Breaking Down Digital SAT Writing
Jul 3
The Writing section of the digital SAT Suite focuses on assessing essential literacy skills crucial for college and career readiness. It evaluates students' abilities in rhetoric and language use through multiple-choice questions. Students are tasked with revising texts to enhance rhetorical expression and editing to conform to the core conventions of Standard English.
Digital SAT Writing
The Writing component of the digital SAT Suite evaluates essential literacy skills necessary for success in college and careers. Through multiple-choice questions, it assesses students' command of rhetoric and language use. Participants are tasked with revising texts to improve rhetorical clarity and editing to adhere to Standard English conventions.
Writing Content Domains
Standard English Conventions
Students will use editing skills and knowledge to make text conform to core conventions of Standard English sentence structure, usage, and punctuation.
Skill: Form, Structure, and Sense
Rabinal Achí is a precolonial Maya dance drama performed annually in Rabinal, a town in the Guatemalan highlands. Based on events that occurred when Rabinal was a city-state ruled by a king, $\qquad$ had once been an ally of the king but was later captured while leading an invading force against him.
Correct answer: A
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) Rabinal Achí tells the story of K'iche' Achí, a military leader who
B) K'iche' Achí, the military leader in the story of Rabinal Achí,
C) there was a military leader, K'iche' Achí, who in Rabinal Achí
D) the military leader whose story is told in Rabinal Achí, K'iche' Achí,
Correct answer: A
Choice A is the best answer. This choice ensures that the introductory participial phrase "Based on events that occurred when Rabinal was a citystate ruled by a king" appears immediately before the noun it modifies, "Rabinal Achí."
Choices B, C, and D are incorrect because "Based on events that occurred when Rabinal was a city-state ruled by a king" should appear next to the words it modifies, "Rabinal Achí," whereas all these choices result in dangling modifiers.
Skill: Boundaries
According to Naomi Nakayama of the University of Edinburgh, the reason seeds from a dying dandelion appear to float in the air while _____ is that their porous plumes enhance drag, allowing the seeds to stay airborne long enough for the wind to disperse them throughout the surrounding area.
Correct answer: D
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) falling,
B) falling:
C) falling;
D) falling
Correct answer: D
Explanation
Choice D is the best answer. No punctuation is needed.
Choices A, B, and C are incorrect because each inserts unnecessary punctuation (a comma, colon, and semicolon, respectively) between the sentence's subject ("the reason . . . falling") and the verb "is."
Choice D is the best answer. No punctuation is needed.
Choices A, B, and C are incorrect because each inserts unnecessary punctuation (a comma, colon, and semicolon, respectively) between the sentence's subject ("the reason . . . falling") and the verb "is."
Standard English Conventions
Students will use the ability to revise texts to improve the effectiveness of written expression and to meet specific rhetorical goals.
Skill: Transitions
Iraqi artist Nazik Al-Malaika, celebrated as the first Arabic poet to write in free verse, didn't reject traditional forms entirely; her poem "Elegy for a Woman of No Importance" consists of two ten-line stanzas and a standard number of syllables. Even in this superficially traditional work, $\qquad$ Al-Malaika was breaking new ground by memorializing an anonymous woman rather than a famous man.
Explanation
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) in fact,
B) though,
C) therefore,
D) moreover,
Correct answer: B
Explanation
Choice B is the best answer. The passage's first sentence establishes that although Al-Malaika is famous for her free verse poetry, she still made some use of traditional poetic forms, as in her work "Elegy for a Woman of No Importance." The passage's last sentence qualifies the point made in the passage's first sentence by indicating that even when Al-Malaika used traditional forms, as in "Elegy," she challenged tradition, in this case by making an "anonymous woman rather than a famous man" the subject of the poem. "Though" is the best transition for the passage's last sentence because, along with "even," it signals that AlMalaika subverted traditional poetic forms even when she used them by, in this case, using a nontraditional subject for an elegy.
Choice A is incorrect because "in fact" illogically signals that the passage's last sentence stresses or amplifies the truth of the assertion made in the passage's first sentence.
Choice C is incorrect because "therefore" illogically signals that the passage's last sentence describes a consequence arising from the assertion made in the passage's first sentence.
Choice D is incorrect because "moreover" illogically signals that the passage's last sentence merely offers additional information about the assertion made in the passage's first sentence.
Choice C is incorrect because "therefore" illogically signals that the passage's last sentence describes a consequence arising from the assertion made in the passage's first sentence.
Choice D is incorrect because "moreover" illogically signals that the passage's last sentence merely offers additional information about the assertion made in the passage's first sentence.
Skill: Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
Correct answer: B
Explanation
- Maika'i Tubbs is a Native Hawaiian sculptor and installation artist.
- His work has been shown in the United States, Canada, Japan, and Germany, among other places.
- Many of his sculptures feature discarded objects.
- His work Erasure (2008) includes discarded audiocassette tapes and magnets.
- His work Home Grown (2009) includes discarded pushpins, plastic plates and forks, and wood.
The student wants to emphasize a similarity between the two works. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
A) Erasure (2008) uses discarded objects such as audiocassette tapes and magnets; Home Grown (2009), however, includes pushpins, plastic plates and forks, and wood.
B) Like many of Tubbs's sculptures, both Erasure and Home Grown include discarded objects: Erasure uses audiocassette tapes, and Home Grown uses plastic forks.
C) Tubbs's work, which often features discarded objects, has been shown both within the United States and abroad.
D) Tubbs completed Erasure in 2008 and Home Grown in 2009.
Correct answer: B
Explanation
Choice B is the best answer. The sentence uses "like many of Tubbs's sculptures" and "both" to emphasize a similarity between Erasure and Home Grown in terms of their common use of discarded objects, though the specific discarded objects used differed between the two works.
Choice A is incorrect because although the sentence discusses two of Tubbs's works, the use of "however" emphasizes a contrast, rather than a similarity, between the works.
Choice C is incorrect because the sentence focuses only on Tubbs's work in general and does not mention any specific works.
Choice D is incorrect because the sentence simply conveys information about two of Tubbs's works-the year in which each was completed-without establishing any sort of logical relationship between the pieces of information.
Choice A is incorrect because although the sentence discusses two of Tubbs's works, the use of "however" emphasizes a contrast, rather than a similarity, between the works.
Choice C is incorrect because the sentence focuses only on Tubbs's work in general and does not mention any specific works.
Choice D is incorrect because the sentence simply conveys information about two of Tubbs's works-the year in which each was completed-without establishing any sort of logical relationship between the pieces of information.
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