The complete map of the SAT Reading and Writing section as ten recurring question types, ordered by their measured frequency in a 1688-question College Board bank: what each type looks like on screen, the move you make before reading any choice, and the true-but-wrong answer built for you. Covers Command of Evidence, Words in Context, Rhetorical Synthesis, Transitions, Text Structure and Purpose, Central Ideas and Details, Inferences and Cross-text Connections, unpacks the Standard English Conventions grammar block rule by rule from the complete-sentence punctuation test through agreement, modifiers and apostrophes, and closes with a ranked study order and a four-week plan.
Subject: SAT Prep · 61 slides · applied lesson
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Title
SAT English · The complete map
Ten types, ranked by how often they actually appear
Objectives
Reading and Writing has only ten question types. That is the good news of this section, and almost nobody uses it.
The habit underneath most of this deck: cover the choices, decide what the answer must do, then look. Four plausible options are designed to talk you out of a correct instinct.
Naruhodo Tutoring — SAT Reading and Writing question bank export (sat-english-question-index.json) — the ordering in this deck is counted from the site's own tagged question bank
Section
Section 1
Concept
Two modules, and the second adapts to how you did on the first — the same structure as Math.
| Module 1 | Module 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Questions | 27 | 27 |
| Time | 32 minutes | 32 minutes |
| Difficulty | mixed, fixed for everyone | easier or harder, based on Module 1 |
That last point is worth money. Because the order is fixed, you always know roughly what type is coming next — and the grammar questions are always at the end.
College Board — Digital SAT Suite: Reading and Writing test description and format — test format and timing
Picture it
College Board publishes the share of the section each of the four domains carries.
Figure (svg): Stacked bar of the four Reading and Writing domains at their blueprint weights
Note how even this is. Unlike Math, no domain dominates — which means you cannot afford to write off a domain here the way you might write off statistics on the Math section.
Picture it
The same picture counted from the 1688 tagged questions you will practise on.
Figure (svg): Stacked bar of the four Reading and Writing domains as counted in the local bank
Close to the blueprint, with Information and Ideas running a little heavy. Near enough that the frequency ranking in this deck is a sound guide to the real thing.
Prediction
One type is more common than any other, and students consistently guess wrong because it does not feel like a type at all.
Predict first
Which of these appears most often in the Reading and Writing section?
Correct: Command of Evidence
Why: Command of Evidence is 15.3 per cent of the bank — 258 of 1688 questions, roughly 8 of your 54. It runs slightly ahead of Words in Context at 14.3 per cent. Students under-rate it because it has two very different faces: which quotation supports this claim, and which data point from this table supports this claim. They are the same skill and they are counted as one type.
Picture it
The entire Reading and Writing section on one slide.
Figure (svg): Horizontal bar chart of all ten Reading and Writing question types ordered by frequency
Compare this to the Math chart: far flatter. The most common type is 15.3 per cent and the rarest is 3.4 per cent. There is no long tail here to safely deprioritise.
Ranking
Order these from most common to least common in the bank.
Put in order
Why: Command of Evidence 15.3%, Words in Context 14.3%, Transitions 10.2%, Cross-text Connections 3.4%. Cross-text Connections is the only genuinely rare type in this section — roughly 2 questions out of 54 — and it is the one type it is reasonable to study last.
Concept
Unlike Math, the Reading and Writing questions are not shuffled. Each module runs through the four domains in the same sequence, and within each block the questions get harder.
| order in the module | domain | types you will see |
|---|---|---|
| 1st block | Craft and Structure | Words in Context, then Text Structure and Purpose, then Cross-text |
| 2nd block | Information and Ideas | Central Ideas and Details, Command of Evidence, Inferences |
| 3rd block | Standard English Conventions | Boundaries and Form, Structure, and Sense |
| 4th block | Expression of Ideas | Transitions, then Rhetorical Synthesis |
The practical consequence: do not spend four minutes on question 6. The cheap points are at both ends of the module.
College Board — Digital SAT Suite Assessment Specifications, Reading and Writing: the four domains and their ten skills — domain ordering within a module
Pattern
The same engine as the Math deck. For all ten types you learn exactly three things.
That last card is the single most important sentence in this deck. On the Math section, wrong answers are wrong. On Reading and Writing, wrong answers are usually true statements that answer a question nobody asked.
Every type slide from here is one card: teal tell, green move, red trap.
Warm-up
Try it the way you would today, then read the reveal.
Discussion prompt
"Although the committee had been ______ in its early meetings, it grew decisive once the deadline approached." Which word fits: (A) tentative (B) belligerent (C) meticulous (D) candid?
Hint: What relationship does the word Although set up between the two halves?
Answer:
(A) tentative. The word Although signals contrast, and the second half says the committee grew decisive. So the blank must mean roughly the opposite of decisive.
The move: cover the four choices, and predict a plain word — unsure, hesitant. Then find the choice closest to it. Tentative is the match.
Belligerent means aggressive, meticulous means careful, candid means frank. All three are real words that a committee could be. None of them is the opposite of decisive, which is the only thing the sentence asked for.
This is Type 2, and this routine — predict, then match — is 14.3 per cent of the section.
Section
Section 2 — 63.5% of the section
Concept
The top five types are 63.5 per cent of the bank — about 34 of your 54 questions.
| # | type | domain | share | running total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Command of Evidence | Information and Ideas | 15.3% | 15.3% |
| 2 | Words in Context | Craft and Structure | 14.3% | 29.6% |
| 3 | Rhetorical Synthesis | Expression of Ideas | 11.4% | 41.0% |
| 4 | Form, Structure, and Sense | Conventions | 11.3% | 52.3% |
| 5 | Boundaries | Conventions | 11.2% | 63.5% |
Two of the five are grammar. That is the argument for section 4 of this deck: 22.5 per cent of your English score is decided by a closed set of rules you can finish learning in a week.
Picture it
The most common type, and it wears two faces. Textual: which quotation would best support this claim? Quantitative: which data point from this graph or table would best support it? Same skill, same move.
Figure (svg): Command of Evidence: the tell, the move, and the trap
The discipline that wins this type: the claim is the ruler. A choice can be perfectly accurate and still fail, because accuracy was never what was asked for.
Picture it
Vocabulary in context. Either a blank to fill or a word already in the text whose meaning you must pin down. Usually the fastest points in the section.
Figure (svg): Words in Context: the tell, the move, and the trap
You do not need a bigger vocabulary to win this type; you need to stop reading the choices first. Four sophisticated words will each sound defensible until you have already decided what you want.
Picture it
A bulleted list of research notes, then a stated goal. Your job is to pick the sentence that accomplishes that specific goal using the notes. This is the most learnable hard-looking type on the test.
Figure (svg): Rhetorical Synthesis: the tell, the move, and the trap
Read the goal twice and the notes once. If the goal says compare, a beautifully written sentence that only describes one thing loses to a plain one that compares.
Picture it
Grammar that is not punctuation: verbs, pronouns, modifiers, and agreement. Unpacked rule by rule in section 4.
Figure (svg): Form, Structure, and Sense: the tell, the move, and the trap
One physical habit fixes most of this type: cross out the words between the subject and the verb, then read what is left. If it sounds wrong then, it is wrong.
Picture it
Punctuation between and within sentences. The single most rule-governed type on the test — there is no judgement involved, only a test you can apply mechanically.
Figure (svg): Boundaries: the tell, the move, and the trap
This type does not test your ear. Reading it aloud and choosing what sounds right is the wrong method — it is what the distractors are tuned to defeat. Apply the test instead.
Discrimination
Five stems, no passages. Naming the type is the whole skill.
Sort into buckets
Which type is each stem?
Check
A Rhetorical Synthesis question, built the way the test builds them. The notes are below.
Check your understanding
The student wants to compare the growth rates of the two organisms. Which choice most effectively uses the notes to accomplish this goal?
Answer: A
Why: The stated goal is to compare growth rates. Only choice A puts both growth rates in one sentence and sets them against each other with the word while. Every other choice is factually accurate and drawn from the notes — that is what makes them tempting — but none of them compares two rates.
Notice that all four choices are true. That is not a flaw in the question; it is the design. The goal sentence is the only thing separating them.
Trap
The trap. You read a choice, check it against the passage, and it is accurate. You pick it. It is wrong.
This is the defining experience of the Reading and Writing section, and it is why students who read carefully still plateau. Careful reading verifies truth. The question almost never asks about truth.
It asks whether the choice does a specific job: supports this claim, accomplishes this goal, describes this structure, completes this logic.
The fix. Before reading any choice, finish this sentence: the right answer must ___.
Then judge every choice against that sentence and nothing else. A choice that is true but fails your sentence gets eliminated without hesitation — that hesitation is the whole trap.
Elimination
A text explains that a bird species began nesting in cities only after a particular predator disappeared from those areas.
Eliminate the wrong options
Which choice most logically completes the text? Three choices are reasonable statements about birds. Only one is forced by what you were told.
Survives elimination: b
Why: The text says the birds nested in cities ONLY after the predator disappeared. The word only makes the predator's absence a necessary condition, and choice B says exactly that and nothing more. The other three are all statements a reasonable person might believe about birds — which is precisely why they are there. On Inferences, the correct answer restates the logic you were given; it never adds to it.
Section
Section 3 — 36.5% of the section
Concept
Types 6 to 10 are 36.5 per cent of the bank — about 20 of your 54 questions.
| # | type | domain | share | running total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Transitions | Expression of Ideas | 10.2% | 73.7% |
| 7 | Text Structure and Purpose | Craft and Structure | 8.2% | 81.9% |
| 8 | Central Ideas and Details | Information and Ideas | 7.4% | 89.3% |
| 9 | Inferences | Information and Ideas | 7.3% | 96.6% |
| 10 | Cross-text Connections | Craft and Structure | 3.4% | 100% |
Compare with Math, where the bottom six types were 14.2 per cent between them. Here the bottom five are more than a third of the section. There is nothing here you can safely skip.
Picture it
A blank at the start of a sentence and four connecting words. Purely logical, and it becomes almost mechanical once you stop reading the choices first.
Figure (svg): Transitions: the tell, the move, and the trap
Six relationships cover nearly every question: contrast, cause, example, addition, sequence, concession. Name one before you look, and the four choices sort themselves.
Picture it
What the text is doing, rather than what it says. Either the overall shape of the passage or the job one underlined sentence performs.
Figure (svg): Text Structure and Purpose: the tell, the move, and the trap
Ask what is this sentence for, never what does this sentence say. If your answer starts with it says, you have answered a different question.
Picture it
The most straightforward type in the section: what is the passage mainly about, or what specific fact does it state.
Figure (svg): Central Ideas and Details: the tell, the move, and the trap
Main idea questions have a scope test: too narrow is wrong, and so is too broad. Ask whether the choice would still be a fair headline if the passage were one sentence longer.
Picture it
A blank at the very end of the passage, and the answer must be the conclusion the text logically forces. The most reliably logical type in the section.
Figure (svg): Inferences: the tell, the move, and the trap
The bar is forced, not consistent. Three choices will be consistent with the passage. Only one will be the thing the passage was built to make you conclude.
Picture it
The rarest type in the section, at 58 of 1688. Two short texts, and a question about how one author would respond to the other.
Figure (svg): Cross-text Connections: the tell, the move, and the trap
Nail the point of contact first. These two authors usually agree about most things and disagree about one — and the question is always about that one.
Check
A transitions question. Cover the choices and name the relationship before you look.
"Most desert plants survive drought by storing water in thick tissues. ______, the ocotillo takes a different approach: it drops its leaves entirely and photosynthesises through its stems."
Check your understanding
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Answer: A
Why: The first sentence describes what most desert plants do. The second says the ocotillo takes a different approach. The relationship is contrast, and However is the contrast word. The phrase a different approach is doing the work — it announces the relationship before you even reach the choices.
The words a different approach settled this before you read a single choice. Transitions questions nearly always hand you the relationship in the surrounding text.
Trap
The trap, and it is a habit rather than a knowledge gap. You reach a blank, and your eyes go straight to the four choices.
Now you are doing the wrong task. Instead of asking what belongs here, you are asking does this one work? — four separate times, about four words a test writer chose precisely because each one can be made to sound reasonable.
Worse, each choice quietly re-frames the sentences around it. Try Similarly in a slot and you will start looking for a similarity. Try However and you will find a contrast. The passage stops constraining you.
The fix. One physical habit, and it applies to Words in Context, Transitions, and Inferences — 31.8 per cent of the section between them.
This costs about five seconds per question and is the single highest-return habit in this deck.
Matching
Ten types, but the moves cluster. Match each type to the thing you do before reading any choice.
Match the pairs
Why: Five of these six moves happen with the choices covered. That is not a coincidence — it is the structural weakness of a four-choice reading test, and exploiting it is most of what separates a 650 from a 750.
Section
Section 4 — 22.5% of the section
Concept
Types 4 and 5 — Form, Structure, and Sense, and Boundaries — are 22.5 per cent of the section, about 12 questions. But unlike the reading types, they are not one skill each. They are bundles of rules.
This is the best news in the whole deck: a closed set of rules, learnable in a week, worth an eighth of your total SAT score. No reading skill offers that return.
| the rule | which type | how often you will see it |
|---|---|---|
| Punctuation between two clauses | Boundaries | very often — the core of the type |
| The comma splice | Boundaries | offered as a distractor almost every time |
| Colons and dashes | Boundaries | common |
| Non-essential elements in matched pairs | Boundaries | common |
| Subject-verb agreement | Form, Structure, and Sense | very often |
| Pronoun agreement and its versus it's | Form, Structure, and Sense | often |
| Verb tense and the time marker | Form, Structure, and Sense | often |
| Modifier placement | Form, Structure, and Sense | regularly |
| Possessive apostrophes, singular and plural | Form, Structure, and Sense | regularly |
Picture it
This flowchart is the entire Boundaries type. There is no judgement in it and no ear involved — you apply it the same way every time.
Figure (svg): Flowchart deciding punctuation by asking whether each side is a complete sentence
FANBOYS is the memory hook for the seven coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. Those are the only seven words that can follow a comma to join two complete sentences.
Picture it
One error, four legal fixes. This is the most frequently offered wrong answer in the section.
Figure (svg): The comma splice on the left and its four legal repairs on the right
If two complete sentences are joined by a comma with no FANBOYS word after it, that choice is wrong. You do not need to read it for meaning — it is disqualified on structure alone.
Concept
Both introduce. The rule that decides them is about what sits to the left, never the right.
The left-side test — Cover everything from the colon onward. If what remains is a complete sentence, the colon is legal. If it is not, no colon and no dash.
This single test resolves every colon question on the test, and students who guess by feel get roughly half of them.
The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, chapter 6 (Punctuation) chapter 6 — colon and dash usage
Concept
When extra information interrupts a sentence, it is fenced off by a matched pair of punctuation marks.
The rule the test exploits: you may not mix them. A comma on one side and a dash on the other is always wrong, and that mismatch is offered constantly as a choice.
The check: delete what is between the two marks. If a complete, sensible sentence remains, the material was non-essential and the pair is correct. If the sentence breaks, the material was essential and takes no punctuation at all.
| sentence | verdict |
|---|---|
| Students, who arrive late, will be marked absent. | wrong — deleting gives Students will be marked absent, which changes the meaning to all students |
| Students who arrive late will be marked absent. | right — the phrase identifies WHICH students, so it is essential and takes no commas |
| My brother, who lives in Osaka, sent a parcel. | right — you have one brother; the phrase is extra information |
Picture it
The test separates the subject from its verb with a long phrase, and puts a noun of the opposite number right before the verb. Every time.
Figure (svg): A sentence with the phrase between subject and verb struck through
Cross out any phrase beginning with of, in, on, with, along with, as well as, including, together with. None of them can contain the subject, and all of them are used to hide it.
Concept
A pronoun must match what it refers to in number. Find the antecedent, then check.
| confused pair | which is which | test |
|---|---|---|
| its / it's | its is possessive; it's means it is | read it as it is — if the sentence breaks, use its |
| their / they're / there | possessive / they are / place | same substitution test |
| whose / who's | possessive / who is | same substitution test |
| your / you're | possessive / you are | same substitution test |
Every row in that table has the same fix: expand the contraction and read it. Possessive pronouns never take an apostrophe — that is what makes its look wrong to people who are guessing.
Concept
Not a pronoun question — a noun question, and the test asks it more often than students expect.
| meaning | form | example |
|---|---|---|
| belonging to one dog | dog's | the dog's collar |
| belonging to several dogs | dogs' | the dogs' collars |
| more than one dog, owning nothing | dogs | three dogs ran |
| belonging to one child (irregular plural) | child's | the child's book |
| belonging to several children | children's | the children's books |
The routine: decide how many owners there are first, then place the apostrophe. One owner puts it before the s; several owners put it after. An irregular plural such as children or women takes an apostrophe plus s, because the plural was never formed with an s.
Row three is the trap. A plain plural takes no apostrophe at all, and choices that add one to an ordinary plural appear constantly.
Concept
Two more rules inside Form, Structure, and Sense, each with a mechanical check.
Tense: find the time marker. Sentences that test tense almost always contain a phrase such as by 1890, since the study began, over the past decade, or next spring. Match the verb to that marker rather than to the surrounding narrative.
Modifiers: an opening phrase describes the first noun after the comma. That is not a stylistic preference; it is how the sentence is parsed.
| sentence | what it literally says | fix |
|---|---|---|
| Running for the bus, the bag split open. | the bag was running for the bus | Running for the bus, she felt the bag split open. |
| Built in 1890, historians consider the bridge notable. | the historians were built in 1890 | Built in 1890, the bridge is considered notable. |
| Having studied all night, the exam felt easy. | the exam studied all night | Having studied all night, I found the exam easy. |
The check takes two seconds: read the opening phrase, then read only the first noun after the comma, and ask whether that noun did the thing.
Fill the middle
Two complete sentences joined by a bare comma. Give any one of the four legal repairs.
Fill in the blanks
The trail was icy, so we turned back at the ridge.
Why: Both halves are complete sentences — The trail was icy stands alone, and so does we turned back at the ridge. The legal joins are therefore a period, a semicolon, a colon, or a comma plus one of the seven FANBOYS words. A comma on its own is the one join that is never allowed, and it is the choice the test will offer you.
Sorting
No rewriting. Just name the rule each sentence breaks — this is exactly the decision the grammar block asks for.
Sort into buckets
Which rule does each sentence break?
Six sentences, four rules. That is the whole grammar block in miniature — a small closed set, applied mechanically.
Check
A Boundaries question. Apply the test rather than your ear.
Check your understanding
"The samples had been stored improperly ______ the entire batch had to be discarded." Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Answer: A
Why: Both sides are complete sentences: The samples had been stored improperly stands alone, and the entire batch had to be discarded stands alone. A comma plus a FANBOYS word is one of the legal joins, and so is the FANBOYS word that fits the cause-and-effect meaning. Choice A is correct.
Choice D is worth studying. Semicolon plus a transition word requires a comma after the transition — semicolon, however, comma. The test uses the missing comma as a distractor regularly.
Trap
The trap. You read the four punctuation choices to yourself, one of them sounds right, and you pick it.
This fails for a specific reason: punctuation is largely inaudible. A comma splice and a correctly joined sentence sound identical when read aloud, because the pause is the same. Your ear has no information to give you.
Worse, the choices are written by people who know this. The splice is offered precisely because it sounds fine.
The fix. Grammar questions are the one part of this section where you should stop reading for meaning entirely and run a procedure.
This is why the grammar block is the most improvable part of the section. Procedures are reliable in a way that instincts are not, and you can finish learning these in a week.
Faded example
From memory. These four lines are the whole Boundaries flowchart.
Fill in the blanks
Both sides complete: use a period, a semicolon, or a comma plus a FANBOYS word. First side complete only: a colon may introduce what follows. The one join that is never legal between two complete sentences is a bare comma.
Why: Those four facts decide every punctuation question on the test. Note the asymmetry that catches people out: a colon cares only about what is to its LEFT, while a comma-plus-FANBOYS join requires complete sentences on both sides.
Section
Section 5 — the plan
Concept
The slide to photograph. All ten types in study order, with the running total of the section covered as you finish each.
| order | study this | domain | share | you now cover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Command of Evidence | Information and Ideas | 15.3% | 15.3% |
| 2 | Words in Context | Craft and Structure | 14.3% | 29.6% |
| 3 | Rhetorical Synthesis | Expression of Ideas | 11.4% | 41.0% |
| 4 | Form, Structure, and Sense | Conventions | 11.3% | 52.3% |
| 5 | Boundaries | Conventions | 11.2% | 63.5% |
| 6 | Transitions | Expression of Ideas | 10.2% | 73.7% |
| 7 | Text Structure and Purpose | Craft and Structure | 8.2% | 81.9% |
| 8 | Central Ideas and Details | Information and Ideas | 7.4% | 89.3% |
| 9 | Inferences | Information and Ideas | 7.3% | 96.6% |
| 10 | Cross-text Connections | Craft and Structure | 3.4% | 100% |
One deviation from strict order is justified. Types 4 and 5 are grammar — a closed rule set with the fastest payoff on the whole test. If you have only one week, do those two first regardless of rank.
Naruhodo Tutoring — SAT Reading and Writing question bank export (sat-english-question-index.json) — shares counted from 1688 tagged questions
Picture it
The ten types split into two halves that are far more even than the Math section's.
Figure (svg): Stacked bar showing types 1-5 at 63.5 per cent and types 6-10 at 36.5 per cent
The lesson is a negative one: there is nothing here you can safely ignore. Even the rarest type, Cross-text Connections, is about two questions — worth roughly 10 to 20 points.
Concept
Four weeks, about four hours a week, ordered by return rather than by rank alone.
| week | focus | what you do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Types 4 and 5 — the grammar block | The complete-sentence test, the splice and its four repairs, colons, matched pairs, agreement, modifiers, apostrophes. Drill 40 questions. This is 22.5% of the section from a closed rule set. |
| 2 | Types 1 and 2 — evidence and vocabulary | The claim-is-the-ruler habit, and cover-and-predict. Add the quantitative half of Command of Evidence: read axes and units first. |
| 3 | Types 3, 6 and 9 — goal, relationship, logic | Underline the goal verb. Name the relationship before looking. Forced, not merely consistent. One timed 27-question module at the end of the week. |
| 4 | Types 7, 8, 10 and mixed review | Function versus content, scope on main-idea questions, the point of contact between two texts. Then a full timed section. |
Khan Academy — Official Digital SAT Prep, Reading and Writing — free official practice organised by these same skill tags
Concept
Words in Context is 14.3 per cent of the section, and it is the type students most often try to fix with the wrong method.
| what students do | why it underperforms | do this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Memorise a 500-word list | Most listed words never appear, and context still decides the answer | Harvest 10 words a week from questions you actually missed |
| Learn one definition per word | The test uses secondary meanings deliberately | Learn each word in a sentence, and note when it takes an unusual sense |
| Read the choices and pick the one that fits | All four fit if you let them | Cover the choices and predict a plain word first |
| Study only hard words | The answer is frequently an ordinary word | Study the connectors: although, whereas, nevertheless, insofar as |
The words the SAT actually rewards are mostly mid-frequency academic words — tentative, nuanced, sceptical, undermine, substantiate — not obscure ones. A list harvested from your own misses is worth more than any pre-made one, because it is calibrated to your level.
Sorting
Four students describe how they lost a point. Sort each into which of the three facts failed. This is how your error log should read.
Sort into buckets
Tell, move, or trap?
Trade off
Fill in what one focused hour actually returns on this section.
Comparison matrix
| one hour spent on | questions it can affect | how learnable it is |
|---|---|---|
| The complete-sentence punctuation test | about 6 questions | very high — one flowchart |
| Memorising a 500-word vocabulary list | 1 or 2 at best | low — poor overlap with the test |
| The cover-and-predict habit | about 17 questions | very high — it is a habit, not knowledge |
| Reading more books generally | unmeasurable in weeks | valuable in life, not in four weeks |
Row three is the headline. Cover-and-predict touches Words in Context, Transitions and Inferences — 31.8 per cent of the section — and it is a habit rather than a body of knowledge. It is the cheapest large gain available.
Concept
The 1688 questions behind this deck carry the same ten skill tags, so you can practise in exactly the order recommended here.
The rationales are the most under-used resource here. They do not just say which answer is correct — they say why each wrong one was built, and those constructions repeat.
Naruhodo Tutoring — SAT Reading and Writing question bank export (sat-english-question-index.json) — 1688 questions, tagged by domain, skill and difficulty
Explain it to yourself
Close the deck. Retrieval, not recognition.
Discussion prompt
Without looking, name the top five Reading and Writing types in order, and give the tell for each.
Hint: Two of the five are grammar. The first two are worth nearly 30 per cent between them.
Answer:
1. Command of Evidence (15.3%) — which quotation, or which data point, supports this claim.
2. Words in Context (14.3%) — a blank with four words, or as used in the text ... most nearly means.
3. Rhetorical Synthesis (11.4%) — bullet notes plus the student wants to ___.
4. Form, Structure, and Sense (11.3%) — choices differing only in verb or pronoun form.
5. Boundaries (11.2%) — choices differing only in punctuation.
That is 63.5 per cent of the section named from memory.
Explain it
Two minutes, out loud, to someone who has never taken the test.
Discussion prompt
A friend asks why covering the answer choices could possibly help — surely you need to read them to answer? What do you tell them?
Answer:
Because the four choices are not neutral information. Three of them were written to be persuasive, by someone who knew what a reasonable student would think.
Once you read them, you stop asking what belongs here and start asking does this one work — and you can talk yourself into almost anything one at a time.
If you decide first, in your own plain words, you arrive with a standard the choices have to meet. Now three of them fail visibly instead of sounding reasonable.
It costs about five seconds and it applies to roughly a third of the section.
Commit first
Commit before you check.
Predict first
If you master types 1 to 5, what share of the Reading and Writing section have you covered?
Correct: About 63 per cent
Why: Types 1 to 5 sum to 63.5 per cent of the bank — about 34 of 54 questions. Two of those five are the grammar block, which is the fastest of all of them to learn. Adding types 6 and 7 takes you to 81.9 per cent.
Exit ticket
One question before you close the deck.
Predict first
You have one week before the test and have done no English prep at all. Where do you start?
Correct: Types 4 and 5, the grammar block
Why: With one week, prioritise by learnability as well as by frequency. The grammar block is 22.5 per cent of the section and is a closed set of rules that can genuinely be finished in a week — no other block can. Command of Evidence is more common but is a judgement skill that improves slowly. A vocabulary list has poor overlap with the test, and daily practice tests generate data you no longer have time to act on.
Recap
Ten types. Three facts each. One habit that covers a third of the section.
| never do this | do this instead |
|---|---|
| Read the four choices first | Decide what the answer must do, then look |
| Pick the truest choice | Pick the choice that does the stated job |
| Choose punctuation by ear | Ask whether each side is a complete sentence |
| Match the verb to the nearest noun | Cross out the phrase in between |
| Memorise a 500-word list | Harvest ten words a week from your own misses |
| Answer a detail question from memory | Find the line — it is open book |
| Treat an inference as anything reasonable | Take only what the text forces |
Naruhodo Tutoring — SAT Reading and Writing question bank export (sat-english-question-index.json) — and the site's SAT English page to drill these ten types in order
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