High School SAT Prep Reading — Set 2

SAT Reading & Writing — Reading Prep (Set 2)

A second round of Reading & Writing practice — ten new short passages covering the same skill areas as Set 1.

Exam Tips for SAT Reading

1. Underline the claim in Command of Evidence questions before scanning the choices for support.

2. Watch for the word right before the blank in completion questions — it often signals cause, contrast, or example.

3. In cross-text questions, identify each author's core position first, then apply one to the other's specific claim.

4. Don't overthink structure questions — ask simply whether a detail supports, contrasts, or is neutral to the main point.

Knowledge Check

SAT Style

Answer all 10 questions. Each has its own short passage.

Score: 0 / 0

Question 1 — Central Ideas & Details

"Volcanic ash from the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora spread so far into the atmosphere that it blocked enough sunlight to lower global temperatures the following year, a period now remembered as 'the year without a summer.' Crop failures across Europe and North America led to widespread food shortages."

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text about Tambora?

To argue that volcanoes should be studied more closely To explain how a volcanic eruption caused global crop failures the following year To describe the geography of Indonesia To compare different volcanic eruptions

Question 2 — Command of Evidence

"Nutritionist Dana Okafor claims that ultra-processed foods contribute to rising rates of chronic illness beyond what their fat, sugar, or salt content alone would explain. She points to a controlled trial in which participants eating meals matched for calories and nutrients — but higher in ultra-processed ingredients — spontaneously ate more food and gained more weight than participants eating minimally processed meals."

Which quotation from the text most directly supports Okafor's claim?

"rising rates of chronic illness" "participants ... spontaneously ate more food and gained more weight" "Nutritionist Dana Okafor claims" "beyond what their fat, sugar, or salt content alone would explain"

Question 3 — Inference / Logical Completion

"Homing pigeons released hundreds of miles from their loft in unfamiliar territory, and even fitted with frosted contact lenses that blur their vision, are still able to find their way home, though somewhat less directly. This suggests that pigeons rely on ______ in addition to visual landmarks to navigate."

Which choice most logically completes the text about pigeons?

sound alone other senses, such as magnetic fields or smell memorized visual maps exclusively following other pigeons

Question 4 — Text Structure & Purpose

"A chef's memoir spends its first three chapters describing, almost obsessively, the exact temperature and timing required to caramelize onions. Only in chapter four does she reveal that her grandmother taught her this technique during the last summer they spent together before her grandmother's death."

Which choice best describes the function of the detailed onion description earlier in the text?

It is an unrelated technical aside. It builds anticipation for the emotional significance revealed later. It contradicts the memoir's main theme. It provides comic relief.

Question 5 — Quantitative Reasoning

"A city surveyed residents about support for a new public transit line before and after construction began. Support was 42% before construction and rose to 61% once the line opened and residents could see it in daily use."

Which choice best describes data that would support the claim that using the transit line increased public approval of it?

Support was identical before and after construction. Support rose substantially after the line opened for use. The survey included residents from outside the city. No survey was conducted after construction.

Question 6 — Central Ideas & Details

"Traditional glass is made by rapidly cooling molten silica so that its atoms never arrange into an orderly crystal structure, leaving it in a disordered, glass-like state. Metallic glasses use the same principle with metal alloys, cooling them so quickly that the atoms have no time to form the regular lattice typical of ordinary metal, giving the material unusual strength and flexibility."

Which choice best states the main idea of the text about metallic glass?

Metallic glasses are identical to traditional glass in every way. Rapidly cooling a material to prevent orderly atomic arrangement can give both silica and metal alloys unusual, glass-like properties. Metal alloys are always stronger than silica-based materials. Glass cannot be made from metal.

Question 7 — Command of Evidence

"A researcher claims that a workplace wellness program reduced employee sick days. Company records show average sick days per employee fell from 8.2 per year before the program to 5.1 per year in the two years after it launched, while sick days at a comparable company without such a program remained steady at 8.0."

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researcher's claim?

The program was expensive to run. The comparison company's sick days stayed steady while the program company's fell sharply. Some employees disliked the program's activities. The program company hired more staff during this period.

Question 8 — Inference / Logical Completion

"Deep-diving elephant seals can slow their heart rate to a fraction of its normal resting speed while submerged, redirecting blood flow away from non-essential organs toward the brain and heart. This adaptation allows the seals to ______ during dives that can last more than an hour."

Which choice most logically completes the text about elephant seals?

swim faster than any other marine mammal conserve oxygen and remain underwater far longer than they otherwise could generate their own body heat more efficiently communicate with other seals over long distances

Question 9 — Cross-Text Connections

Text 1: "Nutrition scientist Amara Yusuf argues that taxing sugary drinks is the single most effective public health policy available for reducing obesity rates, citing sharp declines in consumption in cities that have implemented such taxes."
Text 2: "Economist Peter Lindqvist notes that in several cities, overall sugar intake didn't fall as much as drink sales suggested, since some consumers simply switched to buying sugary drinks in bulk from stores outside the taxed area."

Based on the texts, how would Lindqvist most likely respond to Yusuf's claim that the tax is the "single most effective" policy?

He would fully endorse it without reservation. He would question whether the tax's effect on actual sugar intake is as large as sales data suggest. He would argue no policy could ever reduce obesity. He would say drink sales data doesn't exist.

Question 10 — Text Structure & Purpose

"An engineer's article opens with several paragraphs of dense technical specifications about bridge cable tension. In its final section, the article shifts to describe watching the bridge sway gently in high wind — a movement, she explains, that the very tension calculations were designed to allow, not prevent."

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text about the bridge?

It presents technical detail first, then reveals the purpose behind it. It tells a story with no technical content at all. It disproves its own opening claims. It repeats the same information twice.

Key Concepts Summary

●Command of evidence: pick the result that DEMONSTRATES the claim, not a sentence that just restates it.
●Control groups: a comparison that didn't change strengthens a cause-and-effect claim.
●Structure: notice when a passage reveals meaning or purpose only at the end.
●Cross-text: apply one author's specific finding directly to the other's specific claim.

SAT Reading & Writing — Reading Prep (Set 2)

Exam Tips for SAT Reading

Knowledge Check

Practice Complete!

Key Concepts Summary