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 test is divided into 2 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:
- Information and Ideas
Measures comprehension, analysis, and reasoning skills and knowledge and the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, and integrate information and ideas from texts and informational graphics (tables, bar graphs, and line graphs). - 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. - Expression of Ideas
Measures the ability to revise texts to improve the effectiveness of written expression and to meet specific rhetorical goals. - Standard English Conventions
Measures the ability to edit text to conform to core conventions of Standard English sentence structure, usage, and punctuation.
Start Practicing
Start studying for the digital SAT today by downloading Bluebook™ and taking a full-length SAT test in the same application you will use on test day. Full-length digital SAT practice in Bluebook familiarizes students with the test application interface and supporting tools and features like formula sheets, digital accommodations, and calculators.
From the My Practice dashboard on the College Board website, you'll immediately see your adaptively scored practice test results and a practice test review of the test items, the correct answers, and a thorough explanation of the answer.
Armed with a baseline understanding of your performance on the digital SAT, you can use your score results and individual item responses to delve further into digital SAT preparation content on Khan Academy®.
In partnership with College Board, Khan Academy has built a digital SAT course that includes videos, articles and worked examples designed to help you understand and experience what’s new and improved about the digital SAT.
If you're testing with paper-based accommodations on test day, prepare for the digital SAT with our linear (nonadaptive) practice tests 1–4 available for download.