Question ID 2af2016f

Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 2af2016f
A study by Dr. Paul Hanel and colleagues concluded that people are more likely to behave politely when listening to ideas
they disagree with if they think about values before they engage in a discussion. Study participants were assigned to one of
two groups. The experimental group spent a few minutes writing about one of their personal values before they had a group
discussion on a controversial topic. And the control group spent a few minutes writing about a drink (tea, milk, etc.) before
their group discussion on that topic. Hanel and colleagues found that the experimental group’s discussion was more civil
than the control group’s discussion was.

Which choice best describes the main purpose of the text?

A. To describe a widely held belief and how a study’s results support that belief

B. To argue that researchers were surprised by the results of a certain study

C. To suggest ways to improve a certain study’s experimental design

D. To explain a study’s conclusion and how a research team arrived at that conclusion
Question ID b13378c8
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: b13378c8
Early in the Great Migration of 1910–1970, which involved the mass migration of Black people from the southern to the
northern United States, political activist and Chicago Defender writer Fannie Barrier Williams was instrumental in helping
other Black women establish themselves in the North. Many women hoped for better employment opportunities in the North
because, in the South, they faced much competition for domestic employment and men tended to get agricultural work. To
aid with this transition, Barrier Williams helped secure job placement in the North for many women before they even began
their journey.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

To introduce and illustrate Barrier Williams’s integral role in supporting other Black women as their circumstances
A. changed during part of the Great Migration

To establish that Barrier Williams used her professional connections to arrange employment for other Black women,
B. including jobs with the Chicago Defender

To demonstrate that the factors that motivated the start of the Great Migration were different for Black women than they
C. were for Black men

To provide an overview of the employment challenges faced by Black women in the agricultural and domestic spheres in
D. the southern United States
Question ID 236fee8e
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 236fee8e
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?

It explains why efforts to determine the country of origin of the items mentioned in the previous sentence remain
A. inconclusive.

It provides information that helps support a claim about a discovery’s significance that is presented in the following
B. 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 7d8224f9
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 7d8224f9
In 1154, Muhammad al-Idrisi completed a collection of maps of the lands known to medieval Arabic and European scholars.
This collection was titled Al-Kitāb al-Rujārī (The Book of Roger), after the Norman king Roger II who hired him to create it. To
create the collection, al-Idrisi consulted Arabic and Greek maps and interviewed travelers about the lands they visited. He
included these travelers’ stories alongside the map illustrations.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To discuss the benefits of studying mapmaking

B. To explain how travelers created maps

C. To describe a collection of medieval maps and how it was created

D. To compare medieval Arabic and Greek mapmaking techniques

Question ID 2903a041
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 2903a041
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.

It examines how a group of scientists reached a conclusion, then shows how other scientists have challenged that
D. conclusion.
Question ID 47598085
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 47598085
Yawn contagion occurs when one individual yawns in response to another’s yawn. Studies of this behavior in primates have
focused on populations in captivity, but biologist Elisabetta Palagi and her colleagues have shown that it can occur in wild
primate populations as well. In their study, which focused on a wild population of gelada monkeys (Theropithecus gelada) in
Ethiopia, the researchers further reported that yawn contagion most commonly occurred in males and across different
social groups instead of within a single social group.

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

A. It defines a phenomenon that is discussed in the text.

B. It introduces a problem that is examined in the text.

C. It makes a claim that is challenged in the text.

D. It presents a hypothesis that is evaluated in the text.

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 in
B. the following sentence.

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

D. It presents evidence that calls into question the previous sentence’s characterization of Johnson’s artistic development.
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 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 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 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 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

Question ID c7265342
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: c7265342
The following text is from the 1895 poem “Marshlands” by Emily Pauline Johnson, a Kanienkahagen (Mohawk) writer also
known as Tekahionwake.

Among the wild rice in the still lagoon, In monotone the lizard shrills his tune.
The wild goose, homing, seeks a sheltering, Where rushes grow, and oozing lichens cling.
Late cranes with heavy wing, and lazy flight, Sail up the silence with the nearing night.
And like a spirit, swathed in some soft veil, Steals twilight and its shadows o’er the swale.
Hushed lie the sedges, and the vapours creep, Thick, grey and humid, while the marshes sleep.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. It names animal species found in a place, then names plant species there.

B. It sketches a setting by presenting a series of images of nature.

C. It makes an extended comparison of nature to human emotions.

D. It identifies a location, then refers to a person living there.

Question ID 8963273a
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 8963273a
Musician Joni Mitchell, who is also a painter, uses images she creates for her album covers to emphasize ideas expressed in
her music. For the cover of her album Turbulent Indigo (1994), Mitchell painted a striking self-portrait that closely resembles
Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889). The image calls attention to the album’s title song, in which
Mitchell sings about the legacy of the postimpressionist painter. In that song, Mitchell also hints that she feels a strong
artistic connection to Van Gogh—an idea that is reinforced by her imagery on the cover.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. It presents a claim about Mitchell, then gives an example supporting that claim.

B. It discusses Van Gogh’s influence on Mitchell, then considers Mitchell’s influence on other artists.

C. It describes a similarity between two artists, then notes a difference between them.

D. It describes the songs on Turbulent Indigo, then explains how they relate to the album’s cover.
Question ID c4900368
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: c4900368
The following text is from the 1924 poem “Cycle” by D’Arcy McNickle, who was a citizen of the Confederated Salish and
Kootenai Tribes.
There shall be new roads wending,
A new beating of the drum—
Men’s eyes shall have fresh seeing,
Grey lives reprise their span—
But under the new sun’s being,
Completing what night began,
There’ll be the same backs bending,
The same sad feet shall drum—
When this night finds its ending
And day shall have come.....

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To consider how the repetitiveness inherent in human life can be both rewarding and challenging

To question whether activities completed at one time of day are more memorable than those completed at another time
B. of day

C. To refute the idea that joy is a more commonly experienced emotion than sadness is

D. To demonstrate how the experiences of individuals relate to the experiences of their communities
Question ID 422c5068
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 422c5068
Generally it takes Tule geese about four days to migrate south for the winter. From their summer breeding grounds in Cook
Inlet, Alaska, the birds begin by flying over the Gulf of Alaska, keeping about 100 miles from the Canadian shore. They pause
to rest on the Pacific Ocean, then fly toward Summer Lake, Oregon, before finally arriving at their winter destination of
Sacramento Valley, California. In 2020, however, it took the geese over twice as long to make their way from Cook Inlet to
Sacramento Valley. According to researchers, the reason was airborne pollutants.

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

A. It illustrates a change in Tule geese’s usual flight behavior.

B. It suggests an explanation for why Tule geese breed in Alaska.

C. It describes part of the Tule geese’s typical winter migration journey.

D. It compares Tule geese to other birds that migrate south for the winter.
Question ID 74446089
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 74446089
For his 1986 album Keyboard Fantasies, Beverly Glenn-Copeland wrote songs grounded in traditional soul and folk music,
then accompanied them with futuristic synthesizer arrangements featuring ambient sounds and complex rhythms. The
result was so strange, so unprecedented, that the album attracted little attention when first released. In recent years,
however, a younger generation of musicians has embraced the stylistic experimentation of Keyboard Fantasies. Alternative
R&B musicians Blood Orange and Moses Sumney, among other contemporary recording artists, cite the album as an
influence.

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

A. It urges contemporary musicians to adopt the unique sound of Keyboard Fantasies.

B. It responds to criticism of Keyboard Fantasies by some younger musicians.

C. It offers examples of younger musicians whose work has been impacted by Keyboard Fantasies.

D. It contrasts Keyboard Fantasies with the recordings of two younger musicians.

Question ID f2c48e47
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: f2c48e47
The following text is from Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 1910 poem “The Earth’s Entail.” No matter how we cultivate the land,
Taming the forest and the prairie free; No matter how we irrigate the sand, Making the desert blossom at command,
We must always leave the borders of the sea; The immeasureable reaches Of the windy wave-wet beaches,
The million-mile-long margin of the sea.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. The speaker argues against interfering with nature and then gives evidence supporting this interference.

B. The speaker presents an account of efforts to dominate nature and then cautions that such efforts are only temporary.

C. The speaker provides examples of an admirable way of approaching nature and then challenges that approach.

D. The speaker describes attempts to control nature and then offers a reminder that not all nature is controllable.
Question ID c0e1b70a
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: c0e1b70a
The following text is adapted from Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto’s 1925 memoir A Daughter of the Samurai. As a young woman,
Sugimoto moved from feudal Japan to the United States.

The standards of my own and my adopted country differed so widely in some ways, and my love for both lands was so
sincere, that sometimes I had an odd feeling of standing upon a cloud in space, and gazing with measuring eyes upon
two separate worlds. At first I was continually trying to explain, by Japanese standards, all the queer things that came
every day before my surprised eyes; for no one seemed to know the origin or significance of even the most familiar
customs, nor why they existed and were followed.

Which choice best describes the main purpose of the text?

A. To convey the narrator’s experience of observing and making sense of differences between two cultures she embraces

B. To establish the narrator’s hope of forming connections with new companions by sharing customs she learned as a child

To reveal the narrator’s recognition that she is hesitant to ask questions about certain aspects of a culture she is newly
C. encountering

To emphasize the narrator’s wonder at discovering that the physical distance between two countries is greater than she
D. had expected
Question ID f631132b
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: f631132b
In the Here and Now Storybook (1921), educator Lucy Sprague Mitchell advanced the then controversial idea that books for
very young children should imitate how they use language, since toddlers, who cannot yet grasp narrative or abstract ideas,
seek reassurance in verbal repetition and naming. The most enduring example of this idea is Margaret Wise Brown’s 1947
picture book Goodnight Moon, in which a young rabbit names the objects in his room as he drifts off to sleep. Scholars note
that the book’s emphasis on repetition, rhythm, and nonsense rhyme speaks directly to Mitchell’s influence.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

The text outlines a debate between two authors of children’s literature and then traces how that debate shaped theories
A. on early childhood education.

The text summarizes an argument about how children’s literature should be evaluated and then discusses a contrasting
B. view on that subject.

The text lists the literary characteristics that are common to many classics of children’s literature and then indicates the
C. narrative subjects that are most appropriate for young children.

The text presents a philosophy about what material is most suitable for children’s literature and then describes a book
D. influenced by that philosophy.
Question ID 749f3334
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 749f3334
The following text is from Charlotte Forten Grimké’s 1888 poem “At Newport.”
Oh, deep delight to watch the gladsome waves
Exultant leap upon the rugged rocks;
Ever repulsed, yet ever rushing on—
Filled with a life that will not know defeat;
To see the glorious hues of sky and sea.
The distant snowy sails, glide spirit like,
Into an unknown world, to feel the sweet
Enchantment of the sea thrill all the soul,
Clearing the clouded brain, making the heart
Leap joyous as it own bright, singing waves!

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

A. It portrays the surroundings as an imposing and intimidating scene.

B. It characterizes the sea’s waves as a relentless and enduring force.

C. It conveys the speaker’s ambivalence about the natural world.

D. It draws a contrast between the sea’s waves and the speaker’s thoughts.
Question ID 2d77660e
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 2d77660e
In the late 1800s, Spanish-language newspapers flourished in cities across Texas. San Antonio alone produced eleven
newspapers in Spanish between 1890 and 1900. But El Paso surpassed all other cities in the state. This city produced
twenty-two newspapers in Spanish during that period. El Paso is located on the border with Mexico and has always had a
large population of Spanish speakers. Thus, it is unsurprising that this city became such a rich site for Spanish-language
journalism.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To compare Spanish-language newspapers published in Texas today with ones published there during the late 1800s

B. To explain that Spanish-language newspapers thrived in Texas and especially in El Paso during the late 1800s

To argue that Spanish-language newspapers published in El Paso influenced the ones published in San Antonio during
C. the late 1800s

D. To explain why Spanish-language newspapers published in Texas were so popular in Mexico during the late 1800s
Question ID af43b0bd
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: af43b0bd
Researchers have long hypothesized that woolly mammoths were hunted to extinction in North America by humans using
spears with grooved tips known as Clovis points. One anthropologist set out to test this hypothesis. Using a mechanical
spear-thrower, he launched spears with Clovis points into mounds of clay—substitutes for the animals’ large bodies. The
projectiles generally penetrated only a few inches into the clay, an amount insufficient to have harmed most woolly
mammoths. This led the anthropologist to conclude that hunters using spears with Clovis points likely weren’t the principal
drivers of the extinction.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To argue for the significance of new findings amid an ongoing debate among researchers

B. To discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the method used in an experiment

C. To summarize two competing hypotheses and a major finding associated with each one

D. To describe an experiment whose results cast doubt on an established hypothesis

Question ID 54c6128b
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 54c6128b
When ancient oak planks were unearthed during subway construction in Rome, Mauro Bernabei and his team examined the
growth rings in the wood to determine where these planks came from. By comparing the growth rings on the planks to
records of similar rings in oaks from Europe, the team could trace the wood to the Jura region of France, hundreds of
kilometers from Rome. Because timber could only have been transported from distant Jura to Rome by boat, the team’s
findings suggest the complexity of Roman trade routes.

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

A. It presents a conclusion about Roman trade routes based on the team’s findings.

B. It questions how the team was able to conclude that the planks were used to build a boat.

C. It explains why the planks were made from oak rather than a different kind of wood.

D. It describes common methods used in Roman subway construction.

Question ID a2be625e
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: a2be625e
The following text is from Sarah Orne Jewett’s 1899 short story “Martha’s Lady.” Martha is employed by Miss Pyne as a
maid.
Miss Pyne sat by the window watching, in her best dress, looking stately and calm; she seldom went out now, and it was
almost time for the carriage. Martha was just coming in from the garden with the strawberries, and with more flowers in
her apron. It was a bright cool evening in June, the golden robins sang in the elms, and the sun was going down behind the
apple-trees at the foot of the garden. The beautiful old house stood wide open to the long-expected guest.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To convey the worries brought about by a new guest

B. To describe how the characters have changed over time

C. To contrast the activity indoors with the stillness outside

D. To depict the setting as the characters await a visitor’s arrival

Question ID d9e55268
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: d9e55268
The following text is adapted from Louise Erdrich’s 2020 novel The Night Watchman. Louis Pipestone is collecting
signatures for a petition from fellow members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa on the tribe’s reservation in North
Dakota.

Louis Pipestone tended the petition like a garden. He kept it with him at all times. In town, his eyes sharpened when he
noticed a tribal member who hadn’t yet signed. Wherever they were—at the gas pump, mercantile [general store], at
Henry’s [Café], on the road, or outside the clinic and hospital—Louis cornered them. If they were waiting for a baby to be
born, he’d have them sign. If they were laughing, if they were arguing. If they were taking a child home from school, they
signed.
©2020 by Louise Erdrich

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To suggest that some tribal members refuse to sign the petition because they dislike Louis Pipestone

B. To show that attitudes toward the petition within the tribal community change over time

C. To demonstrate that most tribal members are enthusiastic about signing the petition

D. To portray Louis Pipestone’s strong commitment to collecting signatures for the petition
Question ID 14b7dced
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 14b7dced
The following text is from Walt Whitman’s 1860 poem “Calamus 24.”
I HEAR it is charged against me that I seek to destroy institutions; But really I am neither for nor against institutions
(What indeed have I in common with them?—Or what with the destruction of them?),
Only I will establish in the Mannahatta [Manhattan] and in every city of These States, inland and seaboard,
And in the fields and woods, and above every keel [ship] little or large, that dents the water,
Without edifices, or rules, or trustees, or any argument, The institution of the dear love of comrades.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. The speaker questions an increasingly prevalent attitude, then summarizes his worldview.

B. The speaker regrets his isolation from others, then predicts a profound change in society.

C. The speaker concedes his personal shortcomings, then boasts of his many achievements.

D. The speaker addresses a criticism leveled against him, then announces a grand ambition of his.
Question ID 6d44060a
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 6d44060a
Works of moral philosophy, such as Plato’s Republic or Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, are partly concerned with how to live
a morally good life. But philosopher Jonathan Barnes argues that works that present a method of living such a life without
also supplying a motive are inherently useful only to those already wishing to be morally good—those with no desire for
moral goodness will not choose to follow their rules. However, some works of moral philosophy attempt to describe what
constitutes a morally good life while also proposing reasons for living one.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

It provides a characterization about a field of thought by noting two works in it and then details a way in which some
A. works in that field are more comprehensive than others.

It mentions two renowned works and then claims that despite their popularity it is impossible for these works to serve
B. the purpose their authors intended.

It summarizes the history of a field of thought by discussing two works and then proposes a topic of further research for
C. specialists in that field.

D. It describes two influential works and then explains why one is more widely read than the other.
Question ID 590f0ad2
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 590f0ad2
Industrial activity is often assumed to be a threat to wildlife, but that isn’t always so. Consider the silver-studded blue
butterfly (Plebejus argus): as forest growth has reduced grasslands in northern Germany, many of these butterflies have left
meadow habitats and are now thriving in active limestone quarries. In a survey of multiple active quarries and patches of
maintained grassland, an ecologist found silver-studded blue butterflies in 100% of the quarries but only 57% of the
grassland patches. Moreover, butterfly populations in the quarries were four times larger than those in the meadows.

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

A. It challenges a common assumption about the species under investigation in the research referred to in the text.

B. It introduces discussion of a specific example that supports the general claim made in the previous sentence.

C. It suggests that a certain species should be included in additional studies like the one mentioned later in the text.

D. It provides a definition for an unfamiliar term that is central to the main argument in the text.
Question ID 19688783
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 19688783
The following text is from Lucy Maud Montgomery’s 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables. Anne, an eleven-year-old girl, has
come to live on a farm with a woman named Marilla in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Anne reveled in the world of color about her.

“Oh, Marilla,” she exclaimed one Saturday morning, coming dancing in with her arms full of gorgeous boughs, “I’m so
glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November,
wouldn’t it? Look at these maple branches. Don’t they give you a thrill—several thrills? I’m going to decorate my room
with them.”
“Messy things,” said Marilla, whose aesthetic sense was not noticeably developed. “You clutter up your room entirely
too much with out-of-doors stuff, Anne. Bedrooms were made to sleep in.”

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To demonstrate that Anne has a newly developed appreciation of nature

B. To describe an argument that Anne and Marilla often have

C. To emphasize Marilla’s disapproval of how Anne has decorated her room

D. To show that Anne and Marilla have very different personalities

Question ID d69bc408
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: d69bc408
The following text is adapted from Aphra Behn’s 1689 novel The Lucky Mistake. Atlante and Rinaldo are neighbors who have
been secretly exchanging letters through Charlot, Atlante’s sister.
[Atlante] gave this letter to Charlot; who immediately ran into the balcony with it, where she still found Rinaldo in a
melancholy posture, leaning his head on his hand: She showed him the letter, but was afraid to toss it to him, for fear it
might fall to the ground; so he ran and fetched a long cane, which he cleft at one end, and held it while she put the letter
into the cleft, and stayed not to hear what he said to it. But never was man so transported with joy, as he was at the
reading of this letter; it gives him new wounds; for to the generous, nothing obliges love so much as love.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. It describes the delivery of a letter, and then portrays a character’s happiness at reading that letter.

It establishes that a character is desperate to receive a letter, and then explains why another character has not yet written
B. that letter.

C. It presents a character’s concerns about delivering a letter, and then details the contents of that letter.

It reveals the inspiration behind a character’s letter, and then emphasizes the excitement that another character feels
D. upon receiving that letter.
Question ID 97360a00
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 97360a00
The following text is adapted from Gwendolyn Bennett’s 1926 poem “Street Lamps in Early Spring.”
Night wears a garment
All velvet soft, all violet blue...
And over her face she draws a veil
As shimmering fine as floating dew...
And here and there
In the black of her hair
The subtle hands of Night
Move slowly with their gem-starred light.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. It presents alternating descriptions of night in a rural area and in a city.

B. It sketches an image of nightfall, then an image of sunrise.

C. It makes an extended comparison of night to a human being.

D. It portrays how night changes from one season of the year to the next.
Question ID aa7fc89b
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: aa7fc89b
The following text is adapted from Susan Glaspell’s 1912 short story “‘Out There.’” An elderly shop owner is looking at a
picture that he recently acquired and hopes to sell.
It did seem that the picture failed to fit in with the rest of the shop. A persuasive young fellow who claimed he was closing
out his stock let the old man have it for what he called a song. It was only a little out-of-the-way store which subsisted
chiefly on the framing of pictures. The old man looked around at his views of the city, his pictures of cats and dogs, his
flaming bits of landscape. “Don’t belong in here,” he fumed.
And yet the old man was secretly proud of his acquisition. There was a hidden dignity in his scowling as he shuffled about
pondering the least ridiculous place for the picture.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To reveal the shop owner’s conflicted feelings about the new picture

B. To convey the shop owner’s resentment of the person he got the new picture from

C. To describe the items that the shop owner most highly prizes

D. To explain differences between the new picture and other pictures in the shop
Question ID e23f50b9
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: e23f50b9
The people of medieval Europe have traditionally been seen as uninterested in cleanliness and hygiene, but modern research
has shown that this is largely a myth. According to historian Eleanor Janega, most medieval towns in Europe had at least
one public bathhouse, which often offered both full-immersion baths and—more affordably—steam baths. While such
amenities were available mainly to town dwellers, regular bathing in rivers and streams or daily sponge baths at home were
common practices throughout medieval Europe.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion?

A. It asserts that in medieval Europe steam baths were more popular in rural areas than in urban ones.

B. It describes a limitation of earlier historians’ studies of medieval European bathing habits.

C. It concedes that not all people in medieval Europe had access to public bathhouses.

D. It explains why Janega decided to study the popularity of public bathhouses in medieval Europe.
Question ID 48555763
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 48555763
The following text is from Herman Melville’s 1854 novel The Lightning-rod Man.
The stranger still stood in the exact middle of the cottage, where he had first planted himself. His singularity impelled a
closer scrutiny. A lean, gloomy figure. Hair dark and lank, mattedly streaked over his brow. His sunken pitfalls of eyes were
ringed by indigo halos, and played with an innocuous sort of lightning: the gleam without the bolt. The whole man was
dripping. He stood in a puddle on the bare oak floor: his strange walking-stick vertically resting at his side.

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

A. It elaborates on the previous sentence’s description of the character.

B. It introduces the setting that is described in the sentences that follow.

C. It establishes a contrast with the description in the previous sentence.

D. It sets up the character description presented in the sentences that follow.

Question ID e7247766
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: e7247766
Horizontal gene transfer occurs when an organism of one species acquires genetic material from an organism of another
species through nonreproductive means. The genetic material can then be transferred “vertically” in the second species—
that is, through reproductive inheritance. Scientist Atma Ivancevic and her team have hypothesized infection by invertebrate
parasites as a mechanism of horizontal gene transfer between vertebrate species: while feeding, a parasite could acquire a
gene from one host, then relocate to a host from a different vertebrate species and transfer the gene to it in turn.

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

A. It explains why parasites are less susceptible to horizontal gene transfer than their hosts are.

B. It clarifies why some genes are more likely to be transferred horizontally than others are.

C. It contrasts how horizontal gene transfer occurs among vertebrates with how it occurs among invertebrates.

D. It describes a means by which horizontal gene transfer might occur among vertebrates.
Question ID ae2b3112
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: ae2b3112
By combining Indigenous and classical music, Cree composer and cellist Cris Derksen creates works that reflect the diverse
cultural landscape of Canada. For her album Orchestral Powwow, Derksen composed new songs in the style of traditional
powwow music that were accompanied by classical arrangements played by an orchestra. But where an orchestra would
normally follow the directions of a conductor, the musicians on Orchestral Powwow are led by the beat of a powwow drum.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To examine how Derksen’s musical compositions blend cultures

B. To argue that Derksen should be recognized for creating a new style of music

C. To describe the difficulties Derksen encountered when producing her album

D. To establish a contrast between Derksen’s classical training and her Cree heritage
Question ID 8bc66f89
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 8bc66f89
Part of the Atacama Desert in Peru has surprisingly rich plant life despite receiving almost no rainfall. Moisture from winter
fog sustains plants once they’re growing, but the soil’s tough crust makes it hard for seeds to germinate in the first place.
Local birds that dig nests in the ground seem to be of help: they churn the soil, exposing buried seeds to moisture and
nutrients. Indeed, in 2016 Cristina Rengifo Faiffer found that mounds of soil dug up by birds were far more fertile and
supported more seedlings than soil in undisturbed areas.

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

A. It elaborates on the idea that the top layer of Atacama Desert soil forms a tough crust.

B. It describes the process by which seeds are deposited into Atacama Desert soil.

C. It identifies the reason particular bird species dig nests in Atacama Desert soil.

D. It explains how certain birds promote seed germination in Atacama Desert soil.
Question ID 7a0e31ea
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 7a0e31ea
The following text is from Betty Smith’s 1943 novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Francie, a young girl, visits the library often.

Francie thought that all the books in the world were in that library and she had a plan about reading all the books in the
world. She was reading a book a day in alphabetical order and not skipping the dry ones. She remembered that the first
author had been Abbott. She had been reading a book a day for a long time now and she was still in the B’s. Already she
had read about bees and buffaloes, Bermuda vacations and Byzantine architecture. For all her enthusiasm, she had to
admit that some of the B’s had been hard going. But Francie was a reader.
©1947 by Betty Smith

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To illustrate Francie’s enjoyment of an unusual topic

B. To explain why Francie prefers reading over other activities

C. To portray Francie’s determination to meet a goal

D. To describe a book that Francie greatly admires

Question ID b4d29611
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: b4d29611
Michelene Pesantubbee, a historian and citizen of the Choctaw Nation, has identified a dilemma inherent to research on the
status of women in her tribe during the 1600s and 1700s: the primary sources from that era, travel narratives and other
accounts by male European colonizers, underestimate the degree of power conferred on Choctaw women by their traditional
roles in political, civic, and ceremonial life. Pesantubbee argues that the Choctaw oral tradition and findings from
archaeological sites in the tribe’s homeland supplement the written record by providing crucial insights into those roles.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

It details the shortcomings of certain historical sources, then argues that research should avoid those sources
A. altogether.

It describes a problem that arises in research on a particular topic, then sketches a historian’s approach to addressing
B. that problem.

C. It lists the advantages of a particular research method, then acknowledges a historian’s criticism of that method.

It characterizes a particular topic as especially challenging to research, then suggests a related topic for historians to
D. pursue instead.
Question ID f6352bd3
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: f6352bd3
Many archaeologists assume that large-scale engineering projects in ancient societies required an elite class to plan and
direct the necessary labor. However, recent discoveries, such as the excavation of an ancient canal near the Gulf Coast of
Alabama, have complicated this picture. Using radiocarbon dating, a team of researchers concluded that the 1.39-kilometer-
long canal was most likely constructed between 576 and 650 CE by an Indigenous society that was relatively free of social
classes.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. It describes a common view among archaeologists, then discusses a recent finding that challenges that view.

B. It outlines a method used in some archaeological fieldwork, then explains why an alternative method is superior to it.

It presents contradictory conclusions drawn by archaeologists, then evaluates a study that has apparently resolved that
C. contradiction.

D. It identifies a gap in scientific research, then presents a strategy used by some archaeologists to remedy that gap.
Question ID 1090b367
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 1090b367
Today composer Scott Joplin is mainly celebrated for his catchy ragtime pieces “Maple Leaf Rag” and “The Entertainer.”
However, by overlooking his less famous works, listeners will miss the full range of Joplin’s creativity. For instance, his waltz
“Pleasant Moments” and his opera Treemonisha skillfully blend ragtime and classical music. These masterpieces deserve as
much fame as Joplin’s biggest hits.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To describe the similarities and differences between ragtime music and opera

B. To argue that more attention should be given to Joplin’s lesser-known works

C. To encourage music lovers to listen to music by many different composers

D. To explain how Joplin learned to compose and perform ragtime music

Question ID d168e7c5
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: d168e7c5
The following text is from Annie Dillard’s 1987 autobiographical novel An American Childhood. The narrator is a young girl
living in Pittsburgh.

I walked. My mother had given me the freedom of the streets as soon as I could say our telephone number. I walked
and memorized the neighborhood. I made a mental map and located myself upon it. At night in bed I rehearsed the
small world’s scheme and set challenges: Find the store using backyards only. Imagine a route from the school to my
friend’s house.
©1987 by Annie Dillard

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

A. It describes the narrator trying to memorize her telephone number.

B. It provides examples of what the narrator thinks about at night.

C. It gives directions to the narrator’s favorite local store.

D. It portrays the narrator’s relationship with her mother.