SAT Expression of Ideas Practice Test
Transitions and rhetorical synthesis from notes. 20% of Reading and Writing. Here are 10 SAT expression of ideas 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.
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
- Caral is an archaeological site in the Supe Valley of Peru.
- People lived there from about 2600 BCE.
- The site includes large stone platform mounds and sunken circular plazas.
- Archaeologist Ruth Shady began leading excavations there in 1994.
- Caral is considered one of the oldest cities in the Americas.
The student wants to emphasize the age of Caral. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
1.Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
- A.
Occupied from about 2600 BCE, Caral in Peru's Supe Valley is considered one of the oldest cities in the Americas.
- B.
Archaeologist Ruth Shady began leading excavations at Caral, a site in Peru's Supe Valley, in 1994.
- C.
Caral includes large stone platform mounds and sunken circular plazas.
- D.
Caral is an archaeological site located in the Supe Valley of Peru.
Answer: A.The goal is the age of Caral, and choice A uses both notes that speak to age: the date 2600 BCE and the claim that it is one of the oldest cities in the Americas. Choice B is tempting because it contains a date, but 1994 is when excavations began, not how old the city is. On synthesis items, ignore accurate but off-goal details and choose the option that matches the stated goal.
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
- Mount Tambora is a volcano on the island of Sumbawa in present-day Indonesia.
- It erupted in April 1815, in the largest eruption in recorded history.
- Fine particles from the eruption spread through the upper atmosphere and blocked some sunlight.
- In 1816, parts of Europe and North America had summer snowfalls and widespread crop failures.
- The year 1816 became known as the "Year Without a Summer."
The student wants to explain the cause of the "Year Without a Summer." Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
2.Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
- A.
Because fine particles from Mount Tambora's April 1815 eruption blocked some sunlight, parts of Europe and North America had summer snow and crop failures in 1816, the "Year Without a Summer."
- B.
Mount Tambora, a volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, erupted in April 1815 in the largest eruption in recorded history.
- C.
In 1816, known as the "Year Without a Summer," parts of Europe and North America had summer snowfalls and widespread crop failures.
- D.
The largest eruption in recorded history took place in 1815 on the island of Sumbawa in present-day Indonesia.
Answer: A.To explain a cause, a sentence must connect the cause to the effect, and choice A links the particles that blocked sunlight to the cold summer of 1816 with the word "Because." Choice C is the most tempting because it describes the Year Without a Summer, but it gives only the effects and never says what caused them. Look for a cause-and-effect connector when the goal is to explain why something happened.
The National Football League limits how much each team may spend on player salaries. The cap is meant to keep teams in the largest, wealthiest cities from signing all the best players. ______ a team in a small market such as Green Bay, Wisconsin, can afford a roster as costly as that of a team in New York.
3.Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
- A.
As a result,
- B.
However,
- C.
Similarly,
- D.
Even so,
Answer: A.The last sentence describes the outcome of the salary cap: because every team faces the same limit, a small-market team can spend as much as a big-city team, so "As a result" fits. "Similarly" is tempting because the sentence is about spending, like the first sentence, but it presents a consequence of the cap, not a parallel example. Ask whether the second sentence adds, contrasts, illustrates, or follows from the first.
- A.
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
- In July 1837, Charles Darwin began a private notebook that he labeled "B."
- In it he recorded ideas about how species might change over time.
- One page contains a small branching sketch headed by the words "I think."
- The sketch shows species as branches splitting off from common ancestors.
- Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859.
The student wants to emphasize how early Darwin pictured species as branching from common ancestors. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
4.Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
- A.
In July 1837, Darwin began notebook B, in which he recorded ideas about how species might change over time.
- B.
Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, more than twenty years after he began notebook B.
- C.
A small branching sketch on one page of Darwin's notebook B is headed by the words "I think."
- D.
As early as 1837, more than twenty years before publishing On the Origin of Species, Darwin sketched species as branches splitting off from common ancestors.
Answer: D.The goal has two parts, timing and the branching idea, and choice D gives the early date, sets it against the 1859 publication to stress how early it was, and states what the sketch shows. Choice A is the most tempting because it gives the 1837 date, but it mentions only general ideas about change, not species branching from common ancestors. Choice C mentions the sketch but never says when it was made or what it showed, so it misses both parts of the goal.
Medieval merchants on the Silk Road rarely traveled the entire distance between China and the Mediterranean. ______ goods usually passed through a chain of traders, each carrying them along one stretch of the route before selling them to the next.
5.Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
- A.
Instead,
- B.
Similarly,
- C.
For example,
- D.
Nevertheless,
Answer: A.The first sentence says merchants did not make the whole journey, and the second describes what happened in place of that, so "Instead" is the logical transition. Choice C is the most tempting because the second sentence is more specific, but it is not an example of merchants traveling the whole route; it describes an alternative. To choose a transition, state the relationship between the two sentences in your own words first.
- A.
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
- Mae Jemison is an American engineer and physician.
- Before joining NASA, she served as a medical officer in the Peace Corps in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
- In 1992 she flew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour.
- On that flight she became the first Black woman to travel to space.
- After leaving NASA in 1993, she founded a company focused on technology and social issues.
The student wants to emphasize Jemison's achievement in space. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
6.Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
- A.
In 1992, Mae Jemison became the first Black woman to travel to space when she flew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour.
- B.
Mae Jemison, an engineer and physician, served as a medical officer in the Peace Corps before joining NASA.
- C.
After leaving NASA in 1993, Mae Jemison founded a company focused on technology and social issues.
- D.
Mae Jemison's career has included work in medicine, engineering, and business.
Answer: A.Choice A combines the flight and the milestone it represents, which is exactly the achievement in space the student wants to emphasize. Choice D is the strongest distractor because it summarizes her career, but it never mentions space at all, and choices B and C describe work before and after NASA rather than the spaceflight.
Honeybees communicate the location of food through a waggle dance, in which the angle of the dance relative to the sun indicates direction and the duration of the dance indicates distance. ______ a forager that has found a rich patch of flowers two kilometers to the east will perform a longer dance, oriented at the appropriate angle, than one that has found flowers close to the hive.
7.Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
- A.
For example,
- B.
In contrast,
- C.
Nevertheless,
- D.
In other words,
Answer: A.The first sentence states a general rule about the dance, and the second gives a specific case that illustrates it, so "For example" is the logical transition. "In other words" is the strongest distractor, but the second sentence does not restate the rule in different terms; it applies the rule to a particular forager.
- A.
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
- Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was an astronomer at Harvard College Observatory.
- In her 1925 doctoral thesis, she concluded that stars are composed mostly of hydrogen and helium.
- At the time, most astronomers believed that stars had roughly the same composition as Earth.
- A senior astronomer persuaded her to describe her result as "almost certainly not real."
- Within four years, other researchers confirmed her conclusion.
The student wants to emphasize that Payne-Gaposchkin's conclusion was initially met with doubt. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
8.Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
- A.
Although Payne-Gaposchkin's 1925 thesis correctly concluded that stars are mostly hydrogen and helium, a senior astronomer persuaded her to label the result "almost certainly not real."
- B.
Payne-Gaposchkin, an astronomer at Harvard College Observatory, completed her doctoral thesis in 1925.
- C.
Within four years of Payne-Gaposchkin's 1925 thesis, other researchers had confirmed that stars are composed mostly of hydrogen and helium.
- D.
Before 1925, most astronomers believed that stars had roughly the same composition as Earth.
Answer: A.Choice A states the conclusion and then shows the doubt it met: a senior astronomer pressed her to call it 'almost certainly not real.' Choice D is the strongest distractor because it describes the prevailing belief her finding contradicted, but it does not say that anyone doubted her conclusion. Choice C emphasizes later confirmation, the opposite of initial doubt.
Economists have long assumed that people discount future rewards at a steady rate, so that delaying a payment by one year reduces its value by the same proportion regardless of when the payment was originally due. Experiments tell a different story. People will often choose a smaller reward today over a larger one next week, yet when both rewards are pushed a year into the future, they prefer the larger one. ______ the rate at which people discount the future appears to depend on how soon the first option is available.
9.Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
- A.
In other words,
- B.
Nevertheless,
- C.
Similarly,
- D.
For instance,
Answer: A.The final sentence restates the meaning of the experimental results in general terms: preferences flip depending on whether one option is immediate, so the discount rate is not steady. 'In other words' signals this restatement. Choice D is the most tempting because the text does contain an example, but the example is the previous sentence, not the final one, which generalizes rather than illustrates. Choice B would introduce a contrast that is not present.
- A.
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
- Copenhagen, Denmark, began building separated bicycle lanes in the 1960s.
- Separated lanes have a curb between cyclists and motor traffic.
- In the 1960s, most Copenhagen residents commuted by car.
- Today roughly half of the city's residents commute to work or school by bicycle.
- The city now has more bicycles than cars.
The student wants to emphasize how much commuting habits in Copenhagen have changed over time. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
10.Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
- A.
Although most Copenhagen residents commuted by car in the 1960s, today roughly half of them commute by bicycle.
- B.
Copenhagen's separated bicycle lanes have a curb between cyclists and motor traffic.
- C.
Copenhagen began building separated bicycle lanes in the 1960s, and the city now has more bicycles than cars.
- D.
Roughly half of Copenhagen residents commute to work or school by bicycle.
Answer: A.To show change over time, the sentence needs both the earlier situation and the current one, and only the choice beginning "Although most Copenhagen residents commuted by car" contrasts car commuting in the 1960s with bicycle commuting today. The choice about bicycle lanes and the number of bicycles is tempting because it spans the same period, but it never says how residents commuted then or now. The choice giving only today's figure shows the present without the past.
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