07/08/25, 9:24 PM

about:srcdoc Page 1 of 16
 07/08/25, 9:24 PM

Question ID 236fee8e
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 236fee8e
Archeological excavation of Market Street Chinatown, a nineteenth-century Chinese American community in San Jose,
California, provided the first evidence that Asian food products were imported to the United States in the 1800s: bones
from a freshwater fish species native to Southeast Asia. Jinshanzhuang—Hong Kong–based import/export firms—likely
coordinated the fish’s transport from Chinese-operated fisheries in Vietnam and Malaysia to North American markets.
This route reveals the (often overlooked) multinational dimensions of the trade networks linking Chinese diaspora
communities.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

It explains why efforts to determine the country of origin of the items mentioned in the previous sentence remain
A. inconclusive.

It provides information that helps support a claim about a discovery’s significance that is presented in the following
B. sentence.

C. It traces the steps that were taken to locate and recover the objects that are described in the previous sentence.

D. It outlines a hypothesis that additional evidence discussed in the following sentence casts some doubt on.

ID: 236fee8e Answer

Rationale
Choice B is the best answer. The underlined sentence provides information about import/export firms, showing how
Chinese communities across the world were connected by trade routes.

Choice A is incorrect. The underlined sentence never suggests that the countries of origin of the fish are in question—in
fact, it tells us exactly where they came from. Choice C is incorrect. The passage never describes the steps taken to
discover the fish bones described in the previous sentence. Choice D is incorrect. The underlined sentence doesn’t
outline a hypothesis but instead provides evidence. And the following sentence agrees with the underlined sentence, so
we could eliminate this choice just for saying that the following sentence "casts some doubt on" the underlined one—
partly wrong is all wrong.

Question Difficulty: Medium

about:srcdoc Page 2 of 16
 07/08/25, 9:24 PM

Question ID 2903a041
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 2903a041
Using NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Mercedes López-Morales and colleagues measured the
wavelengths of light traveling through the atmosphere of WASP-39b, an exoplanet, or planet outside our solar system.
Different molecules absorb different wavelengths of light, and the wavelength measurements showed the presence of
carbon dioxide (CO₂) in WASP-39b’s atmosphere. This finding not only offers the first decisive evidence of CO₂ in the
atmosphere of an exoplanet but also illustrates the potential for future scientific breakthroughs held by the JWST.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. It discusses a method used by some researchers, then states why an alternative method is superior to it.

B. It describes how researchers made a scientific discovery, then explains the importance of that discovery.

C. It outlines the steps taken in a scientific study, then presents a hypothesis based on that study.

It examines how a group of scientists reached a conclusion, then shows how other scientists have challenged that
D. conclusion.

ID: 2903a041 Answer

Rationale
Choice B is the best answer. The text begins by describing how the researchers used the JWST to detect CO₂ in WASP-
39b’s atmosphere. Then the text discusses the significance of this finding, both as the first evidence of CO₂ in an
exoplanet’s atmosphere and as an illustration of the JWST’s potential for making new discoveries in general.

Choice A is incorrect. The text doesn’t compare two different methods, but rather focuses on one study that used the
JWST. Choice C is incorrect. The text doesn’t present a hypothesis, but rather reports on the findings of a study. Choice
D is incorrect. The text doesn’t mention any scientists challenging the conclusion reached by López-Morales and
colleagues.

Question Difficulty: Medium

about:srcdoc Page 3 of 16
 07/08/25, 9:24 PM

Question ID df46a2ee
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: df46a2ee
The following text is from Joseph Conrad’s 1907 novel The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale. Mr. Verloc is navigating the
London streets on his way to a meeting.
Before reaching Knightsbridge, Mr. Verloc took a turn to the left out of the busy main thoroughfare, uproarious with the
traffic of swaying omnibuses and trotting vans, in the almost silent, swift flow of hansoms [horse-drawn carriages].
Under his hat, worn with a slight backward tilt, his hair had been carefully brushed into respectful sleekness; for his
business was with an Embassy. And Mr. Verloc, steady like a rock—a soft kind of rock—marched now along a street
which could with every propriety be described as private.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined phrase in the text as a whole?

A. It qualifies an earlier description of Mr. Verloc.

B. It emphasizes an internal struggle Mr. Verloc experiences.

C. It contrasts Mr. Verloc with his surroundings.

D. It reveals a private opinion Mr. Verloc holds.

ID: df46a2ee Answer

Rationale
Choice A is the best answer. The underline phrase qualifies (meaning adds limits or conditions to) the description of Mr.
Verloc as “steady like a rock,” adding that he is a “soft” rock.

Choice B is incorrect. In fact, the passage never mentions Mr. Verloc experiencing any internal struggles. Choice C is
incorrect. The underlined phrase doesn’t contrast Mr. Verloc with his surroundings, but is instead modifying the
description of him as a rock. Choice D is incorrect. The underlined phrase doesn’t reveal a private opinion Mr. Verloc
holds: instead, it further describes his character for the reader.

Question Difficulty: Medium

about:srcdoc Page 4 of 16
 07/08/25, 9:24 PM

Question ID ff97fd53
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: ff97fd53
In 1973, poet Miguel Algarín started inviting other writers who, like him, were Nuyorican—a term for New Yorkers of
Puerto Rican heritage—to gather in his apartment to present their work. The gatherings were so well attended that
Algarín soon had to rent space in a cafe to accommodate them. Thus, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe was born. Moving to a
permanent location in 1981, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe expanded its original scope beyond the written word, hosting art
exhibitions and musical performances as well. Half a century since its inception, it continues to foster emerging
Nuyorican talent.

Which choice best describes the overall purpose of the text?

A. To explain what motivated Algarín to found the Nuyorican Poets Cafe

B. To situate the Nuyorican Poets Cafe within the cultural life of New York as a whole

C. To discuss why the Nuyorican Poets Cafe expanded its scope to include art and music

D. To provide an overview of the founding and mission of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe

ID: ff97fd53 Answer

Rationale
Choice D is the best answer. The text presents a brief history of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, from how it got started in the
’70s, to its expansion in the ’80s, to its ongoing mission today.

Choice A is incorrect. This isn’t the overall purpose. The text never mentions Algarín’s motivations. Choice B is incorrect.
This isn’t the overall purpose. The text never discusses the cultural life of New York as a whole. Choice C is incorrect.
This is too narrow. One sentence mentions that the Nuyorican Poets Cafe expanded its scope to include art and music,
but this is only one point in the broader history of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, which is the overall focus of the text.

Question Difficulty: Medium

about:srcdoc Page 5 of 16
 07/08/25, 9:24 PM

Question ID 6f5fc289
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 6f5fc289
The following text is adapted from Charles Dickens’s 1854 novel Hard Times. Coketown is a fictional town in England.
[Coketown] contained several large streets all very like one another, and many small streets still more like one another,
inhabited by people equally like one another, who all went in and out at the same hours, with the same sound upon the
same pavements, to do the same work, and to whom every day was the same as yesterday and tomorrow, and every
year the counterpart of the last and the next.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To emphasize the uniformity of both the town and the people who live there

B. To explain the limited work opportunities available to the town’s residents

C. To reveal how the predictability of the town makes it easy for people lose track of time

D. To argue that the simplicity of life in the town makes it a pleasant place to live

ID: 6f5fc289 Answer

Rationale
Choice A is the best answer. The author describes Coketown as having streets that are all very similar and residents
who live similarly and do the same work. This repetition of similarities emphasizes how everything in Coketown is alike.

Choice B is incorrect. While the text mentions that all the residents “do the same work,” it never explains what that work
is or why everyone does it. Besides, the idea that they all do the same work is just one of several similarities among the
townspeople described in the text. Choice C is incorrect. While the last sentence states that “every day was the same as
yesterday and tomorrow, and every year the counterpart of the last and the next,” it never suggests that people actually
“lose track of time.” This is also too narrow to be the main idea, since time is just one of many aspects of Coketown that
the text describes as always being the same. Choice D is incorrect. The text never mentions whether life is simple in
Coketown, and the town sounds as though it’s probably a pretty dull place to live, rather than a pleasant one.

Question Difficulty: Medium

about:srcdoc Page 6 of 16
 07/08/25, 9:24 PM

Question ID f2c48e47
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: f2c48e47
The following text is from Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 1910 poem “The Earth’s Entail.”
No matter how we cultivate the land, Taming the forest and the prairie free; No matter how we irrigate the sand,
Making the desert blossom at command, We must always leave the borders of the sea; The immeasureable reaches
Of the windy wave-wet beaches, The million-mile-long margin of the sea.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. The speaker argues against interfering with nature and then gives evidence supporting this interference.

The speaker presents an account of efforts to dominate nature and then cautions that such efforts are only
B. temporary.

C. The speaker provides examples of an admirable way of approaching nature and then challenges that approach.

D. The speaker describes attempts to control nature and then offers a reminder that not all nature is controllable.

ID: f2c48e47 Answer

Rationale
Choice D is the best answer. This best describes the overall structure of the text. In the first half of the text, the speaker
describes our attempts to control nature: cultivating, taming, and irrigating different kinds of land. In the second half,
the speaker states that we can never tame the sea or the beach.

Choice A is incorrect. This doesn’t describe the overall structure of the text. The speaker never argues that we should
not interfere with nature. Rather, the speaker says that we are able to tame many different kinds of land, but we are
unable to tame the sea or beaches. Choice B is incorrect. This doesn’t describe the overall structure of the text. The
speaker never describes our cultivation, taming, and irrigation of land as “temporary.” Rather, the speaker says that we
are able to tame many different kinds of land, but we are unable to tame the sea or beaches. Choice C is incorrect. This
doesn’t describe the overall structure of the text. The speaker never describes our cultivation, taming, and irrigation of
land as an “admirable” approach to nature.” Rather, the speaker says that we are able to tame many different kinds of
land, but we are unable to tame the sea or beaches.

Question Difficulty: Medium

about:srcdoc Page 7 of 16
 07/08/25, 9:24 PM

Question ID c0e1b70a
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: c0e1b70a
The following text is adapted from Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto’s 1925 memoir A Daughter of the Samurai. As a young
woman, Sugimoto moved from feudal Japan to the United States.

The standards of my own and my adopted country differed so widely in some ways, and my love for both lands
was so sincere, that sometimes I had an odd feeling of standing upon a cloud in space, and gazing with measuring
eyes upon two separate worlds. At first I was continually trying to explain, by Japanese standards, all the queer
things that came every day before my surprised eyes; for no one seemed to know the origin or significance of even
the most familiar customs, nor why they existed and were followed.

Which choice best describes the main purpose of the text?

To convey the narrator’s experience of observing and making sense of differences between two cultures she
A. embraces

To establish the narrator’s hope of forming connections with new companions by sharing customs she learned as a
B. child

To reveal the narrator’s recognition that she is hesitant to ask questions about certain aspects of a culture she is
C. newly encountering

To emphasize the narrator’s wonder at discovering that the physical distance between two countries is greater than
D. she had expected

ID: c0e1b70a Answer

Rationale

Choice A is the best answer because it most accurately describes the main purpose of the text. The narrator asserts

about:srcdoc Page 8 of 16
 07/08/25, 9:24 PM

that she loves both her “own” country (Japan) and her “adopted country” (the United States) even though the two
countries differ “widely.” She also indicates that, at first, she would try to explain unfamiliar experiences that she had in
the United States using the standards ingrained in her from growing up in Japan. Thus, the main purpose of the text is
to convey the narrator’s experience of observing and making sense of the differences between two cultures she
embraces.

Choice B is incorrect because the text makes no reference to possible companions. Although the text does indicate that
the narrator sometimes used the cultural framework she acquired growing up in Japan to explain some experiences
she’s had, there is no suggestion that this was in service of making friends. And although “no one seemed to know”
strongly implies that the narrator has interacted with other people in the United States, there is no indication that these
conversations involved her discussing Japanese customs. Choice C is incorrect because nothing in the text suggests
that the narrator was hesitant to ask questions. In fact, the narrator indicates that “no one seemed to know the origin” of
various customs, which provides evidence that, rather than being hesitant, she sought information from several people.
Choice D is incorrect because the text makes no reference to the physical distance between Japan and the United
States. Although the narrator indicates that the two countries differ “widely” and likens them to “two separate worlds,”
these descriptions relate to cultural aspects of the countries and the narrator’s feelings about the two countries, not the
physical distance between them.

Question Difficulty: Medium

about:srcdoc Page 9 of 16
 07/08/25, 9:24 PM

Question ID f631132b
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: f631132b
In the Here and Now Storybook (1921), educator Lucy Sprague Mitchell advanced the then controversial idea that books
for very young children should imitate how they use language, since toddlers, who cannot yet grasp narrative or abstract
ideas, seek reassurance in verbal repetition and naming. The most enduring example of this idea is Margaret Wise
Brown’s 1947 picture book Goodnight Moon, in which a young rabbit names the objects in his room as he drifts off to
sleep. Scholars note that the book’s emphasis on repetition, rhythm, and nonsense rhyme speaks directly to Mitchell’s
influence.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

The text outlines a debate between two authors of children’s literature and then traces how that debate shaped
A. theories on early childhood education.

The text summarizes an argument about how children’s literature should be evaluated and then discusses a
B. contrasting view on that subject.

The text lists the literary characteristics that are common to many classics of children’s literature and then indicates
C. the narrative subjects that are most appropriate for young children.

The text presents a philosophy about what material is most suitable for children’s literature and then describes a
D. book influenced by that philosophy.

ID: f631132b Answer

Rationale
Choice D is the best answer. The text starts by introducing Mitchell’s philosophy about using simple, repetitive language
in books for young children. Then it describes a book influenced by that philosophy, Goodnight Moon.

Choice A is incorrect. Although two authors are mentioned in the text, they both agree about the type of language that
should be contained in books for young children. Choice B is incorrect. The text never discusses the evaluation of
children’s literature. It does provide one view of how children’s books should be written, but never introduces a
competing view. Choice C is incorrect. The text doesn’t mention “many classics of children’s literature.” Instead, it
describes an educational theory and identifies one example of a famous children’s book that was influenced by that
theory.

Question Difficulty: Medium

about:srcdoc Page 10 of 16
 07/08/25, 9:24 PM

Question ID 6d44060a
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 6d44060a
Works of moral philosophy, such as Plato’s Republic or Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, are partly concerned with how to
live a morally good life. But philosopher Jonathan Barnes argues that works that present a method of living such a life
without also supplying a motive are inherently useful only to those already wishing to be morally good—those with no
desire for moral goodness will not choose to follow their rules. However, some works of moral philosophy attempt to
describe what constitutes a morally good life while also proposing reasons for living one.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

It provides a characterization about a field of thought by noting two works in it and then details a way in which some
A. works in that field are more comprehensive than others.

It mentions two renowned works and then claims that despite their popularity it is impossible for these works to
B. serve the purpose their authors intended.

It summarizes the history of a field of thought by discussing two works and then proposes a topic of further
C. research for specialists in that field.

D. It describes two influential works and then explains why one is more widely read than the other.

ID: 6d44060a Answer

Rationale
Choice A is the best answer. The text starts by stating what moral philosophy is concerned with and naming two
examples of works in the field. Then it describes a shortcoming of some works in that field (they say how but not why),
and finally it states that other works try to avoid that shortcoming (by including both how and why to live a morally good
life).

Choice B is incorrect. This is too extreme. The text never mentions whether the two works are popular or not, and it
never argues that these works don’t serve their intended purpose of describing how to live a morally good life. Rather,
the text claims that works of moral philosophy that don’t include both how and why to be moral are not useful to
readers who don’t already want to be moral. Choice C is incorrect. This isn’t the overall structure. The text never
discusses the history of moral philosophy at all, and it doesn’t propose any topic for further research. Choice D is
incorrect. This isn’t the overall structure. The text never discusses which of the two works is more widely read.

Question Difficulty: Medium

about:srcdoc Page 11 of 16
 07/08/25, 9:24 PM

Question ID 48555763
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 48555763
The following text is from Herman Melville’s 1854 novel The Lightning-rod Man.
The stranger still stood in the exact middle of the cottage, where he had first planted himself. His singularity impelled a
closer scrutiny. A lean, gloomy figure. Hair dark and lank, mattedly streaked over his brow. His sunken pitfalls of eyes
were ringed by indigo halos, and played with an innocuous sort of lightning: the gleam without the bolt. The whole man
was dripping. He stood in a puddle on the bare oak floor: his strange walking-stick vertically resting at his side.

Which choice best states the function of the underlined sentence in the overall structure of the text?

A. It elaborates on the previous sentence’s description of the character.

B. It introduces the setting that is described in the sentences that follow.

C. It establishes a contrast with the description in the previous sentence.

D. It sets up the character description presented in the sentences that follow.

ID: 48555763 Answer

Rationale
Choice D is the best answer. This best states the function of the underlined sentence. The sentence basically says: “He
stood out, so I looked more closely at him.” Then the rest of the text describes him in detail.

Choice A is incorrect. This doesn’t state the function of the underlined sentence. The previous sentence basically says:
“He was still standing in the middle of the cottage”—it doesn’t include any description of the character himself. Choice
B is incorrect. This doesn’t state the function of the underlined sentence. The following sentences describe the
character, not the setting. Choice C is incorrect. This doesn’t state the function of the underlined sentence. The
underlined sentence basically says: “He stood out, so I looked more closely at him.” The previous sentence basically
says: “He was still standing in the middle of the cottage.” There’s no contrast between these two sentences.

Question Difficulty: Medium

about:srcdoc Page 12 of 16
 07/08/25, 9:24 PM

Question ID e7247766
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: e7247766
Horizontal gene transfer occurs when an organism of one species acquires genetic material from an organism of
another species through nonreproductive means. The genetic material can then be transferred “vertically” in the second
species—that is, through reproductive inheritance. Scientist Atma Ivancevic and her team have hypothesized infection
by invertebrate parasites as a mechanism of horizontal gene transfer between vertebrate species: while feeding, a
parasite could acquire a gene from one host, then relocate to a host from a different vertebrate species and transfer the
gene to it in turn.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?

A. It explains why parasites are less susceptible to horizontal gene transfer than their hosts are.

B. It clarifies why some genes are more likely to be transferred horizontally than others are.

C. It contrasts how horizontal gene transfer occurs among vertebrates with how it occurs among invertebrates.

D. It describes a means by which horizontal gene transfer might occur among vertebrates.

ID: e7247766 Answer

Rationale
Choice D is the best answer. The text defines horizontal gene transfer and then gives one possibility for how it happens
in vertebrates (via infection by parasites). The underlined part describes how that mechanism could work.

Choice A is incorrect. The underlined portion doesn’t do this. Parasites are only described as the mechanism that does
the transferring, not the species that gives or receives the genes. Choice B is incorrect. The underlined portion doesn’t
do this. The text never discusses which genes are more likely to be transferred. Choice C is incorrect. The underlined
portion doesn’t do this. The text never discusses how horizontal gene transfer occurs among invertebrates.

Question Difficulty: Medium

about:srcdoc Page 13 of 16
 07/08/25, 9:24 PM

Question ID 8bc66f89
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: 8bc66f89
Part of the Atacama Desert in Peru has surprisingly rich plant life despite receiving almost no rainfall. Moisture from
winter fog sustains plants once they’re growing, but the soil’s tough crust makes it hard for seeds to germinate in the
first place. Local birds that dig nests in the ground seem to be of help: they churn the soil, exposing buried seeds to
moisture and nutrients. Indeed, in 2016 Cristina Rengifo Faiffer found that mounds of soil dug up by birds were far more
fertile and supported more seedlings than soil in undisturbed areas.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?

A. It elaborates on the idea that the top layer of Atacama Desert soil forms a tough crust.

B. It describes the process by which seeds are deposited into Atacama Desert soil.

C. It identifies the reason particular bird species dig nests in Atacama Desert soil.

D. It explains how certain birds promote seed germination in Atacama Desert soil.

ID: 8bc66f89 Answer

Rationale
Choice D is the best answer because it most accurately describes how the underlined portion functions in the text as a
whole. The first two sentences establish a natural phenomenon: there is a richness of plant life found in the Atacama
Desert despite the hard soil that makes it challenging for seeds to germinate. The next sentence, which contains the
underlined portion, offers a potential explanation for the phenomenon: local birds dig ground nests exposing seeds to
moisture and materials in the soil necessary for germination. The last sentence summarizes a study that compared the
fertileness of mounds of dirt dug up by birds to mounds that were undisturbed to support the explanation in the
underlined portion. Thus, the underlined portion mainly functions to explain how certain birds promote seed
germination in the Atacama Desert soil.

Choice A is incorrect because the underlined portion doesn’t address the topic of the soil’s tough crust or its formation.
Instead, the text elaborates on the idea that local birds that build ground nests may help seeds germinate in the hard
soil. Choice B is incorrect because the underlined portion describes how some birds may support seed germination in
Atacama Desert soil but doesn’t describe how the seeds are deposited into the soil before germination begins. Choice
C is incorrect because neither the underlined portion nor the text as a whole identifies a reason that a particular bird
species may choose to dig ground nests in the Atacama Desert soil.

Question Difficulty: Medium

about:srcdoc Page 14 of 16
 07/08/25, 9:24 PM

Question ID b4d29611
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: b4d29611
Michelene Pesantubbee, a historian and citizen of the Choctaw Nation, has identified a dilemma inherent to research on
the status of women in her tribe during the 1600s and 1700s: the primary sources from that era, travel narratives and
other accounts by male European colonizers, underestimate the degree of power conferred on Choctaw women by their
traditional roles in political, civic, and ceremonial life. Pesantubbee argues that the Choctaw oral tradition and findings
from archaeological sites in the tribe’s homeland supplement the written record by providing crucial insights into those
roles.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

It details the shortcomings of certain historical sources, then argues that research should avoid those sources
A. altogether.

It describes a problem that arises in research on a particular topic, then sketches a historian’s approach to
B. addressing that problem.

C. It lists the advantages of a particular research method, then acknowledges a historian’s criticism of that method.

It characterizes a particular topic as especially challenging to research, then suggests a related topic for historians
D. to pursue instead.

ID: b4d29611 Answer

Rationale
Choice B is the best answer. The text begins by stating a problem with research on the status of Choctaw women in the
1600s and 1700s: written primary sources underestimate the power they had in their traditional roles. Then it presents
one historian’s solution: looking to oral tradition and archeological findings for more insight into these roles.

Choice A is incorrect. This isn’t the overall structure. The text never says that research should avoid written primary
sources, just that research should also use oral tradition and archeological sites as sources. Choice C is incorrect. This
isn’t the overall structure. The text never mentions the advantages of using written primary sources. Choice D is
incorrect. This isn’t the overall structure. The text never says that the status of Choctaw women during the 1600s and
1700s is too challenging to research. And it doesn’t mention any other topics to research instead.

Question Difficulty: Medium

about:srcdoc Page 15 of 16
 07/08/25, 9:24 PM

Question ID f6352bd3
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and
Purpose

ID: f6352bd3
Many archaeologists assume that large-scale engineering projects in ancient societies required an elite class to plan
and direct the necessary labor. However, recent discoveries, such as the excavation of an ancient canal near the Gulf
Coast of Alabama, have complicated this picture. Using radiocarbon dating, a team of researchers concluded that the
1.39-kilometer-long canal was most likely constructed between 576 and 650 CE by an Indigenous society that was
relatively free of social classes.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. It describes a common view among archaeologists, then discusses a recent finding that challenges that view.

It outlines a method used in some archaeological fieldwork, then explains why an alternative method is superior to
B. it.

It presents contradictory conclusions drawn by archaeologists, then evaluates a study that has apparently resolved
C. that contradiction.

D. It identifies a gap in scientific research, then presents a strategy used by some archaeologists to remedy that gap.

ID: f6352bd3 Answer

Rationale
Choice A is the best answer. The text starts by introducing a common view among archaeologists about the need for an
elite class to direct large-scale engineering projects. Then, it discusses the discovery of a large canal most likely built by
a society without an elite class, which challenges the first view.

Choice B is incorrect. Although the text discusses carbon dating as an archaeological method, it doesn’t compare it to
any other alternative methods. Choice C is incorrect. The study doesn’t resolve any contradictions—rather, it introduces
a contradiction to the one view presented at the beginning of the text. Choice D is incorrect. The text never identifies any
gaps in scientific research.

Question Difficulty: Medium

about:srcdoc Page 16 of 16