The present disclosure provides compositions, methods and systems for sequencing a template nucleic acid using a polymerase based, nucleic acid binding reaction involving examination of the interaction between a polymerase and template nucleic acid in the presence of one or more unlabeled nucleotides. The methods rely, in part, on identifying a base of a template nucleic acid during nucleic acid synthesis by controlling the sequencing reaction conditions. Template nucleic acid bases may be identified during an examination step followed by an optional incorporation step.