Question ID a0120582

Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Hard

Ideas Evidence

ID: a0120582

Economic Policy Uncertainty in

the United Kingdom, 2005–2010
(larger values = more uncertainty)

200

150
Uncertainty

100

50

0
05 06 07 08 09 010
20 20 20 20 20 2

Year

tax and public spending policy

trade policy
general economic policy

High levels of public uncertainty about which economic policies a country will adopt can make planning
difficult for businesses, but measures of such uncertainty have not tended to be very detailed. Recently,
however, economist Sandile Hlatshwayo analyzed trends in news reports to derive measures not only for
general economic policy uncertainty but also for uncertainty related to specific areas of economic policy,
like tax or trade policy. One revelation of her work is that a general measure may not fully reflect
uncertainty about specific areas of policy, as in the case of the United Kingdom, where general economic
policy uncertainty ______

Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to illustrate the claim?

A. aligned closely with uncertainty about tax and public spending policy in 2005 but differed from
uncertainty about tax and public spending policy by a large amount in 2009.

B. was substantially lower than uncertainty about tax and public spending policy each year from 2005 to
2010.

C. reached its highest level between 2005 and 2010 in the same year that uncertainty about trade policy
and tax and public spending policy reached their lowest levels.
D. was substantially lower than uncertainty about trade policy in 2005 and substantially higher than
uncertainty about trade policy in 2010.
Question ID d2b5e069
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Hard

Ideas Evidence

ID: d2b5e069
Psychologists Dacher Keltner and Jonathan Haidt have argued that experiencing awe—a sensation of
reverence and wonder typically brought on by perceiving something grand or powerful—can enable us to
feel more connected to others and thereby inspire us to act more altruistically. Keltner, along with Paul K.
Piff, Pia Dietze, and colleagues, claims to have found evidence for this effect in a recent study where
participants were asked to either gaze up at exceptionally tall trees in a nearby grove (reported to be a
universally awe-inspiring experience) or stare at the exterior of a nearby, nondescript building. After one
minute, an experimenter deliberately spilled a box of pens nearby.

Which finding from the researchers’ study, if true, would most strongly support their claim?

A. Participants who had been looking at the trees helped the experimenter pick up significantly more
pens than did participants who had been looking at the building.

B. Participants who helped the experimenter pick up the pens used a greater number of positive words to
describe the trees and the building in a postexperiment survey than did participants who did not help
the experimenter.

C. Participants who did not help the experimenter pick up the pens were significantly more likely to report
having experienced a feeling of awe, regardless of whether they looked at the building or the trees.

D. Participants who had been looking at the building were significantly more likely to notice that the
experimenter had dropped the pens than were participants who had been looking at the trees.
Question ID ae51efb8
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Medium

Ideas Evidence

ID: ae51efb8
The Post Office is a 1912 play by Rabindranath Tagore, originally written in Bengali. The character Amal is
a young boy who imagines that the people he sees passing the window of his home are carefree even
when engaged in work or chores, as is evident when he says to the daughter of a flower seller, ______

Which quotation from The Post Office most effectively illustrates the claim?

A. “I see, you don’t wish to stop; I don’t care to stay on here either.”

B. “Oh, flower gathering? That is why your feet seem so glad and your anklets jingle so merrily as you
walk.”

C. “I’ll pay when I grow up—before I leave to look for work out on the other side of that stream there.”

D. “Wish I could be out too. Then I would pick some flowers for you from the very topmost branches right
out of sight.”
Question ID 3009048e
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Easy

Ideas Evidence

ID: 3009048e

Area of Three Glaciers in the

2016 Swiss Glacier Inventory
50

40
Area (square km)

30

20

10

0
Glacier

Gorner
Fiescher
Unteraar

To monitor changes to glaciers in Switzerland, the government periodically measures them for features
like total area of ice and mean ice thickness, which are then reported in the Swiss Glacier Inventory. These
measurements can be used to compare the glaciers. For example, the Gorner glacier had ______

Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to complete the example?

A. a larger area than either the Fiescher glacier or the Unteraar glacier.

B. a smaller area than the Fiescher glacier but a larger area than the Unteraar glacier.

C. a smaller area than either the Fiescher glacier or the Unteraar glacier.

D. a larger area than the Fiescher glacier but a smaller area than the Unteraar glacier.
Question ID 7e1dd168
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Hard

Ideas Evidence

ID: 7e1dd168
Neural networks are computer models intended to reflect the organization of human brains and are often
used in studies of brain function. According to an analysis of 11,000 such networks, Rylan Schaeffer and
colleagues advise caution when drawing conclusions about brains from observations of neural networks.
They found that when attempting to mimic grid cells (brain cells used in navigation), while 90% of the
networks could accomplish navigation-related tasks, only about 10% of those exhibited any behaviors
similar to those of grid cells. But even this approximation of grid-cell activity has less to do with similarity
between the neural networks and biological brains than it does with the rules programmed into the
networks.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the claim in the underlined sentence?

A. The rules that allow for networks to exhibit behaviors like those of grid cells have no equivalent in the
function of biological brains.

B. The networks that do not exhibit behaviors like those of grid cells were nonetheless programmed with
rules that had proven useful in earlier neural-network studies.

C. Neural networks can often accomplish tasks that biological brains do, but they are typically
programmed with rules to model multiple types of brain cells simultaneously.

D. Once a neural network is programmed, it is trained on certain tasks to see if it can independently arrive
at processes that are similar to those performed by biological brains.
Question ID 206ecbfd
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Medium

Ideas Evidence

ID: 206ecbfd
Plants like potatoes, tomatoes, and soybeans are susceptible to bacterial wilt disease caused by the
bacteria Ralstonia solanacearum. A multinational team of scientists led by Zhong Wei studied whether
other microbes in the soil might influence the degree to which plants are affected by the disease. The
team sampled soil surrounding individual tomato plants over time and compared the results of plants that
became diseased with those that remained healthy. They concluded that the presence of certain microbes
in the soil might explain the difference between healthy and diseased plants.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the team’s conclusion?

A. The soil surrounding healthy plants contained significantly higher concentrations of microbes known
to inhibit Ralstonia solanacearum than the soil surrounding diseased plants did.

B. The soil surrounding the plants contained high concentrations of Ralstonia solanacearum regardless of
whether the plants were affected by wilt disease.

C. The soil surrounding healthy plants tended to have significantly higher moisture levels than the soil
surrounding diseased plants did.

D. By the end of the experiment, over half the plants had been affected by wilt disease regardless of
differences in the types and concentrations of microbes in the surrounding soil.
Question ID bf1fe112
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Hard

Ideas Evidence

ID: bf1fe112
Researchers hypothesized that a decline in the population of dusky sharks near the mid-Atlantic coast of
North America led to a decline in the population of eastern oysters in the region. Dusky sharks do not
typically consume eastern oysters but do consume cownose rays, which are the main predators of the
oysters.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researchers’ hypothesis?
A. Declines in the regional abundance of dusky sharks’ prey other than cownose rays are associated with
regional declines in dusky shark abundance.

B. Eastern oyster abundance tends to be greater in areas with both dusky sharks and cownose rays than
in areas with only dusky sharks.

C. Consumption of eastern oysters by cownose rays in the region substantially increased before the
regional decline in dusky shark abundance began.

D. Cownose rays have increased in regional abundance as dusky sharks have decreased in regional
abundance.
Question ID 14ea5897
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Hard

Ideas Evidence

ID: 14ea5897
Icebergs generally appear to be mostly white or blue, depending on how the ice reflects sunlight. Ice with
air bubbles trapped in it looks white because much of the light reflects off the bubbles. Ice without air
bubbles usually looks blue because the light travels deep into the ice and only a little of it is reflected.
However, some icebergs in the sea around Antarctica appear to be green. One team of scientists
hypothesized that this phenomenon is the result of yellow-tinted dissolved organic carbon in Antarctic
waters mixing with blue ice to produce the color green.

Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the team’s hypothesis?
A. White ice doesn’t change color when mixed with dissolved organic carbon due to the air bubbles in the
ice.

B. Dissolved organic carbon has a stronger yellow color in Antarctic waters than it does in other places.

C. Blue icebergs and green icebergs are rarely found near each other.

D. Blue icebergs and green icebergs contain similarly small traces of dissolved organic carbon.
Question ID e55ded58
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Hard

Ideas Evidence

ID: e55ded58
Black beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) are a nutritionally dense food, but they are difficult to digest in part
because of their high levels of soluble fiber and compounds like raffinose. They also contain antinutrients
like tannins and trypsin inhibitors, which interfere with the body’s ability to extract nutrients from foods. In
a research article, Marisela Granito and Glenda Álvarez from Simón Bolívar University in Venezuela claim
that inducing fermentation of black beans using lactic acid bacteria improves the digestibility of the
beans and makes them more nutritious.

Which finding from Granito and Álvarez’s research, if true, would most directly support their claim?

A. When cooked, fermented beans contained significantly more trypsin inhibitors and tannins but
significantly less soluble fiber and raffinose than nonfermented beans.

B. Fermented beans contained significantly less soluble fiber and raffinose than nonfermented beans,
and when cooked, the fermented beans also displayed a significant reduction in trypsin inhibitors and
tannins.

C. When the fermented beans were analyzed, they were found to contain two microorganisms,
Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum, that are theorized to increase the amount of nitrogen
absorbed by the gut after eating beans.

D. Both fermented and nonfermented black beans contained significantly fewer trypsin inhibitors and
tannins after being cooked at high pressure.
Question ID 6736cf78
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Medium

Ideas Evidence

ID: 6736cf78
“Mrs. Spring Fragrance” is a 1912 short story by Sui Sin Far. In the story, Mrs. Spring Fragrance, a Chinese
immigrant living in Seattle, is traveling in California. In letters to her husband and friend, she demonstrates
her concern for what’s happening at her home in Seattle while she is away: ______

Which quotation from Mrs. Spring Fragrance’s letters most effectively illustrates the claim?
A. “My honorable cousin is preparing for the Fifth Moon Festival, and wishes me to compound for the
occasion some American ‘fudge,’ for which delectable sweet, made by my clumsy hands, you have
sometimes shown a slight prejudice.”

B. “Next week I accompany Ah Oi to the beauteous town of San José. There will we be met by the son of
the Illustrious Teacher.”

C. “Forget not to care for the cat, the birds, and the flowers. Do not eat too quickly nor fan too vigorously
now that the weather is warming.”

D. “I am enjoying a most agreeable visit, and American friends, as also our own, strive benevolently for
the accomplishment of my pleasure.”
Question ID e4466b2f
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Hard
Ideas Details

ID: e4466b2f
The following text is adapted from Countee Cullen’s 1926 poem “Thoughts in a Zoo.”

They in their cruel traps, and we in ours,

Survey each other’s rage, and pass the hours
Commiserating each the other’s woe,
To mitigate his own pain’s fiery glow.
Man could but little proffer in exchange
Save that his cages have a larger range.
That lion with his lordly, untamed heart
Has in some man his human counterpart,
Some lofty soul in dreams and visions wrapped,
But in the stifling flesh securely trapped.

Based on the text, what challenge do humans sometimes experience?

A. They cannot effectively tame certain wild animals because of a lack of compassion.

B. They cannot focus on setting attainable goals because of a lack of motivation.

C. They quickly become frustrated when faced with difficult tasks because of a lack of self-control.

D. They have aspirations that cannot be fulfilled because of certain limitations.

Question ID aefb6235
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Medium
Ideas Details

ID: aefb6235
NASA’s Aspera mission, led by Carlos Vargas, will investigate the circumgalactic medium (CGM), the huge
swaths of low-density gas that fill and surround galaxies. Specifically, the team will focus on portions of
the gas that exist in a “warm-hot” phase: these portions haven’t previously been observable but are
thought to fuel new star formation and hold most of the mass that makes up a galaxy. Using a telescope
capable of revealing these parts of the CGM, the Aspera mission should help answer long-standing
questions about how galaxies emerge, change, and even interact.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A. As the leader of NASA’s Aspera mission, Vargas will be the first person to investigate the makeup of
the CGM.

B. Although galaxies that are surrounded by the CGM have been studied, researchers have been unable to
directly observe low-density gas in the CGM in the “warm-hot” phase.

C. Researchers don’t yet have a complete understanding of the process of galaxy evolution but have
raised the possibility that galaxies interact with each other at times.

D. The Aspera mission is expected to produce the first direct observations of CGM gas in the “warm-hot”
phase, which likely has an important role in the evolution of galaxies.
Question ID f1be8b46
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Hard

Ideas Evidence

ID: f1be8b46
Number and Origin of Clamshell Tools Found at Different Levels Below the Surface in Neanderthal Cave
Depth of tools found below Clamshells that Neanderthals Clamshells that Neanderthals
surface in cave (meters) collected from the beach harvested from the seafloor

3–4 99 33

6–7 1 0

4–5 2 0

2–3 7 0

5–6 18 7
Studying tools unearthed at a cave site on the western coast of Italy, archaeologist Paola Villa and
colleagues have determined that prehistoric Neanderthal groups fashioned them from shells of clams
that they harvested from the seafloor while wading or diving or that washed up on the beach. Clamshells
become thin and eroded as they wash up on the beach, while those on the seafloor are smooth and
sturdy, so the research team suspects that Neanderthals prized the tools made with seafloor shells.
However, the team also concluded that those tools were likely more challenging to obtain, noting that
______

Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to support the research team’s conclusion?
A. at each depth below the surface in the cave, the difference in the numbers of tools of each type
suggests that shells were easier to collect from the beach than to harvest from the seafloor.

B. the highest number of tools were at a depth of 3–4 meters below the surface, which suggests that the
Neanderthal population at the site was highest during the related period of time.

C. at each depth below the surface in the cave, the difference in the numbers of tools of each type
suggests that Neanderthals preferred to use clamshells from the beach because of their durability.

D. the higher number of tools at depths of 5–6 meters below the surface in the cave than at depths of 4–
5 meters below the surface suggests that the size of clam populations changed over time.
Question ID f48d9861
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Medium
Ideas Details

ID: f48d9861
Cats can judge unseen people’s positions in space by the sound of their voices and thus react with
surprise when the same person calls to them from two different locations in a short span of time. Saho
Takagi and colleagues reached this conclusion by measuring cats’ levels of surprise based on their ear
and head movements while the cats heard recordings of their owners’ voices from two speakers spaced
far apart. Cats exhibited a low level of surprise when owners’ voices were played twice from the same
speaker, but they showed a high level of surprise when the voice was played once each from the two
different speakers.

According to the text, how did the researchers determine the level of surprise displayed by the cats in the
study?
A. They watched how each cat moved its ears and head.

B. They examined how each cat reacted to the voice of a stranger.

C. They studied how each cat physically interacted with its owner.

D. They tracked how each cat moved around the room.

Question ID b1068f41
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Medium

Ideas

ID: b1068f41
The Indus River valley civilization flourished in South Asia from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE. Many examples of
the civilization’s writing system exist, but researchers haven’t yet deciphered it or identified which ancient
language it represents. Nevertheless, archaeologists have found historical artifacts, such as clay figures
and jewelry, that provide information about the civilization’s customs and how its communities were
organized. The archaeologists’ findings therefore suggest that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. investigating an ancient civilization is easier without knowledge of the civilization’s language.

B. knowing an ancient civilization’s language isn’t necessary in order to learn details about the civilization.

C. archaeological research should focus on finding additional artifacts rather than deciphering ancient
languages.

D. examining the civilization’s historical artifacts has resolved the debate about this civilization’s
language.
Question ID 12b370c2
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Hard
Ideas Details

ID: 12b370c2
Disco remains one of the most ridiculed popular music genres of the late twentieth century. But as
scholars have argued, the genre is far less superficial than many people believe. Take the case of disco
icon Donna Summer: she may have been associated with popular songs about love and heartbreak
(subjects hardly unique to disco, by the way), but like many Black women singers before her, much of her
music also reflects concerns about community and identity. These concerns are present in many of the
genre’s greatest songs, and they generally don’t require much digging to reveal.

What does the text most strongly suggest about the disco genre?
A. It has been unjustly ignored by most scholars despite the importance of the themes addressed by
many of the genre’s songs.

B. It evolved over time from a superficial genre focused on romance to a genre focused on more serious
concerns.

C. It has been unfairly dismissed for the inclusion of subject matter that is also found in other musical
genres.

D. It gave rise to a Black women’s musical tradition that has endured even though the genre itself faded in
the late twentieth century.
Question ID ce9b3b84
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Medium

Ideas Evidence
 ID: ce9b3b84

Rotor Diameters of Newly Installed Wind

Turbines in the United States, 2011–2021
90
Percent of newly installed

80
70
60
turbines

50
40
30
20
10
0
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 0 21
20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 202 20
Year

>130 meters
<100 meters
100–115 meters
115–130 meters

All other things being equal, the larger a wind turbine’s rotor diameter (the diameter of the imaginary circle
swept by the turbine’s rotating blades), the greater amount of energy the turbine can generate. In a
research paper on wind power, a student claims that in the United States, the amount of energy generated
per newly installed turbine increased substantially between 2011 and 2021.

Which choice best describes data in the graph that support the student’s claim?
A. The percentage of newly installed turbines with rotor diameters greater than 130 meters increased
every year between 2011 and 2021.

B. In 2011, nearly 80% of turbines installed had rotor diameters of less than 100 meters, whereas only a
little more than 20% of turbines installed that year had rotor diameters of 100–115 meters.

C. No turbines installed in 2011 had rotor diameters greater than 115 meters, whereas the majority of
turbines installed in 2021 had rotor diameters greater than 130 meters.

D. Most turbines installed in 2011 had rotor diameters of less than 100 meters, whereas most turbines
installed in 2021 had rotor diameters of at least 115 meters.
Question ID d54126ab
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Hard

Ideas Evidence

ID: d54126ab
Tadpole Body Mass and Toxin Production after Three Weeks in Ponds
Average number of Average bufadienolide
Average tadpole distinct Average amount of concentration
Population body mass bufadienolide toxins bufadienolide per (nanograms per milligram
density (milligrams) per tadpole tadpole (nanograms) of tadpole body mass)

High 193.87 22.69 5,815.51 374.22

Medium 254.56 21.65 5,525.72 230.10

Low 258.97 22.08 4,664.99 171.43

Ecologist Veronika Bókony and colleagues investigated within-species competition among common
toads (Bufo bufo), a species that secretes various unpleasant-tasting toxins called bufadienolides in
response to threats. The researchers tested B. bufo tadpoles’ responses to different levels of competition
by creating ponds with different tadpole population densities but a fixed amount of food. Based on
analysis of the tadpoles after three weeks, the researchers concluded that increased competition drove
bufadienolide production at the expense of growth.

Which choice uses data from the table to most effectively support the researchers’ conclusion?

A. The difference in average tadpole body mass was small between the low and medium population
density conditions and substantially larger between the low and high population density conditions.

B. Tadpoles in the low and medium population density conditions had substantially lower average
bufadienolide concentrations but had greater average body masses than those in the high population
density condition.

C. Tadpoles in the high population density condition displayed a relatively modest increase in the average
amount of bufadienolide but roughly double the average bufadienolide concentration compared to
those in the low population density condition.

D. Tadpoles produced approximately the same number of different bufadienolide toxins per individual
across the population density conditions, but average tadpole body mass decreased as population
density increased.
Question ID 66b10ad8
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Hard

Ideas

ID: 66b10ad8
A team of biologists led by Jae-Hoon Jung, Antonio D. Barbosa, and Stephanie Hutin investigated the
mechanism that allows Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress) plants to accelerate flowering at high
temperatures. They replaced the protein ELF3 in the plants with a similar protein found in another species
(stiff brome) that, unlike A. thaliana, displays no acceleration in flowering with increased temperature. A
comparison of unmodified A. thaliana plants with the altered plants showed no difference in flowering at
22° Celsius, but at 27° Celsius, the unmodified plants exhibited accelerated flowering while the altered
ones did not, which suggests that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. temperature-sensitive accelerated flowering is unique to A. thaliana.

B. A. thaliana increases ELF3 production as temperatures rise.

C. ELF3 enables A. thaliana to respond to increased temperatures.

D. temperatures of at least 22° Celsius are required for A. thaliana to flower.

Question ID 84b290f2
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Hard

Ideas Evidence

ID: 84b290f2
In vertical inheritance, parents pass genes to their offspring, but in horizontal transfer (HT), one species,
often bacteria, passes genetic material to an unrelated species. In a 2022 study, herpetologist Atsushi
Kurabayashi and his team investigated HT in multicellular organisms—namely, snakes and frogs in
Madagascar. The team detected BovB—a gene transmitted vertically in snakes—in many frog species. The
apparent direction of gene transfer seems counterintuitive because frogs usually don’t survive encounters
with snakes and so wouldn’t be able to transmit the newly acquired gene to offspring, but the team
concluded that BovB is indeed transmitted from snakes to frogs, either directly or indirectly, via HT.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the team’s conclusion?
A. BovB can be transmitted across frog species through HT.

B. Parasites known to feed on species of snakes and frogs in which the BovB gene occurs also carry
BovB.

C. BovB cannot be reliably transmitted from a snake species to bacteria that are usually encountered by
frog species.

D. Frog species with BovB show few discernible advantages as compared with frog species that do not
carry BovB.
Question ID d23f1a15
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Medium

Ideas

ID: d23f1a15
Many mosquito repellents contain natural components that work by activating multiple odor receptors on
mosquitoes’ antennae. As the insects develop resistance, new repellents are needed. Ke Dong and her
team found that EBF, a molecular component of a chrysanthemum-flower extract, can repel mosquitoes
by activating just one odor receptor—and this receptor, Or31, is present in all mosquito species known to
carry diseases. Therefore, the researchers suggest that in developing new repellents, it would be most
useful to ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. identify molecular components similar to EBF that target the activation of Or31 receptors.

B. investigate alternative methods for extracting EBF molecules from chrysanthemums.

C. verify the precise locations of Or31 and other odor receptors on mosquitoes’ antennae.

D. determine the maximum number of different odor receptors that can be activated by a single molecule.
Question ID a901c1d5
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Medium
Ideas Details

ID: a901c1d5
Choctaw/Cherokee artist Jeffrey Gibson turns punching bags used by boxers into art by decorating them
with beadwork and elements of Native dressmaking. These elements include leather fringe and jingles,
the metal cones that cover the dresses worn in the jingle dance, a women’s dance of the Ojibwe people.
Thus, Gibson combines an object commonly associated with masculinity (a punching bag) with art forms
traditionally practiced by women in most Native communities (beadwork and dressmaking). In this way,
he rejects the division of male and female gender roles.

Which choice best describes Gibson’s approach to art, as presented in the text?
A. He draws from traditional Native art forms to create his original works.

B. He has been influenced by Native and non-Native artists equally.

C. He finds inspiration from boxing in designing the dresses he makes.

D. He rejects expectations about color and pattern when incorporating beadwork.

Question ID 1dc74ae7
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Medium

Ideas Evidence

ID: 1dc74ae7
Although most songbirds build open, cupped nests, some species build domed nests with roofs that
provide much more protection. Many ecologists have assumed that domed nests would provide
protection from weather conditions and thus would allow species that build them to have larger
geographic ranges than species that build open nests do. To evaluate this assumption, a research team
led by evolutionary biologist Iliana Medina analyzed data for over 3,000 species of songbirds.

Which finding from Medina and her colleagues’ study, if true, would most directly challenge the
assumption in the underlined sentence?

A. Species that build open nests tend to have higher extinction rates than species that build domed nests.

B. Species that build open nests tend to be smaller in size than species that build domed nests.

C. Species that build open nests tend to use fewer materials to build their nests than species that build
domed nests do.

D. Species that build open nests tend to have larger ranges than species that build domed nests.
Question ID e3b5bb66
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Hard
Ideas Details

ID: e3b5bb66
The most recent iteration of the immersive theater experience Sleep No More, which premiered in New
York City in 2011, transforms its performance space—a five-story warehouse—into a 1930s-era hotel.
Audience members, who wander through the labyrinthine venue at their own pace and follow the actors as
they play out simultaneous, interweaving narrative loops, confront the impossibility of experiencing the
production in its entirety. The play’s refusal of narrative coherence thus hinges on the sense of spatial
fragmentation that the venue’s immense and intricate layout generates.

What does the text most strongly suggest about Sleep No More’s use of its performance space?
A. The choice of a New York City venue likely enabled the play’s creators to experiment with the use of
theatrical space in a way that venues from earlier productions could not.

B. Audience members likely find the experience of the play disappointing because they generally cannot
make their way through the entire venue.

C. The production’s dependence on a particular performance environment would likely make it difficult to
reproduce exactly in a different theatrical space.

D. Audience members who navigate the space according to a recommended itinerary will likely have a
better grasp of the play’s narrative than audience members who depart from that itinerary.
Question ID b7c5b4e4
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Easy
Ideas Details

ID: b7c5b4e4
Shimmering is a collective defense behavior that researchers have observed in giant honeybee colonies.
When shimmering, different groups of bees flip their bodies up and down in what looks like waves. This
defense is initiated when hornets hover near a colony, serving to deter the hornets from approaching the
bees. Researchers hypothesize that this behavior is a specialized defense response to hornets, as it is not
observed when other, larger predators approach the colony.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A. Researchers are unsure how giant honeybees defend against predators larger than hornets.

B. Researchers think that shimmering in giant honeybees is a specific defense against hornets.

C. Hornets are known to be the main predator of giant honeybees.

D. Several different species of insects use shimmering to defend against hornets.

Question ID 3acc2d54
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Medium

Ideas Evidence

ID: 3acc2d54
“When Dawn Comes to the City” is a 1922 poem by Claude McKay, who immigrated to the United States
from the island nation of Jamaica as an adult. The poem conveys McKay’s contrasting feelings about
New York City—his adopted home in the US—and his home country: ______

Which quotation from “When Dawn Comes to the City” most effectively illustrates the claim?

A. “A lonely newsboy hurries by, / Humming a recent ditty; / Red streaks strike through the gray of the sky,
/ The dawn comes to the city [New York City].”

B. “Dark figures start for work; / I watch them sadly shuffle on, / ’Tis dawn, dawn in New York. / But I
would be on the island of the sea, / In the heart of the island of the sea.”

C. “And the shaggy Nannie goat is calling, calling, calling / From her little trampled corner of the long wide
lea / That stretches to the waters of the hill-stream falling / Sheer upon the flat rocks joyously!”

D. “The tired cars go grumbling by, / The moaning, groaning cars, / And the old milk carts go rumbling by /
Under the same dull stars.”
Question ID ed043939
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Hard

Ideas Evidence

ID: ed043939
Boldly mixing elements of poetry, fiction, drama, philosophy, and manifesto, Puerto Rican writer Giannina
Braschi creates cross-genre literature that explores themes such as immigration and independence. Her
works have inspired responses from individuals across different fields and in a wide range of formats,
from musical compositions and a comic book to architecture and furniture design. In an essay, a student
asserts that the production of these diverse creations by others is reflective of Braschi’s own approach to
crafting literature.

Which quotation from a scholarly review of Braschi’s work best supports the student’s claim?
A. “Braschi is the focus of a 2020 collection of essays in which fifteen scholars from seven different
countries delved into the linguistic and structural patterns of her writings.”

B. “Braschi’s eagerness to push boundaries and blend genres within literature invites us to consider how
other art forms might also engage with literature.”

C. “Before settling in New York City, where she would go on to become a college professor, Braschi
studied both literature and philosophy in several cities around the world.”

D. “In addition to her creative literary works, Braschi has produced academic pieces analyzing writings by
Miguel de Cervantes, Federico García Lorca, and other authors.”
Question ID f176ef9e
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Medium

Ideas Evidence

ID: f176ef9e
“Mr. Cornelius Johnson, Office-Seeker” is a 1900 short story by Paul Laurence Dunbar. In the story, the
narrator describes Mr. Cornelius Johnson’s appearance as conveying his exaggerated sense of his
importance: ______

Which quotation from “Mr. Cornelius Johnson, Office-Seeker” most effectively illustrates the claim?
A. “He carried himself always as if he were passing under his own triumphal arch.”

B. “The grey Prince Albert was scrupulously buttoned about his form, and a shiny top hat replaced the felt
of the afternoon.”

C. “It was a beautiful day in balmy May and the sun shone pleasantly on Mr. Cornelius Johnson’s very
spruce Prince Albert suit of grey as he alighted from the train in Washington.”

D. “Mr. Cornelius Johnson always spoke in a large and important tone.”

Question ID 4dbbf00a
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Medium
Ideas Details

ID: 4dbbf00a
The following text is from Ezra Pound’s 1909 poem “Hymn III,” based on the work of Marcantonio
Flaminio.
As a fragile and lovely flower unfolds its gleaming
foliage on the breast of the fostering earth, if
the dew and the rain draw it forth;
So doth my tender mind flourish, if it be fed with the
sweet dew of the fostering spirit,
Lacking this, it beginneth straightway to languish,
even as a floweret born upon dry earth, if the
dew and the rain tend it not.

Based on the text, in what way is the human mind like a flower?

A. It becomes increasingly vigorous with the passage of time.

B. It draws strength from changes in the weather.

C. It requires proper nourishment in order to thrive.

D. It perseveres despite challenging circumstances.

Question ID 5c37d685
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Medium

Ideas

ID: 5c37d685
To investigate the history of plate subduction—when one of Earth’s tectonic plates slides beneath another
—Sarah M. Aarons and colleagues compared ancient rocks from the Acasta Gneiss Complex in Canada to
modern rocks. Using isotope analysis, the researchers found that Acasta rocks dating to about 4.02 billion
years ago (bya) most strongly resemble modern rocks formed in a plume setting (an area in which hot
rocks from Earth’s mantle flow upward into the crust). By contrast, they found that Acasta rocks dating to
about 3.75 bya and 3.6 bya have an isotope composition that is similar to that of modern rocks formed in
a subduction setting. Aarons’s team therefore concluded that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. subduction-like processes began occurring in some locations no later than 3.75 bya.

B. subduction replaced mantle plume formation as the most common geological process by about 4.02
bya.

C. the majority of the rocks in the Acasta Gneiss Complex formed through subduction.

D. the rocks in the Acasta Gneiss Complex are of a more recent origin than scientists previously thought.
Question ID 6e2f1377
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Medium
Ideas Details

ID: 6e2f1377
Biologists have predicted that birds’ feather structures vary with habitat temperature, but this hadn’t been
tested in mountain environments. Ornithologist Sahas Barve studied feathers from 249 songbird species
inhabiting different elevations—and thus experiencing different temperatures—in the Himalaya Mountains.
He found that feathers of high-elevation species not only have a greater proportion of warming downy
sections to flat and smooth sections than do feathers of low-elevation species, but high-elevation species’
feathers also tend to be longer, providing a thicker layer of insulation.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A. Barve’s investigation shows that some species of Himalayan songbirds have evolved feathers that
better regulate body temperature than do the feathers of other species, contradicting previous
predictions.

B. Barve found an association between habitat temperature and feather structure among Himalayan
songbirds, lending new support to a general prediction.

C. Barve discovered that songbirds have adapted to their environment by growing feathers without flat
and smooth sections, complicating an earlier hypothesis.

D. The results of Barve’s study suggest that the ability of birds to withstand cold temperatures is
determined more strongly by feather length than feather structure, challenging an established belief.
Question ID 1726d646
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Hard

Ideas Evidence

ID: 1726d646
“The Poet Walt Whitman” is an 1887 essay by José Martí, a Cuban author and political activist, originally
written in Spanish. In the essay, Martí explores the value of literature, arguing that a society’s spiritual well-
being depends on the character of its literary culture: ______

Which quotation from a translation of “The Poet Walt Whitman” most effectively illustrates the claim?
A. “Poetry, which brings together or separates, which fortifies or brings anguish, which shores up or
demolishes souls, which gives or robs men of faith and vigor, is more necessary to a people than
industry itself, for industry provides them with a means of subsistence, while literature gives them the
desire and strength for life.”

B. “Every society brings to literature its own form of expression, and the history of the nations can be told
with greater truth by the stages of literature than by chronicles and decades.”

C. “Where will a race of men go when they have lost the habit of thinking with faith about the scope and
meaning of their actions? The best among them, those who consecrate Nature with their sacred desire
for the future, will lose, in a sordid and painful annihilation, all stimulus to alleviate the ugliness of
humanity.”

D. “Listen to the song of this hardworking and satisfied nation; listen to Walt Whitman. The exercise of
himself exalts him to majesty, tolerance exalts him to justice, and order to joy.”
Question ID 2f16288f
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Medium
Ideas Details

ID: 2f16288f
The following text is adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 novel Treasure Island. Bill is a sailor
staying at the Admiral Benbow, an inn run by the narrator’s parents.
Every day when [Bill] came back from his stroll he would ask if any seafaring men had gone by along the
road. At first we thought it was the want of company of his own kind that made him ask this question, but
at last we began to see he was desirous to avoid them. When a seaman did [stay] at the Admiral Benbow
(as now and then some did) he would look in at him through the curtained door before he entered the
parlour; and he was always sure to be as silent as a mouse when any such was present.

According to the text, why does Bill regularly ask about “seafaring men”?

A. He’s hoping to find an old friend and fellow sailor.

B. He’s trying to secure a job as part of the crew on a new ship.

C. He isn’t sure that other guests at the inn will be welcoming of sailors.

D. He doesn’t want to encounter any other sailor unexpectedly.

Question ID 358eef09
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Medium

Ideas

ID: 358eef09
It’s common for jazz musicians and fans to refer to certain songs as having “swing,” indicating that the
songs provoke a strong feeling, like the impulse to tap one’s foot or dance. The exact acoustic properties
that give a song swing, however, have long been thought to be undefinable. To investigate swing, a team
led by physicist Corentin Nelias delayed the downbeats and synchronized the offbeats in jazz piano solos
and asked jazz musicians to compare the intensity of swing in each modified piece with the intensity of
swing in the original piece. They found that participants were more than seven times likelier to
characterize the modified songs as having swing than to characterize the original versions as having
swing, suggesting that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. synchronized offbeats tend to give a song swing regardless of whether downbeats are delayed.

B. the acoustic properties that give a song swing are not easy for jazz musicians to manipulate.

C. jazz songs that feature the piano are more likely to have swing than are jazz songs that do not feature
the piano.

D. the timing of downbeats and offbeats may play a crucial role in giving a song swing.
Question ID 2b419893
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Hard

Ideas Evidence

ID: 2b419893
Given that stars and planets initially form from the same gas and dust in space, some astronomers have
posited that host stars (such as the Sun) and their planets (such as those in our solar system) are
composed of the same materials, with the planets containing equal or smaller quantities of the materials
that make up the host star. This idea is also supported by evidence that rocky planets in our solar system
are composed of some of the same materials as the Sun.

Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the astronomers’ claim?

A. Most stars are made of hydrogen and helium, but when cooled they are revealed to contain small
amounts of iron and silicate.

B. A nearby host star is observed to contain the same proportion of hydrogen and helium as that of the
Sun.

C. Evidence emerges that the amount of iron in some rocky planets is considerably higher than the
amount in their host star.

D. The method for determining the composition of rocky planets is discovered to be less effective when
used to analyze other kinds of planets.
Question ID ad4aa769
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Hard

Ideas Evidence

ID: ad4aa769
Biologist Valentina Gómez-Bahamón and her team have investigated two subspecies of the fork-tailed
flycatcher bird that live in the same region in Colombia, but one subspecies migrates south for part of the
year, and the other doesn’t. The researchers found that, due to slight differences in feather shape, the
feathers of migratory forked-tailed flycatcher males make a sound during flight that is higher pitched than
that made by the feathers of nonmigratory males. The researchers hypothesize that fork-tailed flycatcher
females are attracted to the specific sound made by the males of their own subspecies, and that over
time the females’ preference will drive further genetic and anatomical divergence between the
subspecies.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support Gómez-Bahamón and her team’s hypothesis?
A. The feathers located on the wings of the migratory fork-tailed flycatchers have a narrower shape than
those of the nonmigratory birds, which allows them to fly long distances.

B. Over several generations, the sound made by the feathers of migratory male fork-tailed flycatchers
grows progressively higher pitched relative to that made by the feathers of nonmigratory males.

C. Fork-tailed flycatchers communicate different messages to each other depending on whether their
feathers create high-pitched or low-pitched sounds.

D. The breeding habits of the migratory and nonmigratory fork-tailed flycatchers remained generally the
same over several generations.
Question ID aa4d08d6
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Medium

Ideas

ID: aa4d08d6
Herbivorous sauropod dinosaurs could grow more than 100 feet long and weigh up to 80 tons, and some
researchers have attributed the evolution of sauropods to such massive sizes to increased plant
production resulting from high levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide during the Mesozoic era. However,
there is no evidence of significant spikes in carbon dioxide levels coinciding with relevant periods in
sauropod evolution, such as when the first large sauropods appeared, when several sauropod lineages
underwent further evolution toward gigantism, or when sauropods reached their maximum known sizes,
suggesting that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. fluctuations in atmospheric carbon dioxide affected different sauropod lineages differently.

B. the evolution of larger body sizes in sauropods did not depend on increased atmospheric carbon
dioxide.

C. atmospheric carbon dioxide was higher when the largest known sauropods lived than it was when the
first sauropods appeared.

D. sauropods probably would not have evolved to such immense sizes if atmospheric carbon dioxide had
been even slightly higher.
Question ID 480a02dd
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Medium

Ideas Evidence

ID: 480a02dd
“Loon Point” is a 1912 poem by Amy Lowell. In the poem, which presents a nighttime scene on a body of
water, Lowell describes an element of nature as an active participant in the experience, writing, ______

Which quotation from “Loon Point” most effectively illustrates the claim?
A. “Through the water the moon writes her legends / In light, on the smooth, wet sand.”

B. “Softly the water ripples / Against the canoe’s curving side.”

C. “Or like the snow-white petals / Which drop from an overblown rose.”

D. “But the moon in her wayward beauty / Is ever and always the same.”
Question ID 60fbd7fe
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Medium

Ideas Evidence

ID: 60fbd7fe
Many insects are iridescent, or have colors that appear to shimmer and change when seen from different
angles. Scientists have assumed that this feature helps to attract mates but could also attract predators.
But biologist Karin Kjernsmo and a team had the idea that the shifting appearance of colors might
actually make it harder for other animals to see iridescent insects. To test this idea, the team put beetle
forewings on leaves along a forest path and then asked human participants to look for them. Some of the
wings were naturally iridescent. Others were painted with a nonchanging color from the iridescent
spectrum, such as purple or blue.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the team’s idea?
A. On average, participants found most of the purple wings and blue wings and far fewer of the iridescent
wings.

B. On average, participants found the iridescent wings faster than they found the purple wings or blue
wings.

C. Some participants reported that the purple wings were easier to see than the blue wings.

D. Some participants successfully found all of the wings on the leaves.

Question ID b864fb8e
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Medium

Ideas Evidence

ID: b864fb8e
Sandra Cisneros’s 1984 novella The House on Mango Street made a lasting impact on US literature. Its
depiction of Mexican American culture inspired later authors to examine their own heritage within their
fictional works. Also influential was the book’s portrayal of the main character, Esperanza, during a pivotal
year of her youth. This insightful depiction of a preteen girl encouraged authors who, like Cisneros herself,
are Latina to use fictional works to examine experiences from their own youth.

Which statement, if true, would most strongly support the claim in the underlined sentence?
A. In interviews, a number of Latina authors say that The House on Mango Street inspired them to write
about their own adolescence in their novels.

B. In published writings, several prominent authors who are not Latina say that reading The House on
Mango Street influenced their approach to writing fiction.

C. The House on Mango Street has sold over six million copies and is one of the most commonly read
books among high school and university students in the US.

D. Since 1984, new novels about young Latina characters by Latina authors have often been compared to
The House on Mango Street.
Question ID 48eeb0c3
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Hard

Ideas Evidence

ID: 48eeb0c3
A student performs an experiment testing her hypothesis that a slightly acidic soil environment is more
beneficial for the growth of the plant Brassica rapa parachinensis (a vegetable commonly known as choy
sum) than a neutral soil environment. She plants sixteen seeds of choy sum in a mixture of equal
amounts of coffee grounds (which are highly acidic) and potting soil and another sixteen seeds in potting
soil without coffee grounds as the control for the experiment. The two groups of seeds were exposed to
the same growing conditions and monitored for three weeks.

Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the student’s hypothesis?
A. The choy sum planted in the soil without coffee grounds were significantly taller at the end of the
experiment than the choy sum planted in the mixture of soil and coffee grounds.

B. The choy sum grown in the soil without coffee grounds weighed significantly less at the end of the
experiment than the choy sum grown in the mixture of soil and coffee grounds.

C. The choy sum seeds planted in the soil without coffee grounds sprouted significantly later in the
experiment than did the seeds planted in the mixture of soil and coffee grounds.

D. Significantly fewer of the choy sum seeds planted in the soil without coffee grounds sprouted plants
than did the seeds planted in the mixture of soil and coffee grounds.
Question ID d2fbb566
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Hard
Ideas Details

ID: d2fbb566
In superfluorescence, electrical charges known as dipoles emit light in synchronized bursts so intense
that they are visible to the eye. Until recently, this phenomenon has only been observed at extremely cold
temperatures because dipoles cannot synchronize at higher temperatures. But in a study, Melike Biliroglu
and colleagues observed superfluorescence at room temperature in thin films made of perovskite and
other similarly crystalline materials; the researchers propose that the formation of shock-absorbing
quasiparticles called polarons in the material protects dipoles from thermal interference.

Based on the text, how are polarons believed to be involved in the superfluorescence observed in Biliroglu
and colleagues’ study?
A. Polarons enable superfluorescent bursts to cross from one crystalline material to another.

B. Polarons allow for the dipoles to synchronize despite higher temperatures.

C. Polarons accelerate the dipoles’ release of superfluorescent bursts.

D. Polarons decrease the intensity of the superfluorescent burst.

Question ID e4bd0f5a
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Medium

Ideas Evidence

ID: e4bd0f5a

Cantaloupe Yield
45
40
Yield (pounds per acre)

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
2017 2018 2019
Year
control nitrogen fertilizer
To test the effects of a nitrogen fertilizer on cantaloupe production, researchers grew cantaloupe plants
and harvested their fruit over three years. In each year, half the plants were grown using a nitrogen
fertilizer, and the other half were grown using a control fertilizer that contained no nitrogen. The
researchers concluded that the nitrogen fertilizer increases cantaloupe yield.

Which choice best describes data in the graph that support the researchers’ conclusion?
A. In every year of the experiment, plants treated with the nitrogen fertilizer had a yield of at least 30
pounds per acre.

B. In every year of the experiment, plants treated with the nitrogen fertilizer had a greater yield than did
plants treated with the control fertilizer.

C. The 2018 yield for plants treated with the control fertilizer was greater than was the 2019 yield for
plants treated with the nitrogen fertilizer.

D. The yield for plants treated with the nitrogen fertilizer increased from 2017 to 2018.
Question ID 142975c2
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Hard

Ideas Evidence

ID: 142975c2
Art collectives, like the United States- and Vietnam-based collective The Propeller Group or Cuba’s Los
Carpinteros, are groups of artists who agree to work together: perhaps for stylistic reasons, or to advance
certain shared political ideals, or to help mitigate the costs of supplies and studio space. Regardless of
the reasons, art collectives usually involve some collaboration among the artists. Based on a recent series
of interviews with various art collectives, an arts journalist claims that this can be difficult for artists who
are often used to having sole control over their work.

Which quotation from the interviews best illustrates the journalist’s claim?

A. “The first collective I joined included many amazingly talented artists, and we enjoyed each other’s
company, but because we had a hard time sharing credit and responsibility for our work, the collective
didn’t last.”

B. “We work together, but that doesn’t mean that individual projects are equally the work of all of us. Many
of our projects are primarily the responsibility of whoever originally proposed the work to the group.”

C. “Having worked as a member of a collective for several years, it’s sometimes hard to recall what it was
like to work alone without the collective’s support. But that support encourages my individual
expression rather than limits it.”

D. “Sometimes an artist from outside the collective will choose to collaborate with us on a project, but all
of those projects fit within the larger themes of the work the collective does on its own.”
Question ID c0d8e05f
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Hard

Ideas Evidence

ID: c0d8e05f
Percentage of Available Eggs Eaten by Cane Toad Tadpoles
Amphibian species (common Percentage of eggs Native to Produces
name) eaten Australia bufadienolide

Little red tree frog 1% yes no

Cane toad 90% no yes

Short-footed frog 7% yes no

Striped burrowing frog 10% yes no

Dainty green tree frog 1% yes no

Native to Latin America, the cane toad was introduced to Australia in the 1930s. In recent decades,
tadpoles in the Australian population have been shown to consume eggs of their own species. A 2022
study showed that when presented with cane toad eggs as well as eggs of native Australian amphibians,
cane toad tadpoles disproportionately consumed eggs of their own species. This behavior results from
their attraction to bufadienolide, a chemical produced by the eggs of cane toads but not by the eggs of
native amphibians. However, using data from this study, a student wishes to argue that the presence of
bufadienolide doesn’t entirely explain the cane toad tadpoles’ preference for certain eggs over others.

Which choice best describes data from the table that support the student’s argument?
A. The tadpoles consumed a higher percentage of the striped burrowing frog eggs than they did of the
eggs of the dainty green tree frog.

B. The tadpoles left a certain percentage of the eggs of each of the five species unharmed, thus
ultimately allowing them to hatch.

C. The tadpoles consumed a lower percentage of the short-footed frog eggs than they did of the eggs of
their own species.

D. The tadpoles consumed the same percentage of the dainty green tree frog eggs as they did of the little
red tree frog eggs.
Question ID e752ee68
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Hard
Ideas Details

ID: e752ee68
The following text is adapted from Lewis Carroll’s 1889 satirical novel Sylvie and Bruno. A crowd has
gathered outside a room belonging to the Warden, an official who reports to the Lord Chancellor.
One man, who was more excited than the rest, flung his hat high into the air, and shouted (as well as I
could make out) “Who roar for the Sub-Warden?” Everybody roared, but whether it was for the Sub-
Warden, or not, did not clearly appear: some were shouting “Bread!” and some “Taxes!”, but no one
seemed to know what it was they really wanted.
All this I saw from the open window of the Warden’s breakfast-saloon, looking across the shoulder of
the Lord Chancellor.
“What can it all mean?” he kept repeating to himself. “I never heard such shouting before—and at this
time of the morning, too! And with such unanimity!”

Based on the text, how does the Lord Chancellor respond to the crowd?
A. He asks about the meaning of the crowd’s shouting, even though he claims to know what the crowd
wants.

B. He indicates a desire to speak to the crowd, even though the crowd has asked to speak to the Sub-
Warden.

C. He expresses sympathy for the crowd’s demands, even though the crowd’s shouting annoys him.

D. He describes the crowd as being united, even though the crowd clearly appears otherwise.
Question ID 787729f7
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Hard

Ideas

ID: 787729f7
Researchers recently found that disruptions to an enjoyable experience, like a short series of
advertisements during a television show, often increase viewers’ reported enjoyment. Suspecting that
disruptions to an unpleasant experience would have the opposite effect, the researchers had participants
listen to construction noise for 30 minutes and anticipated that those whose listening experience was
frequently interrupted with short breaks of silence would thus ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. find the disruptions more irritating as time went on.

B. rate the listening experience as more negative than those whose listening experience was
uninterrupted.

C. rate the experience of listening to construction noise as lasting for less time than it actually lasted.

D. perceive the volume of the construction noise as growing softer over time.
Question ID 508171c4
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Medium

Ideas

ID: 508171c4
Several artworks found among the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii depict a female figure
fishing with a cupid nearby. Some scholars have asserted that the figure is the goddess Venus, since she
is known to have been linked with cupids in Roman culture, but University of Leicester archaeologist Carla
Brain suggests that cupids may have also been associated with fishing generally. The fact that a cupid is
shown near the female figure, therefore, ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. is not conclusive evidence that the figure is Venus.

B. suggests that Venus was often depicted fishing.

C. eliminates the possibility that the figure is Venus.

D. would be difficult to account for if the figure is not Venus.

Question ID 98caa09d
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Easy

Ideas Evidence

ID: 98caa09d

Singer Sewing Machine Sales

in Four Countries, 1903–1918
60,000
50,000
Machines sold

40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
03 08 19
13
19
18
19 19
Year

New Zealand
Australia
the Philippines
Turkey

By the early 1900s, the Singer Corporation, a US sewing machine manufacturer founded in 1851, began to
see rapidly increasing sales abroad, particularly in Russia, Germany, and the United Kingdom. These
markets were responsible for the bulk of Singer’s overseas sales, but demand for the company’s
machines in other countries also grew significantly in the early twentieth century. For instance, sales of
their sewing machines in ______

Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to complete the example?
A. the Philippines increased dramatically from 1908 to 1918.

B. New Zealand were largely consistent from 1903 to 1918.

C. Australia increased steadily from 1903 to 1918.

D. Turkey declined substantially from 1913 to 1918.

Question ID 15c0ed26
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Hard

Ideas

ID: 15c0ed26
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is projected to maintain operation until at least 2030, but it has
already revolutionized high-resolution imaging of solar-system bodies in visible and ultraviolet (UV) light
wavelengths, notwithstanding that only about 6% of the bodies imaged by the HST are within the solar
system. NASA researcher Cindy L. Young and colleagues assert that a new space telescope dedicated
exclusively to solar-system observations would permit an extensive survey of minor solar-system bodies
and long-term UV observation to discern how solar-system bodies change over time. Young and
colleagues’ recommendation therefore implies that the HST ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. will likely continue to be used primarily to observe objects outside the solar system.

B. will no longer be used to observe solar system objects if the telescope recommended by Young and
colleagues is deployed.

C. can be modified to observe the features of solar system objects that are of interest to Young and
colleagues.

D. lacks the sensors to observe the wavelengths of light needed to discern how solar system bodies
change over time.
Question ID 0a017199
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Hard
Ideas Details

ID: 0a017199
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 4d671b68
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Hard
Ideas Details

ID: 4d671b68
Algae living within the tissues of corals play a critical role in keeping corals, and the marine ecosystems
they are part of, thriving. Some coral species appear brown in color when healthy due to the algae
colonies living in their tissues. In the event of an environmental stressor, the algae can die or be expelled,
causing the corals to appear white. To recover the algae, the bleached corals then begin to produce bright
colors, which block intense sunlight, encouraging the light-sensitive algae to recolonize the corals.

What does the text most strongly suggest about corals that produce bright colors?
A. These corals have likely been subjected to stressful environmental conditions.

B. These corals are likely more vulnerable to exposure from intense sunlight than white corals are.

C. These corals have likely recovered from an environmental event without the assistance of algae
colonies.

D. These corals are more likely to survive without algae colonies than brown corals are.
Question ID a0f3b38c
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Easy

Ideas Evidence

ID: a0f3b38c
Scientists have long believed that giraffes are mostly silent and communicate only visually with one
another. But biologist Angela Stöger and her team analyzed hundreds of hours of recordings of giraffes in
three European zoos and found that giraffes make a very low-pitched humming sound. The researchers
claim that the giraffes use these sounds to communicate when it’s not possible for them to signal one
another visually.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support Stöger and her team’s claim?
A. Giraffes have an excellent sense of vision and can see in color.

B. The giraffes only produced the humming sounds at night when they couldn’t see one another.

C. Wild giraffes have never been recorded making humming sounds.

D. Researchers observed other animals in European zoos humming.

Question ID 2e16d315
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Easy

Ideas Evidence

ID: 2e16d315
Number and Origin of Clamshell Tools Found at Different Depths below the Surface in Neanderthal Cave
Depth of tools found below Clamshells that Neanderthals Clamshells that Neanderthals
surface in cave (meters) collected from the beach harvested from the seafloor

2–3 7 0

3–4 99 33

4–5 2 0

5–6 18 7

6–7 1 0
Two kinds of clamshell tools used by Neanderthals were dug up in a cave on the western coast of Italy.
Archaeologist Paola Villa and her colleagues studied the tools and determined that Neanderthals either
collected clams that had washed onto the beach or harvested clams from the seafloor and then
sharpened the shells to make tools. The highest number of tools made from clamshells that were
collected from the beach was found at a depth of ______

Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the text?
A. 5–6 meters below the surface.

B. 4–5 meters below the surface.

C. 3–4 meters below the surface.

D. 6–7 meters below the surface.

Question ID 7b249420
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Medium

Ideas

ID: 7b249420
Biologist Natacha Bodenhausen and colleagues analyzed the naturally occurring bacterial communities
associated with leaves and roots of wild Arabidopsis thaliana, a small flowering plant. The researchers
found many of the same bacterial genera in both the plants’ leaves and roots. To explain this, the
researchers pointed to the general proximity of A. thaliana leaves to the ground and noted that rain
splashing off soil could bring soil-based bacteria into contact with the leaves. Alternatively, the
researchers noted that wind, which may be a source of bacteria in the aboveground portion of plants,
could also bring bacteria to the soil and roots. Either explanation suggests that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. bacteria carried by wind are typically less beneficial to A. thaliana than soil-based bacteria are.

B. some bacteria in A. thaliana leaves and roots may share a common source.

C. many bacteria in A. thaliana leaves may have been deposited by means other than rain.

D. A. thaliana leaves and roots are especially vulnerable to harmful bacteria.

Question ID ff953239
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Medium
Ideas Details

ID: ff953239
The recovery of a 1,000-year-old Chinese shipwreck in the Java Sea near present-day Indonesia has
yielded a treasure trove of artifacts, including thousands of small ceramic bowls. Using a portable X-ray
fluorescence analyzer tool, Lisa Niziolek and her team were able to detect the chemical composition of
these bowls without damaging them. By comparing the chemical signatures of the bowls with those of
the materials still at old Chinese kiln sites, Niziolek and her team can pinpoint which Chinese kilns likely
produced the ceramic bowls.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A. Because of a new technology, researchers can locate and recover more shipwrecks than they could in
the past.

B. Researchers have been able to identify the location of a number of Chinese kilns in operation 1,000
years ago.

C. With the help of a special tool, researchers have determined the likely origin of bowls recovered from a
shipwreck.

D. Before the invention of portable X-ray fluorescence, researchers needed to take a small piece out of an
artifact to analyze its components.
Question ID e0d51f42
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Hard

Ideas

ID: e0d51f42
Ancestral Puebloans, the civilization from which present-day Pueblo tribes descended, emerged as early
as 1500 B.C.E. in an area of what is now the southwestern United States and dispersed suddenly in the
late 1200s C.E., abandoning established villages with systems for farming crops and turkeys. Recent
analysis comparing turkey remains at Mesa Verde, one such village in southern Colorado, to samples
from modern turkey populations in the Rio Grande Valley of north central New Mexico determined that the
latter birds descended in part from turkeys cultivated at Mesa Verde, with shared genetic markers
appearing only after 1280. Thus, researchers concluded that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. conditions of the terrains in the Rio Grande Valley and Mesa Verde had greater similarities in the past
than they do today.

B. some Ancestral Puebloans migrated to the Rio Grande Valley in the late 1200s and carried farming
practices with them.

C. Indigenous peoples living in the Rio Grande Valley primarily planted crops and did not cultivate turkeys
before 1280.

D. the Ancestral Puebloans of Mesa Verde likely adopted the farming practices of Indigenous peoples
living in other regions.
Question ID 93a05d57
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Medium

Ideas

ID: 93a05d57
When the Vinland Map, a map of the world purported to date to the mid-1400s, surfaced in 1957, some
scholars believed it demonstrated that European knowledge of the eastern coast of present-day North
America predated Christopher Columbus’s 1492 arrival. In 2021, a team including conservators Marie-
France Lemay and Paula Zyats and materials scientist Anikó Bezur performed an extensive analysis of the
map and the ink used. They found that the ink contains titanium dioxide, a compound that was first
introduced in ink manufacturing in the early 1900s. Therefore, the team concluded that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. mid-1400s Europeans could not have known about the eastern coast of present-day North America.

B. the Vinland Map could not have been drawn by mid-1400s mapmakers.

C. mapmakers must have used titanium compounds in their ink in the 1400s.

D. there isn’t enough information to determine when the ink was created.
Question ID 396cc35d
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Medium
Ideas Details

ID: 396cc35d
Utah is home to Pando, a colony of about 47,000 quaking aspen trees that all share a single root system.
Pando is one of the largest single organisms by mass on Earth, but ecologists are worried that its growth
is declining in part because of grazing by animals. The ecologists say that strong fences could prevent
deer from eating young trees and help Pando start thriving again.

According to the text, why are ecologists worried about Pando?

A. It isn’t growing at the same rate it used to.

B. It isn’t producing young trees anymore.

C. It can’t grow into new areas because it is blocked by fences.

D. Its root system can’t support many more new trees.

Question ID 1d6e96f3
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Medium

ID: 1d6e96f3
For a 2020 exhibition, photographer and neurobiologist Okunola Jeyifous ______ a series of new images
based on a series of alphabet posters from the 1970s known as the “Black ABCs,” which featured Black
children from Chicago. Jeyifous photographed the now-adult models and layered the photos over
magnified images of the models’ cells, resulting in what he called “micro and macro portraiture.”

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

A. validated

B. created

C. challenged

D. restored
Question ID 5c38a6d5
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Hard

ID: 5c38a6d5
In studying the use of external stimuli to reduce the itching sensation caused by an allergic histamine
response, Louise Ward and colleagues found that while harmless applications of vibration or warming can
provide a temporary distraction, such ______ stimuli actually offer less relief than a stimulus that seems
less benign, like a mild electric shock.

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

B. innocuous

C. novel

D. impractical
Question ID 88b4e212
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and Easy
Purpose

ID: 88b4e212
Jackie Ormes’s Torchy Brown in Dixie to Harlem (1937–38) was the first comic strip by a Black woman to
appear in a widely read newspaper. The strip tells the story of Torchy, a young woman who leaves
Mississippi to become a performer in New York City. Torchy’s story reflects the experience of the Great
Migration (1910–1970), when millions of Black Americans left the South in search of opportunities in
other parts of the United States. Torchy Brown thus shows how Ormes used comics to comment
humorously on issues affecting Black Americans, which she continued to do throughout her career.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To show how Ormes’s Torchy Brown inspired other Black women to write comic strips in the 1930s

B. To illustrate how the subjects Ormes addressed in her comic strips changed over the course of her
career

C. To give an example of how Ormes presented the experiences of Black Americans in her comic strips

D. To claim that several characters in Torchy Brown were based on people that Ormes knew personally
Question ID 101e69de
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Medium

ID: 101e69de
The following text is from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby.

[Jay Gatsby] was balancing himself on the dashboard of his car with that resourcefulness of
movement that is so peculiarly American—that comes, I suppose, with the absence of lifting work in
youth and, even more, with the formless grace of our nervous, sporadic games. This quality was
continually breaking through his punctilious manner in the shape of restlessness.

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

A. Standard

B. Prestige

C. Characteristic

D. Accomplishment
Question ID 5046a8e3
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Easy

ID: 5046a8e3
In the mid-nineteenth century, some abolitionist newspapers ______ westward migration in the United
States; by printing a letter that described the easy fortunes and high salaries miners could make in
California during the Gold Rush, Frederick Douglass’s newspaper North Star was one such publication that
inspired readers to relocate.

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

A. stimulated

B. assigned

C. opposed

D. disregarded
Question ID 4165e701
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Hard

ID: 4165e701
Given that the conditions in binary star systems should make planetary formation nearly impossible, it’s
not surprising that the existence of planets in such systems has lacked ______ explanation. Roman
Rafikov and Kedron Silsbee shed light on the subject when they used modeling to determine a complex
set of factors that could support planets’ development.

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

A. a discernible

B. a straightforward

C. an inconclusive

D. an unbiased
Question ID 841a15d0
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text Hard

Connections

ID: 841a15d0

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 1e4059b7
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Easy

ID: 1e4059b7
Former astronaut Ellen Ochoa says that although she doesn’t have a definite idea of when it might
happen, she ______ that humans will someday need to be able to live in other environments than those
found on Earth. This conjecture informs her interest in future research missions to the moon.

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

A. demands

B. speculates

C. doubts

D. establishes
Question ID e2666b77
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and Easy
Purpose

ID: e2666b77
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 362e987f
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text Medium

Connections

ID: 362e987f

Text 1
In a study of the benefits of having free time, Marissa Sharif found that the reported sense of life
satisfaction tended to plateau when participants had two hours of free time per day and actually began to
fall when they had five hours of free time per day. After further research, Sharif concluded that this dip in
life satisfaction mainly occurred when individuals spent all their free time unproductively, such as by
watching TV or playing games.

Text 2
Psychologist James Maddux cautions against suggesting an ideal amount of free time. The human desire
for both free time and productivity is universal, but Maddux asserts that individuals have unique needs for
life satisfaction. Furthermore, he points out that there is no objective definition for what constitutes
productivity; reading a book might be considered a productive activity by some, but idleness by others.

Based on the texts, how would Maddux (Text 2) most likely respond to the conclusion Sharif (Text 1)
reached after her further research?
A. By acknowledging that free time is more likely to enhance life satisfaction when it is spent productively
than when it is spent unproductively

B. By challenging the reasoning in Text 1, as it has not been proved that productivity commonly
contributes to individuals’ life satisfaction

C. By warning against making an overly broad assumption, as there is no clear consensus in

distinguishing between productive and unproductive activities

D. By claiming that the specific activities named in Text 1 are actually examples of productive activities
rather than unproductive ones
Question ID 123cf5db
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Hard

ID: 123cf5db
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 c014a78c
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and Easy
Purpose

ID: c014a78c
In many agricultural environments, the banks of streams are kept forested to protect water quality, but it’s
been unclear what effects these forests may have on stream biodiversity. To investigate the issue,
biologist Xingli Giam and colleagues studied an Indonesian oil palm plantation, comparing the species
richness of forested streams with that of nonforested streams. Giam and colleagues found that species
richness was significantly higher in forested streams, a finding the researchers attribute to the role leaf
litter plays in sheltering fish from predators and providing food resources.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. It discusses research intended to settle a debate about how agricultural yields can be increased
without negative effects on water quality.

B. It explains the differences between stream-protection strategies used in oil palm plantations and
stream-protection strategies used in other kinds of agricultural environments.

C. It describes findings that challenge a previously held view about how fish that inhabit streams in
agricultural environments attempt to avoid predators.

D. It presents a study that addresses an unresolved question about the presence of forests along
streams in agricultural environments.
Question ID 6d458a07
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Medium

ID: 6d458a07
Some researchers believe that the genes that enable groundhogs and certain other mammals to hibernate
through the winter by slowing their breathing and heart rates and lowering their body temperature may be
______ in humans: present yet having essentially no effect on our bodily processes.

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

A. decisive

B. lacking

C. variable

D. dormant
Question ID dac47b83
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Medium

ID: dac47b83
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 6c39d701
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Easy

ID: 6c39d701
The process of mechanically recycling plastics is often considered ______ because of the environmental
impact and the loss of material quality that often occurs. But chemist Takunda Chazovachii has helped
develop a cleaner process of chemical recycling that converts superabsorbent polymers from diapers into
a desirable reusable adhesive.

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

A. resilient

B. inadequate

C. dynamic

D. satisfactory
Question ID 1a44da89
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text Medium

Connections

ID: 1a44da89

Text 1
A tiny, unusual fossil in a piece of 99-million-year-old amber is of the extinct species Oculudentavis
khaungraae. The O. khaungraae fossil consists of a rounded skull with a thin snout and a large eye socket.
Because these features look like they are avian, or related to birds, researchers initially thought that the
fossil might be the smallest avian dinosaur ever found.

Text 2
Paleontologists were excited to discover a second small fossil that is similar to the strange O. khaungraae
fossil but has part of the lower body along with a birdlike skull. Detailed studies of both fossils revealed
several traits that are found in lizards but not in dinosaurs or birds. Therefore, paleontologists think the
two creatures were probably unusual lizards, even though the skulls looked avian at first.

Based on the texts, what would the paleontologists in Text 2 most likely say about the researchers’ initial
thought in Text 1?
A. It is understandable because the fossil does look like it could be related to birds, even though O.
khaungraae is probably a lizard.

B. It is confusing because it isn’t clear what caused the researchers to think that O. khaungraae might be
related to birds.

C. It is flawed because the researchers mistakenly assumed that O. khaungraae must be a lizard.

D. It is reasonable because the O. khaungraae skull is about the same size as the skull of the second
fossil but is shaped differently.
Question ID 9c607676
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text Hard

Connections

ID: 9c607676
Text 1
Growth in the use of novel nanohybrids—materials created from the conjugation of multiple distinct
nanomaterials, such as iron oxide and gold nanomaterials conjugated for use in magnetic imaging—has
outpaced studies of nanohybrids’ environmental risks. Unfortunately, risk evaluations based on
nanohybrids’ constituents are not reliable: conjugation may alter constituents’ physiochemical properties
such that innocuous nanomaterials form a nanohybrid that is anything but.
Text 2
The potential for enhanced toxicity of nanohybrids relative to the toxicity of constituent nanomaterials has
drawn deserved attention, but the effects of nanomaterial conjugation vary by case. For instance, it was
recently shown that a nanohybrid of silicon dioxide and zinc oxide preserved the desired optical
transparency of zinc oxide nanoparticles while mitigating the nanoparticles’ potential to damage DNA.

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

A. By concurring that the risk described in Text 1 should be evaluated but emphasizing that the risk is
more than offset by the potential benefits of nanomaterial conjugation

B. By arguing that the situation described in Text 1 may not be representative but conceding that the
effects of nanomaterial conjugation are harder to predict than researchers had expected

C. By denying that the circumstance described in Text 1 is likely to occur but acknowledging that many
aspects of nanomaterial conjugation are still poorly understood

D. By agreeing that the possibility described in Text 1 is a cause for concern but pointing out that
nanomaterial conjugation does not inevitably produce that result
Question ID 483db6c2
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Easy

ID: 483db6c2
The following text is adapted from Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

“The second thing is to find my way into that lovely garden. I think that will be the best plan.” It
sounded like an excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and simply arranged; the only difficulty was,
that Alice had not the smallest idea how to set about it.

As used in the text, what does the word “simply” most nearly mean?
A. Faintly

B. Hastily

C. Easily

D. Foolishly
Question ID c9740864
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Easy

ID: c9740864
Following the principles of community-based participatory research, tribal nations and research
institutions are equal partners in health studies conducted on reservations. A collaboration between the
Crow Tribe and Montana State University ­______ this model: tribal citizens worked alongside scientists to
design the methodology and continue to assist in data collection.

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

A. circumvents

B. eclipses

C. fabricates

D. exemplifies
Question ID a84b11c2
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Hard

ID: a84b11c2
Some scientists have suggested that mammals in the Mesozoic era were not a very ______ group, but
paleontologist Zhe-Xi Luo’s research suggests that early mammals living in the shadow of dinosaurs
weren’t all ground-dwelling insectivores. Fossils of various plant-eating mammals have been found in
China, including species like Vilevolodon diplomylos, which Luo says could glide like a flying squirrel.

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

B. obscure

C. diverse

D. localized
Question ID f2e39001
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Hard

ID: f2e39001
Scholarly discussions of gender in Shakespeare’s comedies often celebrate the rebellion of the
playwright’s characters against the rigid expectations ______ by Elizabethan society. Most of the comedies
end in marriage, with characters returning to their socially dictated gender roles after previously defying
them, but there are some notable exceptions.

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

A. interjected

B. committed

C. illustrated

D. prescribed
Question ID fd0c38e6
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text Medium

Connections

ID: fd0c38e6
Text 1
Stage lighting theorist Adolphe Appia was perhaps the first to argue that light must be considered
alongside all the various elements of a stage to create a single, unified performance. Researcher Kelly
Bremner, however, has noted that Appia lacked technical expertise in the use of light in the theater. As a
result of Appia’s inexperience, Bremner argues, Appia’s theory of light called for lighting practices that
weren’t possible until after the advent of electricity around 1881.

Text 2
Adolphe Appia was not an amateur in the practice of lighting. Instead, it is precisely his exposure to
lighting techniques at the time that contributed to his theory on the importance of light. When working as
an apprentice for a lighting specialist in his youth, Appia observed the use of portable lighting devices that
could be operated by hand. This experience developed his understanding of what was possible in the
coordination of elements on the stage.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the claim about Appia’s level of
technical expertise made by Bremner in Text 1?
A. Many lighting technicians dismissed Appia’s ideas about light on the stage.

B. Appia likely gained a level of technical expertise during his time as an apprentice.

C. Theater practitioners who worked with Appia greatly admired his work.

D. Appia was unfamiliar with the use of music and sound in theater.
Question ID 27bccd45
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and Easy
Purpose

ID: 27bccd45
Some bird species don’t raise their own chicks. Instead, adult females lay their eggs in other nests, next to
another bird species’ own eggs. Female cuckoos have been seen quickly laying eggs in the nests of other
bird species when those birds are out looking for food. After the eggs hatch, the noncuckoo parents will
typically raise the cuckoo chicks as if they were their own offspring, even if the cuckoos look very different
from the other chicks.

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

A. It introduces a physical feature of female cuckoos that is described later in the text.

B. It describes the appearance of the cuckoo nests mentioned earlier in the text.

C. It offers a detail about how female cuckoos carry out the behavior discussed in the text.

D. It explains how other birds react to the female cuckoo behavior discussed in the text.
Question ID 5c9c3bca
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Medium

ID: 5c9c3bca
Mineralogical differences are detectable in samples collected from two locations on the near-Earth
asteroid Ryugu, but such differences may not indicate substantial compositional variations in the
asteroid. Cosmochemist Kazuhide Nagashima and colleagues note that at the small scale of the samples,
the distribution of minerals is unlikely to be ______.

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

A. neglected

B. redundant

C. ongoing

D. uniform
Question ID bfcbec2d
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and Hard
Purpose

ID: bfcbec2d
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 99022257
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and Medium
Purpose

ID: 99022257
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 bf0c8b48
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Hard

ID: bf0c8b48
The following text is adapted from George Eliot’s 1871–72 novel Middlemarch.

[Mr. Brooke] had travelled in his younger years, and was held in this part of the country to have
contracted a too rambling habit of mind. Mr. Brooke’s conclusions were as difficult to predict as the
weather.

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

A. Restricted

B. Described

C. Developed

D. Settled
Question ID 7424ea31
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text Hard

Connections

ID: 7424ea31
Text 1
Fossils of the hominin Australopithecus africanus have been found in the Sterkfontein Caves of South
Africa, but assigning an age to the fossils is challenging because of the unreliability of dating methods in
this context. The geology of Sterkfontein has caused soil layers from different periods to mix, impeding
stratigraphic dating, and dates cannot be reliably imputed from those of nearby animal bones since the
bones may have been relocated by flooding.
Text 2
Archaeologists used new cosmogenic nuclide dating techniques to reevaluate the ages of A. africanus
fossils found in the Sterkfontein Caves. This technique involves analyzing the cosmogenic nucleotides in
the breccia—the matrix of rock fragments immediately surrounding the fossils. The researchers assert
that this approach avoids the potential for misdating associated with assigning ages based on
Sterkfontein’s soil layers or animal bones.

Based on the texts, how would the researchers in Text 2 most likely respond to the underlined portion in
Text 1?
A. They would emphasize the fact that the A. africanus fossils found in the Sterkfontein Caves may have
been corrupted in some way over the years.

B. They would contend that if analyses of surrounding layers and bones in the Sterkfontein Caves were
combined, then the dating of the fossils there would be more accurate.

C. They would argue that their techniques are better suited than other methods to the unique challenges
posed by the Sterkfontein Caves.

D. They would claim that cosmogenic nuclide dating is reliable in the context of the Sterkfontein Caves
because it is applied to the fossils directly.
Question ID 674aae7d
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and Hard
Purpose

ID: 674aae7d
Astronomers are confident that the star Betelgeuse will eventually consume all the helium in its core and
explode in a supernova. They are much less confident, however, about when this will happen, since that
depends on internal characteristics of Betelgeuse that are largely unknown. Astrophysicist Sarafina El-
Badry Nance and colleagues recently investigated whether acoustic waves in the star could be used to
determine internal stellar states but concluded that this method could not sufficiently reveal Betelgeuse’s
internal characteristics to allow its evolutionary state to be firmly fixed.

Which choice best describes the function of the second sentence in the overall structure of the text?
A. It describes a serious limitation of the method used by Nance and colleagues.

B. It presents the central finding reported by Nance and colleagues.

C. It identifies the problem that Nance and colleagues attempted to solve but did not.

D. It explains how the work of Nance and colleagues was received by others in the field.
Question ID 40614504
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and Easy
Purpose

ID: 40614504
In 1801, a Blackfoot chief named Ac Ko Mok Ki drew a finely detailed map of the Upper Missouri region.
This work demonstrates a vast amount of topographic knowledge, as the map features specific names of
mountains and rivers, as well as the first-known sketch of the drainage network of the Missouri River. The
map is especially notable because Ac Ko Mok Ki also included details about the numerous tribes that
lived in the area.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?
A. It emphasizes Ac Ko Mok Ki’s desire to represent other tribes on the map.

B. It explains how Ac Ko Mok Ki developed an interest in mapmaking.

C. It identifies some reasons why the map is impressive.

D. It details how the map was used for hunting and trading purposes.
Question ID aab1f4cf
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Easy

ID: aab1f4cf
In the 1960s, Sam Gilliam, a Black painter from the southern United States, became the first artist to drape
painted canvases into flowing shapes. He later explored a different style, ______ quilt-like paintings
inspired by the patchwork quilting tradition of Black communities in the South.

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

B. refusing

C. hiding

D. creating
Question ID c2d55ff0
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Easy

ID: c2d55ff0
For painter Jacob Lawrence, being ______ was an important part of the artistic process. Because he paid
close attention to all the details of his Harlem neighborhood, Lawrence’s artwork captured nuances in the
beauty and vitality of the Black experience during the Harlem Renaissance and the Great Migration.

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

A. skeptical

B. observant

C. critical

D. confident
Question ID 82dc74ec
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Easy

ID: 82dc74ec
The Cambrian explosion gets its name from the sudden appearance and rapid diversification of animal
remains in the fossil record about 541 million years ago, during the Cambrian period. Some scientists
argue that this ______ change in the fossil record might be because of a shift in many organisms to body
types that were more likely to be preserved.

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

B. elusive

C. abrupt

D. imminent
Question ID 83e4ea9a
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and Hard
Purpose

ID: 83e4ea9a
According to Indian economist and sociologist Radhakamal Mukerjee (1889–1968), the Eurocentric
concepts that informed early twentieth-century social scientific methods—for example, the idea that all
social relations are reducible to struggles between individuals—had little relevance for India. Making the
social sciences more responsive to Indians’ needs, Mukerjee argued, required constructing analytical
categories informed by India’s cultural and ecological circumstances. Mukerjee thus proposed the
communalist “Indian village” as the ideal model on which to base Indian economic and social policy.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. The text recounts Mukerjee’s early training in the social scientific disciplines and then lists social
policies whose implementation Mukerjee oversaw.

B. The text mentions some of Mukerjee’s economic theories and then traces their impact on other Indian
social scientists of the twentieth century.

C. The text presents Mukerjee’s critique of the social sciences and then provides an example of his
attempts to address issues he identified in his critique.

D. The text explains an influential economic theory and then demonstrates how that theory was more
important to Mukerjee’s work than other social scientists have acknowledged.
Question ID 37ffb006
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Easy

ID: 37ffb006
The following text is from Yann Martel’s 2001 novel Life of Pi. The narrator’s family owned a zoo when he
was a child.

It was a huge zoo, spread over numberless acres, big enough to require a train to explore it, though it
seemed to get smaller as I grew older, train included.
©2001 by Yann Martel

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

A. Hidden

B. Discussed

C. Extended

D. Coated
Question ID e3d3d5f1
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Hard

ID: e3d3d5f1
Critics have asserted that fine art and fashion rarely ______ in a world where artists create timeless works
for exhibition and designers periodically produce new styles for the public to buy. Luiseño/Shoshone-
Bannock beadwork artist and designer Jamie Okuma challenges this view: her work can be seen in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art and purchased through her online boutique.

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

A. prevail

B. succumb

C. diverge

D. intersect
Question ID fda65f0a
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text Hard

Connections

ID: fda65f0a
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 4e772803
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text Easy

Connections

ID: 4e772803
Text 1
Italian painters in the 1500s rarely depicted themselves in their work. Even more rare were self-portrait
paintings that portrayed the artist as a painter. At the time, painting was not yet respected as a profession,
so painters mostly chose to emphasize other qualities in their self-portraits, like their intellect or social
status. In the city of Bologna, the first artist to depict themself painting was a man named Annibale
Carracci. A painting of his from around 1585 shows Carracci in front of an easel holding a palette.

Text 2
In their self-portraits, Bolognese artists typically avoided referring to the act of painting until the mid-
1600s. However, Lavinia Fontana’s 1577 painting, Self-Portrait at the Keyboard, stands out as the earliest
example of such a work by an artist from Bologna. Although the artist is depicted playing music, in the
background, one can spot a painting easel by a window.

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

A. Carracci and Fontana were among the most well-respected painters in Bologna at the time.

B. The depiction of Fontana in Self-Portrait at the Keyboard was intended to underscore the artist’s
creativity.

C. Fontana likely inspired the reference to an easel and palette in Carracci’s painting.

D. Self-Portrait at the Keyboard was painted earlier than Carracci’s painting and also refers to the artist’s
craft.
Question ID fdf8e5b3
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text Medium

Connections

ID: fdf8e5b3
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 c89da8bc
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and Hard
Purpose

ID: c89da8bc
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 939f1fe8
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and Hard
Purpose

ID: 939f1fe8
In Jane Austen’s novel Mansfield Park, an almost imperceptible smile from potential suitor Henry
Crawford causes the protagonist Fanny Price to blush; her embarrassment grows when she suspects that
he is aware of it. This moment—in which Fanny not only infers Henry’s mental state through his gestures,
but also infers that he is drawing inferences about her mental state—illustrates what literary scholar
George Butte calls “deep intersubjectivity,” a technique for representing interactions between
consciousnesses through which Austen’s novels derive much of their social and psychological drama.

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

A. It states a claim about Austen’s skill at representing psychological complexity that is reinforced by an
example presented in the following sentence.

B. It advances an interpretation of an Austen protagonist who is contrasted with protagonists from other
Austen novels cited in the following sentence.

C. It describes a recurring theme in Austen’s novels that is the focus of a literary scholar’s analysis
summarized in the following sentence.

D. It provides a synopsis of an interaction in an Austen novel that illustrates a literary concept discussed
in the following sentence.
Question ID f8500a99
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context Easy

ID: f8500a99
The spacecraft OSIRIS-REx briefly made contact with the asteroid 101955 Bennu in 2020. NASA scientist
Daniella DellaGiustina reports that despite facing the unexpected obstacle of a surface mostly covered in
boulders, OSIRIS-REx successfully ______ a sample of the surface, gathering pieces of it to bring back to
Earth.

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

A. attached

B. collected

C. followed

D. replaced
Question ID 815b354f
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and Medium
Purpose

ID: 815b354f
Using NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Mercedes López-Morales and colleagues
measured the wavelengths of light traveling through the atmosphere of WASP-39b, an exoplanet, or planet
outside our solar system. Different molecules absorb different wavelengths of light, and the wavelength
measurements showed the presence of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in WASP-39b’s atmosphere. This finding not
only offers the first decisive evidence of CO₂ in the atmosphere of an exoplanet but also illustrates the
potential for future scientific breakthroughs held by the JWST.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. It discusses a method used by some researchers, then states why an alternative method is superior to
it.

B. It describes how researchers made a scientific discovery, then explains the importance of that
discovery.

C. It outlines the steps taken in a scientific study, then presents a hypothesis based on that study.

D. It examines how a group of scientists reached a conclusion, then shows how other scientists have
challenged that conclusion.
Question ID 708cf785
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text Hard

Connections

ID: 708cf785
Text 1
Dominique Potvin and colleagues captured five Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen) to test a new
design for attaching tracking devices to birds. As the researchers fitted each magpie with a tracker
attached by a small harness, they noticed some magpies without trackers pecking at another magpie’s
tracker until it broke off. The researchers suggest that this behavior could be evidence of magpies
attempting to help another magpie without benefiting themselves.

Text 2
It can be tempting to think that animals are deliberately providing help when we see them removing
trackers and other equipment from one another, especially when a species is known to exhibit other
cooperative behaviors. At the same time, it can be difficult to exclude the possibility that individuals are
simply interested in the equipment because of its novelty, curiously pawing or pecking at it until it
detaches.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the researchers’ perspective in
Text 1 on the behavior of the magpies without trackers?

A. That behavior might have been due to the novelty of the magpies’ captive setting rather than to the
novelty of the tracker.

B. That behavior likely indicates that the magpies were deliberately attempting to benefit themselves by
obtaining the tracker.

C. That behavior may not be evidence of selflessness in Gymnorhina tibicen because not all the captured
magpies demonstrated it.

D. That behavior might be adequately explained without suggesting that the magpies were attempting to
assist the other magpie.
Question ID 24c73d92
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Expression of Ideas Transitions Easy

ID: 24c73d92
Every chemical compound has a spectroscopic fingerprint, a pattern of reflected light unique to that
compound. ______ upon analyzing the light reflected by the bright regions on the surface of the dwarf
planet Ceres, Maria Cristina De Sanctis of Rome’s National Institute of Astrophysics was able to
determine that the regions contain large amounts of the compound sodium carbonate.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A. Regardless,

B. Meanwhile,

C. Thus,

D. In comparison,
Question ID 2f3202d5
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Expression of Ideas Rhetorical Medium

Synthesis

ID: 2f3202d5
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
Platinum is a rare and expensive metal.
It is used as a catalyst for chemical reactions.
Platinum catalysts typically require a large amount of platinum to be effective.
Researcher Jianbo Tang and his colleagues created a platinum catalyst that combines platinum with liquid
gallium.
Their catalyst was highly effective and required only trace amounts of platinum (0.0001% of the atoms in the
mixture).

The student wants to explain an advantage of the new platinum catalyst developed by Jianbo Tang and
his colleagues. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish
this goal?

A. Researcher Jianbo Tang and his colleagues created a platinum catalyst that combines platinum, a rare
and expensive metal, with liquid gallium.

B. Like other platinum catalysts, the new platinum catalyst requires a particular amount of the metal to be
effective.

C. Platinum is a rare and expensive metal that is used as a catalyst for chemical reactions; however,
platinum catalysts typically require a large amount of platinum to be effective.

D. While still highly effective, the new platinum catalyst requires far less of the rare and expensive metal
than do other platinum catalysts.
Question ID 140d2d15
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Expression of Ideas Rhetorical Hard

Synthesis

ID: 140d2d15
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
Stars form in a galaxy when gravity causes a massive cloud of dust and gas to collapse.
A galaxy in a phase of rapid star formation is called a starburst galaxy.
Quenching is a process in which a galaxy loses star-forming gas.
A galaxy that no longer forms stars is called a quenched galaxy.
A quenched galaxy has entered the poststarburst phase.

The student wants to explain what a quenched galaxy is. Which choice most effectively uses relevant
information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A. Before quenching, a starburst galaxy will form stars at a rapid rate.

B. When it becomes quenched, a starburst galaxy enters the poststarburst phase.

C. Having entered the poststarburst phase, a quenched galaxy is one that no longer forms stars.

D. A starburst galaxy will lose star-forming gas and eventually become quenched.
Question ID 2e05d87a
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Expression of Ideas Rhetorical Easy

Synthesis

ID: 2e05d87a
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
Novelist Willa Cather grew up in Nebraska and attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Some of Cather’s best-known novels are set in Nebraska.
Two such novels are O Pioneers! (1913) and My Ántonia (1918).
Cather’s novels describe the experiences of immigrants who settled in the Great Plains.

The student wants to identify the setting of Cather’s novel My Ántonia. Which choice most effectively uses
relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A. My Ántonia is set in Nebraska, where Cather grew up.

B. Cather, author of My Ántonia, described the experiences of immigrants in her novels.

C. Among Cather’s best-known novels are O Pioneers! (1913) and My Ántonia (1918).

D. Cather attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and set some of her novels in Nebraska.
Question ID b5465fdf
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Expression of Ideas Rhetorical Medium

Synthesis

ID: b5465fdf
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present is a history book by Ojibwe author
David Treuer.
In a review, a critic for The Economist noted that “Treuer’s storytelling skills shine” and that the book is an
“elegant handling of [a] complex narrative.”
A critic for O, The Oprah Magazine called it “a marvel of research and storytelling.”
A critic for the Missoulian dubbed it “a monumental achievement.”

The student wants to emphasize a similarity in how critics responded to Treuer’s book. Which choice
most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A. Treuer’s book, which was widely reviewed, focuses on Native American history from 1890 to the
present.

B. Dubbed “a monumental achievement” by the Missoulian, Treuer’s book documents over a century of
Native American history.

C. Critics praised Treuer’s book for its compelling narrative, with O, The Oprah Magazine calling it “a
marvel of research and storytelling” and The Economist likewise writing that “Treuer’s storytelling skills
shine” and that the book is an “elegant handling of [a] complex narrative.”

D. While the Missoulian focused on the book’s broader achievement, The Economist zeroed in on Treuer’s
storytelling skills.
Question ID 36783511
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Expression of Ideas Rhetorical Hard

Synthesis

ID: 36783511
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
The factors that affect clutch size (the number of eggs laid at one time) have been well studied in birds but not in
lizards.
A team led by Shai Meiri of Tel Aviv University investigated which factors influence lizard clutch size.
Meiri’s team obtained clutch-size and habitat data for over 3,900 lizard species and analyzed the data with
statistical models.
Larger clutch size was associated with environments in higher latitudes that have more seasonal change.
Lizards in higher-latitude environments may lay larger clutches to take advantage of shorter windows of
favorable conditions.

The student wants to emphasize the aim of the research study. Which choice most effectively uses
relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
A. Researchers wanted to know which factors influence lizard egg clutch size because such factors have
been well studied in birds but not in lizards.

B. After they obtained data for over 3,900 lizard species, researchers determined that larger clutch size
was associated with environments in higher latitudes that have more seasonal change.

C. We now know that lizards in higher-latitude environments may lay larger clutches to take advantage of
shorter windows of favorable conditions.

D. Researchers obtained clutch-size and habitat data for over 3,900 lizard species and analyzed the data
with statistical models.
Question ID 2138137b
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Expression of Ideas Transitions Medium

ID: 2138137b
The chemical trimethylamine N-oxide not only gives fish their fishy smell but also protects them from
crushing hydrostatic pressure in deep waters. Trimethylamine N-oxide strengthens the bonds between
water molecules in a fish’s body. ______ these water molecules maintain their linked structure at extreme
depths, thus preventing pressure-related damage.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A. Nevertheless,

B. As a result,

C. However,

D. For instance,
Question ID a053d0b8
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Expression of Ideas Transitions Medium

ID: a053d0b8
One poll taken after the first 1960 presidential debate suggested that John Kennedy lost badly: only 21
percent of those who listened on the radio rated him the winner. ______ the debate was ultimately
considered a victory for the telegenic young senator, who rated higher than his opponent, Vice President
Richard Nixon, among those watching on the new medium of television.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A. In other words,

B. Therefore,

C. Likewise,

D. Nevertheless,
Question ID fe1ae990
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Expression of Ideas Rhetorical Medium

Synthesis

ID: fe1ae990
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
Samuel Selvon was a Trinidadian author.
The Lonely Londoners is one of his most celebrated novels.
Selvon published the novel in 1956.
It is about a group of men who emigrate from the Caribbean to Great Britain after World War II.
Some of The Lonely Londoners’ characters also appear in Selvon’s later novel Moses Ascending.

The student wants to introduce Samuel Selvon and his novel The Lonely Londoners to a new audience.
Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A. In 1956, Trinidadian author Samuel Selvon published one of his most celebrated novels, The Lonely
Londoners, which is about a group of men who emigrate from the Caribbean to Great Britain after
World War II.

B. Samuel Selvon wrote the novel Moses Ascending after he wrote The Lonely Londoners.

C. The Lonely Londoners, a celebrated novel that was published in 1956, depicts post–World War II
Caribbean migration from the perspective of a Trinidadian author.

D. Some of the characters who appear in Samuel Selvon’s Moses Ascending also appear in The Lonely
Londoners.
Question ID ee6a9be5
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Expression of Ideas Rhetorical Medium

Synthesis

ID: ee6a9be5
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
In 2020, theater students at Radford and Virginia Tech chose an interactive, online format to present a play about
woman suffrage activists.
Their “Women and the Vote” website featured an interactive digital drawing of a Victorian-style house.
Audiences were asked to focus on a room of their choice and select from that room an artifact related to the
suffrage movement.
One click took them to video clips, songs, artwork, and texts associated with the artifact.
The play was popular with audiences because the format allowed them to control the experience.

The student wants to explain an advantage of the “Women and the Vote” format. Which choice most
effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A. “Women and the Vote” featured a drawing of a Victorian-style house with several rooms, each
containing suffrage artifacts.

B. To access video clips, songs, artwork, and texts, audiences had to first click on an artifact.

C. The “Women and the Vote” format appealed to audiences because it allowed them to control the
experience.

D. Using an interactive format, theater students at Radford and Virginia Tech created “Women and the
Vote,” a play about woman suffrage activists.
Question ID a0903efe
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Expression of Ideas Rhetorical Medium

Synthesis

ID: a0903efe
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
In the midst of the US Civil War, Susie Taylor escaped slavery and fled to Union-army-occupied St. Simons Island
off the Georgia coast.
She began working for an all-Black army regiment as a nurse and teacher.
In 1902, she published a book about the time she spent with the regiment.
Her book was the only Civil War memoir to be published by a Black woman.
It is still available to readers in print and online.

The student wants to emphasize the uniqueness of Taylor’s accomplishment. Which choice most
effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A. Taylor fled to St. Simons Island, which was then occupied by the Union army, for whom she began
working.

B. After escaping slavery, Taylor began working for an all-Black army regiment as a nurse and teacher.

C. The book Taylor wrote about the time she spent with the regiment is still available to readers in print
and online.

D. Taylor was the only Black woman to publish a Civil War memoir.
Question ID d10fc56f
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Expression of Ideas Transitions Easy

ID: d10fc56f
Small, flat structures called spatulae are found at the tips of the hairs on a spider’s leg. These spatulae
temporarily bond with the atoms of whatever they touch. ______ spiders are able to cling to and climb
almost any surface.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A. For instance,

B. However,

C. Similarly,

D. As a result,
Question ID c0c20ca3
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Expression of Ideas Transitions Easy

ID: c0c20ca3
A potter choosing which type of clay to use for a piece considers two key factors: the desired look of the
piece and its intended use. ______ earthenware clay is often used for decorative pieces because of its
rustic look. This type of clay is not often used in industrial settings, though, because it is less durable than
other clays.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A. In other words,

B. Regardless,

C. In conclusion,

D. For example,
Question ID 46d91c77
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Expression of Ideas Transitions Hard

ID: 46d91c77
In 2009, the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles hosted a special exhibition, Sueños/Yume,
showcasing the works of local sculptor Dora de Larios. As suggested by the show’s title (sueños and
yume mean “dreams” in Spanish and Japanese, respectively), de Larios’s art reflects a mix of cultural
influences. ______ her work is grounded in the artistic traditions of both Mexico and Japan.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A. In addition,

B. In contrast,

C. Specifically,

D. Therefore,