Question 1: Which word pair means hard / beat-up?
Eliminate A and B; those first words dont mean anything like hard or difficult.
Eliminate C and E; those second words dont mean anything like beat-up or in poor condition.
D is promising; strenuous means difficult or requiring exertion, while debilitated means injured or in poor shape.
Question 2: Which word means honored or given an award?
Hey, look! Choice C is actually honored!
Question 3: Which word pair means photographed / traveled?
Eliminate D; the photographers work has nothing to do with domestication.
Eliminate B, C, and E; those second words dont mean anything like traveled.
A meets both criteria.
Question 4: Which word pair means icon?
Eliminate A; theres no mention of Grandma Moses originality.
B looks promising; emblem means symbol.
Eliminate C; a person cannot be a successor to a country.
Eliminate D and E; theyre both negative terms that are unlikely to be applied to a beloved painter.
Question 5: Which pair means helpful/harmful?
Eliminate Choices A, B, and D; none of those first words means helpful.
Eliminate E; miraculous does not mean harmful.
Question 6: Which word means underdeveloped and lacking in sophistication?
A good word here would be something like simple.
Hey, look! Choice C is simplistic!
Question 7: Which word pair means talent/understanding?
Eliminate A, C, and D; those first words dont mean anything like talent.
While penchant means habit and bent means inclination (both good words), evading in Choice B means avoiding, and a good logician does not avoid complicated arguments.
Question 8: Which word means large?
Voracious means hungry; disposable means able to be thrown away; redundant means pointless or surplus to requirements; superficial means no more than surface deep.
Prodigious means very large or productive.
Question 9: What do the words seized and shook accomplish?
What seizes and shakes things? A dog with a chew toy, perhaps.
Choice D, intensity describes the behavior of a dog with a chew toy.
Question 10: What does the public response suggest about Menckens writing?
If everyone read it, quoted it, and debated it, his writing must have been worthy of both reading and debate.
Choice A, authoritative goes well with reading, but not debate.
Choice B, controversial describes something that is hotly debated.
Choices C through E are off-topic.
Question 11: What is the purpose of the reference to beetles in lines 5-6?
The passage as a whole is about the importance of understanding an opponents point of view. The beetle analogy is an example of how not to do this.
Only Choice D is consistent with the main idea of the passage.
Question 12: What is the primary purpose of the passage?
Only Choices B and C have to do with the main idea we identified on Question 11.
B is the more specific and limited answer of the two; C requires the reader to infer, as theres no direct appeal to understand others better.
Question 13: What do both authors believe about Kings I Have A Dream speech?
Both passages devote a lot of space to the speech and to peoples reactions to it. Most of those reactions are positive, and the speech is considered to have made a deep impression on all who read or hear it.
C expresses this thought with the phrase profound impact.
Question 14: How would Julian Bonds portrait of the complete Martin Luther King look?
Bond lists many roles for King that go beyond the famous speech: antiwar activist, challenger of apartheid, etc.
Eliminate A; there is little mention of Kings influence outside the U.S.
Eliminate B and C; there is little mention of logical errors or of any of Kings contemporaries.
D is promising, as it mentions Kings later concerns.
Eliminate E; Kings private life is barely mentioned.
Question 15: How would the author of Passage 2 react to lines 7-11 of Passage 1?
Those lines express an idea mentioned in both passages.
Only Choice E, complete agreement, mentions any kind of real agreement at all.
Question 16: What does the word suffered mean in context?
Because it is a speech doing the suffering, not a human being, most of the meanings of the word having to do with human feelings can be eliminated..
Eliminate B, D, and E; these are all things that humans do and inanimate objects cannot do.
Eliminate C; its off-topic.
Question 17: What is the purpose of lines 31-34?
The lines in question are a list of things that dont happen anymore, in part because of and in reaction to Kings work.
Only Choice D suggests what this list doesgive a series of examples to support the authors point.
All of the other choices are off-topic.
Question 18: Why does the author mention the sermon in line 35?
The sermon is called Ingratitude, which King calls a particularly great sin. It comes in the middle of a discussion of how people should, and do, show gratitude for Kings work.
Choice E, which mentions an obligation to King, is very close to the idea of gratitude. No other answer is remotely close to this idea.
Question 19: How would the author of Passage 2 characterize the description of Martin Luther King Day in Passage 1?
The author of Passage 2 focuses on how Kings legacy has been oversimplified, with the complex or troubling parts glossed over.
Choice D, simplistic is a good term for how this author would view a typical MLK Day celebration.
Question 20: What transition occurs in lines 57-58?
The passage begins by describing Kings ideas; after this transition, the passage talks about how people understand and apply those ideas (or, rather, how they fail to do so).
A is consistent with this notion.
Eliminate B; the author never challenges Kings beliefs.
Eliminate C; there is little mention of Kings intellectual predecessors.
Eliminate D; Kings weaknesses are never enumerated.
Eliminate C; the author of Passage 2 doesnt challenge the author of Passage 1 all that much.
Eliminate D; nothing in here is funny.
Eliminate E; the author of Passage 1 does not embrace this perspective.
Question 22: What does the author of Passage 1 do that the author of Passage 2 doesnt?
The only difference that stands out is that the author of Passage 1 cites Julian Bonds criticism of the treatment of the speechand disagrees with it.
Only Choice A reflects this.
Eliminate B through D; these choices are approaches that both passages take.
Eliminate E; neither passage assumes the reader is unfamiliar with Kings ideas.
Question 23: Why would the author of Passage 2 say we commemorate Martin Luther King the dreamer?
Look at lines 76-82. The author states that the dreamer is easier to accept than more controversial sides of King. That means the dreamer portrayal is seen as gentler and less offensive.
Only Choice C, reassuring, describes a gentle and inoffensive option.
Question 24: What is the relationship between the two passages?
Eliminate A; Passage 1 doesnt really express political goals.
Eliminate C and D; Passage 2 neither romanticizes anybody nor focuses on the history of Martin Luther King Day.
Eliminate E; Passage 1 does not denounce King.
Recommended supplementary material to view SAT questions featured in lesson answer guides: The Official SAT Study Guide by the College Board.
Answer Guide: Section 7 (Critical Reading)
Lecture Slides are screen-captured images of important points in the lecture. Students can download and print out these lecture slide images to do practice problems as well as take notes while watching the lecture.
Educator.com recommends The Official SAT Study Guide published by The College Board, the administrators of the actual SAT test. In it, you will find additional practice questions and a review of all subjects, along with 10 official SAT practice tests. Our instructors work through several of the practice tests in real time, going through their thought processes and test-taking tips.
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