9 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: Urban planner Grace Ibe advocates for congestion pricing, arguing that charging drivers a fee to enter city centers during peak hours reduces traffic and funds public transit improvements. Text 2: Economist Paolo Ricci notes that in cities where congestion pricing has been implemented, low-income drivers who cannot afford alternative transportation bear a disproportionate share of the fee's burden, even as wealthier drivers largely continue driving unaffected.
Which choice best describes how the information in Text 2 relates to the proposal described in Text 1?
D — It raises a potential equity concern not addressed in Text 1's description of the proposal.. Ricci's point about the burden falling on low-income drivers introduces an equity problem that Ibe's description (focused on traffic reduction and funding) does not mention—this is a new concern, not a confirmation or refutation of implementation.
Text 1: Novelist Amara Osei writes that a good short story must end on a note of ambiguity, trusting readers to resolve the meaning themselves. Text 2: Novelist Victor Lin argues that ambiguous endings often signal a writer's failure to fully develop their ideas, and that the strongest short stories commit to a clear resolution.
Osei would most likely respond to Lin's claim by arguing that
D — ambiguity reflects deliberate craft rather than incomplete development.. Osei's stated position is that ambiguity is intentional and trusts the reader—this directly opposes Lin's claim that ambiguity signals underdeveloped ideas, so she would argue it reflects deliberate craft.
Text 1: Ecologist Tomás Reyes reports that invasive Burmese pythons are significantly reducing native mammal populations across the Florida Everglades, warning of long-term damage to the region's food web. Text 2: Wildlife biologist Kelsey Munro's recent survey of the same Everglades region found that mammal populations have partially recovered in areas where a targeted python-removal program has been active for several years, suggesting active management may offset some of the damage Reyes describes.
Which choice best describes the relationship between the two texts?
A — Text 2 identifies a factor that may limit the scope of the trend described in Text 1.. Munro's finding that removal programs enable partial recovery doesn't deny the invasive threat (Text 1) but shows the damage may be offset where management is active—a limiting factor, not a refutation or mere restatement.
Text 1: Architectural critic Simone Laurent praises a new civic building's extensive use of glass, arguing it creates a sense of transparency and public accessibility appropriate for a government building. Text 2: Sustainability consultant Rafael Duarte notes that extensive glass facades, while visually striking, are significantly less energy-efficient than more traditional wall materials, requiring substantially more heating and cooling to maintain comfortable interior temperatures.
Which choice best describes the relationship between the two texts?
D — Duarte identifies a practical cost of the design choice that Laurent praises for its symbolic value.. Laurent praises the glass for its symbolic transparency; Duarte raises a separate, practical concern (energy inefficiency) about the same design choice—identifying a cost the symbolic praise doesn't address, not confirming or discussing an unrelated building.
Text 1: Ecologist Simone Bakker reports that an invasive species of freshwater snail is outcompeting native snails and reducing algae-grazing diversity in a chain of rivers, warning of long-term damage to river ecosystems. Text 2: Biologist Rowan Fitzgerald's recent survey of the same rivers found that native snail populations have stabilized in stretches where water temperature has remained unusually cool due to increased upstream shade, suggesting cooler conditions may offset some of the damage Bakker describes.
Which choice best describes the relationship between the two texts?
A — Text 2 identifies a factor that may limit the scope of the trend described in Text 1.. Fitzgerald's finding that cooler conditions stabilize populations doesn't deny the invasive threat (Text 1) but shows the damage may be offset in cooler stretches—a limiting factor, not a refutation or mere restatement.
Text 1: Software architect Renata Lima argues that serverless computing architectures reduce operational costs because companies only pay for the exact computing resources used during each function execution. Text 2: Systems engineer Kofi Mensah notes that this pay-per-execution model can become significantly more expensive than traditional server hosting for applications with consistently high, predictable traffic, since traditional hosting benefits from fixed, bulk-rate pricing in those cases.
Which choice best describes Mensah's response to Lima's argument?
B — He qualifies Lima's claim by noting a context where its cost benefits may not apply.. Mensah doesn't reject the cost-saving benefit outright; he notes it doesn't hold specifically 'for applications with consistently high, predictable traffic'—a contextual qualification, not a blanket endorsement or rejection.
Text 1: Immunologist Priyanka Rao claims that a new sublingual allergy tablet provides adequate desensitization for most patients with seasonal pollen allergies, citing symptom-reduction data from clinical trials. Text 2: Allergist Marco Bellini agrees that the tablet produces strong symptom reduction in trials but stresses that its real-world effectiveness depends on patients taking it daily for several months before pollen season begins, adherence that trial participants, unlike typical patients, were closely monitored to maintain.
Which choice best describes how Bellini's statement relates to Rao's claim?
B — It adds a practical caveat about real-world use without disputing the underlying trial data.. Bellini '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: Advocates of remote work claim it boosts productivity by eliminating commutes and office distractions.
Text 2: Researcher Nicholas Bloom acknowledges productivity gains on individual tasks but warns that fully remote teams may innovate less, because the spontaneous, in-person exchanges that spark new ideas rarely occur online.
Based on the texts, how would Bloom (Text 2) most likely characterize the claim made in Text 1?
A — As correct but incomplete. Bloom 'acknowledges productivity gains' (so Text 1 is partly right) but adds a cost Text 1 omits—reduced innovation. That is 'correct but incomplete.'
Text 1: Political scientist Marisol Vega argues that automatic voter registration increases overall turnout by removing a key administrative barrier to voting. Text 2: Political scientist Grant Whitfield counters that automatic registration can also add many disengaged, unmotivated voters to the rolls whose actual turnout rate is far lower than that of voluntarily registered voters, potentially diluting turnout statistics without meaningfully increasing genuine civic participation.
Which choice best describes the relationship between the two arguments?
B — They agree that registration policy affects turnout but disagree about its meaningful effect.. Both scholars are engaged with automatic registration's turnout impact, but Vega sees a straightforward increase while Whitfield questions whether that increase reflects genuine engagement—shared topic, differing conclusions about the meaningful effect.
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 9 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.