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The Reading and Writing section of the digital SAT is a single, integrated section that tests your comprehension, analysis, and editing skills. Unlike the old paper-based SAT, which had separate Reading and Writing sections, the digital version combines them into two adaptive modules. This means your performance on the first module determines the difficulty of the second.
• Two Modules: You’ll complete two modules, each with 27 questions.
• Time: You have 32 minutes per module, for a total of 64 minutes.
• Passage Length: The passages are short, ranging from 25 to 150 words. Each passage is followed by a single question. This is a big change from the old SAT, which had long passages with multiple questions.
The passages cover a wide range of subjects, including:
• Literature: Excerpts from novels, short stories, and plays.
• History/Social Studies: Passages from foundational U.S. documents, historical speeches, and social science articles.
• Science: Excerpts from articles on biology, chemistry, physics, and Earth science.
• Humanities: Passages on topics like art, music, and philosophy.
• Poetry: Yes, there’s poetry on the digital SAT. These passages are usually short and focus on understanding figurative language and tone.
The questions fall into four main categories:
These questions test your ability to understand what the text is saying. You’ll be asked to:
• Find the main idea: What’s the central point of the passage?
• Find a specific detail: The answer is directly stated in the text.
• Make an inference: What can you conclude based on the information given?
• Understand vocabulary in context: What does a particular word or phrase mean in this specific passage?
These questions are about how the author constructs the text. You’ll be asked to:
• Analyze the author’s purpose: Why did the author write this? (e.g., to explain, to persuade, to describe).
• Analyze the text’s structure: How is the passage organized? (e.g., cause and effect, comparison and contrast).
• Analyze point of view: What is the narrator’s or author’s perspective?
These are editing questions that focus on making the writing more effective. You’ll be asked to:
• Improve transitions: Choose the best word or phrase to connect ideas.
• Improve rhetorical synthesis: Given a set of notes, choose the best sentence to achieve a specific goal.
These are your classic grammar and punctuation questions. You’ll be tested on:
• Sentence boundaries: Run-on sentences, comma splices, and fragments.
• Punctuation: Commas, semicolons, colons, apostrophes, etc.
• Verb forms: Subject-verb agreement, verb tense.
• Pronouns: Pronoun-antecedent agreement, pronoun case.
• Parallel structure.
• Practice on Bluebook™: The College Board’s Bluebook app has full-length, adaptive practice tests that will give you the most realistic experience.
• Use Khan Academy®: Khan Academy has free, official practice materials that are tailored to the digital SAT.
• Read Widely: The more you read, the better you’ll get at understanding different writing styles and complex ideas.
• Focus on Your Weaknesses: After each practice test, analyze your mistakes. Are you consistently missing punctuation questions? Or are you struggling with main idea questions? At Preppinbee, our platform does this for you, giving you targeted practice to help you turn those weaknesses into strengths.
The Reading and Writing section is challenging, but with the right approach, you can master it. Good luck!
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