SAT R&W INTRODUCTION

For August 6th 2024

OVERVIEW

There are two main parts of the SAT R&W, the first part tests you mostly on reading
concepts, similar to the reading section on the SAT. For these questions, the college board
is looking to see that you can comprehend the passage and draw logical conclusions from
the information provided.

The writing questions test your ability to identify text that follows the rules of “standard”
written English, but the SAT’s definition of standard English is a little different making
the test somewhat easier as it allows you to take shortcuts sometimes.

The R&W test consists of two sections, the first module is mostly medium-difficulty
questions with some easy and hard ones. Your performance on this module determines
whether the second module is harder or easier. The easy 2nd module contains mostly
easy and medium questions with only a couple hard ones. The hard module contains
mostly medium and hard questions with only one or two easy ones.

● Typically 14-15 correct is needed to get the hard module, but varies from test to
test.

Each module has the following format

● 32 minutes (roughly 1.2 minutes per question)

● 27 questions per module
○ 25 questions count towards your score
○ 2 questions do not count towards your score (pre-test questions)
● Each question has its own mini-passage (25-100 words)

The pre-test questions are experimental questions that the SAT is trying to see if they
meet the standards for use in later tests. They are mixed in randomly and there is not
reliable method to tell which ones are pre-test questions.

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Question Types

The questions in the modules are divided into four “domains” but each domain does
have sub-skills. For example, Central Ideas & Details fall under the Information and Ideas
domain

Domain Number of Questions

Craft & Structure 12-14 (26%)

Information and Ideas 13-15 (28%)

Standard English Conventions 8-12 (20%)

Expression of Ideas 11-15 (26%)

Craft & Structure questions

● Test your understanding of the way authors achieve precise meaning, text
structure, and how to make connections between related passages
○ Identify the meaning of words in context
○ Identify the purpose of passages or parts of passages
○ Analyze the passage structure
○ Make connections between related texts

Information & Ideas Questions

● Test comprehension & logical reasoning based on passages

○ Identify main ideas
○ Interpret meanings of texts
○ Find appropriate supporting evidence
○ Drawing inferences

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Standard English Conventions

● Ask you to apply common rules of standard English.

○ Verb tense and form
○ Pronoun use
○ Run ons
○ Sentence Fragments
○ Punctuation
○ Apostrophe usee
○ Logical comparison
○ Modifiers
○ Parallelism
○ Subject-Verb agreement

Expression of Ideas

● Ask you to identify text that achieves a specific goal

○ Transitions
○ Summarizing (the bullet point questions)

How Scores Work

Your total R&W score will be between 200 and 800, but the 2nd module you receive can
lower your maximum possible score. If you receive the easier second module, your
maximum score will be in the mid-500s. If you want to score 600 or above you must do
well enough on the first module to get the harder second module. Remember that getting
hard questions in the second module does not put you at a disadvantage, you want the
harder questions to maximize your score.

Different questions also contribute to your score differently, based on the overall pattern
of your answers (how many hard, medium, and easy questions you get right). This means
that different questions contribute different amounts to your score, but college boards
system is complex and everything from question type to difficulty can affect your score.
It is not as simple as a hard question is worth 10 points, an easy question is worth 5
points. Overall do not stress about the type of questions you are getting or the difficulty

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of questions while taking the test as there is nothing you can do to change the questions.
Just do your best, and try to get the hard second module!

Guessing

Incorrect answers and unanswered questions have the same effect on your score they
both count as wrong answers so make sure you click a choice for every question.
However, do not guess until you have tried your best to eliminate as many answers as
you can, but also do not give up immediately just because you don’t answer a question
the first time reading it. It is important to note that most people who score 750 + (usually
what you want for a 1500) rarely blindly guess. If you find yourself spending too long on
a question (typicall more than a minute) pick an answer after you have eliminated as
many as you can and move on, flag the question and come back later if you have time.
When you are practicing and flag a question, even if you get a right come back to it
because you most likely haven’t fully understood the concept and right now is the time to
learn!

Time Management

There are different ways to save time on different questions, I will try to get to as many
of those as I can during this series but here are some general tips to maximize your time.

● Start the test as soon as you are able to

○ For the DSAT everyone has a personalized timer so you can start a little
later than other students, but if you’re someone who might get distracted
as other students finish and start to get up make sure you start as soon as
you are prompted to
● You don’t have to answer the questions in order
○ The most time-consuming question types are (inference, main idea, etc.)
○ If you struggle with time then try skipping these questions when you
practice
○ Personal recommended order:
■ Start with words-in-context questions first (usually the first couple
of questions)

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 ■ Move ahead to the writing questions which usually start around
question 14-16, this is a rough estimate though for example in linear
test 2, module 2 they start at question 18; writing questions usually
have the prompt “which choice completes the text so that it
conforms to the conventions of standard English?”
■ Answer all the writing questions you can before going back to the
remaining reading questions
○ This pattern allows you to get the quicker questions out of the way so you
can better gauge your timing for the longer questions
○ If timing is not an issue for you, there’s no need to skip around if you’re not
comfortable doing so, or if this method does not help you
● Reading the question first is usually a waste of time
○ Some people, (such as me when I first studied for the SAT) suggest you look
at the questions before you read the passage so you have an idea of what to
look for when reading. While this may work for some questions, in most
cases reading the passage first is more efficient as with the DSAT you have
shorter passages and more general questions unlike the old paper SAT.
○ Jumping ahead to the question can also create unnecessary “brain fog”.
Since the question/answers frequently refer to specific ideas indirectly (this
study, Dr. XYZ, etc.) you are usually just reading a random list of unrelated
ideas that you will try to memorize which will cause you to most likely
spend longer reading the passage and make your comprehension worse.
■ There are some questions though where reading the
answers/question first may be helpful though! For example
note/summarizing questions; I will go over this in a future session!

Should you time your practice?

While you should learn new problem types/concepts without a timer to make sure you
fully understand how to solve the problems and what exactly to look for in questions it is
important to also test yourself with a timer once you understand these concepts. This
will help you understand which concepts you may need to practice timing with or how to
manage time throughout the entire test. However it is also important that the amount of
time you spend per question will vary between question. I advise that you should spend
an average of 1 minute per question, giving you around 5 minutes to review your work

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at the end. But again because you may spend longer on certain question types and
harder questions you should either do 1 module or 2 (both R&W modules) when timing
yourself to get the best guess at how long you will actually take on your official SAT.

To see if timing is affecting your performance, compare how you do with untimed
problems with timed ones. If there is a significant drop in your timed score you will
likely need to work on your efficiency/time management. But make sure your untimed
practice is really done with no time pressure, do not rush through them as they will help
you learn, practice, and help you identify if it is time you are struggling with or the
concepts.