Question ID 9abc3ba5

Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences

Ideas

ID: 9abc3ba5
“Gestures” in painting are typically thought of as bold, expressive brushstrokes. In the 1970s, American painter Jack Whitten
built a 12-foot (3.7-meter) tool he named the “developer” to apply paint to an entire canvas in one motion, resulting in his
series of “slab” paintings from that decade. Whitten described this process as making an entire painting in “one gesture,”
signaling a clear departure from the prevalence of gestures in his work from the 1960s. Some art historians claim this shift
represents “removing gesture” from the process. Therefore, regardless of whether using the developer constitutes a gesture,
both Whitten and these art historians likely agree that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. any tool that a painter uses to create an artwork is capable of creating gestures.

B. Whitten’s work from the 1960s exhibits many more gestures than his work from the 1970s does.

C. Whitten became less interested in exploring the role of gesture in his work as his career progressed.

D. Whitten’s work from the 1960s is much more realistic than his work from the 1970s is.
Question ID 378c66d5
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of

Ideas Evidence

ID: 378c66d5
A member of the Otomi, an Indigenous people in Central Mexico, Octavio Medellín immigrated to the United States as a child,
and his sculpture bears the impress of traditions on both sides of the border: US-based modernist sculpture, Mexican
modernist painting, Otomi art, and the ancient sculpture of other Mexican Indigenous peoples, including the Maya. In his
1950 masterpiece History of Mexico, Medellín fuses these influences into a style so idiosyncratic that it resists efforts to
view his work through the lens of nationality or cultural identity. Artists, he insisted, should strive for individual expression,
even as they draw inspiration from their heritage and the communities where they live and work.

Which quotation from an art critic most directly challenges the underlined claim in the text?

A. “Although a number of ancient Indigenous artistic traditions pictured human forms in profile, the forms populating the
surface of A History of Mexico suggest a specifically Maya influence.”

B. “In A History of Mexico, the synthesis of ancient and modernist traditions functions as a stylistic parallel to the work’s
subject matter: a survey of centuries of Mexican history.”

C. “Many critics focus on Indigenous influences in A History of Mexico and other key works by Medellín to the exclusion of
influences from non-Indigenous art.”

D. “While A History of Mexico features modernist motifs, it relies primarily on angular human forms in profile—a staple of
Maya sculpture—and thus invites classification as Indigenous art.”
Question ID 299c5303
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences

Ideas

ID: 299c5303
As the name suggests, dramaturges originated in theater, where they continue to serve a variety of functions: conducting
historical research for directors, compiling character biographies for actors, and perhaps most importantly, helping writers of
plays and musicals to hone the works’ stories and characters. Performance scholar Susan Manning observes that many
choreographers, like playwrights and musical theater writers, are concerned with storytelling and characterization. In fact,
some choreographers describe the dances they create as expressions of narrative through movement; it is therefore
unsurprising that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. dramaturges can have a profound impact on the artistic direction of plays and musicals.

B. choreographers developing dances with narrative elements frequently engage dramaturges to assist in refining those
elements.

C. dances by choreographers who incorporate narrative elements are more accessible to audiences than dances by
choreographers who do not.

D. some directors and actors rely too heavily on dramaturges to complete certain research tasks.
Question ID 56f477fb
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of

Ideas Evidence

ID: 56f477fb
Distribution of Ecosystem Services Affected by Invasive Species by Service Type
Region (Overall) Provisioning (75%) Regulating (21%) Cultural (4%)

West 73% 27% 0%

North 88% 12% 0%

South 79% 14% 7%

East 83% 6% 11%

Central 33% 67% 0%

To assess the impact of invasive species on ecosystems in Africa, Benis N. Egoh and colleagues reviewed government
reports from those nations about how invasive species are undermining ecosystem services (aspects of the ecosystem on
which residents depend). The services were sorted into three categories: provisioning (material resources from the
ecosystem), regulating (natural processes such as cleaning the air or water), and cultural (nonmaterial benefits of
ecosystems). Egoh and her team assert that countries in each region reported effects on provisioning services and that
provisioning services represent the majority of the reported services.

Which choice best describes data from the table that support Egoh and colleagues’ assertion?

A. Provisioning services represent 73% of the services reported for the West region and 33% of those for the Central region,
but they represent 75% of the services reported overall.

B. None of the percentages shown for provisioning services are lower than 33%, and the overall percentage shown for
provisioning services is 75%.

C. Provisioning services are shown for each region, while no cultural services are shown for some regions.

D. The greatest percentage shown for provisioning services is 88% for the North region, and the least shown for
provisioning services is 33% for the Central region.
Question ID a3fb5e77
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and

Ideas Details

ID: a3fb5e77
Some animal-behavior studies involve observing wild animals in their natural habitat, and some involve capturing wild
animals and observing them in a laboratory. Each approach has advantages over the other. In wild studies, researchers can
more easily presume that the animals are behaving normally, and in lab studies, researchers can more easily control factors
that might affect the results. But if, for example, the results from a wild study and a lab study of Western scrub-jays
(Aphelocoma californica) contradict each other, one or both of the studies must have failed to account for some factor that
was relevant to the birds’ behavior.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A. When the results of a natural-habitat study and those from a lab study of a wild animal such as the Western scrub-jay
conflict, the study in the natural habitat is more likely than the lab study to have accurate results.

B. Studying wild animals such as the Western scrub-jay in both their natural habitat and lab settings is likely to yield
conflicting results that researchers cannot fully resolve.

C. Wild animals such as the Western scrub-jay can be effectively studied in their natural habitat and in the lab, but each
approach has drawbacks that could affect the accuracy of the findings.

D. Differing results between natural-habitat and lab studies of wild animals such as the Western scrub-jay are a strong
indication that both of the studies had design flaws that affected the accuracy of their results.
Question ID 87023f34
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of

Ideas Evidence

ID: 87023f34
“Ghosts of the Old Year” is an early 1900s poem by James Weldon Johnson. In the poem, the speaker describes
experiencing an ongoing cycle of anticipation followed by regretful reflection: ______

Which quotation from “Ghosts of the Old Year” most effectively illustrates the claim?

A. “What does this brazen tongue declare, / That falling on the midnight air / Brings to my heart a sense of care / Akin to
fright?”

B. “The snow has ceased its fluttering flight, / The wind sunk to a whisper light, / An ominous stillness fills the night, / A
pause—a hush.”

C. “It tells of many a squandered day, / Of slighted gems and treasured clay, / Of precious stores not laid away, / Of fields
unreaped.”

D. “And so the years go swiftly by, / Each, coming, brings ambitions high, / And each, departing, leaves a sigh / Linked to the
past.”
Question ID 22a41819
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context

ID: 22a41819
Rejecting the premise that the literary magazine Ebony and Topaz (1927) should present a unified vision of Black American
identity, editor Charles S. Johnson fostered his contributors’ diverse perspectives by promoting their authorial autonomy.
Johnson’s self-effacement diverged from the editorial stances of W.E.B. Du Bois and Alain Locke, whose decisions for their
publications were more ______.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A. proficient

B. dogmatic

C. ambiguous

D. unpretentious
Question ID 124fdcd7
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of

Ideas Evidence

ID: 124fdcd7
Many archaeologists will tell you that categorizing excavated fragments of pottery by style, period, and what objects they
belong to relies not only on standard criteria, but also on instinct developed over years of practice. In a recent study, however,
researchers trained a deep-learning computer model on thousands of images of pottery fragments and found that it could
categorize them as accurately as a team of expert archaeologists. Some archaeologists have expressed concern that they
might be replaced by such computer models, but the researchers claim that outcome is highly unlikely.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researchers’ claim?

A. In the researchers’ study, the model was able to categorize the pottery fragments much more quickly than the
archaeologists could.

B. In the researchers’ study, neither the model nor the archeologists were able to accurately categorize all the pottery
fragments that were presented.

C. A survey of archaeologists showed that categorizing pottery fragments limits the amount of time they can dedicate to
other important tasks that only human experts can do.

D. A survey of archaeologists showed that few of them received dedicated training in how to properly categorize pottery
fragments.
Question ID c966ad55
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: c966ad55
The following text is from Srimati Svarna Kumari Devi’s 1894 novel The Fatal Garland (translated by A. Christina Albers in
1910). Shakti is walking near a riverbank that she visited frequently during her childhood.

She crossed the woods she knew so well. The trees seemed to extend their branches like welcoming arms. They
greeted her as an old friend. Soon she reached the river-side.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?

A. It suggests that Shakti feels uncomfortable near the river.

B. It indicates that Shakti has lost her sense of direction in the woods.

C. It emphasizes Shakti’s sense of belonging in the landscape.

D. It conveys Shakti’s appreciation for her long-term friendships.

Question ID 236fee8e
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 236fee8e
Archeological excavation of Market Street Chinatown, a nineteenth-century Chinese American community in San Jose,
California, provided the first evidence that Asian food products were imported to the United States in the 1800s: bones from
a freshwater fish species native to Southeast Asia. Jinshanzhuang—Hong Kong–based import/export firms—likely
coordinated the fish’s transport from Chinese-operated fisheries in Vietnam and Malaysia to North American markets. This
route reveals the (often overlooked) multinational dimensions of the trade networks linking Chinese diaspora communities.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

A. It explains why efforts to determine the country of origin of the items mentioned in the previous sentence remain
inconclusive.

B. It provides information that helps support a claim about a discovery’s significance that is presented in the following
sentence.

C. It traces the steps that were taken to locate and recover the objects that are described in the previous sentence.

D. It outlines a hypothesis that additional evidence discussed in the following sentence casts some doubt on.
Question ID d4732483
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: d4732483
Studying late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century artifacts from an agricultural and domestic site in Texas, archaeologist
Ayana O. Flewellen found that Black women employed as farm workers utilized hook-and-eye closures to fasten their clothes
at the waist, giving themselves a silhouette similar to the one that was popular in contemporary fashion and typically
achieved through more restrictive garments such as corsets. Flewellen argues that this sartorial practice shows that these
women balanced hegemonic ideals of femininity with the requirements of their physically demanding occupation.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To describe an unexpected discovery that altered a researcher’s view of how rapidly fashions among Black female
farmworkers in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Texas changed during the period

B. To discuss research that investigated the ways in which Black female farmworkers in late nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century Texas used fashion practices to resist traditional gender ideals

C. To evaluate a scholarly work that offers explanations for the impact of urban fashion ideals on Black female farmworkers
in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Texas

D. To summarize the findings of a study that explored factors influencing a fashion practice among Black female
farmworkers in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Texas
Question ID 84ece3f6
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context

ID: 84ece3f6
The following text is adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1844 short story “Drowne’s Wooden Image.” Drowne, a young man,
is carving a wooden figure to decorate the front of a ship.
Day by day, the work assumed greater precision, and settled its irregular and misty outline into distincter grace and beauty.
The general design was now obvious to the common eye.

As used in the text, what does the word “assumed” most nearly mean?

A. Acquired

B. Acknowledged

C. Imitated

D. Speculated
Question ID ac9a3a26
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: ac9a3a26
According to historian Vicki L. Ruiz, Mexican American women made crucial contributions to the labor movement during
World War II. At the time, food processing companies entered into contracts to supply United States armed forces with
canned goods. Increased production quotas conferred greater bargaining power on the companies’ employees, many of
whom were Mexican American women: employees insisted on more favorable benefits, and employers, who were anxious to
fulfill the contracts, complied. Thus, labor activism became a platform for Mexican American women to assert their agency.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?

A. It elaborates on a claim about labor relations in a particular industry made earlier in the text.

B. It offers an example of a trend in the World War II–era economy discussed earlier in the text.

C. It notes a possible exception to the historical narrative of labor activism sketched earlier in the text.

D. It provides further details about the identities of the workers discussed earlier in the text.
Question ID 9ccf463e
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context

ID: 9ccf463e
The following text is from Nella Larsen’s 1928 novel Quicksand.

The trees in their spring beauty sent through her restive mind a sharp thrill of pleasure. Seductive, charming, and
beckoning as cities were, they had not this easy unhuman loveliness.

As used in the text, what does the word “beckoning” most nearly mean?

A. Demanding

B. Signaling

C. Inviting

D. Shifting
Question ID 7bf79a90
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

Connections

ID: 7bf79a90
Text 1
Microbes are tiny organisms in the soil, water, and air all around us. They thrive even in very harsh conditions. That’s why
Noah Fierer and colleagues were surprised when soil samples they collected from an extremely cold, dry area in Antarctica
didn’t seem to contain any life. The finding doesn’t prove that there are no microbes in that area, but the team says it does
suggest that the environment severely restricts microbes’ survival.

Text 2
Microbes are found in virtually every environment on Earth. So it’s unlikely they would be completely absent from Fierer’s
team’s study site, no matter how extreme the environment is. There were probably so few organisms in the samples that
current technology couldn’t detect them. But since a spoonful of typical soil elsewhere might contain billions of microbes,
the presence of so few in the Antarctic soil samples would show how challenging the conditions are.

Based on the texts, Fierer’s team and the author of Text 2 would most likely agree with which statement about microbes?

A. Most microbes are better able to survive in environments with extremely dry conditions than in environments with harsh
temperatures.

B. A much higher number of microbes would probably be found if another sample of soil were taken from the Antarctic
study site.

C. Microbes are likely difficult to detect in the soil at the Antarctic study site because they tend to be smaller than microbes
found in typical soil elsewhere.

D. Most microbes are probably unable to withstand the soil conditions at the Antarctic study site.
Question ID a87c3925
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

Connections

ID: a87c3925
Text 1
Soy sauce, made from fermented soybeans, is noted for its umami flavor. Umami—one of the five basic tastes along with
sweet, bitter, salty, and sour—was formally classified when its taste receptors were discovered in the 2000s. In 2007, to
define the pure umami flavor scientists Rie Ishii and Michael O’Mahony used broths made from shiitake mushrooms and
kombu seaweed, and two panels of Japanese and US judges closely agreed on a description of the taste.

Text 2
A 2022 experiment by Manon Jünger et al. led to a greater understanding of soy sauce’s flavor profile. The team initially
presented a mixture of compounds with low molecular weights to taste testers who found it was not as salty or bitter as real
soy sauce. Further analysis of soy sauce identified proteins, including dipeptides, that enhanced umami flavor and also
contributed to saltiness. The team then made a mix of 50 chemical compounds that re-created soy sauce’s flavor.

Based on the texts, if Ishii and O’Mahony (Text 1) and Jünger et al. (Text 2) were aware of the findings of both experiments,
they would most likely agree with which statement?

A. On average, the diets of people in the United States tend to have fewer foods that contain certain dipeptides than the
diets of people in Japan have.

B. Chemical compounds that activate both the umami and salty taste receptors tend to have a higher molecular weight than
those that only activate umami taste receptors.

C. Fermentation introduces proteins responsible for the increase of umami flavor in soy sauce, and those proteins also
increase the perception of saltiness.

D. The broths in the 2007 experiment most likely did not have a substantial amount of the dipeptides that played a key part
in the 2022 experiment.
Question ID 03c9f327
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 03c9f327
The following text is from Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel Jane Eyre. Jane, the narrator, works as a governess at Thornfield
Hall.
I went on with my day’s business tranquilly; but ever and anon vague suggestions kept wandering across my brain of
reasons why I should quit Thornfield; and I kept involuntarily framing advertisements and pondering conjectures about
new situations: these thoughts I did not think to check; they might germinate and bear fruit if they could.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To convey a contrast between Jane’s outward calmness and internal restlessness

B. To emphasize Jane’s loyalty to the people she works for at Thornfield Hall

C. To demonstrate that Jane finds her situation both challenging and deeply fulfilling

D. To describe Jane’s determination to secure employment outside of Thornfield Hall

Question ID acb852e7
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: acb852e7
The following text is from the 1923 poem “Black Finger” by Angelina Weld Grimké, a Black American writer. A cypress is a
type of evergreen tree.
I have just seen a most beautiful thing,
Slim and still,
Against a gold, gold sky,
A straight black cypress,
Sensitive,
Exquisite,
A black finger
Pointing upwards.
Why, beautiful still finger, are you black?
And why are you pointing upwards?

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. The speaker assesses a natural phenomenon, then questions the accuracy of her assessment.

B. The speaker describes a distinctive sight in nature, then ponders what meaning to attribute to that sight.

C. The speaker presents an outdoor scene, then considers a human behavior occurring within that scene.

D. The speaker examines her surroundings, then speculates about their influence on her emotional state.
Question ID 8de51658
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

Connections

ID: 8de51658
Text 1
The idea that time moves in only one direction is instinctively understood, yet it puzzles physicists. According to the second
law of thermodynamics, at a macroscopic level some processes of heat transfer are irreversible due to the production of
entropy—after a transfer we cannot rewind time and place molecules back exactly where they were before, just as we cannot
unbreak dropped eggs. But laws of physics at a microscopic or quantum level hold that those processes should be
reversible.

Text 2
In 2015, physicists Tiago Batalhão et al. performed an experiment in which they confirmed the irreversibility of
thermodynamic processes at a quantum level, producing entropy by applying a rapidly oscillating magnetic field to a system
of carbon-13 atoms in liquid chloroform. But the experiment “does not pinpoint ... what causes [irreversibility] at the
microscopic level,” coauthor Mauro Paternostro said.

Based on the texts, what would the author of Text 1 most likely say about the experiment described in Text 2?

A. It would suggest an interesting direction for future research were it not the case that two of the physicists who
conducted the experiment disagree on the significance of its findings.

B. It provides empirical evidence that the current understanding of an aspect of physics at a microscopic level must be
incomplete.

C. It is consistent with the current understanding of physics at a microscopic level but not at a macroscopic level.

D. It supports a claim about an isolated system of atoms in a laboratory, but that claim should not be extrapolated to a
general claim about the universe.
Question ID 9aa5efc4
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of

Ideas Evidence

ID: 9aa5efc4
Born in 1891 to a Quechua-speaking family in the Andes Mountains of Peru, Martín Chambi is today considered to be one of
the most renowned figures of Latin American photography. In a paper for an art history class, a student claims that Chambi’s
photographs have considerable ethnographic value—in his work, Chambi was able to capture diverse elements of Peruvian
society, representing his subjects with both dignity and authenticity.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the student’s claim?

A. Chambi took many commissioned portraits of wealthy Peruvians, but he also produced hundreds of images carefully
documenting the peoples, sites, and customs of Indigenous communities of the Andes.

B. Chambi’s photographs demonstrate a high level of technical skill, as seen in his strategic use of illumination to create
dramatic light and shadow contrasts.

C. During his lifetime, Chambi was known and celebrated both within and outside his native Peru, as his work was published
in places like Argentina, Spain, and Mexico.

D. Some of the peoples and places Chambi photographed had long been popular subjects for Peruvian photographers.
Question ID 5d2fd27d
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context

ID: 5d2fd27d
While we can infer information about climate activity in Earth’s distant past from physical evidence, we of course cannot
observe past climates directly. To study early Earth’s climate in action, we must ______ that climate using computer models
that represent various climate conditions consistent with the physical evidence.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A. invent

B. simulate

C. exaggerate

D. preserve
Question ID 6f5fc289
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 6f5fc289
The following text is adapted from Charles Dickens’s 1854 novel Hard Times. Coketown is a fictional town in England.
[Coketown] contained several large streets all very like one another, and many small streets still more like one another,
inhabited by people equally like one another, who all went in and out at the same hours, with the same sound upon the same
pavements, to do the same work, and to whom every day was the same as yesterday and tomorrow, and every year the
counterpart of the last and the next.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To emphasize the uniformity of both the town and the people who live there

B. To explain the limited work opportunities available to the town’s residents

C. To reveal how the predictability of the town makes it easy for people lose track of time

D. To argue that the simplicity of life in the town makes it a pleasant place to live
Question ID f7c02e89
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

Connections

ID: f7c02e89

Text 1
Films and television shows commonly include a long list of credits naming the people involved in a production. Credit
sequences may not be exciting, but they generally ensure that everyone’s contributions are duly acknowledged. Because they
are highly standardized, film and television credits are also valuable to anyone researching the careers of pioneering cast
and crew members who have worked in the mediums.

Text 2
Video game scholars face a major challenge in the industry’s failure to consistently credit the artists, designers, and other
contributors involved in making video games. Without a reliable record of which people worked on which games, questions
about the medium’s development can be difficult to answer, and the accomplishments of all but its best-known innovators
can be difficult to trace.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 1 most likely respond to the discussion in Text 2?

A. By recommending that the scholars mentioned in Text 2 consider employing the methods regularly used by film and
television researchers

B. By pointing out that credits have a different intended purpose in film and television than in the medium addressed by the
scholars mentioned in Text 2

C. By suggesting that the scholars mentioned in Text 2 rely more heavily on credits as a source of information than film and
television researchers do

D. By observing that a widespread practice in film and television largely prevents the kind of problem faced by the scholars
mentioned in Text 2
Question ID 975b0602
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 975b0602
A number of Indigenous politicians have been elected to the United States Congress since 2000 as members of the country’s
two established political parties. In Canada and several Latin American countries, on the other hand, Indigenous people have
formed their own political parties to advance candidates who will advocate for the interests of their communities. This
movement has been particularly successful in Ecuador, where Guadalupe Llori, a member of the Indigenous party known as
Pachakutik, was elected president of the National Assembly in 2021.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To trace the history of an Indigenous political movement and speculate about its future development

B. To argue that Indigenous politicians in the United States should form their own political party

C. To highlight two approaches to achieving political representation for Indigenous people

D. To consider how Indigenous politicians in the United States have influenced Indigenous politicians in Canada and Latin
America
Question ID 82cb7dda
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 82cb7dda
The field of study called affective neuroscience seeks instinctive, physiological causes for feelings such as pleasure or
displeasure. Because these sensations are linked to a chemical component (for example, the release of the neurotransmitter
dopamine in the brain when one receives or expects a reward), they can be said to have a partly physiological basis. These
processes have been described in mammals, but Jingnan Huang and his colleagues have recently observed that some
behaviors of honeybees (such as foraging) are also motivated by a dopamine-based signaling process.

What choice best describes the main purpose of the text?

A. It describes an experimental method of measuring the strength of physiological responses in humans.

B. It illustrates processes by which certain insects can express how they are feeling.

C. It summarizes a finding suggesting that some mechanisms in the brains of certain insects resemble mechanisms in
mammalian brains.

D. It presents research showing that certain insects and mammals behave similarly when there is a possibility of a reward
for their actions.
Question ID a06c434d
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context

ID: a06c434d
The work of Kiowa painter T.C. Cannon derives its power in part from the tension among his ______ influences: classic
European portraiture, with its realistic treatment of faces; the American pop art movement, with its vivid colors; and flatstyle,
the intertribal painting style that rejects the effect of depth typically achieved through shading and perspective.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A. complementary

B. unknown

C. disparate

D. interchangeable
Question ID c4900368
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: c4900368
The following text is from the 1924 poem “Cycle” by D’Arcy McNickle, who was a citizen of the Confederated Salish and
Kootenai Tribes.
There shall be new roads wending,
A new beating of the drum—
Men’s eyes shall have fresh seeing,
Grey lives reprise their span—
But under the new sun’s being,
Completing what night began,
There’ll be the same backs bending,
The same sad feet shall drum—
When this night finds its ending
And day shall have come.....

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To consider how the repetitiveness inherent in human life can be both rewarding and challenging

B. To question whether activities completed at one time of day are more memorable than those completed at another time
of day

C. To refute the idea that joy is a more commonly experienced emotion than sadness is

D. To demonstrate how the experiences of individuals relate to the experiences of their communities
Question ID 84dbd633
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

Connections

ID: 84dbd633
Text 1
The Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction event is usually attributed solely to an asteroid impact near Chicxulub,
Mexico. Some scientists argue that volcanic activity was the true cause, as the K-Pg event occurred relatively early in a long
period of eruption of the Deccan Traps range that initially produced huge amounts of climate-altering gases. These
dissenters note that other mass extinctions have coincided with large volcanic eruptions, while only the K-Pg event lines up
with an asteroid strike.

Text 2
In a 2020 study, Pincelli Hull and her colleagues analyzed ocean core samples and modeled climate changes around the K-
Pg event. The team concluded that Deccan Traps gases did affect global conditions prior to the event, but that the climate
returned to normal well before the extinctions began—extinctions that instead closely align with the Chicxulub impact.

Based on the texts, how would Hull’s team (Text 2) most likely respond to the argument in the underlined portion of Text 1?

A. By agreeing that the Chicxulub impact changed the climate and that the Deccan Traps eruption caused the K-Pg event

B. By declaring that the changes in climate caused by the Deccan Traps eruption weren’t the main cause of the K-Pg event

C. By questioning why those scientists assume that the Chicxulub impact caused the Deccan Traps eruption

D. By asserting that the Deccan Traps eruption had a more significant effect on global conditions than those scientists
claim
Question ID d3ca5d59
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context

ID: d3ca5d59
Stephen Hannock’s luminous landscape paintings are appealing to viewers but have elicited little commentary from
contemporary critics, a phenomenon that may be due to the very fact that the paintings seem so ______. Many critics focus
their attention on art that is cryptic or overtly challenging.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A. innovative

B. subversive

C. profound

D. accessible
Question ID a68239ed
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: a68239ed
The following text is adapted from Oscar Wilde’s 1897 nonfiction work De Profundis.

People whose desire is solely for self-realisation never know where they are going. They can’t know. In one sense of the
word it is of course necessary to know oneself: that is the first achievement of knowledge. But to recognise that the
soul of a man is unknowable, is the ultimate achievement of wisdom. The final mystery is oneself. When one has
weighed the sun in the balance, and measured the steps of the moon, and mapped out the seven heavens star by star,
there still remains oneself. Who can calculate the orbit of his own soul?

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined question in the text as a whole?

A. It reinforces the text’s skepticism about the possibility of truly achieving self-knowledge.

B. It speculates that some readers will share the doubts expressed in the text about the value of self-knowledge.

C. It cautions readers that the text’s directions for how to achieve self-knowledge are hard to follow.

D. It concedes that the definition of self-knowledge advanced in the text is unpopular.

Question ID 3566120b
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context

ID: 3566120b
The following text is adapted from Oscar Wilde’s 1895 play The Importance of Being Earnest.
CECILY: Have we got to part?
ALGERNON: I am afraid so. It’s a very painful parting.
CECILY: It is always painful to part from people whom one has known for a very brief space of time. The absence of old
friends one can endure with equanimity. But even a momentary separation from anyone to whom one has just been
introduced is almost unbearable.

As used in the text, what does the word “endure” most nearly mean?

A. Regret

B. Persist

C. Tolerate

D. Encourage
Question ID 570970cd
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 570970cd
The following text is adapted from Indian Boyhood, a 1902 memoir by Ohiyesa (Charles A. Eastman), a Santee Dakota writer.
In the text, Ohiyesa recalls how the women in his tribe harvested maple syrup during his childhood.
Now the women began to test the trees—moving leisurely among them, axe in hand, and striking a single quick blow, to
see if the sap would appear. The trees, like people, have their individual characters; some were ready to yield up their life-
blood, while others were more reluctant. Now one of the birchen basins was set under each tree, and a hardwood chip
driven deep into the cut which the axe had made. From the corners of this chip—at first drop by drop, then more freely—the
sap trickled into the little dishes.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

A. It portrays the range of personality traits displayed by the women as they work.

B. It foregrounds the beneficial relationship between humans and maple trees.

C. It demonstrates how human behavior can be influenced by the natural environment.

D. It elaborates on an aspect of the maple trees that the women evaluate.

Question ID 03080769
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

Connections

ID: 03080769
Text 1
Philosopher G.E. Moore’s most influential work entails the concept of common sense. He asserts that there are certain
beliefs that all people, including philosophers, know instinctively to be true, whether or not they profess otherwise: among
them, that they have bodies, or that they exist in a world with other objects that have three dimensions. Moore’s careful work
on common sense may seem obvious but was in fact groundbreaking.

Text 2
External world skepticism is a philosophical stance supposing that we cannot be sure of the existence of anything outside
our own minds. During a lecture, G.E. Moore once offered a proof refuting this stance by holding out his hands and saying,
“Here is one hand, and here is another.” Many philosophers reflexively reject this proof (Annalisa Coliva called it “an obviously
annoying failure”) but have found it a challenge to articulate exactly why the proof fails.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 1 most likely respond to proponents of the philosophical stance outlined in
Text 2?

A. By agreeing with those proponents that Moore’s treatment of positions that contradict his own is fundamentally
unserious

B. By suggesting that an instinctive distaste for Moore’s position is preventing external world skeptics from constructing a
sufficiently rigorous refutation of Moore

C. By arguing that if it is valid to assert that some facts are true based on instinct, it is also valid to assert that some proofs
are inadequate based on instinct

D. By pointing out that Moore would assert that external world skepticism is at odds with other beliefs those proponents
must unavoidably hold
Question ID e4e2aeb3
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

Connections

ID: e4e2aeb3
Text 1
Like the work of Ralph Ellison before her, Toni Morrison’s novels feature scenes in which characters deliver sermons of such
length and verbal dexterity that for a time, the text exchanges the formal parameters of fiction for those of oral literature.
Given the many other echoes of Ellison in Morrison’s novels, both in structure and prose style, these scenes suggest Ellison’s
direct influence on Morrison.
Text 2
In their destabilizing effect on literary form, the sermons in Morrison’s works recall those in Ellison’s. Yet literature by Black
Americans abounds in moments where interpolated speech erodes the division between oral and written forms that
literature in English has traditionally observed. Morrison’s use of the sermon is attributable not only to the influence of Ellison
but also to a community-wide strategy of resistance to externally imposed literary conventions.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely characterize the underlined claim in Text 1?

A. As failing to consider Ellison’s and Morrison’s equivalent uses of the sermon within the wider cultural context in which
they wrote

B. As misunderstanding the function of sermons in novels by Black American writers other than Ellison and Morrison

C. As disregarding points of structural and stylistic divergence between the works of Ellison and those of Morrison

D. As being indebted to the tradition of resisting literary conventions that privilege written forms, such as novels, over
sermons and other oral forms
Question ID 0a04cac5
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 0a04cac5
The following text is adapted from Jane Austen’s 1814 novel Mansfield Park. The speaker, Tom, is considering staging a play
at home with a group of his friends and family.
We mean nothing but a little amusement among ourselves, just to vary the scene, and exercise our powers in something
new. We want no audience, no publicity. We may be trusted, I think, in choosing some play most perfectly unexceptionable;
and I can conceive no greater harm or danger to any of us in conversing in the elegant written language of some
respectable author than in chattering in words of our own.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To offer Tom’s assurance that the play will be inoffensive and involve only a small number of people

B. To clarify that the play will not be performed in the manner Tom had originally intended

C. To elaborate on the idea that the people around Tom lack the skills to successfully stage a play

D. To assert that Tom believes the group performing the play will be able to successfully promote it
Question ID 3d658a5a
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context

ID: 3d658a5a
Some foraging models predict that the distance bees travel when foraging will decline as floral density increases, but
biologists Shalene Jha and Claire Kremen showed that bees’ behavior is inconsistent with this prediction if flowers in dense
patches are ______: bees will forage beyond patches of low species richness to acquire multiple resource types.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A. depleted

B. homogeneous

C. immature

D. dispersed
Question ID 17bf10de
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

Connections

ID: 17bf10de
Text 1
Despite its beautiful prose, The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman’s 1962 analysis of the start of World War I, has certain
weaknesses as a work of history. It fails to address events in Eastern Europe just before the outbreak of hostilities, thereby
giving the impression that Germany was the war’s principal instigator. Had Tuchman consulted secondary works available to
her by scholars such as Luigi Albertini, she would not have neglected the influence of events in Eastern Europe on Germany’s
actions.

Text 2
Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August is an engrossing if dated introduction to World War I. Tuchman’s analysis of primary
documents is laudable, but her main thesis that European powers committed themselves to a catastrophic outcome by
refusing to deviate from military plans developed prior to the conflict is implausibly reductive.

Which choice best describes a difference in how the authors of Text 1 and Text 2 view Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of
August?

A. The author of Text 1 argues that Tuchman should have relied more on the work of other historians, while the author of
Text 2 implies that Tuchman’s most interesting claims result from her original research.

B. The author of Text 1 believes that the scope of Tuchman’s research led her to an incorrect interpretation, while the author
of Text 2 believes that Tuchman’s central argument is overly simplistic.

C. The author of Text 1 asserts that the writing style of The Guns of August makes it worthwhile to read despite any
perceived deficiency in Tuchman’s research, while the author of Text 2 focuses exclusively on the weakness of Tuchman’s
interpretation of events.

D. The author of Text 1 claims that Tuchman would agree that World War I was largely due to events in Eastern Europe,
while the author of Text 2 maintains that Tuchman would say that Eastern European leaders were not committed to
military plans in the same way that other leaders were.
Question ID 14b7dced
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 14b7dced
The following text is from Walt Whitman’s 1860 poem “Calamus 24.”
I HEAR it is charged against me that I seek to destroy institutions;
But really I am neither for nor against institutions
(What indeed have I in common with them?—Or what with the destruction of them?),
Only I will establish in the Mannahatta [Manhattan] and in every city of These States, inland and seaboard,
And in the fields and woods, and above every keel [ship] little or large, that dents the water,
Without edifices, or rules, or trustees, or any argument,
The institution of the dear love of comrades.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. The speaker questions an increasingly prevalent attitude, then summarizes his worldview.

B. The speaker regrets his isolation from others, then predicts a profound change in society.

C. The speaker concedes his personal shortcomings, then boasts of his many achievements.

D. The speaker addresses a criticism leveled against him, then announces a grand ambition of his.
Question ID ab56a107
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

Connections

ID: ab56a107

Text 1
Digital art, the use of digital technology to create or display images, isn’t really art at all. It doesn’t require as much skill as
creating physical art. “Painting” with a tablet and stylus is much easier than using paint and a brush: the technology is doing
most of the work.

Text 2
The painting programs used to create digital art involve more than just pressing a few buttons. In addition to knowing the
fundamentals of art, digital artists need to be familiar with sophisticated software. Many artists will start by drawing an
image on paper before transforming the piece to a digital format, where they can apply a variety of colors and techniques
that would otherwise require many different traditional tools.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the claims of the author of Text 1?

A. By arguing that a piece of art created digitally can still be displayed traditionally

B. By explaining that it’s actually much harder to use a tablet and stylus to create art than to use paint and a brush

C. By insisting that digital art requires artistic abilities and skill even if it employs less traditional tools

D. By admitting that most digital artists don’t think fundamental drawing skills are important
Question ID d0198544
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

Connections

ID: d0198544

Text 1
In 2007, a team led by Alice Storey analyzed a chicken bone found in El Arenal, Chile, dating it to 1321–1407 CE—over a
century before Europeans invaded the region, bringing their own chickens. Storey also found that the El Arenal chicken
shared a unique genetic mutation with the ancient chicken breeds of the Polynesian Islands in the Pacific. Thus, Polynesian
peoples, not later Europeans, probably first introduced chickens to South America.

Text 2
An Australian research team weakened the case for a Polynesian origin for the El Arenal chicken by confirming that the
mutation identified by Storey has occurred in breeds from around the world. More recently, though, a team led by Agusto
Luzuriaga-Neira found that South American chicken breeds and Polynesian breeds share other genetic markers that
European breeds lack. Thus, the preponderance of evidence now favors a Polynesian origin.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the underlined claim in Text 1?

A. By broadly agreeing with the claim but objecting that the timeline it presupposes conflicts with the findings of the genetic
analysis conducted by Storey’s team

B. By faulting the claim for implying that domestic animals couldn’t have been transferred from South America to the
Polynesian Islands as well

C. By critiquing the claim for being based on an assumption that before the European invasion of South America, the
chickens of Europe were genetically uniform

D. By noting that while the claim is persuasive, the findings of Luzuriaga-Neira’s team provide stronger evidence for it than
the findings of the genetic analysis conducted by Storey do
Question ID 19688783
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 19688783
The following text is from Lucy Maud Montgomery’s 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables. Anne, an eleven-year-old girl, has
come to live on a farm with a woman named Marilla in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Anne reveled in the world of color about her.

“Oh, Marilla,” she exclaimed one Saturday morning, coming dancing in with her arms full of gorgeous boughs, “I’m so
glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November,
wouldn’t it? Look at these maple branches. Don’t they give you a thrill—several thrills? I’m going to decorate my room
with them.”
“Messy things,” said Marilla, whose aesthetic sense was not noticeably developed. “You clutter up your room entirely
too much with out-of-doors stuff, Anne. Bedrooms were made to sleep in.”

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To demonstrate that Anne has a newly developed appreciation of nature

B. To describe an argument that Anne and Marilla often have

C. To emphasize Marilla’s disapproval of how Anne has decorated her room

D. To show that Anne and Marilla have very different personalities

Question ID 27d9bb69
27d9
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

Connections

ID: 27d9bb69
27d9
Text 1
Many studies in psychology have shown that people seek out information even when they know in advance that they have no
immediate use for it and that they won’t directly benefit from it. Such findings support the consensus view among
researchers of curiosity: namely, that curiosity is not instrumental but instead represents a drive to acquire information for its
own sake.
Text 2
While acknowledging that acquiring information is a powerful motivator, Rachit Dubey and colleagues ran an experiment to
test whether emphasizing the usefulness of scientific information could increase curiosity about it. They found that when
research involving rats and fruit flies was presented as having medical applications for humans, participants expressed
greater interest in learning about it than when the research was not presented as useful.

Based on the texts, how would Dubey and colleagues (Text 2) most likely respond to the consensus view discussed in Text
1?

A. By suggesting that curiosity may not be exclusively motivated by the desire to merely acquire information

B. By conceding that people may seek out information that serves no immediate purpose only because they think they can
use it later

C. By pointing out that it is challenging to determine when information-seeking serves no goal beyond acquiring information

D. By disputing the idea that curiosity can help explain apparently purposeless information-seeking behaviors