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 effective transition word or phrase to indicate an exception or counterpoint (e.g., "granted")
- Synthesize information from several complex statements to make a rhetorically effective generalization
Example Questions
Example Question 1
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
- Nissologists are scientists who study islands.
- Some nissologists define an island as any piece of land surrounded by water.
- Using that definition, they determined that Sweden has 221,000 islands.
- Other nissologists define an island as being 1 kilometer square, a certain distance from the mainland, and having at least 50 permanent residents.
- Using that definition, they determined that Sweden has 24 islands.
The student wants to make and support a generalization about nissologists’ definition of an island. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish these goals?
-
The definition of an island as any piece of land surrounded by water is supported by some nissologists, scientists who study islands.
-
Multiple counts of Sweden’s islands have been based on different definitions of an island.
-
Based on a recent count, Sweden has a relatively small number of islands with at least 50 permanent residents.
-
Nissologists’ different definitions can result in huge disparities in counts of islands, as the example of Sweden shows.
Key: D
Key Explanation
Choice D is the best answer. The sentence makes a generalization about nissologists’ definition of an island—specifically, that the use of one definition rather than another can result in huge disparities in the number of islands counted—and supports that generalization by citing Sweden as an example.
Distractor Explanations
Choice A is incorrect. The sentence introduces one definition of an island to an audience unfamiliar with nissologists; it doesn’t make a generalization about nissologists’ definition of an island. Choice B is incorrect. While the sentence synthesizes information from the notes about counts of Sweden’s islands, it doesn’t make and support a generalization about nissologists’ definition of an island. Choice C is incorrect. The sentence makes an inference about islands in Sweden; it doesn’t mention nissologists’ definition of an island or make a generalization about it.
Example Question 2
A 2017 study of sign language learners tested the role of iconicity—the similarity of a sign to the thing it represents—in language acquisition. The study found that the greater the iconicity of a sign, the more likely it was to have been learned. blank the correlation between acquisition and iconicity was lower than that between acquisition and another factor studied: sign frequency.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
-
In fact,
-
In other words,
-
Granted,
-
As a result,
Key: C
Key Explanation
Choice C is the best answer. “Granted” logically signals that the following information—that iconicity is not as highly correlated with acquisition as sign frequency—is true in spite of the information about the correlation between iconicity and acquisition in the previous sentence.
Distractor Explanations
Choice A is incorrect because “in fact” illogically signals that the sentence that follows either emphasizes or refutes the information in the previous sentence regarding the correlation between iconicity and acquisition. Instead, the sentence that follows provides additional information that is true in spite of the preceding information; it neither emphasizes nor refutes that information. Choice B is incorrect because “in other words” illogically signals that the sentence that follows is a restatement of the information in the previous sentence; instead, the sentence that follows provides additional information that is true in spite of the preceding information. Choice D is incorrect because “as a result” illogically signals that the sentence that follows is a result of the information in the previous sentence regarding the correlation between iconicity and acquisition; instead, the sentence that follows is true in spite of the preceding information.