10 original Cross-Text Connections questions, easiest first. Two short texts — work out how the second author would answer the first. Answer them all, then submit once to see every answer explained.
Text 1: Theater critic Amina Yusuf praises a director's decision to stage a Shakespearean tragedy in modern dress and a contemporary urban setting, arguing that the choice makes the play's themes feel newly urgent to modern audiences. Text 2: Theater historian Boris Kaminski, who has studied similar modern-dress productions elsewhere, cautions that updating a play's setting can sometimes obscure historical context that is essential to understanding certain plot points and character motivations.
Which choice best describes the relationship between the two texts?
A — Kaminski identifies a potential drawback of the approach that Yusuf praises.. Yusuf praises modern-dress staging for making themes feel urgent; Kaminski warns this same technique can obscure historical context needed for understanding—a caution about a drawback of the very approach Yusuf endorses.
Text 1: Economist Aiko Tanaka argues that remote work permanently reduced demand for downtown office space, citing vacancy rates that have remained elevated for years after the initial shift to remote work. Text 2: Economist Daniel Voss contends that current vacancy rates reflect a temporary adjustment period, and that as leases expire and companies redesign offices for hybrid collaboration, downtown demand will largely recover.
Based on the texts, how would Voss most likely respond to Tanaka's citation of elevated vacancy rates?
B — By arguing that the vacancy rates reflect a temporary transition rather than a permanent decline.. Voss's position is that current conditions are a temporary adjustment, not a permanent shift, so he would explain the same vacancy data as reflecting a transition period rather than accepting Tanaka's permanence claim.
Text 1: Immunologist Grace Adebayo claims that a new nasal-spray vaccine provides adequate protection against a common respiratory virus for most healthy adults, citing antibody response data from clinical trials. Text 2: Physician Leo Ferraro agrees that the nasal spray produces a strong antibody response but stresses that its real-world effectiveness depends on proper administration technique, which clinical trial staff, unlike ordinary patients self-administering the spray at home, were trained to perform correctly.
Which choice best describes how Ferraro's statement relates to Adebayo's claim?
A — It adds a practical caveat about real-world use without disputing the underlying trial data.. Ferraro 'agrees' with the core trial data but adds a qualification about real-world administration technique mattering—a practical caveat, not a contradiction or unrelated point.
Text 1: Immunologist Chidi Eze claims that a new topical antifungal cream provides adequate treatment for most cases of mild athlete's foot, citing recovery-time data from clinical trials. Text 2: Dermatologist Ana Belmonte agrees that the cream produces strong recovery outcomes in trials but stresses that its real-world effectiveness depends on patients applying it consistently for the full recommended duration, which trial participants, unlike typical patients who often stop once symptoms fade, were monitored to ensure.
Which choice best describes how Belmonte's statement relates to Eze's claim?
B — It adds a practical caveat about real-world use without disputing the underlying trial data.. Belmonte 'agrees' with the core trial data but adds a qualification about real-world adherence mattering—a practical caveat, not a contradiction or unrelated point.
Text 1: Art critic Simone Duval praises a museum's decision to display contemporary sculptures alongside ancient artifacts, arguing that the juxtaposition reveals surprising continuities in how humans across eras represent the body. Text 2: Curator Felix Adeyemi, who organized a similar exhibit at another museum, cautions that placing objects from vastly different eras side by side risks flattening their distinct historical contexts into a misleading sense of timeless sameness.
Which choice best describes the relationship between the two texts?
C — Adeyemi identifies a potential drawback of the approach that Duval praises.. Duval praises juxtaposing eras for revealing continuities; Adeyemi warns this same technique risks erasing important historical differences—a caution about a drawback of the very approach Duval endorses.
Text 1: Historian Beatriz Nogueira argues that the widespread adoption of the printing press in 16th-century Europe was the primary catalyst for standardized national languages. Text 2: Historian Anders Holm agrees that the press mattered but argues that centralized royal courts, which had already begun promoting a single dialect for official documents before print became widespread, were an equally necessary precondition for the standardization Nogueira describes.
Which choice best describes how Holm's argument relates to Nogueira's?
C — Holm builds on Nogueira's claim by identifying an additional necessary factor.. Holm does not reject the press's importance ('agrees that the press mattered') but adds royal court promotion as an additional necessary factor—building on, not rejecting, Nogueira's claim.
Text 1: Sociologist Hana Park's survey found that people who volunteer regularly report greater life satisfaction than those who do not, and she suggests that volunteering itself boosts well-being. Text 2: Sociologist Owen Bright points out that people with higher life satisfaction to begin with may simply be more likely to choose to volunteer, meaning the causal arrow could run in the opposite direction from what Park proposes.
Which choice best describes Bright's argument in relation to Park's?
D — Bright questions the direction of causality that Park assumes.. Bright's point ('the causal arrow could run in the opposite direction') directly challenges Park's assumption about which factor causes which, questioning causality rather than agreeing, denying any relationship, or duplicating her methodology.
Text 1: Film critic Renata Alves praises a director's decision to shoot an entire feature film in a single continuous take, arguing that the unbroken shot heightens tension and immerses viewers in real time. Text 2: Cinematographer Klaus Berger, who has worked on similar single-take productions, cautions that the technical constraints of an unbroken shot often force directors to sacrifice more dynamic camera angles and editing choices that could otherwise strengthen individual scenes.
Which choice best describes the relationship between the two texts?
D — Berger identifies a potential drawback of the approach that Alves praises.. Alves praises the single-take technique for heightening tension; Berger warns this same technique forces sacrifices in camera work and editing—a caution about a drawback of the very approach Alves endorses.
Text 1: Data scientist Hanna Voss argues that predictive policing algorithms allow police departments to allocate patrol resources more efficiently by identifying areas with statistically higher crime likelihood. Text 2: Sociologist Marcus Delaney notes that these algorithms are trained on historical arrest data, meaning they can direct increased patrol presence to neighborhoods that were already over-policed in the past, reinforcing existing patterns rather than neutrally identifying risk.
Which choice best describes Delaney's response to Voss's argument?
C — He complicates Voss's claim by identifying a mechanism through which bias could persist.. Delaney doesn't flatly reject the efficiency claim; he points out a specific mechanism (training on historically biased data) by which the algorithm could reinforce existing patterns—complicating, not simply endorsing or flatly opposing, Voss's claim.
Text 1: Essayist Nadia Farrow argues that literary translation should prioritize preserving a text's rhythm and sound over achieving strict word-for-word accuracy. Text 2: Translator Karim Aziz argues that prioritizing rhythm over precise meaning risks distorting the author's original intent in ways that no amount of pleasing sound can justify.
Aziz would most likely respond to Farrow's claim by arguing that
B — prioritizing rhythm over precise meaning risks misrepresenting the author's original intent.. Aziz's stated position is that prioritizing rhythm over meaning risks distorting original intent—this directly opposes Farrow's claim that rhythm should be prioritized, so he would argue this risks misrepresentation.
Score:
Every question above is now marked up: the correct answer is highlighted, any wrong option you picked is flagged, and each explanation is open.
No. Every question here is original, written to the College Board's published Digital SAT Reading & Writing specification for the Cross-Text Connections skill. No retired or copyrighted College Board material appears anywhere on this site.
Cross-Text Connections gives you Text 1 and Text 2 on the same subject and asks how one author would respond to the other, or how their positions relate. It is the only Reading & Writing question type that requires holding two arguments in mind at once, which is why it is consistently one of the hardest.
Before reading the choices, write each author's claim in your own words in five or six words — "wage rises cut jobs" versus "study found no job loss". Then decide the relationship between those two summaries: agree, disagree, or agree-with-a-qualification. Only then read the choices, and reject any that misstate either author, however well it describes the other.
No, and deliberately so. This drill is 10 Cross-Text Connections questions back to back; a real Reading & Writing module is 27 questions in 32 minutes drawn from all eleven skills. Use a drill to fix one weakness, then take a full module to practice the real thing.
No. The SAT has no penalty for a wrong answer — a blank and a wrong guess both score zero — so answer every question, including the ones you have to guess.