Recently, scientists looked at data collected by NASA’s InSight lander to learn more about seismic activity on Mars, known as marsquakes. The data show that the marsquakes all started from the same location on the planet. This discovery was surprising to scientists, as they expected that the marsquakes would originate from all over the planet because of the cooling of the planet’s surface. Now, scientists believe that there could be areas of active magma flows deep beneath the planet’s surface that trigger the marsquakes. According to the text, what was surprising to scientists studying the seismic activity data from NASA’s InSight lander?

There were different types of seismic waves causing marsquakes.

The surface temperature of Mars has been rising.

NASA’s InSight lander collected less data than scientists had expected.

All the marsquakes started from the same location on the planet.

The ancient writing system used in the Maya kingdoms of southern Mexico and Central America had a symbol for the number zero. The earliest known example of the symbol dates to more than 2,000 years ago. At that time, almost none of the writing systems elsewhere in the world possessed a zero symbol. And the use of zero in Mexico and Central America may be even more ancient. Some historians suggest that Maya mathematicians inherited it from the Olmec civilization, which flourished in the region 2,400–3,600 years ago. According to the text, what do some historians suggest about Maya civilization?

Maya civilization acquired the use of zero from the Olmec civilization.

Maya civilization respected its historians more than it respected its mathematicians.

Maya civilization was highly secretive about its intellectual achievements.

Maya civilization tried to introduce its writing system to other civilizations.

“The Bet” is an 1889 short story by Anton Chekhov. In the story, a banker is described as being very upset about something: _______ Which quotation from “The Bet” most effectively illustrates the claim?

“Then the banker cautiously broke the seals off the door and put the key in the keyhole.”

“It struck three o’clock, the banker listened; everyone was asleep in the house and nothing could be heard outside but the rustling of the chilled trees.”

“The banker, spoilt and frivolous, with millions beyond his reckoning, was delighted at the bet.”

“When [the banker] got home he lay on his bed, but his tears and emotion kept him for hours from sleeping.”

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is an 1892 short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In the story, the narrator expresses mixed feelings about her surroundings: _______ Which quotation from "The Yellow Wallpaper" most effectively illustrates the claim?

"This wallpaper has a kind of sub-pattern in a different shade, a particularly irritating one, for you can only see it in certain lights, and not clearly then."

"By moonlight—the moon shines in all night when there is a moon—I wouldn’t know it was the same paper."

"I’m really getting quite fond of the big room, all but that horrid [wall]paper."

"The color is repellant, almost revolting; a smouldering, unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight."

The population of the coral Lophelia pertusa declined significantly around 9,000 years ago in the Alboran Sea and around 11,000 years ago near the Mauritanian coast. Using the ratio of manganese to calcium, which inversely correlates with ocean oxygenation levels, marine scientist Rodrigo da Costa Portilho-Ramos and colleagues evaluated whether oxygenation played a role in the declines of L. pertusa. The researchers concluded that oxygenation may have been important in the Alboran Sea but not near the Mauritanian coast, since _______. Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to complete the statement?

a substantial increase in oxygenation in the Alboran Sea corresponded with the local decline in L. pertusa, but the opposite relationship between oxygenation and L. pertusa was found near the Mauritanian coast.

L. pertusa declined in the Alboran Sea during a period of substantial local decline in oxygenation, but L. pertusa declined near the Mauritanian coast during a period of little local change in oxygenation.

oxygenation in the Alboran Sea was higher before the decline in L. pertusa than after the decline, whereas oxygenation near the Mauritanian coast was relatively low both before and after the decline in L. pertusa.

oxygenation in the Alboran Sea tended to be substantially higher than oxygenation near the Mauritanian coast during the period studied.

The Younger Dryas was a period of extreme cooling from 11,700 to 12,900 years ago in the Northern Hemisphere. Some scientists argue that a comet fragment hitting Earth brought about the cooling. Others disagree, partly because there is no known crater from such an impact that dates to the beginning of the period. In 2015, a team led by Kurt Kjær detected a 19-mile-wide crater beneath a glacier in Greenland. The scientists who believe an impact caused the Younger Dryas claim that this discovery supports their view. However, Kjær’s team hasn’t yet been able to determine the age of the crater. Therefore, the team suggests that ____. Which choice most logically completes the text?

it can’t be concluded that the impact that made the crater was connected to the beginning of the Younger Dryas.

it can’t be determined whether a comet fragment could make a crater as large as 19 miles wide.

scientists have ignored the possibility that something other than a comet fragment could have made the crater.

the scientists who believe an impact caused the Younger Dryas have made incorrect assumptions about when the period began.

In 2016 biological anthropologist Heather F. Smith and her team investigated the evolution of the appendix, an intestinal organ that is present in some mammals, including humans, but is generally thought to have no function. Studying 533 mammal species, the team found that the appendix has emerged independently across multiple lineages in separate instances and, significantly, hasn’t disappeared after emerging in specific lineages. Moreover, the team determined that species with the organ tend to have higher concentrations of lymphoid tissue, which supports immune responses, in the cecum, the organ the appendix is attached to. Therefore, the team hypothesized that the appendix likely ____. Which choice most logically completes the text?

has been preserved in certain mammal species because it benefits their immune systems.

was once present in many nonmammal species but has since disappeared from those lineages.

will emerge in a greater number of mammal species because it may serve a necessary function in the immune system.

produced higher concentrations of lymphoid tissue in mammals in the past than it does currently.

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: - In 1859, the novel Adam Bede was published in England. - According to the novel’s title page, the author’s name was George Eliot. - George Eliot was widely assumed to be a pseudonym. - A pseudonym is a fake name used to conceal an author’s identity. - A woman named Mary Ann Evans later revealed herself as the novel’s real author. The student wants to identify the real author of Adam Bede. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

The real author of Adam Bede was Mary Ann Evans, who published the novel using the pseudonym George Eliot.

George Eliot, which Adam Bede’s title page indicated was the name of the novel’s author, was widely assumed to be a pseudonym.

The title page of the novel Adam Bede indicated that the author’s name was George Eliot.

A woman who had used a pseudonym to conceal her identity later revealed herself as the real author of Adam Bede.

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: - Scientists have developed a “freeze-thaw” battery that can retain 92% of its charge after twelve weeks. - The battery contains molten salt (a type of salt that liquifies when heated and solidifies at room temperature). - When the salt is in a liquid state, energy flows through the battery. - When the salt is in a solid state, energy stops flowing and is stored in the battery. - The stored (frozen) energy can be used by reheating (thawing) the battery. The student wants to specify how the salt enables energy storage. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

When the molten salt in a freeze-thaw battery solidifies at room temperature, energy stops flowing and can be stored in the battery.

Scientists have developed a freeze-thaw battery that contains molten salt, which liquifies when heated and solidifies at room temperature.

The stored energy in a freeze-thaw battery, which contains molten salt, can be used by reheating the battery.

Molten salt allows a freeze-thaw battery to retain 92% of its charge after twelve weeks.

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: - The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) keeps a list of all at-risk species. - Species on the list are classified as either endangered or threatened. - A species that is in danger of extinction throughout most or all of its range is classified as endangered. - A species that is likely to soon become endangered is classified as threatened. - The California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) is likely to soon become endangered, according to the FWS. The student wants to indicate the California red-legged frog’s FWS classification category. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

Likely to soon become endangered, the California red-legged frog is classified as threatened by the FWS.

Species on the FWS list, which includes the California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii), are classified as either endangered or threatened.

The California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) appears on the FWS list of at-risk species.

According to the FWS, the California red-legged frog is in the endangered category, in danger of extinction throughout most or all of its range.

The following text is adapted from Jerome K. Jerome’s 1889 novel Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog). The narrator is traveling by boat with Harris and another friend. [Harris] told us anecdotes of how he had gone across the [English] Channel when it was so rough that the passengers had to be tied into their [beds], and he and the captain were the only two living souls on board who were not ill. Sometimes it was he and the second mate who were not ill; but it was generally he and one other man. If not he and another man, then it was he by himself. Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

It emphasizes that Harris always boasts about his own constitution when speaking of a previous boat trip.

It indicates the reason for Harris’s eagerness to resume traveling.

It hints at Harris’s feeling that during an earlier boat trip, others didn’t include him in activities.

It reveals that although Harris claims to prefer solitary activities when traveling, he actually enjoys having company.

Several studies have found negligible electoral consequences for governments that impose fiscal austerity measures, yet some European governments recently suffered electorally due to their austerity programs. Evelyne Huebscher and colleagues attribute this incongruity to governments’ tendency—not followed in the recent European cases—to implement austerity programs strategically to avoid electoral costs (e.g., setting spending cuts to take effect only after the next election), which has obscured the inherent political risks of austerity measures in the election data scholars have examined. Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

It identifies a conflict between research findings and recent events that the text goes on to suggest is a consequence of a complicating factor in the data used to generate those findings.

It explains a discrepancy between what has been observed in study settings and what has been observed in real-world settings that the text goes on to assert is attributable to the studies not using real-world data.

It presents a long-standing divergence in research findings that the text goes on to say is due to different groups of researchers using data that derive from different electoral circumstances.

It describes a recent exception to a general pattern in research findings that the text goes on to explain is a result of researchers underestimating the significance of inconsistencies in the data they’ve analyzed.

The following text is adapted from Ann Petry’s 1946 novel The Street. Lutie lives in an apartment in Harlem, New York. The glow from the sunset was making the street radiant. The street is nice in this light, [Lutie] thought. It was swarming with children who were playing ball and darting back and forth across the sidewalk in complicated games of tag. Girls were skipping double dutch rope, going tirelessly through the exact center of a pair of ropes, jumping first on one foot and then the other. Which choice best describes what is happening in the text?

Lutie is observing the appearance of the street at a particular time of day and the events occurring on it.

Lutie is annoyed by the noise of children playing games on her street.

Lutie is puzzled by the rules of certain children’s games.

Lutie is spending time alone in her apartment because she doesn’t want to interact with her neighbors.

Since its completion in 2014, Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest)—a pair of residential towers in Milan, Italy, covered by vegetation—has become a striking symbol of environmental sustainability in architecture. Stefano Boeri intended his design, which features balconies that are home to hundreds of trees, to serve as a model for promoting urban biodiversity. However, the concept has faced skepticism: critics note that although the trees used in Bosco Verticale were specifically cultivated for the project, it’s too early to tell if they can thrive in this unusual setting. According to the text, why are some critics skeptical of the concept behind Bosco Verticale?

It is unclear whether Bosco Verticale can support the plant life included in its design.

Some essential aspects of Bosco Verticale’s design are difficult to adapt to locations other than Milan.

The plant life on Bosco Verticale ended up being less varied than Boeri had envisioned it would be.

The construction of Bosco Verticale was no less environmentally damaging than the construction of more conventional buildings is.

Many literary theorists distinguish between fabula, a narrative’s content, and syuzhet, a narrative’s arrangement and presentation of events. In the film The Godfather Part II, the fabula is the story of the Corleone family, and the syuzhet is the presentation of the story as it alternates between two timelines in 1901 and 1958. But literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin maintained that fabula and syuzhet are insufficient to completely describe a narrative—he held that systematic categorizations of artistic phenomena discount the subtle way in which meaning is created by interactions between the artist, the work, and the audience. Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

Literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin argued that there are important characteristics of narratives that are not fully encompassed by two concepts that other theorists have used to analyze narratives.

Literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin claimed that meaning is not inherent in a narrative but is created when an audience encounters a narrative so that narratives are interpreted differently by different people.

The storytelling methods used in The Godfather Part II may seem unusually complicated, but they can be easily understood when two concepts from literary theory are utilized.

Narratives that are told out of chronological order are more difficult for audiences to understand than are narratives presented chronologically.

Fish whose DNA has been modified to include genetic material from other species are known as transgenic. Some transgenic fish have genes from jellyfish that result in fluorescence (that is, they glow in the dark). Although these fish were initially engineered for research purposes in the 1990s, they were sold as pets in the 2000s and can now be found in the wild in creeks in Brazil. A student in a biology seminar who is writing a paper on these fish asserts that their escape from Brazilian fish farms into the wild may have significant negative long-term ecological effects. Which quotation from a researcher would best support the student’s assertion?

“Through interbreeding, transgenic fish might introduce the trait of fluorescence into wild fish populations, making those populations more vulnerable to predators.”

“In one site in the wild where transgenic fish were observed, females outnumbered males, while in another the numbers of females and males were equivalent.”

“Though some presence of transgenic fish in the wild has been recorded, there are insufficient studies of the impact of those fish on the ecosystems into which they are introduced.”

“The ecosystems into which transgenic fish are known to have been introduced may represent a subset of the ecosystems into which the fish have actually been introduced.”

“Poetry” is a 1919 poem by Marianne Moore. The poem highlights an ambivalence toward poetry as the speaker acknowledges its merits while also expressing a sense of displeasure, writing _______ Which quotation from “Poetry” most effectively illustrates the claim?

“Reading [poetry], however, with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers that there is in / it after all, a place for the genuine.”

“nor is it valid / to discriminate against ‘business documents and / school-books’; all these phenomena are important.”

“One must make a distinction / however: when dragged into prominence by half poets, the result is not / poetry”

“when [poems] become so derivative as to become unintelligible, the / same thing may be said for all of us—that we / do not admire what / we cannot understand.”

In dialects of English spoken in Scotland, the “r” sound is strongly emphasized when it appears at the end of syllables (as in “car”) or before other consonant sounds (as in “bird”). English dialects of the Upland South, a region stretching from Oklahoma to western Virginia, place similar emphasis on “r” at the ends of syllables and before other consonant sounds. Historical records show that the Upland South was colonized largely by people whose ancestors came from Scotland. Thus, linguists have concluded that _______ Which choice most logically completes the text?

the English dialects spoken in the Upland South acquired their emphasis on the “r” sound from dialects spoken in Scotland.

emphasis on the “r” sound will eventually spread from English dialects spoken in the Upland South to dialects spoken elsewhere.

the English dialects spoken in Scotland were influenced by dialects spoken in the Upland South.

people from Scotland abandoned their emphasis on the “r” sound after relocating to the Upland South.

On March 23, 2021, a gust of wind wreaked havoc on global trade. Ever Given, an international shipping container vessel, became lodged in Egypt’s Suez Canal, a major shipping route between Europe and Asia. The vessel took six days to _______ it’s as heavy as two thousand blue whales when fully loaded. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

dislodge, in part due to its sheer size:

dislodge in part due to its sheer size

dislodge, in part due to its sheer size,

dislodge, in part, due to its sheer size

SAT Reading/Writing Practice Set Quiz

1.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 1 pt

The following text is from the 1913 story “The King’s Coin” by Emily Pauline Johnson, a Kanienkahagen (Mohawk) writer also known as Tekahionwake.
Fox-Foot, a young Ojibwe man, is guiding a group of fur traders who are traveling by canoe and suspects that they are being followed. At supper time, Fox-Foot would allow no fire to be built, no landing to be made, no trace of their passing to be left. They ate canned meat and marmalade, drank again of the stream and pushed on, until just at dusk they reached the edge of a long, still lake, with shores of granite and dense fir forest.
As used in the text, what does the word “trace” most nearly mean?

Evidence

Blemish

Amount

Sketch

2.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 1 pt

Many ancient sculptures of people’s heads are missing their noses. This is because the nose is the most ______ part of a sculpture of a person’s head. It is delicate and sticks out from the rest of the sculpture, making it especially easy to break. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

recognizable

fragile

common

sophisticated

3.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 1 pt

K.D. Leka and colleagues found that the Sun’s corona provides an advance indication of solar flares—intense eruptions of electromagnetic radiation that emanate from active regions in the Sun’s photosphere and can interfere with telecommunications on Earth. Preceding a flare, the corona temporarily exhibits increased brightness above the region where the flare is ________. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

antecedent

impending

innocuous

perpetual

4.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 1 pt

To demonstrate that the integrity of underground metal pipes can be assessed without unearthing the pipes, engineer Aroba Saleem and colleagues ________ the tendency of some metals’ internal magnetic fields to alter under stress: the team showed that such alterations can be measured from a distance and can reveal concentrations of stress in the pipes. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

hypothesized

discounted

redefined

exploited

5.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 1 pt

Despite the generalizations about human behavior they have produced, many studies of behavioral psychology have used highly unrepresentative subject pools: students at the colleges and universities where the researchers are employed. To ________ this situation, it is necessary to actively recruit subjects from diverse backgrounds and locations. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

sanction

ameliorate

rationalize

postulate

6.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 1 pt

The following text is adapted from Jean Webster’s 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs. The narrator is a young college student writing letters detailing her weekly experiences.
[The college is] organizing the Freshman basket-ball team and there’s just a chance that I shall make it. I’m little of course, but terribly quick and wiry and tough. While the others are hopping about in the air, I can dodge under their feet and grab the ball.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

To compare basketball with other sports

To provide details of how to play basketball

To state how players will be chosen for the basketball team

To explain why the narrator thinks she might make the basketball team

7.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 1 pt

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?

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

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 the late 1800s

To explain why Spanish-language newspapers published in Texas were so popular in Mexico during the late 1800s

8.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 1 pt

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?

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

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

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

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

9.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 1 pt

More than 60% of journeys in Mexico City occur via public transit, but simply reproducing a feature of the city’s transit system—e.g., its low fares—is unlikely to induce a significant increase in another city’s transit ridership. As Erick Guerra et al. have shown, transportation mode choice in urban areas of Mexico is the product of a complex mix of factors, including population density, the spatial distribution of jobs, and demographic characteristics of individuals. System features do affect ridership, of course, but there is an irreducibly contextual dimension of transportation mode choice.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?

It presents an objection to the argument of Guerra et al. about transportation mode choice in urban areas of Mexico.

It explains why it is challenging to influence transit ridership solely by altering characteristics of a transit system.

It illustrates the claim that a characteristic associated with high transit ridership in Mexico City is not associated with high transit ridership elsewhere.

It substantiates the assertion that population density, the spatial distribution of jobs, and demographic characteristics are important factors in transportation mode choice.

10.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 1 pt

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 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, 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 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 hypothesis, and then presents data the team collected that validate the hypothesis.

SAT Reading/Writing Practice Set

55 questions

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