What Can Test Takers Expect on the Digital SAT® Reading & Writing Modules?
Back in October, we gave a brief overview of what can be expected from College Board’s anticipated digital SAT®. As you know, the new digital SAT®'s reading and writing components will be combined into one section, divided into two equal-length modules.
The first module is 32 minutes long and consists of 27 questions that range between easy, medium, and hard.
The second module, also 32 minutes long and 27 questions, varies based on performance during the first module, making the questions either more or less difficult for the test taker.
The reading and writing portion includes questions from four domains: Information and Ideas (Reading), Craft and Structure (Reading), Expression of Ideas (Writing), and Standard English Conventions (Writing). Each is broken down further into specific skills.
Reading & Writing on the New Digital SAT®
Based on the digital SAT® practice exams and the samples provided by the College Board, we’ve collected information on the four domains and respective skills that we believe to be very helpful to test takers.
Not only that, we have created our own white-label, fully-digital, adaptive practice tests—complete with accurate, algorithmic scoring. This means you can give your students the first, and most authentic practice for the new digital SAT®. Schedule a free demo and try it for yourself!
Here’s a look at what test takers can anticipate on the digital SAT® reading and writing component based on domains and skills covered:
1. Domain: Information and Ideas (Reading)
Approximately 26% of questions
Between 12-14 questions
Students will use comprehension, analysis, and reasoning skills to locate, interpret, evaluate, and use information from a variety of texts and infographics.
a. Skill: Central Ideas and Details
Central Ideas and Details questions are all about reading comprehension: no prior knowledge is required about the subject matter. The test taker simply needs to read the text closely and pay attention to the details.
Detail questions
Example: “According to the text, what is true about the narrator?”
Main Idea questions
Example: “Which choice best states the main idea of the text?”
b. Skill: Command of Evidence (Textual)
Command of Evidence (Textual) questions take two forms: literary and scientific evidence.
The literary evidence questions require the test taker to evaluate the content provided in the text and find textual evidence to answer the question.
The scientific evidence questions require the test taker to read text about scientific research or experiment, understand the hypothesis and subsequent findings, and answer the question.
Cite Text as Evidence questions
Example: “Which quotation from the text most effectively illustrates the claim?”
Support or Refute a Claim questions
Example: “Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researchers’ theory?”
Example: “Which finding, if true, would most directly undermine the scientist’s hypothesis?”
c. Skill: Command of Evidence (Quantitative)
Command of Evidence (Quantitative) questions involve citing quantitative evidence, or data—in the form of charts, graphs, or tables— to successfully answer the question. Test takers need to understand the argument presented, read the data provided, and evaluate the answer choices.
Cite Text as Evidence questions
Example: “Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to complete the example?”
Support or Refute a Claim questions
Example: “Which choice best describes data from the table that supports the team’s suggestion?”
Example: “Which choice best describes data from the chart that undermines the conservation team’s suggestion?”
d. Skill: Inferences
Inference questions require the test taker to consider two important components of the text: its premise and conclusion. The test taker is simply using the text to connect the information and ideas, and choose the best answer that logically completes the text.
Inference questions
Example: “Which choice most logically completes the text?”
2. Domain: Craft and Structure (Reading)
Approximately 28% of questions
Between 13-15 questions
Students will use vocabulary, comprehension, analysis, and reasoning skills to identify and/or interpret the meaning of high-utility words and phrases in context, rhetorically examine texts, and make cross-text connections.
a. Skill: Words in Context
Words in Context questions take two forms: word or phrase in context and interpreting words and phrases.
The word or phrase in context questions require test takers to choose the most logical word or phrase that logically completes the text.
Interpreting words and phrases questions challenge test takers to determine the meaning of a word or phase by how it is used within the text.
Word or Phrase in Context questions
Example: “Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?”
Interpreting Words and Phrases questions
Example: “As used in the text, what does the word “capricious” most nearly mean?”
b. Skill: Text Structure and Purpose
Text Structure and Purpose questions require deeper dives into the text. These questions require the test taker to consider why and how the text was written. Test takers will need to read closely, be able to summarize the text, and find the primary purpose of the text to successfully answer the question.
Main Purpose questions
Example: “Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?”
Example: “Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?”
Summarizing questions
Example: “Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?”
c. Skill: Cross-Text Connections
Cross-Text Connections questions pertain to two texts that share a common thread, typically the same subject matter. The most important part of this skill is point of view. Test takers need to understand the authors’ main objectives, how the relationships between people, events, or ideas relate to each other, and whether those viewpoints agree or disagree.
Relationships Between People, Events, Ideas questions
Example: “Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the underlined claim in Text 1?”
3. Domain: Expression of Ideas (Writing)
Approximately 20% of questions
Between 8-12 questions
Students will use revision skills and effective language use to improve written expression to achieve specified rhetorical goals.
a. Skill: Rhetorical Synthesis
Rhetorical Synthesis questions are really all about relevance. These question types require the test taker to effectively use relevant information from the notes to accomplish a specific goal. The key here is identifying the goal first and then determining which information is relevant to that goal.
Relevance questions
The passage is a set of bulleted notes pertaining to a specific topic.
The bulleted list is introduced by: “While researching a topic, a students has taken the following notes:”
Example: “The student wants to emphasize [specific information from the notes]. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?”
b. Skill: Transitions
Transitions questions ask the test taker to choose the best word or phrase that creates the smoothest, most logical transition between two ideas in a text. Those two ideas typically have one of the following relationships: sequence and order, agreement or disagreement, cause and effect, or addition and exemplification.
Logical Transition Word questions
Example: “Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?”
4. Domain: Standard English Conventions (Writing)
Approximately 26% of questions
Between 11-15 questions
Students will use editing skills to complete the texts in order to conform to the conventions of Standard English; this includes sentence structure, conventions of usage, and punctuation.
a. Skill: Boundaries
Boundaries questions require the test taker to know how to effectively link clauses, format supplemental information within the text, and use correct punctuation.
Conventions of Punctuation questions: colons, dashes, semicolons; commas; apostrophes and plurals
Example: “Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?”
b. Skill: Form, Structure, and Sense
Form, Structure, and Sense questions are all about the grammar rules. Test takers need to pay close attention to the blank space to determine what’s missing.
Sentence Structure questions: sentence fragments, run-on sentences, misplaced modifiers, and parallelism within comparisons
Example: “Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?”
Conventions of Usage questions: adjectives/adverbs, verb tense, subject/verb agreement, and pronouns,
Example: “Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?”
What’s NOT Tested on the New Digital SAT® Reading & Writing Section?
As far as we can tell (and yes, it’s still early days), quite a few of the frequently-asked question types from the paper SAT® appear to have been expunged from the digital version.
Here are a few of those concepts that we have not experienced on the digital SAT®:
Historical documents
Wordiness / Redundancy
Homophones
Idioms and Diction
Parallelism within lists
Sentence placement
Pronoun ambiguity
Combining Sentences
Two-part questions
Two-part answers
SAT® Reading & Writing Test-Prep Strategies
While the test format is changing, there are several of the time-tested strategies that will still work for answering a variety of reading and writing question types—all of which are tested on the paper and digital versions of the SAT® as well as the ACT®:
How to Answer Author's Voice & Method Questions on the ACT® & SAT®
Best Ways to Unwrap Tone and Attitude Questions on the ACT® & SAT®
Logical Transitions: How to Choose the Best Answers to These Questions Types on the ACT® & SAT®
We Are Ready for the Digital SAT®! Are you?
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