The Reading and Writing Section

The Reading and Writing section presents short reading passages (or passage pairs) followed by a single multiple-choice question. Questions on the Reading and Writing section represent one of four content domains—Craft and Structure, Information and Ideas, Standard English Conventions, and Expression of Ideas. To help you budget your time, questions that test similar skills and knowledge are grouped together and arranged from easiest to hardest.

The Reading and Writing section is divided into two modules, each of which includes questions from all four different domains.

What the Reading and Writing Passages Are Like

The passages in the Reading and Writing section range from 25 to 150 words. Passages represent the subject areas of literature, history/social studies, the humanities, and science.

What the Reading and Writing Questions Are Like

The questions on the Reading and Writing section fall into four content domains:

1. Information and Ideas
   Measures comprehension, analysis, and reasoning skills and knowledge, as well as the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, and integrate information and ideas from texts and informational graphics (tables, bar graphs, and line graphs).
2. Craft and Structure
   Measures the comprehension, vocabulary, analysis, synthesis, and reasoning skills and knowledge needed to understand and use high-utility words and phrases in context, evaluate texts rhetorically, and make connections between topically related texts.
3. Expression of Ideas
   Measures the ability to revise texts to improve the effectiveness of written expression and to meet specific rhetorical goals.
4. Standard English Conventions
   Measures the ability to edit text to conform to core conventions of Standard English sentence structure, usage, and punctuation.