, year-round use or 100 unique users. Passage B: two neighbors preferred Saturdays. That supports investigating those people’s needs, but a small personal sample cannot establish what everyone prefers.
Which two predictions in Leo’s letter lack the comparison evidence they need?
Show the answer and why
He predicts twice as many visits and lower staffing costs on Saturdays. The passage supplies neither Saturday attendance nor a Saturday staffing estimate. A relevant concern about late work is not a measurement of either predicted outcome.
A friend writes: “The trial proved that 100 different learners prefer Mondays to Saturdays.” Identify two problems with this sentence.
Show the answer and why
The four counts add to 100 visits, but repeat visitors may appear in more than one count, so 100 different learners is not established. There is also no Saturday attendance or preference comparison. Attendance on Mondays alone cannot prove that people prefer Mondays to Saturdays.
Write three or four sentences comparing the support in the two letters. Use a detail from each and include a limit.
Show the answer and why
Example: Mara’s case for another short trial has stronger support because she gives recorded counts from four Monday sessions and a stated trial cost. Leo’s two-neighbor example points to a possible need, but it does not support his prediction of twice as many visits or cheaper staffing. Neither writer supplies a Saturday comparison, so the evidence does not prove that Mondays are the best permanent schedule. Other wording is acceptable if it uses the passages accurately and explains the connection.
Trusted sources and further study
Sources guide the topics and factual information. The lesson wording, examples, and questions are original FinishHigh material.
- GED® test: language arts extended-response resources ↗GED Testing Service · checked 2026-10-16
- UNC Writing Center: using evidence in an argument ↗The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · checked 2026-10-16
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