Question ID 4c4db685

Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 4c4db685
On painter William H. Johnson’s return to the United States in 1938 after a decade in Europe, his style underwent an
abrupt transformation. Turning away from landscapes painted in an expressionist style—a style that often involves
using fluid, distorted shapes and thick, textured brushstrokes to express the artist’s subjective experience of reality—
Johnson began painting portraits of Black Americans in a bold new way. Evocative of African sculpture and American
and Scandinavian folk art, these portraits feature flat, deliberately oversimplified figures in a vibrant but limited color
palette.

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

A. It elaborates on the previous sentence’s statement about a transitional moment in Johnson’s artistic career.

It provides information about Johnson’s travels in support of a claim about his artistic influences, which is advanced
B. in the following sentence.

It recounts a moment in Johnson’s personal life that enabled the success of his subsequent career, which is
C. summarized in the following sentence.

It presents evidence that calls into question the previous sentence’s characterization of Johnson’s artistic
D. development.
Question ID cf46f239
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: cf46f239
The following text is adapted from Herman Melville’s 1855 novel Israel Potter. Israel is a young man wandering through
New England during the late eighteenth century.

He hired himself out for three months; at the end of that time to receive for his wages two hundred acres of land
lying in New Hampshire. [...] His employer proving false to the contract in the matter of the land, and there being no
law in the country to force him to fulfil it, Israel—who, however brave-hearted, and even much of a dare-devil upon a
pinch, seems nevertheless to have evinced, throughout many parts of his career, a singular patience and mildness
—was obliged to look round for other means of livelihood than clearing out a farm for himself in the wilderness.

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

It implies that Israel treasures a particular characteristic of his personality when that characteristic should usually
A. be regarded as a flaw.

It suggests that if not for a certain aspect of his character, Israel might not have been as easily thwarted in his
B. ambition to establish a farm.

It shows why Israel would not have been able to undertake the enormous amount of labor necessary to run a farm
C. even if he had owned the necessary property.

It explains why, when the situation requires it, Israel is able to undertake courageous acts that others would
D. generally avoid.
Question ID 617a8a10
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 617a8a10
Very little is known about the role nocturnal insects, such as moths, play in flower pollination because it is difficult to
monitor insects at night. To address this problem, a team of scientists used time-lapse cameras to record pollinator
visits to red clover all day and night. The recordings showed that while most pollinator visits were by bumblebees, one-
third of visits were by moths. Additionally, flowers that were visited by both moths and bees produced more seeds than
flowers that were only visited by bees.

Which choice best states the function of the underlined sentence?

A. To describe an approach a team of scientists used to study pollinators

B. To question a claim scientists make about pollinators

C. To explain why moths prefer red clover to other flowers

D. To announce an unexpected research finding about red clover

Question ID df46a2ee
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: df46a2ee
The following text is from Joseph Conrad’s 1907 novel The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale. Mr. Verloc is navigating the
London streets on his way to a meeting.
Before reaching Knightsbridge, Mr. Verloc took a turn to the left out of the busy main thoroughfare, uproarious with the
traffic of swaying omnibuses and trotting vans, in the almost silent, swift flow of hansoms [horse-drawn carriages].
Under his hat, worn with a slight backward tilt, his hair had been carefully brushed into respectful sleekness; for his
business was with an Embassy. And Mr. Verloc, steady like a rock—a soft kind of rock—marched now along a street
which could with every propriety be described as private.

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

A. It qualifies an earlier description of Mr. Verloc.

B. It emphasizes an internal struggle Mr. Verloc experiences.

C. It contrasts Mr. Verloc with his surroundings.

D. It reveals a private opinion Mr. Verloc holds.

Question ID ff97fd53
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: ff97fd53
In 1973, poet Miguel Algarín started inviting other writers who, like him, were Nuyorican—a term for New Yorkers of
Puerto Rican heritage—to gather in his apartment to present their work. The gatherings were so well attended that
Algarín soon had to rent space in a cafe to accommodate them. Thus, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe was born. Moving to a
permanent location in 1981, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe expanded its original scope beyond the written word, hosting art
exhibitions and musical performances as well. Half a century since its inception, it continues to foster emerging
Nuyorican talent.

Which choice best describes the overall purpose of the text?

A. To explain what motivated Algarín to found the Nuyorican Poets Cafe

B. To situate the Nuyorican Poets Cafe within the cultural life of New York as a whole

C. To discuss why the Nuyorican Poets Cafe expanded its scope to include art and music

D. To provide an overview of the founding and mission of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe
Question ID c61a7c4a
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: c61a7c4a
Some studies have suggested that posture can influence cognition, but we should not overstate this phenomenon. A
case in point: In a 2014 study, Megan O’Brien and Alaa Ahmed had subjects stand or sit while making risky simulated
economic decisions. Standing is more physically unstable and cognitively demanding than sitting; accordingly, O’Brien
and Ahmed hypothesized that standing subjects would display more risk aversion during the decision-making tasks
than sitting subjects did, since they would want to avoid further feelings of discomfort and complicated risk
evaluations. But O’Brien and Ahmed actually found no difference in the groups’ performance.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

It argues that research findings about the effects of posture on cognition are often misunderstood, as in the case of
A. O’Brien and Ahmed’s study.

It presents the study by O’Brien and Ahmed to critique the methods and results reported in previous studies of the
B. effects of posture on cognition.

It explains a significant problem in the emerging understanding of posture’s effects on cognition and how O’Brien
C. and Ahmed tried to solve that problem.

It discusses the study by O’Brien and Ahmed to illustrate why caution is needed when making claims about the
D. effects of posture on cognition.
Question ID a2f64e58
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: a2f64e58
Individual elephants and Arctic herbivores such as caribou tend to have fixed geographic ranges throughout their
lifetimes, which had prompted some researchers to speculate that the Arctic woolly mammoth, an extinct elephantid,
might have exhibited similar behavior. Mammoth tusks grew in sequential layers, incorporating ingested minerals and
organics, and so each ivory stratum reflects the ratio of strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr) in the local environment; thus,
the sequence of strata shows where the animal roamed during life. Recent analysis of the strontium ratios in the strata
of one Arctic woolly mammoth tusk in relation to the geographic distribution of strontium ratios in the environment
shows the animal’s range begin to expand as it reached sexual maturity, only to contract again in its final 1.5 years.

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

It discusses a characteristic shared by certain animals in order to explain why researchers raised a possibility that
A. turned out not to be supported by data described later in the text.

It illustrates a pattern of behavior among certain animals in order to present a theory about exceptions to that
B. pattern that is weakened by a finding described later in the text.

It describes a similarity in the behavior of certain animals in order to show why a method described later in the text
C. did not reveal whether another animal also showed that behavior.

It introduces a trait shared by certain animals in order to contextualize a hypothesis about the origin of that trait that
D. is advanced later in the text.
Question ID acb852e7
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

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

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

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

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

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

D. The speaker examines her surroundings, then speculates about their influence on her emotional state.
Question ID aa5897b8
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: aa5897b8
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?

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

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

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

It provides a synopsis of an interaction in an Austen novel that illustrates a literary concept discussed in the
D. following sentence.
Question ID 39857700
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 39857700
The following text is from Edith Wharton’s 1905 novel The House of Mirth. Lily Bart and a companion are walking
through a park.
Lily had no real intimacy with nature, but she had a passion for the appropriate and could be keenly sensitive to a
scene which was the fitting background of her own sensations. The landscape outspread below her seemed an
enlargement of her present mood, and she found something of herself in its calmness, its breadth, its long free
reaches. On the nearer slopes the sugar-maples wavered like pyres of light; lower down was a massing of grey
orchards, and here and there the lingering green of an oak-grove.

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

A. It creates a detailed image of the physical setting of the scene.

B. It establishes that a character is experiencing an internal conflict.

C. It makes an assertion that the next sentence then expands on.

D. It illustrates an idea that is introduced in the previous sentence.

Question ID f61c22f3
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: f61c22f3
Changes to vegetation cover and other human activities influence carbon and nitrogen levels in soil, though how deep
these effects extend is unclear. Hypothesizing that differences in land use lead to differences in carbon and nitrogen
levels that are not restricted to the topsoil layer (0–30 cm deep), Chukwuebuka Okolo and colleagues sampled soils
across multiple land-use types (e.g., grazing land, cropland, forest) within each of several Ethiopian locations. They
found, though, that across land-use types, carbon and nitrogen decreased to comparably low levels beyond depths of 30
cm.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

It describes a phenomenon that scientists do not fully understand, explains a research team’s hypothesis about that
A. phenomenon, and then describes a finding that led the team to refine the hypothesis.

It introduces an unresolved scientific question, presents a research team’s hypothesis pertaining to that question,
B. and then describes an observation made by the team that conflicts with that hypothesis.

It discusses a process that scientists are somewhat unclear about, introduces competing hypotheses about that
C. process, and then explains how a research team concluded that one of those hypotheses is likely correct.

It explains a hypothesis that has been the subject of scientific debate, discusses how a research team tested that
D. hypothesis, and then presents data the team collected that validate the hypothesis.
Question ID 2e744883
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 2e744883
Historians have argued that a crucial component of the Civil Rights Movement’s success in the 1960s was the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference’s Citizen Education Program (CEP), which invited promising activists from across the
South to its one-week training sessions in Dorchester, Georgia. Led by experienced organizers such as Dorothy Cotton
and Septima Clark, CEP attendees—more than 7,000 in all—participated in workshops on topics ranging from public
speaking to legal doctrine before returning home and using their newly acquired knowledge to spearhead local civil
rights initiatives.

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

A. It underscores the extent of the CEP’s impact on the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

B. It illustrates the CEP organizers’ efforts to educate participants on a wide variety of topics.

It suggests that CEP attendees held a diverse array of opinions about the Southern Christian Leadership
C. Conference’s political philosophy.

It establishes that criticism of the CEP was limited to a few individuals in the Southern Christian Leadership
D. Conference.
Question ID b4887dae
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: b4887dae
Mathematician Claude Shannon is widely regarded as a foundational figure in information theory. His most important
paper, “A Mathematical Theory of Communication,” published in 1948 when he was employed at Bell Labs, utilized a
concept called a “binary digit” (shortened to “bit”) to measure the amount of information in any signal and determine
the fastest rate at which information could be transmitted while still being reliably decipherable. Robert Gallagher, one
of Shannon’s colleagues, said that the bit was “[Shannon’s] discovery, and from it the whole communications revolution
has sprung.”

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

It presents a theoretical concept, illustrates how the name of the concept has changed, and shows how the name
A. has entered common usage.

It introduces a respected researcher, describes an aspect of his work, and suggests why the work is historically
B. significant.

It names the company where an important mathematician worked, details the mathematician’s career at the
C. company, and provides an example of the recognition he received there.

D. It mentions a paper, offers a summary of the paper’s findings, and presents a researcher’s commentary on the paper.
Question ID cf9a00e0
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: cf9a00e0
Chile’s Atacama Desert is one of the driest places on Earth. Mary Beth Wilhelm and other astrobiologists search for life,
or its remains, in this harsh place because the desert closely mirrors the extreme environment on Mars. The algae and
bacteria found in Atacama’s driest regions may offer clues about Martian life. By studying how these and other
microorganisms survive such extreme conditions on Earth, Wilhelm’s team hopes to determine whether similar life
might have existed on Mars and to develop the best tools to look for evidence of it.

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

A. To contrast the conditions in the Atacama Desert with those on Mars

B. To explain why many life-forms cannot survive in the Atacama Desert

C. To indicate why astrobiologists choose to conduct research in the Atacama Desert

D. To describe certain limitations to conducting scientific study in the Atacama Desert

Question ID 3e6ad72d
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 3e6ad72d
A study by a team including finance professor Madhu Veeraraghavan suggests that exposure to sunshine during the
workday can lead to overly optimistic behavior. Using data spanning from 1994 to 2010 for a set of US companies, the
team compared over 29,000 annual earnings forecasts to the actual earnings later reported by those companies. The
team found that the greater the exposure to sunshine at work in the two weeks before a manager submitted an
earnings forecast, the more the manager’s forecast exceeded what the company actually earned that year.

Which choice best states the function of the underlined sentence in the overall structure of the text?

A. To summarize the results of the team’s analysis

B. To present a specific example that illustrates the study’s findings

C. To explain part of the methodology used in the team’s study

D. To call out a challenge the team faced in conducting its analysis

Question ID 5336f2e4
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 5336f2e4
The following text is adapted from Zora Neale Hurston’s 1921 short story “John Redding Goes to Sea.” John is a child
who lives in a town in the woods.
Perhaps ten-year-old John was puzzling to the folk there in the Florida woods for he was an imaginative child and
fond of day-dreams. The St. John River flowed a scarce three hundred feet from his back door. On its banks at this
point grow numerous palms, luxuriant magnolias and bay trees. On the bosom of the stream float millions of
delicately colored hyacinths. [John Redding] loved to wander down to the water’s edge, and, casting in dry twigs,
watch them sail away down stream to Jacksonville, the sea, the wide world and [he] wanted to follow them.

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

A. It provides an extended description of a location that John likes to visit.

B. It reveals that some residents of John’s town are confused by his behavior.

C. It illustrates the uniqueness of John’s imagination compared to the imaginations of other children.

D. It suggests that John longs to experience a larger life outside the Florida woods.
Question ID 6f5fc289
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

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

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

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

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

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

D. To argue that the simplicity of life in the town makes it a pleasant place to live
Question ID 975b0602
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

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

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

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

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

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

To consider how Indigenous politicians in the United States have influenced Indigenous politicians in Canada and
D. Latin America
Question ID 2b085bc6
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 2b085bc6
The following text is adapted from Paul Laurence Dunbar’s 1902 novel The Sport of the Gods. Joe and some of his
family members have recently moved to New York City.

[Joe] was wild with enthusiasm and with a desire to be a part of all that the metropolis meant. In the evening he
saw the young fellows passing by dressed in their spruce clothes, and he wondered with a sort of envy where they
could be going. Back home there had been no place much worth going to, except church and one or two people’s
houses.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. It illustrates a character’s reaction to a new environment.

B. It explains why a character has traveled to a city.

C. It compares a character’s thoughts about an event at two different times of day.

D. It presents a character feeling regret over leaving home.

Question ID 213a25d1
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 213a25d1
The following text is from Paul Laurence Dunbar’s 1913 poem “The Poet and His Song.”

A song is but a little thing, And yet what joy it is to sing! In hours of toil it gives me zest,
And when at eve I long for rest; When cows come home along the bars, And in the fold I hear the bell,
As Night, the shepherd, herds his stars, I sing my song, and all is well.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To convey how engaging in song makes the speaker feel

B. To compare the speaker to a singing shepherd

C. To portray the speaker’s excitement about farming

D. To describe the pieces of music the speaker enjoys hearing