SAT Topics: Craft & Structure

The College Board groups the vocabulary questions together with roughly two-thirds of the reading questions into one category or domain and calls it Craft & Structure. The vocabulary questions are always the first questions on the test, and they are always followed by the reading questions, so this domain comprises more or less the first quarter of the test. This domain is sub-classified into three skills:

Words In Context — These are the vocabulary questions. The in context part refers to the fact that there are always context clues in the paragraph. These are not like synonym or antonym questions on other standardized tests. The SAT always gives you a brief paragraph, and there will be context clues in the paragraph. If you see a semicolon or a colon, that's almost always a clue. The blank will be on one side of the mark, and the clue will be on the other side. If the answer choices are all adjectives, figure out what noun it needs to describe, and then examine the rest of the paragraph for descriptive information about that noun. Here are the easy, medium, and hard practice problems from the SAT Practice Problem Databank.

Text Structure & Purpose — These are the reading questions with structure or purpose in the question prompt. Think of purpose as being like the theme of a story. What's the main point that the author is trying to get across to the reader? Think of structure as being like the plot of a story. What's the sequence of events or progression of steps? Here are the easy, medium, and hard practice problems from the SAT Practice Problem Databank.

Cross-Text Connections — These are the dueling text questions. You can always recognize these because there will be two brief passages, labeled Text 1 and Text 2. It can be helpful to spend 5 seconds scanning both passages to determine the common topic of discussion, then spend another 10 seconds on a closer inspection to determine the main points of difference or disagreement. In the easy category, this will be enough to lead you quickly to the correct answer. In the harder categories, you'll have to spend more time chewing, but you'll at least have established some helpful context. It is also helpful while reading the answer choices to keep your eyes open for any new dimensions or issues that were not present in the two texts. If an answer brings up a distinction or an issue that wasn't present in either text, you can rule that answer choice out. Here are the easy, medium, and hard practice problems from the SAT Practice Problem Databank.