EBR - Question Types Lesson

 

Question Types

It is important to be familiar with the types of questions you will be asked on the SAT. Students will receive 65 minutes to complete the reading portion of the exam. This section has 52 questions. In addition, students will have 35 minutes to complete the writing and language section. This part of the exam has 44 questions.

The Evidence-Based Reading section is 100% multiple choice and 100% passage-based.

The Reading Test always includes:

• One passage from a classic or contemporary work of U.S. or world literature.
• One passage or a pair of passages from either a U.S. founding document or a text in the great global conversation they inspired. The U.S. Constitution or a speech by Nelson Mandela, for example.
• A selection about economics, psychology, sociology, or some other social science.
• Two science passages (or one passage and one passage pair) that examine foundational concepts and developments in Earth science, biology, chemistry, or physics.

Let's look at what the reading passage questions will assess:  

• Part of the reading section will focus on information and ideas. Students will be required to read the passages closely. Some questions will be explicitly stated in the text, while others will be implicit. Implicit means that students will have to draw reasonable inferences from the text.
• Students will also have to cite the textual evidence that best supports a given claim or point.
• Students will have to determine the theme of a text. Remember that the theme is the overarching idea the author wants to get across.  
• Students will identify a reasonable summary of a text.
• Students will examine compare/contrast, cause-effect, and sequence relationships.
• It will also be necessary to determine the meaning of vocabulary words in context.
• Another part of the reading section will focus on rhetoric. Rhetoric is the effective use of persuasive techniques.
• Students will examine mood and tone and overall word choice and the effect it has on the text.
• Students will look at the structure of a text. Once again, diction and syntax will be important to focus on with these questions.
• Students will also determine the point of view and purpose of a passage.
• They will have to analyze arguments looking at reasoning and evidence.
• Students will also need to synthesize information from paired passages.

Command of Evidence Question

Read the following speech excerpt given by Barbara Jordan (D-TX), a member of the House Judiciary Committee on May 9, 1974, in regards to Nixon's impeachment:

America has come too far for her "to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution."   Jordan reminds her colleagues that impeachment is not a conviction. It proceeds "from the misconduct of public men... the abuse or violation of some public trust." To vote for impeachment, she says, is not a vote for removing the president from office. The power of impeachment is "an essential check in the hands of this body, the legislature, against and upon the encroachment of the executive."

The framers of the Constitution "did not make the accusers and the judges the same person.... The framers confined in Congress the power, if need be, to remove the president in order to strike a delicate balance between a president swollen with power and grown tyrannical and preservation of the independence of the executive. It cannot become a political tool to strike against a president that a group of partisans dislikes but must proceed within the confines of the constitutional term, high crime, and misdemeanors. If the impeachment provision in the Constitution of the United States will not reach the offenses charged here, then perhaps that eighteenth-century Constitution should be abandoned to a twentieth-century paper shredder. Has the president committed offenses and planned and directed and acquiesced in a course of conduct that the Constitution will not tolerate? This is the question. We know that. We know the question. We should now forthwith proceed to answer the question. It is the reason, and not passion, which must guide our deliberations, guide our debate, and guide our decision."

Which choice provides the best evidence that impeachment should be about partisan politics?

A. It is the reason, and not passion, which must guide our deliberations, guide our debate, and guide our decision.

B. It cannot become a political tool to strike against a president that a group of partisans dislikes, but must "proceed within the confines of the constitutional term, high crime, and misdemeanors."

C. An essential check in the hands of this body, the legislature, against and upon the encroachment of the executive."

D. It proceeds "from the misconduct of public men... the abuse or violation of some public trust."

Answer choice B is the best choice. It emphasizes Jordan's point that impeachment is so serious it must be reserved for high crimes and misdemeanors, not merely for political gains.  This question shows how students will have to refer to the text to find evidence to support their answers.

Informational Graphics Question

The following is an example of how the SAT will utilize graphs as part of the passages. Students will be responsible for reading and understanding the graphs as well as answering key questions about the information presented.

 

The graph following the passage offers evidence that gift-givers base their predictions of how much a gift will be appreciated on

1. The appreciation level of the gift-recipients
2. The monetary value of the gift
3. Their own desires for the gifts they purchase
4. Their relationship with the gift-recipients

The graph clearly shows that gift-givers believe that a "more valuable" gift will be more appreciated than a "less valuable gift." According to the graph, gift givers believe the monetary value of a gift will determine whether or not that gift is well received.   So the correct answer is B.   Did you get it right?

Text Complexity Question

A text complexity question just refers to passages that vary from a low reading challenge to a high reading challenge. Students will experience both types of passages on the SAT.

Here is an example of a passage that is lower in complexity:

Every day, millions of shoppers hit the stores in full force—both online and on foot—searching frantically for the perfect gift. Last year, Americans spent over $30 billion at retail stores in the month of December alone. Aside from purchasing holiday gifts, most people regularly buy presents for other occasions throughout the year, including weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and baby showers. This frequent experience of gift-giving can engender ambivalent feelings in gift-givers. Many relish the opportunity to buy presents because gift-giving offers a powerful means to build stronger bonds with one's closest peers. At the same time, many dread the thought of buying gifts; they worry that their purchases will disappoint rather than delight the intended recipients.

Here is a more challenging passage demonstrating a higher text complexity:

The chemical formula of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is now well established. The molecule is a very long chain, the backbone of which consists of a regular alternation of sugar and phosphate groups. To each sugar is attached a nitrogenous base, which can be of four different types. Two of the possible bases—adenine and guanine—are purines, and the other two—thymine and cytosine—are pyrimidines. So far as is known, the sequence of bases along the chain is irregular. The monomer unit, consisting of phosphate, sugar and base, is known as a nucleotide.

A higher text complexity question will usually consist of elevated diction, uncommon sentence structures, and potentially unfamiliar vocabulary.

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