The Digital SAT® Reading and Writing section has some distinct differences from the previous versions of the test. Your fist step as an SAT® student is to be able to identify these question types so that you can apply the appropriate strategies and pinpoint weaknesses.

The College Board’s test writers give you broad categories of of questions that is less than helpful for identifying your weaknesses. I have broken down the question types into 21 distinct categories within the 4 domains. These question appear on the test in the order listed below with some variation within each domain.

Craft & Structure

Words In Context questions always appear first in SAT® Reading Writing. They make up a significant portion of the Reading/Writing section overall with 2-5 questions in each section. There are two versions of this question: fill in the blank and replace the underlined word.

Purpose/Function questions appear after the Words in context questions, but there may be a structure question mixed in with them. These are also common questions with 1-4 questions in each section. These questions are asking why the author included something in the passage. Answering these questions requires you to be able to identify functions and understand an abstracted description of the passage.

Structure questions are more rare with only about 30% of tests having a single one. These questions test whether you can accurately identify an abstracted summary of the key aspects of the passage.

Cross-Text Connections questions are easy to spot because they have 2 passages associated with them. There will only be a single on of these questions in the entire test. These questions predictably ask you to identify how the author of one passage would respond to the other passage’s author or idea.

Information & Ideas

Main Idea questions are uncommon with some SAT® Reading Writing tests having 2 or 3 and other tests having none. These questions ask you to identify the key point the author is making.

Literal Comprehension questions are straightforwardly testing your ability to understand the text. They are most common in the easier second section which often has 2 of them, but more uncommon in the first section and unusual in the second harder section. Sometimes there will be questions that ask you what something “most likely” means or what you can “infer” from the passage. These question seem like Inference questions, but the answers are clearly literal comprehension and don’t require the application of logic.

Complete the Thought questions are closer to what traditionally would be viewed as an inference question. These questions always have a passage with a blank at the end and require you to maintain the focus of the passage. These questions appear 2-3 times per section usually.

Infographic questions are the ones with charts or graphs along with a passage. There is typically at least 1 per section and most often 2. Some of these are blindingly easy, so don’t second guess if the answer seems obvious, but more often, you need to use both information from the passage and the graph to reach the best answer. These questions also often rely on the use of logic and specific wording.

Support/Weaken questions ask you to identify information that would either support a point made in the passage or weaken it. There are 1 or 2 of these questions per test, with 1 always in the harder second section.

Illustrate the Claim questions ask you to choose a quotation that would support the passage. These are often connected to poetry and are more challenging than the average question. You will mostly see only 1 of these questions in the section section.

Standard English Conventions

Complete Sentence questions test you on your ability to construct complete sentences, avoiding run-ons, fragments, and awkwardness. You need a solid understanding of clauses (independent, dependent, relative), phrases, and parts of speech (gerund vs participle) to avoid being caught by tricky constructions. Instances of these sentences varies from 1 to 4 questions in each section.

Punctuation questions appear similar to Complete Sentence questions, but these can be identified by the answer choices in which the only change is the type of punctuation. There are between 1 and 3 per section.

Subject/Verb Agreement questions test your ability to match the correct form of the verb with he subject of the sentence. These are unusual questions with some tests having 3 and others having only 1.

Verb Forms questions ask you to correctly identify the best form. You should be familiar with tense, aspect, mood, and voice. These questions are also unusual with some sections having 1 of these but, some having none.

Modifiers questions seem to be only testing opening modifiers, but this could change in future tests. These are rare questions appearing in only some tests.

Pronoun Agreement questions test your ability to match the correct pronoun to its antecedent. These are unusual questions with only 1 or 2 per test, but some tests have none.

Direct/Indirect questions test your understanding of question construction. They appear infrequently, but are easy to identify, and so if you understand the construction, you can answer them easily.

Possessives vs. Plurals questions can also be folded into the punctuation section…don’t ask me why my brain wants them to be their own section. This question type requires you to know the differences between plural and possessive nouns and pronouns. Some tests have 1 or 2 of these questions and some have none.

Parallelism and Comparison are rare with only 2 or 3 in the question bank. These test your ability to follow the rules of style for parallel lists and comparative structures.

Expression of Ideas

Transition questions are common with 2 to 4 in each section of the SAT® Reading Writing. You must have a clear understanding of the logical connections between statements in the passage. When combined with Words in Context questions, Transitions can make up 25-30% of the entire test.

Rhetorical Synthesis questions appear at the end of each section. These questions present a list of student’s notes, and then give you an instruction for a required statement. When the test was first issued in 2023, the was no need to read the notes, but more recent tests force you to read the notes to identify the best answer. These are common questions with 2 to 5 per section.

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