SAT Reading and Writing Practice Questions
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Every Reading and Writing question on the Digital SAT has its own short passage and one question, so you are never juggling a long text. The skill being tested is precision: the right answer is the one fully supported by the passage, and the wrong ones are usually almost right.
Words in context
Although the committee's first report was brief, its second was ______, running to more than three hundred pages and responding to nearly every objection critics had raised. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word?
- Aconcise
- Bexhaustive
- Ctentative
- Dderivative
Explanation
“Although … brief” sets up a contrast, and the rest of the sentence — three hundred pages, nearly every objection — describes something thorough. “Exhaustive” fits both. “Concise” repeats the idea of brief rather than contrasting it, and nothing in the passage suggests the report was uncertain or unoriginal.
Strategy
Before you look at the options, predict a word of your own from the clues in the sentence. Then pick the option closest to your prediction.
Transitions
In laboratory tests, honeybees learned to recognize individual human faces. ______ the bees failed when the same faces were shown upside down, a limitation also seen in people. Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
- ATherefore,
- BHowever,
- CFor example,
- DSimilarly,
Explanation
The first sentence reports a success and the second a failure, so the relationship is contrast: “However.” “Therefore” would mean the failure resulted from the success; “For example” would introduce an instance of recognizing faces; “Similarly” would need a second success.
Strategy
Cover the options and decide the relationship first: contrast, cause and effect, example, continuation or sequence. Then choose the transition that names it.
Boundaries
The museum's newest exhibit features more than two hundred ______ many of them have never been displayed publicly before. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- Aphotographs,
- Bphotographs;
- Cphotographs
- Dphotographs, which
Explanation
Both halves are complete sentences, so they need a real boundary. A semicolon joins two independent clauses. A comma alone creates a comma splice, no punctuation creates a run-on, and “which many of them have” is not grammatical.
Form, structure and sense
The collection of rare maps that the library acquired last year ______ now available to visiting researchers. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- Aare
- Bis
- Cwere
- Dhave been
Explanation
The subject is “collection,” which is singular; “of rare maps that the library acquired last year” sits between the subject and the verb to distract you. “Now” calls for the present tense, so the answer is “is.”
Strategy
Cross out prepositional phrases and clauses between the subject and its verb. What is left tells you whether the verb should be singular or plural.
The other question types
- Central ideas: summarize the passage in a few words before looking at the options; eliminate any option true of only one sentence.
- Command of evidence: the right quotation or finding must support the specific claim in the question, not just the topic.
- Quantitative evidence: check every number in an option against the table — options often describe the right trend with the wrong row.
- Inferences: choose the option that must be true from the passage, not the one that could be true.
- Cross-text connections: identify each author's position in a phrase, then ask how the first would answer the second.
- Rhetorical synthesis: read the goal in the question first; the answer is the option that achieves that goal, even if another option is more interesting.