Reading and Writing
SAT Suite of Assessments Skills Insight Tool
Below are the skills and knowledge that students in the content domain and performance score band selected above are typically able to demonstrate as well as examples of the kinds of questions that these students are likely able to answer correctly. To view skill/knowledge statements and example questions in other domains and/or performance score bands, update the selections above and click Go.
Skills
A student in this performance score band can typically demonstrate the following skills in this content domain:
- Determine the most logical and precise high-utility academic word or phrase to use in highly complex contexts and when the focal words and phrases are encountered frequently in texts at the early college level
- Draw a subtle text-supported connection between two passages at the early college level on the same or similar topics
Example Questions
Example Question 1
Text 1
Films and television shows commonly include a long list of credits naming the people involved in a production. Credit sequences may not be exciting, but they generally ensure that everyone’s contributions are duly acknowledged. Because they are highly standardized, film and television credits are also valuable to anyone researching the careers of pioneering cast and crew members who have worked in the mediums.
Text 2
Video game scholars face a major challenge in the industry’s failure to consistently credit the artists, designers, and other contributors involved in making video games. Without a reliable record of which people worked on which games, questions about the medium’s development can be difficult to answer, and the accomplishments of all but its best-known innovators can be difficult to trace.
Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 1 most likely respond to the discussion in Text 2?
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By recommending that the scholars mentioned in Text 2 consider employing the methods regularly used by film and television researchers
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By pointing out that credits have a different intended purpose in film and television than in the medium addressed by the scholars mentioned in Text 2
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By suggesting that the scholars mentioned in Text 2 rely more heavily on credits as a source of information than film and television researchers do
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By observing that a widespread practice in film and television largely prevents the kind of problem faced by the scholars mentioned in Text 2
Key: D
Key Explanation
Choice D is the best answer because it reflects how the author of Text 1 would most likely respond to Text 2 based on the information provided. Text 2 discusses how the inconsistent use of credits to identify the contributors to video games can pose an obstacle to scholars of the medium, who rely on such credits to answer questions about the medium’s development. Text 1 notes that in film and television, on the other hand, credits are used consistently and are valuable to researchers studying the cast and crew members in these mediums. Since Text 1 asserts how the consistent use of credits benefits scholars of film and television, it can be inferred that this text’s author would respond to the discussion in Text 2 by observing that the kind of problem faced by scholars of video games—the inability to know who contributed to a particular production and how—is, in film and television studies, largely prevented by the widespread practice of credits in these mediums.
Distractor Explanations
Choice A is incorrect. Although Text 1 discusses a method used by film and television researchers—namely, relying on credits to research the careers of cast and crew members—the author doesn’t explicitly recommend that or any other method. Moreover, Text 1 states that films and television shows themselves, not their researchers, regularly use the method of listing credits. Choice B is incorrect. It can be inferred from Text 2 that when video games do feature credits, they have essentially the same function as credits in film and television—namely, to identify the individuals who worked on a particular production. Therefore, it is unlikely that the author of Text 1 would characterize video game credits as differing in purpose from film and television credits. Choice C is incorrect because, as Text 2 explains, credits are not consistently used in video games. Therefore, it is unlikely that the author of Text 1 would argue that scholars of the medium discussed in this text—video games—rely more heavily on credits than scholars of film and television, two mediums where credits consistently appear.
Example Question 2
While scholars believe many Mesoamerican cities influenced each other, direct evidence of such influence is difficult to ascertain. However, recent excavations in a sector of Tikal (Guatemala) unearthed a citadel that shows blank Teotihuacán (Mexico) architecture—including a near replica of a famed Teotihuacán temple—providing tangible evidence of outside influence in portions of Tikal.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
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refinements of
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precursors of
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commonalities with
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animosities toward
Key: C
Key Explanation
Choice C is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of architectural influences among Mesoamerican cities. In this context, “commonalities with” means similarities to or shared attributes with. The text indicates that a recently discovered citadel in Tikal includes a close imitation of a famous temple in Teotihuacán (another Mesoamerican city) and other evidence of Teotihuacán influence, which suggests that the citadel possesses features that resemble architectural features found in Teotihuacán. This context thus indicates that the Tikal citadel shows commonalities with Teotihuacán architecture.
Distractor Explanations
Choice A is incorrect because there’s nothing in the text that suggests that the Tikal citadel shows “refinements of,” or improvements on, Teotihuacán architecture. Although the text suggests that the architecture of Teotihuacán influenced the architecture of the Tikal citadel, and although it’s possible that later architectural designs could make improvements on earlier designs, the text doesn’t discuss whether, in imitating Teotihuacán architecture, the Tikal citadel’s builders improved on it. Choice B is incorrect because describing the citadel in Tikal as showing “precursors of” Teotihuacán architecture—or features that preceded and foreshadowed those of Teotihuacán architecture—would imply the opposite of what the text suggests about the relationship between the architecture found in Tikal and Teotihuacán. The text claims that the discovery of similarities between the Tikal citadel and the architecture of Teotihuacán, including a replica of a temple in Teotihuacán, provides evidence of outside influences on Tikal architecture. If the Tikal citadel was influenced by Teotihuacán architecture, then the Teotihuacán architecture must predate the citadel, not the other way around. In this context, therefore, it wouldn’t make sense to say that the Tikal citadel shows precursors of Teotihuacán architecture. Choice D is incorrect because the text discusses how the citadel in Tikal indicates the influence of Teotihuacán architecture, which implies that the makers of the Tikal citadel likely admired aspects of Teotihuacán architecture enough to imitate it. Thus, there’s no reason to think that the Tikal citadel provides evidence of the Tikal people’s “animosities toward,” or feelings of strong dislike or hostility toward, Teotihuacán architecture.