<p>Well, by directly stated, I don’t mean word for word. For example…if something in the passage says “I hate you, I hate you so much, you big piece of dog turd” and the question asked how this person feels, you’d be silly not to put down “scornful” or something similar. Yeah, it’s inference…but it’s such a direct inference, completely supported by an explicit line in the passage.</p>
<p>When I say don’t infer, I mean don’t make it so much of a stretch. Look for “direct inferences” if you will (yeah, it’s an oxymoron…but hopefully you get what I mean). Look for specific lines where no one can reasonably argue that this line does not support whatever answer choice is right.</p>
<p>There’s no way someone could argue that the dog turd line shows that this person is happy, unless there’s sarcasm involved (in which case you’d need another line to support that sarcasm is actually happening).</p>