Explicitly Stated Information: Finding the Answer That Is Already on the Page
Explicitly Stated Information is the domain where the answer is physically in the passage: the test asks you to locate a detail, a name, a figure, or a stated cause and recognize it in paraphrased form. On the DAT Reading Comprehension section these items usually begin “According to the passage…” or “The passage states that…”, and they reward fast, accurate scanning rather than interpretation.
Core rules
- Answer from the text alone. Outside knowledge of dentistry, biology, or history is irrelevant and often produces the wrong choice.
- Expect paraphrase. The correct option rarely repeats the passage word for word; distractors often do, because verbatim lifting makes a false statement feel familiar.
- Anchor on proper nouns, numerals, and technical terms first. They are visually unique and easy to find; abstract words like “process” or “theory” appear everywhere.
- Read the whole sentence around your anchor, plus the sentence before it. Qualifications (“only when,” “except in”) often sit outside the clause you spotted.
- Watch scope words in the choices: all, most, some, never, primarily. A detail true of one case is not automatically true of the category.
Worked example
Suppose a passage states: “Hyaluronic acid concentrations in gingival crevicular fluid rose sharply in the first 48 hours after scaling, then returned to baseline by day ten.” A question asks when concentrations normalized. Reasoning: scan for “hyaluronic” or “48 hours”; the sentence gives “returned to baseline by day ten,” so the correct choice is “about ten days after treatment.” A trap choice, “within 48 hours,” describes the rise, not the return, and is explicitly contradicted once you read the full sentence.
Traps that cost marks
- The half-sentence trap: a choice matches the first clause and quietly reverses the second.
- The true-but-elsewhere trap: the statement is in the passage but attached to a different subject or study.
- The near-miss number: 48 hours versus ten days, 20 percent versus 20 percentage points.
- The out-of-order search: questions do not follow passage order, so do not carry your place forward blindly.