Question ID 9b01bcf4

Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 9b01bcf4
The 1967 release of Harold Cruse’s book The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual isolated him from almost all other scholars and
activists of the American Civil Rights Movement—though many of those thinkers disagreed with each other, he nonetheless
found ways to disagree with them all. He thought that activists who believed that Black people such as himself should
culturally assimilate were naïve. But he also sharply criticized Black nationalists such as Marcus Garvey who wanted to
establish independent, self-contained Black economies and societies, even though Cruse himself identified as a Black
nationalist.

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

A. It describes a direction that Cruse felt the Civil Rights Movement ought to take.

B. It indicates that Cruse’s reputation as a persistent antagonist of other scholars is undeserved.

C. It describes a controversy that Cruse’s work caused within the Black nationalist movement.

D. It helps explain Cruse’s position with respect to the community of civil rights thinkers.

ID: 9b01bcf4 Answer

Correct Answer: D

Rationale

Choice D is the best answer. The text as a whole claims that Cruse disagreed with virtually all other Civil Rights scholars and
activists. The underlined sentence describes one way that Cruse both did and didn’t fit in with those thinkers: he criticized
Black nationalists, even though he identified as one.

Choice A is incorrect. The underlined sentence doesn’t do this. It describes Cruse’s criticisms—it never mentions what Cruse
did want the movement to do instead. Choice B is incorrect. This conflicts with the text, which argues that Cruse did disagree
with almost all other scholars of the Civil Rights Movement. Choice C is incorrect. This is a step too far. The text never says
that Cruse’s work caused controversy within the Black nationalist movement.

Question Difficulty: Hard

Question ID a70cbc53
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: a70cbc53
Raymond Antrobus, an accomplished poet and writer of prose, recently released his debut spoken word poetry album, The
First Time I Wore Hearing Aids, in collaboration with producer Ian Brennan. The album contains both autobiographical and
reflective pieces combining Antrobus’s spoken words with Brennan’s fragmented audio elements and pieces of music to
convey how people who are deaf may experience sound, both its presence and absence. Some critics suggest that the
album questions the function of sound in the world, highlighting that the experience of sound is multifaceted.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. It introduces a collaborative spoken word poetry project, details the approach taken to produce the work, and then
provides an example of critique the album received upon release.

B. It mentions a collection of spoken word poems, distinguishes one poem as being an exemplar on the album, and then
offers a summary of the subject matter of the whole collection.

C. It summarizes the efforts to produce a collection of spoken word poems, presents biographies of two people who
worked on the album, and speculates about the meaning behind the poetry.

D. It connects two artists to the same spoken word poetry project, explains the extent of their collaboration on each poem,
and then provides an overview of the technique used to produce the work.

ID: a70cbc53 Answer

Correct Answer: A

Rationale

Choice A is the best answer. The text first introduces the album as being a collaboration between Antrobus and Brennan,
then describes the approach taken to produce it, then mentions how critics have said that it calls into question the function
of sound.

Choice B is incorrect. While the text does mention a collection of spoken word poems, it doesn’t single out one poem as
being particularly noteworthy. Additionally, the text doesn’t simply summarize the subject matter—it goes into detail about
the content and production of the album. Choice C is incorrect. The text doesn’t provide biographical information about the
two artists, and the text doesn’t speculate about the meaning behind the poetry—instead, it relays what some critics have
said about the album. Choice D is incorrect. The text doesn’t provide just an overview of the production techniques used but
instead goes into more detail about the content and audio elements of the album, as well as critical response to the album.

Question Difficulty: Hard

Question ID 4eee64fa
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 4eee64fa
Space scientists Anna-Lisa Paul, Stephen M. Elardo, and Robert Ferl planted seeds of Arabidopsis thaliana in samples of
lunar regolith—the surface material of the Moon—and, serving as a control group, in terrestrial soil. They found that while all
the seeds germinated, the roots of the regolith-grown plants were stunted compared with those in the control group.
Moreover, unlike the plants in the control group, the regolith-grown plants exhibited red pigmentation, reduced leaf size, and
inhibited growth rates—indicators of stress that were corroborated by postharvest molecular analysis.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. It describes an experiment that addressed an unresolved question about the extent to which lunar regolith resembles
terrestrial soils.

B. It compares two distinct methods of assessing indicators of stress in plants grown in a simulated lunar environment.

C. It presents evidence in support of the hypothesis that seed germination in lunar habitats is an unattainable goal.

D. It discusses the findings of a study that evaluated the effects of exposing a plant species to lunar soil conditions.

ID: 4eee64fa Answer

Correct Answer: D

Rationale

Choice D is the best answer. The text describes an experiment wherein space scientists compared plant growth in terrestrial
and lunar soil conditions. It then discusses the findings of the study, including the fact that all the seeds germinated but that
the plants grown in lunar soil exhibited signs of stress.

Choice A is incorrect. The text doesn’t address this question, and never describes any specific characteristics of either soil. It
merely describes the outcome of an experiment that exposed a plant species to lunar soil conditions. Choice B is incorrect.
The text never compares methods of assessing indicators of stress—instead, it simply mentions several stress indicators
observed in the study (red pigmentation, reduced leaf size, and inhibited growth rates). Choice C is incorrect. The text doesn’t
present any evidence that we could never achieve seed germination in lunar habitats, and in fact states that the seeds in the
lunar soil did germinate.

Question Difficulty: Hard

Question ID 34d7bb25
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 34d7bb25
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.

ID: 34d7bb25 Answer

Correct Answer: C

Rationale

Choice C is the best answer. The text does indeed present Mukerjee’s critique of the social sciences—that they were too
Eurocentric—and then provides an example of how he attempted to address the issues he identified: by suggesting a social
science model based on the Indian village.

Choice A is incorrect. The text doesn’t discuss Mukerjee’s early training or his oversight of the implementation of social
policies at all. Choice B is incorrect. The text never discusses any other Indian social scientists. Choice D is incorrect. The
text never mentions other social scientists’ responses to Mukerjee’s work.

Question Difficulty: Hard

Question ID 975b0602
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

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

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

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

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

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

D. To consider how Indigenous politicians in the United States have influenced Indigenous politicians in Canada and Latin
America

ID: 975b0602 Answer

Correct Answer: C

Rationale

Choice C is the best answer because it most accurately describes the main purpose of the text, which is to illustrate two
approaches that Indigenous politicians have taken to achieve political representation for their communities. The text begins
by explaining that one approach is exemplified by Indigenous politicians in the United States who, in an effort to ensure that
the interests of their communities are represented in government, joined preexisting political parties and were subsequently
elected to Congress. The text goes on to highlight a second approach adopted by Indigenous leaders in Canada and several
Latin American countries: rather than joining established political parties, many Indigenous politicians in these countries
have instead formed their own parties to promote candidates for office who support causes that are important to their
communities.

Choice A is incorrect because the text’s focus is on the contrasting approaches adopted by different Indigenous political
movements in different countries; thus, it isn’t accurate to say that the text traces the history of one political movement.
Moreover, the text only discusses examples from 2000 to 2021, a relatively short period of time; therefore, it provides very
little in the way of discussion of larger historical developments, nor does it make any predictions about how these
movements might continue to develop in the future. Choice B is incorrect because the text never urges Indigenous
politicians in the US to alter their strategy of striving for representation through the established political parties, nor does it
suggest that this strategy is inferior to that of Indigenous politicians in Canada and Latin America, who have formed their
own parties. In fact, the text notes that both strategies have resulted in the election of Indigenous politicians to national
governments. Choice D is incorrect because the text never suggests that Indigenous politicians in the US have influenced
those in Canada and Latin America; instead, it stresses how Indigenous politicians’ approach toward achieving
representation in the US government has differed from the approach Indigenous politicians have taken to achieve
representation in national governments elsewhere in the Americas.

Question Difficulty: Hard

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?

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

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

C. It names the company where an important mathematician worked, details the mathematician’s career at the 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.

ID: b4887dae Answer

Correct Answer: B

Rationale

Choice B is the best answer. The text starts with a general statement that introduces Shannon, then describes a specific
contribution from one of his papers, then provides a quote that illustrates just how important this contribution was.

Choice A is incorrect. This isn’t the overall structure. The text only mentions very briefly, in parentheses, that “binary digit”
was shortened to “bit.” It doesn’t go into detail about this name change, and it doesn’t discuss any “common usage” of the
name at all. Choice C is incorrect. This isn’t the overall structure. Shannon’s employment at Bell Labs is only mentioned once,
very briefly: the text never goes into detail about his career there, and it never mentions any recognition he received there.
Choice D is incorrect. This is too narrow. Overall, the text is about Shannon’s importance in his field, not just this one paper of
his.

Question Difficulty: Hard

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?

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.

ID: aa5897b8 Answer

Correct Answer: D

Rationale

Choice D is the best answer. The underlined sentence provides a concrete example to ground readers’ understanding of the
“deep intersubjectivity” described in the next sentence as central to Austen’s work.

Choice A is incorrect. There is no evaluation made of Austen’s skill in this sentence, and no examples are given in the
following sentence. This choice essentially flips the paragraph: it’s this first sentence that provides an example. Choice B is
incorrect. There are no other Austen protagonists mentioned in this passage, so this couldn’t be the answer. Choice C is
incorrect. The underlined sentence doesn’t identify any “recurring theme,” but instead simply describes one interaction from
one book. This interaction exemplifies the literary technique of “deep intersubjectivity” that is introduced in the next
sentence.

Question Difficulty: Hard

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?

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

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

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

D. It discusses the study by O’Brien and Ahmed to illustrate why caution is needed when making claims about the effects of
posture on cognition.

ID: c61a7c4a Answer

Correct Answer: D

Rationale

Choice D is the best answer because it most accurately describes the main purpose of the text. The text notes that although
some studies have suggested that posture may have an effect on cognition, this phenomenon should not be overstated. In
other words, the text begins by urging caution and restraint when discussing the effects of posture on cognition, implying
that even though some studies have shown posture to affect cognition, we should not assume that posture always affects
cognition or does so in a strong way. The text goes on to discuss O’Brien and Ahmed’s study as a "case in point" (that is, as
an example of the point made previously). According to the text, O’Brien and Ahmed hypothesized that since standing is
more cognitively demanding than sitting, standing subjects in their experiment would respond differently to decision-making
tasks than sitting subjects would, which would show an effect of posture on cognition. What the researchers actually found,
however, was that the standing and sitting subjects performed the same—posture did not affect cognition. By presenting a
circumstance in which posture does not appear to affect cognition, the discussion of O’Brien and Ahmed’s study shows why
it is important not to overstate the phenomenon. The purpose of the text, therefore, is to discuss O’Brien and Ahmed’s study
to illustrate why caution is needed when making claims about posture’s effects on cognition.

Choice A is incorrect because the text discusses O’Brien and Ahmed’s study as an example of why caution is needed when
discussing posture’s effects on cognition, not as an example of how research findings related to posture and cognition are
often misunderstood. Although the text does warn against misunderstanding the scope of the relationship between posture
and cognition that has been reported in some previous studies, O’Brien and Ahmed’s study is not one of those studies, and
there is no suggestion that anyone has misunderstood O’Brien and Ahmed’s findings. Choice B is incorrect because the text
makes no mention of the methods used in previous studies of the effects of posture on cognition. Although the text does
urge caution when discussing posture’s effects on cognition, it does not critique the results of studies that suggested that
posture can affect cognition. Instead, the text suggests that such results should not be exaggerated or taken too broadly.
Choice C is incorrect because although the text implies that overstating posture’s effects on cognition would be a problem,
nothing in the text suggests that O’Brien and Ahmed share that view or that they attempted to solve that problem. O’Brien
and Ahmed are presented as hypothesizing that posture would affect cognition in their study, not as trying to resolve the
problem the text describes.

Question Difficulty: Hard

Question ID b0f7541b
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: b0f7541b
The following text is adapted from Herman Melville’s 1857 novel The Confidence-Man. Humphry Davy was a prominent
British chemist and inventor.

Years ago, a grave American savant, being in London, observed at an evening party there, a certain coxcombical fellow,
as he thought, an absurd ribbon in his lapel, and full of smart [banter], whisking about to the admiration of as many as
were disposed to admire. Great was the savant’s disdain; but, chancing ere long to find himself in a corner with the
jackanapes, got into conversation with him, when he was somewhat ill-prepared for the good sense of the jackanapes,
but was altogether thrown aback, upon subsequently being [informed that he was] no less a personage than Sir
Humphry Davy.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. It portrays the thoughts of a character who is embarrassed about his own behavior.

B. It presents an account of a misunderstanding.

C. It offers a short history of how a person came to be famous.

D. It explains why one character dislikes another.

ID: b0f7541b Answer

Correct Answer: B

Rationale

Choice B is the best answer. The text tells a story of a first impression that turned out to be wrong: a serious American
savant was dismissive of a goofy-looking, wisecracking guest at a British party, and then was shocked to learn that the guest
was actually a prominent British chemist and inventor.

Choice A is incorrect. This is too strong and too narrow. Only at the very end is the savant "thrown aback" by the fact that the
man was Sir Humphry Davy—he’s not "embarrassed about his own behavior." Choice C is incorrect. This isn’t the main
purpose. The text never provides the history of how Sir Humphry Davy came to be famous. Nor does it provide any history for
the American savant. Choice D is incorrect. This is too narrow. It doesn’t include the second half of the text, where the savant
gets into a conversation with the man and then finds out that the man is Sir Humphry Davy.

Question Difficulty: Hard

Question ID ac9a3a26
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

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

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

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

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

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

D. It provides further details about the identities of the workers discussed earlier in the text.

ID: ac9a3a26 Answer

Correct Answer: A

Rationale

Choice A is the best answer because it best describes how the underlined portion functions in the text as a whole. The text
says that the increased production quotas of food processing companies during World War II enabled employees to make
better bargains in exchange for their labor. The underlined portion presents an example of this increased bargaining power:
employees requested more favorable benefits, and employers complied because they were under pressure to fulfill the
demanding terms of their contracts. Thus, the underlined portion of the text elaborates on a claim about labor relations in a
particular industry (food processing) made earlier in the text.

Choice B is incorrect because there is no indication in the text that the economic factors that influenced food processing
also influenced other parts of the economy; thus, the bargaining described in the underlined portion of the text cannot be
called an example of a trend. Choice C is incorrect because the underlined portion supports the historical narrative of labor
activism in food processing that is sketched in the text, instead of noting an exception to that narrative. Choice D is incorrect
because while the underlined portion does discuss the demands that workers made in exchange for their labor, it does not
discuss the identities of the workers.

Question Difficulty: Hard

Question ID d4732483
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

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

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

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

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

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

D. To summarize the findings of a study that explored factors influencing a fashion practice among Black female
farmworkers in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Texas

ID: d4732483 Answer

Correct Answer: D

Rationale

Choice D is the best answer. The text provides an overview of a scholarly work discussing the fashion practices of Black
female farmworkers in late 19th- and early 20th-century Texas, and how these practices were influenced by both the fashion
ideals of the time and the demands of farmwork.

Choice A is incorrect. The text never discusses the rate of fashion change among Black female farmworkers. The text also
never categorizes Flewellen’s findings as "unexpected." Choice B is incorrect. The text actually explains that Black female
farmworkers were trying to achieve traditional feminine ideals, not resist them. Choice C is incorrect. The text doesn’t
evaluate a scholarly work but rather simply describes it. Furthermore, the text is focused on "agricultural and domestic"
fashion, not urban fashion as this choice suggests.

Question Difficulty: Hard

Question ID 82cb7dda
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

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

What choice best describes the main purpose of the text?

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

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

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

D. It presents research showing that certain insects and mammals behave similarly when there is a possibility of a reward
for their actions.

ID: 82cb7dda Answer

Correct Answer: C

Rationale

Choice C is the best answer because it most accurately describes the main purpose of the text, which is to summarize a
finding suggesting that some mechanisms in the brains of certain insects resemble mechanisms in mammalian brains. The
text begins by explaining that feelings such as pleasure and displeasure are linked to chemical processes in the brain, such
as the release of dopamine when one receives a reward. The text then indicates that such processes have been seen in
mammals but that researchers have recently observed similar processes involving dopamine in honeybees. Taken together,
this information serves to sum up the discovery that some mechanisms in the brains of certain insects may resemble
mechanisms linked to feelings such as pleasure and displeasure in mammals.

Choice A is incorrect because the text doesn’t describe any experiments or experimental methods. Instead, the text
describes a phenomenon that has been observed in mammals and then presents the recent observations of Huang and
colleagues that this phenomenon is also seen in honeybees. Choice B is incorrect because there’s nothing in the text to
suggest that certain insects can express how they’re feeling through particular processes. The text does indicate that certain
honeybee behaviors such as foraging are linked to dopamine, but it doesn’t suggest that these behaviors enable honeybees
to communicate feelings or sensations. Choice D is incorrect because the text presents research showing that certain
honeybee behaviors such as foraging are linked to dopamine and therefore may be motivated by similar mechanisms to
those in mammalian brains, not that honeybees and mammals behave similarly when there is the possibility of reward for
their actions.

Question Difficulty: Hard

Question ID ca50de52
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: ca50de52
“How lifelike are they?” Many computer animators prioritize this question as they strive to create ever more realistic
environments and lighting. Generally, while characters in computer-animated films appear highly exaggerated, environments
and lighting are carefully engineered to mimic reality. But some animators, such as Pixar’s Sanjay Patel, are focused on a
different question. Rather than asking first whether the environments and lighting they’re creating are convincingly lifelike,
Patel and others are asking whether these elements reflect their films’ unique stories.

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

A. It reflects a primary goal that many computer animators have for certain components of the animations they produce.

B. It represents a concern of computer animators who are more interested in creating unique backgrounds and lighting
effects than realistic ones.

C. It conveys the uncertainty among many computer animators about how to create realistic animations using current
technology.

D. It illustrates a reaction that audiences typically have to the appearance of characters created by computer animators.

ID: ca50de52 Answer

Correct Answer: A

Rationale

Choice A is the best answer because it most accurately describes the function of the underlined question in the text as a
whole. The text begins with the underlined question, “How lifelike are they?” The text then explains that many computer
animators pose this question about the environments and lighting that they create for animated films, striving for realistic
animation of those components even if the characters themselves aren’t portrayed in realistic terms. The focus of the text
then shifts to describe how some animators strive to create environments and lighting that reflect the film’s unique stories
rather than making them appear realistic. Therefore, the function of the underlined question is to reflect a primary goal that
many computer animators have for certain components of the animations they produce.

Choice B is incorrect because, as the text makes clear, the underlined question is one posed by computer animators who
wish to create realistic backgrounds and lighting effects, not by those who, instead, wish to create effects that reflect films’
unique stories and aren’t necessarily realistic; this latter group of animators is discussed later in the text. Choice C is
incorrect. As the text explains, many computer animators strive for realistic environments and lighting, while others do not;
this difference of approach relates to whether these components should be realistic, not to how realism can be achieved
using current technology, and the text never suggests that animators are uncertain how to achieve it. Choice D is incorrect
because the underlined question pertains to the perspective of computer animators, not the audience, and the text never
considers audience’s reactions to characters in animated films.

Question Difficulty: Hard