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SAT

Course: SAT > Unit 5

Lesson 2: Inside the SAT Writing and Language Test
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SAT
About the SAT Writing and Language Test
Inside the SAT Writing and Language Test
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The SAT Writing and Language Test: the passages

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Details about the passages on the SAT Writing and Language Test

The Writing and Language Test asks you to edit and revise passages written by an anonymous author.

You will encounter a variety of passages from four content areas: Careers, History/Social Studies, Science, and Humanities.
Each passage will be 400-450 words in length.
  • Careers — Includes passages that deal with trends, issues, and debates related to major career paths, such as healthcare and information technology, as well as general-interest topics related to jobs, business, and industry.
Excerpt from a Careers passage titled "A Life in Traffic". The passage includes numbered and underlined sections which indicate corresponding multiple choice questions (not pictured).
The first paragraph of the passage reads:
A subway system is expanded to provide service to a growing suburb. A bike-sharing program is adopted to encourage nonmotorized transportation. 1 To alleviate rush hour traffic jams in a congested downtown area, stoplight timing is coordinated. [end underline] When any one of these changes 2 occur, it is [end underline] likely the result of careful analysis conducted by transportation planners.
One additional paragraph is shown with the similar pattern of numbers and underlined portions of text.
  • History/Social Studies — Includes passages that deal with information and ideas drawn from the fields of anthropology, communication studies, economics, education, human geography, history, law, linguistics, political science, psychology, and sociology and their various subfields. Passages can discuss such matters as emerging trends, interesting hypotheses and theories, and innovative research studies and methods.
Image of a Writing and Language passage titled "A Quick Fix in a Throwaway Culture".
The passage excerpt reads:
Planned obsolescence, a practice 34 at which [end underline] products are designed to have a limited period of 35 usefulness [end underline], has been a cornerstone of manufacturing strategy for the past 80 years. This approach increases sales, but it also stands in 36 austere [end underline] contrast to a time when goods were produced to be durable. Planned obsolescence wastes materials as well as energy in making and shipping new products. It also reinforces the belief that it is easier to replace goods than to mend them, as repair shops are rare and 37 repair methods are often specialized [end underline]. In 2009, an enterprising movement the Repair Cafe, challenged this widely accepted belief.
  • Science — Includes passages that deal with information and ideas drawn from the fields of biology, chemistry, physics, and Earth science and their various subfields. Passages can discuss such matters as recent discoveries, interesting hypotheses and theories, and innovative research studies and methods.
Image of a Writing and Language passage titled "Environmentalist Otters".
The excerpt reads:
It has long been known that sea otters 23 living along the West Coast of North America help [end underline] keep kelp forests in their habitat healthy and vital. They do this by feeding on sea urchins and other herbivorous invertebrates that graze voraciously on kelp. With sea otters to keep the population of the sea urchins in check, kelp forests can flourish. In fact, 24 two years or less of sea otters can completely eliminate sea urchins in a coastal area (see chart).
Image of a bar graph accompanying the "Environmentalist Otters" passage: "Effects of Sea Otter Presence on Kelp and Sea Urchin Density in Coastal Areas".
The x axis shows the coastal area and three sets of paired bar graphs: the situation of kelp the situation of sea urchins with and without the presence of otters.
The y-axis shows the density (number per square meter) in increasing intervals of 10.
The graph shows that when no otters are present, there are about 5 sea urchins and 4 kelp beds per square meter. When otters have been present for 2 years or less, there is about 1 sea urchin and 10 kelp beds per square meter. When otters have been present for 10 years or more, there are 0 sea urchins and 50 kelp beds per square meter.
  • Humanities — Includes passages that deal with information and ideas drawn from the fields of classics, language, law, the performing arts, philosophy, religion, theater, and the visual arts and their various subfields.
Image of a Writing and Language passage titled "Dong Kingman: Painter of Cities".
The first paragraph of the passage reads:
A 1954 documentary about renowned watercolor painter Dong Kingman shows the artist sitting on a stool on Mott Street in New York City's Chinatown. A crowd of admiring spectators watched as Kingman squeezes dollops of paint from several tubes into a tin watercolor box, from just a few primary colors, Kingman creates dozens of beautiful hues as he layers the translucent paint onto the paper on his easel. Each stroke of the brush and dab of the sponge transforms thinly sketched outlines into buildings, shop signs, and streetlamps. The street scene Kingman begins composing in this short film is very much in keeping with the urban landscapes for which he is best known.
You may have noticed that some of the passages include informational graphics with data. Passages in any of the content areas can appear with graphics, although it is more common for Careers, History/Social Studies, and Science.
Passages will be one of three core text types: argument, informative/explanatory text, and nonfiction narrative. Argument passages aim to convince the reader of a claim; informative/explanatory text provides factual information about a given topic; and nonfiction narrative follows a story, often from history, with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Any of the content areas can go with any of these text types; for example, you may see an informative/explanatory text about careers or an argument text about science.
Ready to practice your Writing and Language Test skills? Start here!

Attributions

This article was adapted from the following sources:
“Test Specifications for the Redesigned SAT” from The College Board.
“SAT Practice Tests” from The College Board.

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  • mr pants purple style avatar for user Olivia **INACTIVE**
    Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to Olivia **INACTIVE**'s post “I'm just wondering from p...”
    I'm just wondering from pure curiosity; this isn't crucial to life or anything.
    Does anyone know where do they get the passages for the Writing and Language section? I know they say that they're by an "anonymous author," but do they write the passages themselves and purposely insert bad grammar, incorrectly used English conventions, bad or missing paragraph transitions? Or do they just pull a poorly written article off Google and make kids fix it? Or do they take a well-written article off Google, mangle it very, very badly, and then make said kids restore it to its original state of well-writtenness (I know that's not a word)?
    I'm just curious; I don't really need to know.
    (18 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • piceratops ultimate style avatar for user Homeskool99
      Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to Homeskool99's post “Are you sure, Robert? I ...”
      Are you sure, Robert? I think Clara's got this one.
      At the top of the Passage, isn't there usually a title and an authors name? I haven't taken one on paper in so long, I forget!
      Honestly, I always thought they took a real article, cut out certain bits, inserted their own incorrect portion, and then included the original, correct piece in the answer choices.
      Right? I mean, doesn't that make some sense??
      (5 votes)
  • duskpin ultimate style avatar for user Mi Y
    Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to Mi Y's post “First to comment lol This...”
    First to comment lol
    This is just an out there question but I took a practice SAT test and a practice ACT test; why does it seem the grammar section on the ACT is easier to read through? Is it because it's less dense? Or is it because of the time crunch that the passages are a bit easier to read?
    (5 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • blobby green style avatar for user Jason
    Posted 2 years ago. Direct link to Jason's post “Is it necessary to read t...”
    Is it necessary to read the entire passages during the writing portions?
    (1 vote)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • primosaur ultimate style avatar for user BronsonFebruary
      Posted 2 years ago. Direct link to BronsonFebruary's post “No, it's not. Although th...”
      No, it's not.
      Although there are a few questions that require you to read back through the passage, you hardly ever need to read through the large chunks of words without any questions. It is not necessary at all. In fact, to save time, I would recommend when there are large chunks without questions, just skim through it instead of reading thoroughly.

      This is my personal preference.
      Hope this helps.
      (2 votes)
  • blobby green style avatar for user Jasmine Solorzano
    Posted 3 months ago. Direct link to Jasmine Solorzano's post “I'm just wondering from p...”
    I'm just wondering from pure curiosity; this isn't crucial to life or anything.
    Does anyone know where do they get the passages for the Writing and Language section? I know they say that they're by an "anonymous author," but do they write the passages themselves and purposely insert bad grammar, incorrectly used English conventions, bad or missing paragraph transitions? Or do they just pull a poorly written article off Google and make kids fix it? Or do they take a well-written article off Google, mangle it very, very badly, and then make said kids restore it to its original state of well-writtenness (I know that's not a word)?
    I'm just curious; I don't really need to know.
    (1 vote)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • scuttlebug blue style avatar for user Yaceli Velasquez Perez
    Posted 6 months ago. Direct link to Yaceli Velasquez Perez's post “this is hard”
    this is hard
    (1 vote)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • blobby green style avatar for user odon
    Posted 10 months ago. Direct link to odon's post “Guys i am facing a huge c...”
    Guys i am facing a huge challenge with the questions in the writing section most especially the informative passages can anyone give me like the tips and techniques to approach any of these questions this will be of a great help to me.

    Thanks.
    (1 vote)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • blobby green style avatar for user Mehtab Ahmad
    Posted 2 years ago. Direct link to Mehtab Ahmad's post “I face difficulty with th...”
    I face difficulty with the grammar related concepts. The resources in the Tips/strategies section of Khan academy are enough to get good at it or I should read some other book?.
    Any related suggestions please!
    (1 vote)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • piceratops ultimate style avatar for user Hecretary Bird
      Posted 2 years ago. Direct link to Hecretary Bird's post “I think that Khan Academy...”
      I think that Khan Academy teaches everything you need to know for this test, which is just the various grammar rules that the SAT tests. From there, getting a good score on the writing test is all about your strategy in doing so, which you could find in a lot of highly-rated prep books, or find one for yourself by taking practice tests and trying stuff out to see what works best. The only content you need to know should be provided by KA.
      (1 vote)
  • blobby green style avatar for user Pedro ixcoy
    Posted a month ago. Direct link to Pedro ixcoy 's post “well-written article off ...”
    well-written article off Google,
    (1 vote)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • blobby green style avatar for user noahmahmoud24
    Posted 2 months ago. Direct link to noahmahmoud24's post “I have a level 4 overall ...”
    I have a level 4 overall skill level on the sat english and a 3 on the math section can you tell me what numbers I shall receive and if so can you tell me how to raise it up
    (1 vote)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • blobby green style avatar for user Uzair Ahmed
    Posted 3 years ago. Direct link to Uzair Ahmed 's post “can you help me of writin...”
    can you help me of writing lesson
    (0 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user