SAT Craft and Structure Practice Test
Words in context, text structure, cross-text connections. 28% of Reading and Writing. Here are 10 SAT craft and structure questions, each with the answer and the reason.
Updated by the Tigertest team. Original questions written to the digital SAT specifications. Not affiliated with College Board. Score estimates are unofficial.
The common octopus can change the color and texture of its skin in less than a second. Specialized cells called chromatophores expand or shrink to display different pigments, allowing the animal to ______ with the rocks, sand, or algae around it and escape the notice of hungry predators.
1.Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
- A.
blend in
- B.
compete
- C.
collide
- D.
interfere
Answer: A.Look for the clue that tells you what the missing word must do: the octopus changes color so that it can escape the notice of predators, which means it must match its surroundings, so "blend in" fits. "Compete" is the most tempting distractor because animals do compete with their surroundings for resources, but competing would not make the octopus harder to see. Always test your choice against the purpose the sentence states.
- A.
In a December 1817 letter to his brothers, the poet John Keats praised what he called "Negative Capability," the capacity to remain in uncertainty and doubt "without any irritable reaching after fact and reason." A great writer, in Keats's view, does not hurry to settle every question; such a writer can ______ contradictions, letting them stand unresolved in the work rather than explaining them away.
2.Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
- A.
tolerate
- B.
reconcile
- C.
dismiss
- D.
expose
Answer: A.The phrase after the semicolon defines the blank: the writer lets contradictions "stand unresolved," which means accepting them without needing to fix them, so "tolerate" is precise. "Reconcile" is the most tempting distractor because it is a sophisticated word often paired with "contradictions," but to reconcile contradictions is to resolve them, the opposite of what Keats admired. On hard vocabulary items, check each choice against the exact meaning of the clarifying phrase, not just the topic.
- A.
Text 1
Many city officials argue that widening congested roads is the most direct way to shorten commutes. When a busy two-lane road becomes a four-lane road, they reason, the same number of cars will be spread across more space, and traffic will move more freely.
Text 2
Transportation researchers have documented a pattern called induced demand. Once a road is widened, driving on it becomes more convenient, so people who once took other routes, traveled at other times, or rode transit begin to use it. Within a few years, traffic on many widened roads returns to its earlier level of congestion.
3.Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the claim in Text 1?
- A.
By arguing that the claim wrongly assumes that the number of cars using a road stays the same after the road is widened
- B.
By agreeing that widening roads permanently reduces congestion but noting that the projects are too expensive for most cities
- C.
By suggesting that the claim is correct for highways but not for smaller city streets
- D.
By pointing out that public transit ridership usually rises after a nearby road is widened
Answer: A.Find the assumption behind Text 1's reasoning: it expects "the same number of cars" to spread out, while Text 2 says widening attracts new drivers until congestion returns, so Text 2 targets exactly that assumption. Choice D is the strongest distractor because Text 2 does mention transit, but it says transit riders switch to driving, which would lower ridership. On cross-text items, identify what each author assumes, then see where the other text challenges it.
- A.
Psychologists once compared memories to files stored in a cabinet, but research on recall suggests a less stable picture. Each time a memory is retrieved, it appears to become briefly ______, open to alteration by new information before it is stored again.
4.Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
- A.
dormant
- B.
reliable
- C.
permanent
- D.
malleable
Answer: D.The phrase right after the blank, "open to alteration by new information," describes something that can be reshaped, which is what "malleable" means. Choice A is the most tempting because it sounds technical, but a dormant memory is inactive, and the text describes a memory that has just been retrieved and is being changed. Choices B and C fit the old file-cabinet view that the word "but" tells you the text is rejecting.
- A.
In theaters before the 1800s, stages were lit by candles and oil lamps that could be dimmed only crudely, so lighting did little more than make the actors visible. The arrival of gas lighting changed that. Because the flow of gas to each lamp could be adjusted from a single control board, a technician could now brighten or darken different parts of the stage gradually during a performance. For the first time, lighting could shift the mood of a scene or guide the audience's eye.
5.Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?
- A.
It explains why candles and oil lamps remained in use in many theaters after gas lighting became available.
- B.
It presents a drawback of gas lighting that technicians had to overcome before it could be widely used.
- C.
It describes how technicians were trained to operate the control boards used for gas lighting.
- D.
It describes the specific capability of gas lighting that made possible the changes described in the sentence that follows.
Answer: D.The previous sentence says gas lighting "changed that," the underlined sentence explains how (gradual, adjustable control from one board), and the next sentence describes what this made possible, shifting mood and guiding the eye. Choice A is the most tempting because the passage opens with candles and oil lamps, but the underlined sentence is about what gas lighting could do, not about older methods. A sentence that sits between a general claim and its results often supplies the mechanism that links them.
- A.
Although the deep-sea anglerfish is often portrayed as a fearsome predator, the female's hunting method is surprisingly ______: she simply dangles a glowing lure in the dark water and waits for curious prey to swim within reach, expending almost no energy in pursuit.
6.Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
- A.
passive
- B.
elaborate
- C.
hazardous
- D.
unreliable
Answer: A.The text contrasts the anglerfish's fearsome reputation with a method that involves dangling a lure, waiting, and expending almost no energy, which is best described as passive. "Elaborate" is the strongest distractor, but the method is described as simple, and nothing in the text suggests the method is dangerous to the fish or that it fails.
- A.
Lichens have long been treated as a textbook case of mutualism, a partnership in which a fungus provides structure and a photosynthetic partner supplies sugars. In 2016, however, researchers examining two lichen species that looked nearly identical but produced different toxins found a second, previously unnoticed fungus, a yeast, embedded in the outer layer of the toxic one. The yeast had escaped detection for over a century largely because standard methods for identifying lichen fungi target genes that the yeast lacks. The discovery suggests that other lichens may harbor overlooked partners as well.
7.Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?
- A.
It explains why the organism described in the previous sentence went unnoticed for so long.
- B.
It challenges the characterization of lichens as a textbook case of mutualism.
- C.
It describes the method the researchers used to distinguish the two lichen species.
- D.
It offers evidence that the yeast is responsible for the toxin produced by one lichen species.
Answer: A.The underlined sentence gives the reason the yeast was not found earlier: the usual identification methods look for genes the yeast does not have. Choice B is tempting because the discovery as a whole complicates the simple two-partner picture, but the underlined sentence itself addresses only why the yeast was missed, not whether lichens are mutualistic, and it does not establish that the yeast makes the toxin.
- A.
The architect Julia Morgan designed more than 700 buildings in California, yet she rarely spoke publicly about her work and declined most interview requests. Because of this ______, historians have had to reconstruct her design philosophy largely from her drawings, her letters to clients, and the buildings themselves.
8.Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
- A.
reticence
- B.
ambition
- C.
versatility
- D.
candor
Answer: A.The blank must name the quality described in the first sentence: Morgan rarely spoke about her work and avoided interviews. 'Reticence,' a reluctance to speak, fits exactly and explains why historians must rely on indirect sources. 'Versatility' is tempting because she designed so many buildings, but it would not explain why her philosophy has to be reconstructed; 'candor' means the opposite of what is described.
- A.
Text 1
Planting trees in cities is widely promoted as a way to cool neighborhoods, since tree canopies shade pavement and release moisture through their leaves. Urban forestry programs therefore often set ambitious canopy targets, such as covering 30 or 40 percent of a city's land area, on the assumption that more canopy will reliably mean lower summer temperatures.
Text 2
Ecologist Mara Lindqvist and colleagues measured air temperatures across 200 city blocks with varying tree cover. They found that cooling benefits were modest until canopy cover exceeded roughly 40 percent of a block, after which temperatures dropped sharply. Blocks with 20 percent cover were barely cooler than blocks with none. The researchers argue that spreading trees thinly across an entire city may yield less cooling than concentrating them in fewer, densely planted areas.
9.Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the claim in Text 1?
- A.
By agreeing that canopy cover lowers temperatures but noting that the benefit depends on how concentrated the canopy is within a given area.
- B.
By arguing that tree canopies cool neighborhoods primarily through moisture release rather than through shade.
- C.
By pointing out that canopy targets of 30 to 40 percent are unrealistic for most cities to achieve.
- D.
By suggesting that urban forestry programs should measure success by the number of trees planted rather than by canopy cover.
Answer: A.Text 1 assumes that more canopy reliably means lower temperatures. Text 2 does not deny that trees cool, but its finding that cooling is modest until a block reaches about 40 percent cover implies that distribution matters, so thinly spread canopy may fail to deliver the expected benefit. Choice C is tempting because Text 2 mentions the 40 percent figure, but it treats that figure as a threshold for cooling, not as an unrealistic goal.
- A.
In the 1960s, the writer Jane Jacobs ______ the common view among planners that busy, crowded city streets were a problem to be solved. Lively sidewalks, she argued, are exactly what keep a neighborhood safe, because the constant presence of shopkeepers, residents, and passersby puts "eyes on the street."
10.Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
- A.
challenged
- B.
confirmed
- C.
summarized
- D.
predicted
Answer: A.The second sentence shows Jacobs arguing that crowded streets are a benefit, which is the opposite of the planners' view that they are a problem, so she challenged that view. "Summarized" is the most tempting distractor because the first sentence does state the planners' position, but Jacobs is presented as disagreeing with it, not merely restating it. "Confirmed" reverses her position.
- A.
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