Question ID 23b5cb59

Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of

Ideas Evidence

ID: 23b5cb59

Total Electoral College Votes and Popular Votes in the 15th US Presidential Election

Candidate Total electoral college votes Total popular votes

James K. Polk 170 1,339,494

Henry Clay 105 1,300,004

James Gillespie Birney 0 62,103

A student is writing a paper on the history of the 15th presidential election in the United States, which was held in 1844.
The student needs to determine how many electoral college votes were cast for the winning candidate, James K. Polk.
According to the table, James K. Polk received ______

Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the statement?

A. 170 electoral college votes.

B. 103 electoral college votes.

C. 62 electoral college votes.

D. 44 electoral college votes.

Question ID ac7166f7
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of

Ideas Evidence

ID: ac7166f7
Researchers Narelle Haworth and Amy Schramm studied bicycling behavior in Queensland, Australia. Haworth and
Schramm asked adult bike riders questions about their level of experience, reasons for riding a bike, and route
preferences. The researchers claim that experienced riders who mainly bike to work tend to prefer routes that reduce
their travel time.

Which survey response from a bike rider in Queensland would best support the underlined claim?

“I have a bike, but I don’t ride it very often. When the weather is nice, I sometimes use my bike to go into town to do
A. some shopping.”

B. “I just got a new bike, and I’m looking forward to going on rides with my friends soon.”

“I bike to my job every day. There’s a nice bike path that goes through a park, but I use the bike lane on the main road
C. because it’s faster.”

D. “I usually bike to work, but I’m taking the bus now because my bike has a broken part that needs to be fixed.”
Question ID 2ef8e367
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of

Ideas Evidence

ID: 2ef8e367
“To You” is an 1856 poem by Walt Whitman. In the poem, Whitman suggests that he deeply understands the reader,
whom he addresses directly, writing, ______

Which quotation from “To You” most effectively illustrates the claim?

A. “Your true soul and body appear before me.”

B. “Whoever you are, now I place my hand upon you, that you be my poem.”

C. “I should have made my way straight to you long ago.”

D. “Whoever you are, I fear you are walking the walks of dreams.”
Question ID 1b9b29f1
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences

Ideas

ID: 1b9b29f1
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 61228830
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences

Ideas

ID: 61228830
A heliograph is a semaphore device used for sending optical communications—usually in the form of Morse code—by
reflecting flashes of sunlight off a mirror. Heliographs were used for rapid communication across expansive distances
for military, surveying, and forestry purposes during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but they were
largely effective only during the daytime, and the range of the device depended on factors such as the opacity of the air
and line of sight. Therefore, heliographs were eventually replaced by technology that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. worked on similar principles but was easier to produce and maintain.

B. was not so constrained by environmental circumstances.

C. could be used for more than military, surveying, or forestry purposes.

D. enabled communication that didn’t require knowledge of Morse code.

Question ID ad680167
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and

Ideas Details

ID: ad680167
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.

Before the invention of portable X-ray fluorescence, researchers needed to take a small piece out of an artifact to
D. analyze its components.
Question ID 2df56712
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and

Ideas Details

ID: 2df56712
Electronic music pioneer Wendy Carlos is credited with the music for three feature films: A Clockwork Orange (1971),
The Shining (1980), and Tron (1982). However, her musical score for A Clockwork Orange is mostly made up of her
arrangements of Ludwig van Beethoven’s work. Also, almost all the music that she and Rachel Elkind composed for The
Shining was unused by director Stanley Kubrick. It did not appear in the film. Of the three films, Tron is the one in which
audiences can hear the most of Carlos’s original compositions.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A. Of the three films for which Carlos is credited, Tron features the most original music from her.

B. The director of The Shining used most of the music that Carlos composed for it.

C. Beethoven is widely considered to be a more important composer than Carlos.

D. Carlos is a notable innovator among film composers in the 1970s and 1980s.
Question ID cebfb2c6
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of

Ideas Evidence

ID: cebfb2c6

Dated Ages of Lunar Samples from Select Missions

Mission name Year Landing site Approximate age of lunar samples (billions of years)

Apollo 11 1969 Mare Tranquillitatis 3.6

Apollo 15 1971 Mare Imbrium 3.3

Apollo 17 1972 Mare Serenitatis 3.8

Chang’e 5 2020 Oceanus Procellarum 2.0

The Apollo program missions were spaceflights to the moon led by the United States during the 1960s and 1970s
during which astronauts collected some samples of the moon’s surface. More recently, China launched the Chang’e 5
mission, which returned additional lunar surface samples. Researchers have analyzed and dated each of the samples,
concluding that the lunar samples collected during the Chang’e 5 mission are significant because ______

Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the claim?

A. they are much younger than the samples brought back from any of the Apollo missions.

B. they were collected from the same landing site as the Apollo 11 mission.

C. they are closest in age to the samples brought back by the Apollo 17 mission.

D. they helped confirm the predicted ages of the lunar samples from the Apollo missions.
Question ID af9e3240
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of

Ideas Evidence

ID: af9e3240
Electra is a circa 420–410 BCE play by Sophocles, translated in 1870 by R.C. Jebb. Electra, who is in mourning for her
dead father and her long-absent brother, is aware of the intensity of her grief but believes it to be justified: ______

Which quotation from Electra most effectively illustrates the claim?

“O thou pure sunlight, and thou air, earth’s canopy, how often have ye heard the strains of my lament, the wild blows
A. dealt against this bleeding breast, when dark night fails!”

“Send to me my brother; for I have no more the strength to bear up alone against the load of grief that weighs me
B. down.”

“I know my own passion, it escapes me not; but, seeing that the causes are so dire, will never curb these frenzied
C. plaints, while life is in me.”

“But never will I cease from dirge and sore lament, while I look on the trembling rays of the bright stars, or on this
D. light of day.”
Question ID 787729be
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences

Ideas

ID: 787729be
Martin Dančák, Wewin Tjiasmanto, and colleagues have identified a new carnivorous plant species (Nepenthes pudica)
in Indonesia. Like other carnivorous plants, N. pudica has pitfall traps, or pitchers, that capture prey, but unlike others,
the pitchers of N. pudica are located underground. The researchers unearthed the new species on fairly dry ridges with
surfaces that host few other plants and animals. Therefore, the researchers hypothesize that the N. pudica species
likely ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. represents one of many undiscovered carnivorous plant species in the region.

B. formed pitchers early in development to absorb more moisture.

C. is buried by nearby animals as they forage along the ridges for food.

D. evolved to have underground traps to access more prey than would surface traps.
Question ID e441da80
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of

Ideas Evidence

ID: e441da80

Investigative Articles
Published in the Albuquerque Journal
from 2010 to 2019
1,750
1,500
Number of articles

1,250
1,000
750
500
250
0
010 011 012 013 014 015 016 017 018 019
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

Total

Investigative journalists research and report about fraud, corruption, public hazards, and more. The graph shows the
number of investigative articles published in the Albuquerque Journal newspaper from 2010 to 2019. According to an
analyst, although the number of investigative articles published in this newspaper has varied significantly over the
period shown, the number overall has fallen since 2010.

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

A. The newspaper published approximately 1,000 investigative articles in 2010 and approximately 500 in 2019.

The smallest annual number of investigative articles published in the newspaper during the period shown is
B. approximately 1,600 in 2013.

The greatest annual number of investigative articles published in the newspaper during the period shown is
C. approximately 1,000 in 2017.

D. The newspaper published approximately 1,000 investigative articles in 2010 and approximately 1,600 in 2013.
Question ID 575e67df
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences

Ideas

ID: 575e67df
By running computer simulations of the development of our solar system, André Izidoro, Rajdeep Dasgupta, and
colleagues concluded that the Sun may have been surrounded by three giant dust rings before the planets started to
form. The researchers suggest that the materials in the innermost ring became the four planets closest to the Sun, the
materials in the middle ring produced the rest of the planets, and the materials in the outermost ring created the
asteroids and other small bodies in the region beyond Neptune. In one simulation, the researchers delayed the initial
formation of the middle ring, causing oversized super-Earths to begin developing from the innermost ring. The
researchers therefore hypothesize that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. the middle ring formed earlier in the solar system’s development than the initial simulations suggested.

the timing of the initial formation of the middle ring played an important role in determining the eventual size of
B. Earth.

if the formation of the outermost ring had occurred earlier in a simulation, all the planets would have become super-
C. Earths.

D. the innermost ring actually formed into all the planets in our solar system, not just the four closest to the Sun.
Question ID 1d08c7ee
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of

Ideas Evidence

ID: 1d08c7ee
Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Héctor Tobar has built a multifaceted career as both a journalist and an author of short
stories and novels. In an essay about Tobar’s work, a student claims that Tobar blends his areas of expertise by
applying journalism techniques to his creation of works of fiction.

Which quotation from a literary critic best supports the student’s claim?

“For one novel, an imagined account of a real person’s global travels, Tobar approached his subject like a reporter,
A. interviewing people the man had met along the way and researching the man’s own writings.”

“Tobar got his start as a volunteer for El Tecolote, a community newspaper in San Francisco, and wrote for
B. newspapers for years before earning a degree in creative writing and starting to publish works of fiction.”

“Many of Tobar’s notable nonfiction articles are marked by the writer’s use of techniques usually associated with
C. fiction, such as complex narrative structures and the incorporation of symbolism.”

“The protagonist of Tobar’s third novel is a man who wants to be a novelist and keeps notes about interesting
D. people he encounters so he can use them when developing characters for his stories.”
Question ID adbcbce0
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and

Ideas Details

ID: adbcbce0
The following text is adapted from Christina Rossetti’s 1881 poem “Monna Innominata 2.”
I wish I could remember that first day, First hour, first moment of your meeting me,
If bright or dim the season, it might be Summer or Winter for [all] I can say; So unrecorded did it slip away,
So blind was I to see and to foresee, So dull to mark the budding of my tree
That would not blossom yet for many a May.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A. The speaker celebrates how the passage of time has strengthened a relationship that once seemed unimportant.

Because the speaker did not anticipate how important a relationship would become, she cannot recall how the
B. relationship began, which she regrets.

As the anniversary of the beginning of an important relationship approaches, the speaker feels conflicted about how
C. best to commemorate it.

After years of neglecting a once valuable relationship, the speaker worries it may be too late for her to salvage the
D. relationship.
Question ID 6536183b
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of

Ideas Evidence

ID: 6536183b
In the mountains of Brazil, Barbacenia tomentosa and Barbacenia macrantha—two plants in the Velloziaceae family—
establish themselves on soilless, nutrient-poor patches of quartzite rock. Plant ecologists Anna Abrahão and Patricia de
Britto Costa used microscopic analysis to determine that the roots of B. tomentosa and B. macrantha, which grow
directly into the quartzite, have clusters of fine hairs near the root tip; further analysis indicated that these hairs secrete
both malic and citric acids. The researchers hypothesize that the plants depend on dissolving underlying rock with
these acids, as the process not only creates channels for continued growth but also releases phosphates that provide
the vital nutrient phosphorus.

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

Other species in the Velloziaceae family are found in terrains with more soil but have root structures similar to those
A. of B. tomentosa and B. macrantha.

Though B. tomentosa and B. macrantha both secrete citric and malic acids, each species produces the acids in
B. different proportions.

The roots of B. tomentosa and B. macrantha carve new entry points into rocks even when cracks in the surface are
C. readily available.

B. tomentosa and B. macrantha thrive even when transferred to the surfaces of rocks that do not contain
D. phosphates.
Question ID 96d1c1fe
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences

Ideas

ID: 96d1c1fe
Tatiana R. Feuerborn and colleagues analyzed the genomes of more than a hundred domesticated dogs from sites in
Siberia dating from 11,000 years ago to the present. They found that the dogs constituted a genetically isolated
population of Arctic breeds until approximately 2,000 years ago, at which point there was substantial interbreeding with
Near Eastern dog breeds. Furthermore, beginning around 2,000 years ago, some sites contain artifacts consistent with
a Near East origin, like glass beads, but the people show no evidence of having traveled extensively outside Siberia.
From this, Feuerborn and colleagues concluded that around 2,000 years ago ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. dogs and artifacts like glass beads began to be transported from the Near East to Siberia.

B. people from Siberia began to reach the Near East, where they acquired dogs and artifacts such as glass beads.

C. glass beads and other artifacts from the Near East began to be exchanged for dogs from Siberia.

D. dogs from the Near East began to be exchanged for glass beads and other artifacts from Siberia.
Question ID 2644644a
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of

Ideas Evidence

ID: 2644644a
In countries with right-hand traffic, drivers who want to make a left turn at a traffic intersection with stoplights have to
wait for either a gap in oncoming traffic or a designated left-turn signal to turn green. At busy intersections, this often
causes a backup of vehicles waiting to turn left or being prevented from proceeding by left-turning vehicles in front of
them. Transportation researcher Vikash V. Gayah claims that in urban areas eliminating the option to turn left at busy
intersections—both with and without dedicated left-turn signals—would improve traffic flow and, as a result, reduce
overall travel times even if such a restriction would require drivers to sometimes travel a slightly longer distance.

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

In a town that installed left-turn signals at all busy intersections, seven out of ten survey respondents agreed with
A. the statement “the streets in my community are easier to navigate by motor vehicle than before.”

A traffic study of intersections in a large city shows that on average drivers wait longer to make a left turn at
B. intersections without left-turn signals than at intersections with such signals.

After a city eliminated left turns at busy intersections, a package-delivery company reports that its drivers have been
C. able to reach more addresses in the city daily, on average, and therefore deliver more packages there annually.

Statistics reveal that school buses in a city that eliminated left turns at most intersections took on average two
D. minutes longer to complete their routes after the restriction took effect than they did before.
Question ID 08ff903e
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of

Ideas Evidence

ID: 08ff903e
A museum curator is writing a biographical statement about Trinidadian-born Chinese dancer, choreographer, and
teacher Dai Ailian for a new exhibit on Chinese dance. The curator claims that some of the pieces Dai created shortly
after arriving in mainland China in 1941, such as the solo dance Yao Drum, reflect a desire to represent the dances of
local communities Dai visited during her travels through China.

Which quotation from a work by a dance historian would be the most effective evidence for the curator to include in
support of this claim?

“There is no sound or music accompanying Dai’s movements in Yao Drum, aside from the sounds of drumsticks
A. beating against a drum and against each other.”

“Unlike some of the works Dai created in the early 1940s, Yao Drum does not feature a narrative structure, humorous
B. elements, or references to real-life events.”

“Yao Drum was inspired by a ceremonial dance Dai witnessed during her time performing field research among the
C. Yao people in the province of Guizhou in 1941 or 1942.”

“Yao Drum is notable for its intense physicality, with Dai performing sharp jumps, swift turns, and dramatic sweeps
D. of her legs through the air as she moves in circles on the stage.”
Question ID 47f2cddd
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of

Ideas Evidence

ID: 47f2cddd
“The Rock and the Sea” is an 1893 poem by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In the poem, a rock is portrayed as intending to
confront and restrain the sea: ______

Which quotation from “The Rock and the Sea” most effectively illustrates the claim?

“I am the Rock. Black midnight falls; / The terrible breakers rise like walls; / With curling lips and gleaming teeth /
A. They plunge and tear at my bones beneath.”

“I am the Sea. I hold the land / As one holds an apple in his hand, / Hold it fast with sleepless eyes, / Watching the
B. continents sink and rise.”

“I am the Rock, presumptuous Sea! / I am set to encounter thee. / Angry and loud or gentle and still, / I am set here
C. to limit thy power, and I will!”

“I am the Sea. The earth I sway; / Granite to me is potter’s clay; / Under the touch of my careless waves / It rises in
D. turrets and sinks in caves.”
Question ID dd349efc
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of

Ideas Evidence

ID: dd349efc

Participants’ Evaluation of the Likelihood That Robots Can Work Effectively in Different Occupations

Occupation Somewhat or very unlikely (%) Neutral (%) Somewhat or very likely (%)

television news anchor 24 9 67

teacher 37 16 47

firefighter 62 9 30

surgeon 74 9 16

tour guide 10 8 82
Rows in table may not add up to 100 due to rounding.
Georgia Tech roboticists De’Aira Bryant and Ayanna Howard, along with ethicist Jason Borenstein, were interested in
people’s perceptions of robots’ competence. They recruited participants and asked them how likely they think it is that a
robot could do the work required in various occupations. Participants’ evaluations varied widely depending on which
occupation was being considered; for example, ______

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

47% of participants believe that it is somewhat or very likely that a robot could work effectively as a teacher, but 37%
A. of respondents believe that it is somewhat or very unlikely that a robot could do so.

9% of participants were neutral about whether a robot could work effectively as a television news anchor, which is
B. the same percent of participants who were neutral when asked about a robot working as a surgeon.

82% of participants believe that it is somewhat or very likely that a robot could work effectively as a tour guide, but
C. only 16% believe that it is somewhat or very likely that a robot could work as a surgeon.

D. 62% of participants believe that it is somewhat or very unlikely that a robot could work effectively as a firefighter.