SAT Reading and Writing Practice Test

Topic 1.1 · Apply it

Tardigrades, tiny animals less than a millimeter long, can survive conditions that would kill most living things, including near-total drying out and extreme cold. When their environment dries up, many tardigrades curl into a shriveled form called a tun, in which their metabolism slows almost to a stop. When water returns, many of them uncurl and become active again.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

Topic 1.1 · Apply it

Every spring for forty years, Mr. Alvarez had repainted the fence in front of his house himself. This year his hands shook, and after an hour he had covered only two boards. His grandson, home from college, took the brush without being asked and kept going. Mr. Alvarez sat on the porch steps and watched, surprised to find that he didn't mind at all.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

Topic 1.1 · Apply it

Many reef-building corals depend on tiny algae that live inside their tissues and supply much of their food. When the water becomes too warm for too long, corals expel these algae. Without them, corals lose their color, a process called bleaching, and if the warm conditions continue, the corals may starve.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

Topic 1.1 · Concept check

When the architect Lena Ortiz designed the town's new reading room, she placed its tall windows on the north wall. Painters have long preferred north-facing windows in the Northern Hemisphere because they let in steady, indirect light that changes little through the day, and Ortiz wanted readers to have the same even light, without glare on their pages.

According to the text, why did Ortiz put the windows on the north wall?

Topic 1.1 · Experiment

Researchers studying red foxes noticed that foxes living in cities seem less afraid of unfamiliar things than foxes living in the countryside. They hypothesize that city foxes have become bolder because they encounter people and human-made objects so often.

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

Topic 1.1 · Experiment

A historian argues that the population of a mining town fell sharply in the 1850s mainly because of a disease outbreak in 1856.

Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the historian's argument?

Topic 1.1 · Experiment

Some students observed that bean plants exposed to music grew taller than plants grown in silence. They hypothesize that the plants respond to the vibrations that sound creates, not to the music itself.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the students' hypothesis?

Topic 1.1 · Data analysis

Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the statement? In this survey, people who traveled by ______

Topic 1.1 · Data analysis

A researcher claims that, in this survey, reading for fun became less common in each higher grade. Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to support this claim?

Topic 1.1 · Data analysis

Which choice best describes data from the table that support the claim that temperature affects sprouting in species A much more than in species B?

Topic 1.1 · Apply it

Large volcanic eruptions can send sulfur dioxide gas high into the atmosphere, where it forms tiny droplets that reflect some incoming sunlight back into space. Scientists therefore expect that an unusually large eruption would ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Topic 1.1 · Apply it

Bees can see ultraviolet light, which human eyes cannot detect. Under ultraviolet light, many flowers that look plain to people show patterns of lines and spots that point toward the center, where the nectar is. These patterns are likely ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Topic 1.1 · Apply it

In one study, students who took notes by hand during a lecture understood the ideas better on a later test than students who took notes on laptops. The researchers noticed that laptop users tended to type the lecture almost word for word, while students writing by hand, who couldn't keep up with every word, had to summarize. This suggests that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Topic 1.1 · Apply it

Many songbirds migrate at night. Researchers have found that the bright lights of tall city buildings can attract these birds and disorient them, causing some to circle the buildings until they are exhausted. Turning off unnecessary lights in tall buildings during migration seasons would therefore likely ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Topic 1.2 · Apply it

Despite weighing less than an ounce, the bird is remarkably ______: it flies thousands of kilometers each year, crossing deserts and seas with only brief stops to rest.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

Topic 1.2 · Apply it

The scientist was careful to describe her conclusions as ______: she presented them as possibilities that further data might overturn.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

Topic 1.2 · Apply it

Several critics found the film's plot ______, with so many characters and overlapping storylines that audiences struggled to follow it.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

Topic 1.2 · Apply it

After a week-long inspection, the engineers declared the old railway bridge structurally sound and safe for trains to cross.

As used in the text, what does the word "sound" most nearly mean?

Topic 1.2 · Apply it

The museum's new director plans to ______ its collection by adding works from artists and regions that the museum had long overlooked.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

Topic 1.2 · Apply it

Farmers are testing a new variety of wheat that is expected to yield about 20 percent more grain per acre than the variety they currently grow.

As used in the text, what does the word "yield" most nearly mean?

Topic 1.2 · Apply it

Noise-canceling headphones contain small microphones that pick up the sounds around the listener. Electronics inside the headphones then produce a sound wave that is the mirror image of the incoming noise. When the two waves meet, they largely cancel each other out, so the listener hears much less of the background noise.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

Topic 1.2 · Apply it

For centuries, Saturn was thought to be the only planet in our solar system with rings. In the late 1970s and the 1980s, however, astronomers discovered faint ring systems around Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. These rings are much darker and thinner than Saturn's, which helps explain why they went unnoticed for so long.

Which choice best describes the function of the second sentence in the overall structure of the text?

Topic 1.2 · Apply it

Flamingos are famous for their pink feathers, but they are not born pink. Their color comes from pigments called carotenoids found in the algae and tiny shrimp they eat. Flamingos in zoos that are fed food without these pigments gradually turn pale, which is why many zoos add carotenoids to the birds' diet.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

Topic 1.2 · Apply it

Rosa folded the last sweater into the suitcase and pressed the lid shut. "You'll love the city," her mother said from the doorway. Rosa nodded. She looked at the bookshelf she had built with her father, the window that framed the same oak tree every morning, the faded height marks on the closet door. "I know," she said, and didn't move toward the door.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

Topic 1.2 · Apply it

Researchers tracked 300 adults for a year and found that those who walked at least 7,000 steps a day reported better sleep than those who walked fewer steps. The researchers caution, however, that the participants recorded their own sleep quality, and people's impressions of how well they slept are not always accurate.

Which choice best describes the function of the last sentence in the overall structure of the text?

Topic 1.2 · Apply it

Cities facing traffic jams often respond by widening highways. Yet traffic researchers have repeatedly found that new lanes tend to fill up within a few years, as the extra space encourages more people to drive, a pattern known as induced demand. Some cities have instead invested in frequent buses and trains, giving residents an alternative to driving altogether.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

Topic 1.2 · Apply it

Text 1
Many educators argue that eating breakfast is essential for students' performance in school, since the brain needs fuel to concentrate.

Text 2
Studies of school breakfast programs have found the clearest benefits among students who would otherwise arrive at school hungry. For students who are already well nourished, the effect of eating breakfast on test scores appears small.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the view in Text 1?

Topic 1.2 · Apply it

Text 1
Some commentators claim that time spent on social media is harmful to teenagers' well-being and that less screen time is always better.

Text 2
Research on teenagers and social media has produced mixed results. Passive scrolling has been linked to lower mood in some studies, while active use, such as keeping in touch with friends or finding supportive online communities, has been linked to neutral or even positive effects.

Based on the texts, the author of Text 2 would most likely say that the claim in Text 1

Topic 1.2 · Apply it

Text 1
For much of the twentieth century, illustrations showed dinosaurs as scaly, reptile-like animals with bare skin.

Text 2
Fossils found in China since the 1990s show that many meat-eating dinosaurs had feathers or feather-like structures. Because many of these animals could not fly, scientists think feathers first served other purposes, such as keeping warm or attracting mates.

Which choice best describes how Text 2 relates to Text 1?

Topic 1.3 · Data analysis

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
• Katherine Johnson (1918–2020) was a mathematician at NASA.
• She calculated flight paths for early American spaceflights.
• Before John Glenn's orbital flight in 1962, he asked that she personally check the computer's calculations.
• In 2015 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The student wants to introduce Katherine Johnson to an audience unfamiliar with her. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

Topic 1.3 · Data analysis

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
• The Great Barrier Reef lies off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
• It stretches about 2,300 kilometers and is the world's largest coral reef system.
• The Belize Barrier Reef lies in the Caribbean Sea.
• It stretches about 300 kilometers.
• Both are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The student wants to emphasize the difference in length between the two reefs. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

Topic 1.3 · Data analysis

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
• A high school class wanted to know whether window stickers reduce how often birds fly into windows.
• They watched two similar windows for six weeks.
• One window had stickers; the other did not.
• Birds hit the window without stickers 14 times and the window with stickers 3 times.

The student wants to present the results of the class's study. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

Topic 1.3 · Data analysis

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
• Machu Picchu is a stone city built by the Inca.
• It sits high in the Andes Mountains of Peru.
• It was built in the 1400s.
• It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.

The student wants to explain where and when Machu Picchu was built. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

Topic 1.3 · Data analysis

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
• Cuneiform was developed in Mesopotamia.
• It was written by pressing wedge-shaped marks into clay.
• Egyptian hieroglyphs used pictures and symbols carved or painted on stone and papyrus.
• Both appeared over 5,000 years ago and are among the earliest known writing systems.

The student wants to emphasize a similarity between cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

Topic 1.3 · Data analysis

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
• A green roof is a roof covered with soil and plants.
• Green roofs absorb rainwater, reducing the amount that runs off into storm drains.
• They insulate buildings, which can lower heating and cooling costs.
• They provide habitat for insects and birds.

The student wants to emphasize how green roofs can help cities manage heavy rain. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

Topic 1.3 · Apply it

The first version of the app was slow and often crashed. ______ thousands of people downloaded it in its first week, drawn by its unusual idea.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

Topic 1.3 · Apply it

Some plants protect themselves with chemicals that taste bitter to animals. ______ the leaves of many mint plants contain strong-smelling oils that discourage insects from eating them.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

Topic 1.3 · Apply it

To make the clay pot, the potter first shaped the wet clay on a spinning wheel. She then left it to dry for several days. ______ she fired it in a kiln at a very high temperature to harden it.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

Topic 1.3 · Apply it

Octopuses are skilled at solving problems. In laboratory studies, they have opened screw-top jars to reach food inside. ______ some have learned to open the jars from the inside after being sealed in them.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

Topic 1.3 · Apply it

The city's oldest library had no ramps or elevators, so many residents who use wheelchairs could not reach its upper floors. ______ the city added an elevator and a ramp during the library's renovation.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

Topic 1.4 · Concept check

The main trail was closed for ______ hikers took the longer route around the lake instead.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Topic 1.4 · Concept check

The volunteers needed three things before the cleanup could ______ gloves, trash bags, and permission from the park.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Topic 1.4 · Concept check

Scientists who study ______ often rely on satellite images to track changes in the ground before an eruption.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Topic 1.4 · Concept check

The expedition's leader—an engineer who had spent years designing deep-sea ______ guided the submarine to a depth of nearly four kilometers.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Topic 1.4 · Concept check

The orchestra's tour included stops in Paris, France; Rome, ______ and Vienna, Austria.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Topic 1.4 · Concept check

After complaints from users, the company updated ______ privacy policy to explain more clearly how it stores data.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Topic 1.4 · Concept check

The museum first opened its doors in ______ it has welcomed millions of visitors since then.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Topic 1.4 · Concept check

The Amazon ______ which carries more water than any other river on Earth, flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Topic 1.4 · Concept check

The researchers wondered whether the new material would still bend after months of exposure to ______

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Topic 1.4 · Concept check

Neither the players nor the coach ______ ready for how quickly the storm arrived.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Topic 1.4 · Concept check

The committee members announced that ______ decision on the new schedule would be final.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Topic 1.4 · Concept check

Since 2010, the city ______ more than forty new parks, many of them on former parking lots.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Topic 1.4 · Concept check

After the championship game, all of the ______ uniforms were sent to be cleaned.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Topic 1.4 · Concept check

Having studied for weeks, ______

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?