Question ID 29f5c8c2
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of
Ideas Evidence
ID: 29f5c8c2
Fish whose DNA has been modified to include genetic material from other species are known as transgenic. Some
transgenic fish have genes from jellyfish that result in fluorescence (that is, they glow in the dark). Although these fish were
initially engineered for research purposes in the 1990s, they were sold as pets in the 2000s and can now be found in the wild
in creeks in Brazil. A student in a biology seminar who is writing a paper on these fish asserts that their escape from
Brazilian fish farms into the wild may have significant negative long-term ecological effects.
Which quotation from a researcher would best support the student’s assertion?
A. “In one site in the wild where transgenic fish were observed, females outnumbered males, while in another the numbers
of females and males were equivalent.”
B. “Though some presence of transgenic fish in the wild has been recorded, there are insufficient studies of the impact of
those fish on the ecosystems into which they are introduced.”
C. “The ecosystems into which transgenic fish are known to have been introduced may represent a subset of the
ecosystems into which the fish have actually been introduced.”
D. “Through interbreeding, transgenic fish might introduce the trait of fluorescence into wild fish populations, making those
populations more vulnerable to predators.”
Question ID d83c3d54
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of
Ideas Evidence
ID: d83c3d54
Characteristics of the Banks of the
Provo River Downstream of the
Jordanelle Dam
140,000
Area (square meters)
120,000
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
0
1987 1993 2006
Year
grass cover
bare soil
forest cover
The Jordanelle Dam was built on the Provo River in Utah in 1992. Earth scientist Adriana E. Martinez and colleagues tracked
changes to the environment on the banks of the river downstream of the dam, including how much grass and forest cover
were present. They concluded that the dam changed the flow of the river in ways that benefited grass plants but didn’t
benefit trees.
Which choice best describes data from the graph that support Martinez and colleagues’ conclusion?
A. The lowest amount of grass cover was approximately 58,000 square meters, and the highest amount of forest cover was
approximately 75,000 square meters.
B. There was more grass cover than forest cover in 1987, and this difference increased dramatically in 1993 and again in
2006.
C. There was less grass cover than bare soil in 1987 but more grass cover than bare soil in 1993 and 2006, whereas there
was more forest cover than bare soil in all three years.
D. Grass cover increased from 1987 to 1993 and from 1993 to 2006, whereas forest cover decreased in those periods.
Question ID 95388117
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of
Ideas Evidence
ID: 95388117
Land Area Covered by Native Flowering Plants at a Site in Antarctica
Area covered in 2009 (in Area covered in 2018 (in Percent increase in area
Species square meters) square meters) covered from 2009 to 2018
Deschampsia
1,230 1,576 28%
antarctica
Colobanthus
6.9 10.7 55%
quitensis
The only flowering plant species native to Antarctica, Colobanthus quitensis and Deschampsia antarctica grow in places
where the earth remains free of ice for much of the year. Botanist Niccoletta Cannone wondered how the warming of
Antarctica’s climate in recent years had affected these species, so she visited a site in Antarctica, first in 2009 and later in
2018, to count the number of plants growing there. Cannone found that the area of land covered by the two species had
significantly expanded during the nine-year period. While both species likely benefited from warming temperatures,
Colobanthus quitensis ______
Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the comparison?
A. suppressed the growth of Deschampsia antarctica, which covered a smaller area of land in 2018 than it had in 2009.
B. saw a greater expansion than Deschampsia antarctica did, increasing the area of land it covered by more than half.
C. showed a greater increase in the average size of individual plants than Deschampsia antarctica did.
D. covered land newly freed from ice at a rate 55% faster than that of Deschampsia antarctica.
Question ID 60c6b64d
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of
Ideas Evidence
ID: 60c6b64d
Male túngara frogs make complex calls to attract mates, but their calls also attract frog-biting midges, insects that feed on
the frogs’ blood. Researchers Ximena Bernal and Priyanka de Silva wondered if the calls alone are sufficient for midges to
locate the frogs or if midges use carbon dioxide emitted by frogs as an additional cue to their prey’s whereabouts, like
mosquitoes do. In an experiment, the researchers placed two midge traps in a túngara frog breeding area. One trap played
recordings of túngara frog calls and the other released carbon dioxide along with playing the calls. Bernal and de Silva
concluded that carbon dioxide does not serve as an additional cue to frog-biting midges.
Which finding from the experiment, if true, would most directly support Bernal and de Silva’s conclusion?
A. Only a small number of midges were found in the traps, though the majority were found in the trap that played calls and
released carbon dioxide.
B. Midges entered the trap that released carbon dioxide and played calls only during or immediately after periods of carbon
dioxide release.
C. More midges were found in the trap that only played calls than in the trap that played calls and released carbon dioxide.
D. The trap that released carbon dioxide and played calls attracted few midges when carbon dioxide concentrations were
low but attracted many midges when carbon dioxide concentrations were high.
Question ID 1f3be847
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of
Ideas Evidence
ID: 1f3be847
“Loon Point” is a 1912 poem by Amy Lowell. In the poem, which presents a nighttime scene on a body of water, Lowell
describes an element of nature as an active participant in the experience, writing, ______
Which quotation from “Loon Point” most effectively illustrates the claim?
A. “Through the water the moon writes her legends / In light, on the smooth, wet sand.”
B. “Softly the water ripples / Against the canoe’s curving side.”
C. “Or like the snow-white petals / Which drop from an overblown rose.”
D. “But the moon in her wayward beauty / Is ever and always the same.”
Question ID 7cbb9764
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of
Ideas Evidence
ID: 7cbb9764
Accomplished printmaker and sculptor Elizabeth Catlett (1915–2012) used her art to explore the Black experience in the
United States. In a paper for an art history class, a student claims that Catlett had a particular talent for unifying various
artistic traditions and styles in her work.
Which quotation from a scholar describing Catlett’s work would best support the student’s claim?
A. “In Mother and Child, a sculpture of two Black figures, Catlett used an ancient Indigenous sculpting technique and
combined the visual aesthetic of modern Mexican muralists with that of German artist Kathe Kollwitz.”
B. “In her collage New Generation, Catlett overlaid fabric onto the canvas to represent the clothing of a father and his
toddler, positioned to evoke classic images of a mother and child.”
C. “Created in 1968, Catlett’s sculpture Black Unity, a stylized fist sculpted from mahogany and measuring two feet across,
remains an important piece and has received renewed and well-deserved attention in recent years.”
D. “One series of Catlett’s prints, made by the artist using the linoleum cut method, depicts several notable African
American women, including Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth.”
Question ID 94ca8ebd
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of
Ideas Evidence
ID: 94ca8ebd
A student is examining a long, challenging poem that was initially published in a quarterly journal without explanatory notes,
then later republished in a stand-alone volume containing only that poem and accompanying explanatory notes written by
the poet. The student asserts that the explanatory notes were included in the republication primarily as a marketing device to
help sell the stand-alone volume.
Which statement, if true, would most directly support the student’s claim?
A. The text of the poem as published in the quarterly journal is not identical to the text of the poem published in the stand-
alone volume.
B. Many critics believe that the poet’s explanatory notes remove certain ambiguities of the poem and make it less
interesting as a result.
C. The publishers of the stand-alone volume requested the explanatory notes from the poet in order to make the book
attractive to readers who already had a copy of the poem in a journal issue.
D. Correspondence between the poet and the publisher reveals that the poet’s explanatory notes went through several
drafts.
