Digital SAT Practice Test 10 — Module 1: Full Walkthrough of All 33 Reading & Writing Questions with Answers & Explanations

Answer: A) source

✓ A) source. "Source of information" fits perfectly — the passage explicitly says people at the store would share news and spread it. A source is a place where something originates, which matches how the store functioned as a news hub.

✗ B) rival. A "rival" would imply competition, but information isn't described as competitive here.

✗ C) condition. A "condition" of information doesn't make idiomatic sense in English.

✗ D) waste. A "waste" of information is nonsensical given the store is described positively as spreading news.

Answer: B) observant

✗ A) skeptical. "Skeptical" (doubting) doesn't match — Lawrence paid close attention, not doubted.

✓ B) observant. "Observant" means paying close attention to details, which is exactly what the second sentence describes Lawrence doing.

✗ C) critical. "Critical" suggests judgment or finding fault; the passage emphasizes attention to detail, not judgment.

✗ D) confident. "Confident" doesn't connect to the detail-oriented process described.

Answer: B) speculates

✗ A) demands. "Demands" is too forceful — Ochoa doesn't have a definite idea.

✓ B) speculates. "Speculates" means to form an opinion without firm evidence. This matches perfectly because the next sentence calls her statement a "conjecture" — a synonym for speculation.

✗ C) doubts. "Doubts" would mean she disagrees, but the passage shows she believes humans will need to live elsewhere.

✗ D) establishes. "Establishes" implies proving something definitively, which contradicts "doesn't have a definite idea."

Answer: A) synchronization

✓ A) synchronization. "Synchronization" means events happening at the same time. The first sentence explicitly says the dodder flowers "at the same time" as its host — that's synchronization.

✗ B) hibernation. "Hibernation" is a dormant state, opposite of flowering.

✗ C) prediction. "Prediction" involves forecasting, not coordination of timing.

✗ D) moderation. "Moderation" means restraint, unrelated to timing.

Answer: C) an exhaustive

✗ A) an imaginative. "Imaginative" (creative) doesn't fit — historical accounts should be accurate, not imaginative.

✗ B) a superficial. "Superficial" (shallow) is the opposite of what evidence loss would prevent — a shallow account requires little evidence.

✓ C) an exhaustive. "Exhaustive" means thorough and complete. Because evidence was destroyed, a complete account is impossible. This is the logical fit.

✗ D) a questionable. "Questionable" would suggest we could easily have a doubtful account, but the sentence says we're unlikely to have this type of account.

Answer: B) It discusses the development of a dance form.

✗ A) It explains why audiences prefer some kinds of music over others.. The text says nothing about audience preferences for music.

✓ B) It discusses the development of a dance form.. The passage traces jazz tap from its origins in African American communities through its 1920s–1940s evolution — the development of a dance form.

✗ C) It describes how to play a musical instrument.. The text is about dance, not about how to play music.

✗ D) It emphasizes the popularity of a famous dancer.. No individual famous dancer is mentioned.

Answer: D) It notes an obstacle to observing an astronomical phenomenon, mentions a navigational ability of certain animals that inspired a solution to that obstacle, and then explains how researchers used an optical device to mimic that ability.

✗ A) It illustrates how most navigational tools utilize the NCP, recounts how researchers discovered that certain animals are able to navigate without using the NCP, and then proposes that this discovery could be used to avoid problems in navigation associated with reliance on the NCP.. The text never says animals navigate without the NCP or that most tools use it.

✗ B) It presents a celestial-based method of navigation, enumerates the comparative benefits of an alternative method used by certain animals that is based on an unrelated natural occurrence, and then indicates how researchers assessed the relative accuracy of the two methods.. There is no comparison of accuracy between animal navigation and the researcher method.

✗ C) It explains how the NCP is typically located, emphasizes a key difference between how humans and certain animals use the NCP for navigation, and then suggests an alternative way of using the NCP to improve existing navigational instruments.. The passage doesn't emphasize a difference between how humans and animals use the NCP.

✓ D) It notes an obstacle to observing an astronomical phenomenon, mentions a navigational ability of certain animals that inspired a solution to that obstacle, and then explains how researchers used an optical device to mimic that ability.. The sentences track exactly: (1) obstacle — NCP only visible at night; (2) animals inspired a solution using skylight polarization; (3) the polarimetric camera is the optical device that mimics that animal ability.

Answer: D) It suggests that John longs to experience a larger life outside the Florida woods.

✗ A) It provides an extended description of a location that John likes to visit.. The sentence isn't primarily about the river's features — it's about John's yearning.

✗ B) It reveals that some residents of John's town are confused by his behavior.. Confusion of townspeople is mentioned earlier, but not in this sentence.

✗ C) It illustrates the uniqueness of John's imagination compared to the imaginations of other children.. The sentence doesn't compare John to other children.

✓ D) It suggests that John longs to experience a larger life outside the Florida woods.. The twigs sail away "to Jacksonville, the sea, the wide world" and John "wanted to follow them" — that's a direct expression of longing to experience life beyond the Florida woods.

Answer: C) It identifies the problem that Nance and colleagues attempted to solve but did not.

✗ A) It describes a serious limitation of the method used by Nance and colleagues.. The second sentence describes the problem, not a limitation of the method itself.

✗ B) It presents the central finding reported by Nance and colleagues.. The central finding is in the third sentence (that the method didn't work).

✓ C) It identifies the problem that Nance and colleagues attempted to solve but did not.. The second sentence sets up the unresolved problem (when will Betelgeuse explode? unknown internal characteristics). The third sentence describes Nance's failed attempt to solve it.

✗ D) It explains how the work of Nance and colleagues was received by others in the field.. No reception by other scientists is discussed.

Answer: C) As questionable, because it rests on an incomplete consideration of potential sources of the elements detected in white dwarf atmospheres

✗ A) As unexpected, because it was widely believed at the time that white dwarf exoplanets lack continental crusts. Text 2 doesn't say the conclusion contradicts prior belief.

✗ B) As premature, because researchers have only just begun trying to determine what kinds of crusts white dwarf exoplanets had. Text 2 doesn't say research is too new — it says the reasoning is flawed.

✓ C) As questionable, because it rests on an incomplete consideration of potential sources of the elements detected in white dwarf atmospheres. Putirka and Xu argue that Text 1's studies don't account for other mineral ratios and rock types that could produce the same atmospheric elements. That's exactly "incomplete consideration of potential sources."

✗ D) As puzzling, because it's unusual to successfully detect lithium and sodium when analyzing wavelengths of light in white dwarf atmospheres. Text 2 never says detecting lithium/sodium is unusual.

Answer: C) He feels both scared and excited.

✗ A) He feels overjoyed.. "Overjoyed" is too strong — the narrator also feels scared.

✗ B) He feels peaceful.. "Peaceful" contradicts the scared feeling.

✓ C) He feels both scared and excited.. The final sentence literally says: "I did feel scared, but also excited." Match.

✗ D) He feels both angry and jealous.. Neither anger nor jealousy is mentioned.

Answer: B) He is delighted by what he sees in the portrait.

✗ A) He wants to know Hallward's opinion of the portrait.. Dorian isn't even catching the meaning of Hallward's words — he isn't seeking Hallward's opinion.

✓ B) He is delighted by what he sees in the portrait.. "Cheeks flushed for a moment with pleasure," "a look of joy," "motionless and in wonder," "revelation" — all express delight.

✗ C) He prefers portraits to other types of paintings.. The text doesn't compare portraits to other painting types.

✗ D) He is uncertain of Hallward's talent as an artist.. Dorian is enthralled by the portrait, which implies confidence in the artist, not doubt.

Answer: A) He draws from traditional Native art forms to create his original works.

✓ A) He draws from traditional Native art forms to create his original works.. The passage lists Native art forms (beadwork, dressmaking, jingles from the Ojibwe jingle dance) that Gibson incorporates into his original works using punching bags.

✗ B) He has been influenced by Native and non-Native artists equally.. The passage never mentions non-Native artistic influences.

✗ C) He finds inspiration from boxing in designing the dresses he makes.. Gibson doesn't make dresses; he decorates punching bags.

✗ D) He rejects expectations about color and pattern when incorporating beadwork.. Color and pattern in beadwork aren't discussed in the passage.

Answer: A) "She had never known before how much the country meant to her. The chirping of the insects down in the long grass had been like the sweetest music. She had felt as if her heart were hiding down there, somewhere, with the quail and the plover and all the little wild things that crooned or buzzed in the sun. Under the long shaggy ridges, she felt the future stirring."

✓ A) "She had never known before how much the country meant to her. The chirping of the insects down in the long grass had been like the sweetest music. She had felt as if her heart were hiding down there, somewhere, with the quail and the plover and all the little wild things that crooned or buzzed in the sun. Under the long shaggy ridges, she felt the future stirring.". "Her heart were hiding down there" with the wild things, insects like the "sweetest music," "the future stirring" under the ridges — this is unambiguous emotional connection to nature.

✗ B) "Alexandra talked to the men about their crops and to the women about their poultry. She spent a whole day with one young farmer who had been away at school, and who was experimenting with a new kind of clover hay. She learned a great deal.". Talking to farmers about crops isn't an emotional connection to nature.

✗ C) "Alexandra drove off alone. The rattle of her wagon was lost in the howling of the wind, but her lantern, held firmly between her feet, made a moving point of light along the highway, going deeper and deeper into the dark country.". Driving alone at night describes a scene but not her emotional bond with the land.

✗ D) "It was Alexandra who read the papers and followed the markets, and who learned by the mistakes of their neighbors. It was Alexandra who could always tell about what it had cost to fatten each steer, and who could guess the weight of a hog before it went on the scales closer than John Bergson [her father] himself.". Reading market prices and estimating hog weights shows business acumen, not emotional connection to nature.

Answer: A) The percentage of authors published by Random House who were Black rose in the early 1970s and stabilized throughout the decade.

✓ A) The percentage of authors published by Random House who were Black rose in the early 1970s and stabilized throughout the decade.. A rise in the percentage of Black authors published by Random House during her editorial tenure directly demonstrates her success at strengthening Black writers' presence on the list.

✗ B) Black authors who were interviewed in the 1980s and 1990s were highly likely to cite Toni Morrison's novels as a principal influence on their work.. Her influence as a novelist on other authors is separate from her editorial work at Random House.

✗ C) The novels written by Toni Morrison that were published after 1983 sold significantly more copies and received wider critical acclaim than the novels she wrote that were published before 1983.. The commercial reception of her own novels doesn't speak to what she did as an editor.

✗ D) Works that were edited by Toni Morrison during her time at Random House displayed stylistic characteristics that distinguished them from works that were not edited by Morrison.. Stylistic distinctiveness of edited books doesn't establish anything about Black authors' presence.

Answer: A) Analysis of the animal bones showed that the cattle's diet also consisted of wheat, which humans widely cultivated in China during the Bronze Age.

✓ A) Analysis of the animal bones showed that the cattle's diet also consisted of wheat, which humans widely cultivated in China during the Bronze Age.. Wheat is another human-cultivated crop. If cattle ate both millet and wheat (human crops) — but sheep and goats ate wild plants — that strongly reinforces that cattle were raised near humans while sheep and goats roamed away.

✗ B) Further investigation of sheep and goat bones revealed that their diets consisted of small portions of millet as well.. This would actually weaken the conclusion by suggesting sheep and goats also grazed near humans.

✗ C) Cattle's diets generally require larger amounts of food and a greater variety of nutrients than do sheep's and goats' diets.. Nutritional requirements don't address proximity to human settlements.

✗ D) The diets of sheep, goats, and cattle were found to vary based on what the farmers in each Bronze Age settlement could grow.. This says the diets varied by farmer's crops — which is neutral or contrary to the specific pattern claimed.

Answer: C) DptB may have developed as a specific defense against A. sicerae.

✗ A) DptA confers defense against A. sicerae regardless of the presence of DptB.. Type A flies (DptA silenced) survive best, so DptA isn't providing defense against A. sicerae — DptB is.

✗ B) DptB protects against only one bacteria species, whereas DptA protects against multiple species.. The graph only shows one species (A. sicerae), so we can't compare protection across species.

✓ C) DptB may have developed as a specific defense against A. sicerae.. Type A flies (which still have DptB) survive; type B and type AB flies (both lack DptB) die. That means DptB is critical for surviving A. sicerae specifically — suggesting it evolved as a specific defense against it.

✗ D) defense against A. sicerae is strongest when both DptA and DptB are present.. Type AB (both absent) does worst, but type A (only DptB present) does better than type B, meaning DptB alone provides strong defense — DptA isn't needed alongside it.

Answer: D) reducing invasive E. esula numbers without harming other organisms.

✗ A) making individual E. esula plants more susceptible to existing chemical herbicides.. The new DNA method isn't about making E. esula susceptible to herbicides; it's a replacement approach.

✗ B) enhancing the ecological benefits of E. esula in North America.. E. esula has no stated ecological benefits — it's invasive.

✗ C) enabling cattle to consume E. esula without becoming sick.. The method inhibits reproduction, not toxicity to cattle.

✓ D) reducing invasive E. esula numbers without harming other organisms.. The passage explicitly contrasts chemical herbicides (which "kill harmless plants nearby") with the new approach that "exclusively" targets E. esula. "Consequently" the logical result is reducing E. esula without collateral damage.

Answer: C) ELF3 enables A. thaliana to respond to increased temperatures.

✗ A) temperature-sensitive accelerated flowering is unique to A. thaliana.. The experiment tests A. thaliana specifically; it doesn't rule out temperature-sensitive flowering in other species.

✗ B) A. thaliana increases ELF3 production as temperatures rise.. The experiment swapped the ELF3 protein but didn't measure how much of it is produced at different temperatures.

✓ C) ELF3 enables A. thaliana to respond to increased temperatures.. When A. thaliana has its own ELF3, it accelerates flowering at 27°C. When ELF3 is replaced with stiff brome's version, that acceleration disappears. The A. thaliana-specific ELF3 is what enables the temperature response.

✗ D) temperatures of at least 22° Celsius are required for A. thaliana to flower.. The plants still flowered at 22°C — the passage never says flowering requires a minimum temperature.

Answer: B) out, but

✗ A) out but. "out but" without a comma creates a run-on joining two independent clauses.

✓ B) out, but. Two independent clauses joined by "but" require a comma before "but." "…caused many dinosaurs and other animals to die out" is a complete clause, and "it left unexplored the question…" is another. The comma-plus-coordinator (", but") is the correct connector.

✗ C) out. "out" alone creates a comma splice/run-on because the two clauses aren't joined.

✗ D) out,. "out," alone (comma only, no coordinator) is a classic comma splice.

Answer: A) value, but

✓ A) value, but. Two independent clauses need a comma + coordinator. "…lower a book's value" is complete; "when the former owner is a famous poet like Walt Whitman, such markings…can be a gold mine" is complete. ", but" correctly signals the contrast.

✗ B) value. No punctuation creates a run-on.

✗ C) value,. Comma alone (no "but") is a comma splice.

✗ D) value but. "but" without the comma is a run-on.

Answer: C) forcing

✗ A) forces. "forces" would be a second finite verb, which after a comma creates a comma splice (two independent clauses joined only by a comma).

✗ B) to force. "to force" is an infinitive; the sentence already has a main verb ("may become").

✓ C) forcing. The participial phrase "forcing the monkeys to hunt…" correctly modifies the preceding clause — it explains the consequence of food sources becoming unavailable. Present participles are the standard way to attach a consequential modifier.

✗ D) forced. "forced" (past participle) doesn't fit the ongoing consequence being described.

Answer: C) lifelike,

✗ A) lifelike but. "lifelike but" without a comma joins two independent clauses without the required comma.

✗ B) lifelike. "lifelike" alone with no punctuation creates a run-on.

✓ C) lifelike,. The subordinate clause "While many video game creators strive to make their graphics ever more lifelike" starts with "While" (a subordinator), so the sentence needs just a comma to attach the independent clause "others look to the past…" — no coordinator required.

✗ D) lifelike, but. "lifelike, but" would be correct if both clauses were independent, but the first clause is subordinate (introduced by "While"), so "but" is redundant.

Answer: C) experiences

✗ A) experienced. "experienced" (simple past) doesn't match "connects" (present) in the earlier clause. Verb tenses in parallel constructions must match.

✗ B) had experienced. "had experienced" (past perfect) is even further off.

✓ C) experiences. The passage discusses what happens in a novel using the literary present tense ("connects"). The parallel verb must also be present tense: "experiences."

✗ D) will be experiencing. "will be experiencing" (future progressive) doesn't fit; the events in the novel aren't in the future.

Answer: C) photosynthesis:

✗ A) photosynthesis and. "photosynthesis and" reads as if the sentence lists photosynthesis and something else — it grammatically continues but semantically doesn't fit.

✗ B) photosynthesis,. "photosynthesis," (comma alone) with an independent clause following creates a comma splice.

✓ C) photosynthesis:. A colon correctly introduces the explanation/elaboration that follows. "…affects the chemical reaction rate of photosynthesis: as light intensity increases, so does the rate…" The second clause explains the first.

✗ D) photosynthesis. "photosynthesis" with no punctuation creates a run-on.

Answer: C) their

✗ A) its. "its" (singular possessive) doesn't match the antecedent "types of pop culture references" (plural).

✗ B) they're. "they're" = they are, a contraction — grammatically impossible as a possessive.

✓ C) their. The antecedent is "the types of pop culture references," which is plural. "Their place" (plural possessive) is the correct pronoun.

✗ D) it's. "it's" = it is, another contraction, not possessive.

Answer: A) is

✓ A) is. The subject is "each one" (singular), which requires a singular verb. Present tense (matching "explains" earlier in the sentence) → "is."

✗ B) were. "were" is plural and past — wrong on both counts.

✗ C) have been. "have been" is plural.

✗ D) are. "are" is plural. Don't be fooled by the prepositional phrase "of a ghazal's couplets" — the subject is "each one," not "couplets."

Answer: B) for example,

✗ A) in contrast,. "In contrast" would require a preceding adaptation to contrast with — none is given.

✓ B) for example,. The first sentence makes a general claim about surprising adaptations. The second gives a specific illustration (tadpole shrimp embryos pausing for years). "For example" is the standard transition from general claim to specific instance.

✗ C) meanwhile,. "Meanwhile" implies simultaneous action — there's no other event happening in parallel.

✗ D) consequently,. "Consequently" implies cause and effect, but the embryos' ability isn't a consequence of the general claim.

Answer: B) Previously,

✗ A) As a result,. "As a result" implies Zhao's win caused Bigelow's — chronologically impossible.

✓ B) Previously,. The second sentence describes what happened before Zhao's win (Bigelow's earlier win). "Previously" correctly signals the shift into background context.

✗ C) However,. "However" would signal a contrast, but Bigelow's earlier win doesn't contrast with Zhao's — it contextualizes it.

✗ D) Likewise,. "Likewise" would suggest similarity in the same event, not a temporal predecessor.

Answer: B) Hence,

✗ A) That said,. "That said" softens a preceding claim before making an opposing one — but here the third sentence follows logically, not oppositionally.

✓ B) Hence,. The sentence draws a conclusion from the fact that siderophiles are more abundant than the core-differentiation model predicts. "Hence" (therefore) marks that logical conclusion: because the model can't explain the abundance, extraterrestrial material must have contributed.

✗ C) For example,. "For example" would introduce an instance, but extraterrestrial delivery is a proposed cause, not an example.

✗ D) Likewise,. "Likewise" implies similarity — there's no prior similar situation given.

Answer: B) A 2013 analysis of cat bone fragments found in Quanhucun, China, suggests that cats there may have been domesticated 5,300 years ago.

✗ A) As part of a 2013 study of cat domestication, a chemical analysis was conducted on cat bone fragments found in Quanhucun, China.. Describes the method but doesn't state the conclusion (domestication).

✓ B) A 2013 analysis of cat bone fragments found in Quanhucun, China, suggests that cats there may have been domesticated 5,300 years ago.. Presents both the study (2013 analysis of cat bone fragments from Quanhucun) and the conclusion (cats may have been domesticated 5,300 years ago). Best synthesis of the notes.

✗ C) In 2013, archaeologists studied what cats in Quanhucun, China, had eaten more than 5,000 years ago.. Describes the method (what the cats ate) but not the conclusion.

✗ D) Cat bone fragments estimated to be 5,300 years old were found in Quanhucun, China, in 2013.. Says only what was found (bone fragments) — no study result or conclusion.

Answer: C) While both are by Enriquez, the 2003 portrait of Luis Jimenez is a painting, and the 2016 portrait of Rudolfo Anaya is a drawing.

✗ A) The portraits, or artistic representations, of Luis Jimenez and Rudolfo Anaya were both completed by Enriquez in the early 2000s.. Emphasizes similarities (both by Enriquez, both early 2000s), not differences.

✗ B) Enriquez has completed portraits of numerous Mexican Americans, including sculptor Luis Jimenez and writer Rudolfo Anaya.. Lists commonalities, not the difference.

✓ C) While both are by Enriquez, the 2003 portrait of Luis Jimenez is a painting, and the 2016 portrait of Rudolfo Anaya is a drawing.. Directly contrasts the two portraits: 2003 painting of Jimenez vs. 2016 drawing of Anaya. The word "while" plus two different mediums explicitly emphasizes the difference.

✗ D) Luis Jimenez was a Mexican American sculptor, and Rudolfo Anaya was a Mexican American writer.. Describes the sitters, not the portraits — and doesn't contrast the portraits themselves.

Answer: C) Since 2003, Louise Miller Cohen and Vermelle Rodrigues have worked to preserve Gullah culture through their museums.

✗ A) At the Gullah Museums in Hilton Head Island and Georgetown, South Carolina, visitors can learn more about the Gullah people who have lived in the region for centuries.. Describes the museums but doesn't emphasize duration or purpose of Cohen's and Rodrigues's work.

✗ B) Louise Miller Cohen and Vermelle Rodrigues have worked to preserve the culture of the Gullah people, who have lived in the United States since the 18th century.. Mentions the purpose (preserve culture) but not the duration of their own work.

✓ C) Since 2003, Louise Miller Cohen and Vermelle Rodrigues have worked to preserve Gullah culture through their museums.. "Since 2003" gives the duration; "have worked to preserve Gullah culture through their museums" gives the purpose. Both women, both requirements.

✗ D) Influenced by the traditions of West and Central Africa, Gullah culture developed in parts of the southeastern United States in the 18th century.. Describes Gullah culture in general — not Cohen and Rodrigues's work.