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: Political scientist Yusuf Demir argues that open party primaries increase voter engagement by allowing independents to participate in candidate selection. Text 2: Political scientist Elena Popescu counters that open primaries can dilute a party's ability to nominate candidates who reflect its core values, since voters with little long-term investment in the party can meaningfully influence its choice of nominee.
Which choice best describes the relationship between the two arguments?
A — They agree that primary rules matter but disagree about open primaries' net effect.. Both scholars are engaging with open primaries' effects, but Demir sees a net benefit (engagement) while Popescu raises a potential offsetting cost (diluted nominee selection)—shared topic, differing conclusions about net effect.
Text 1: Epidemiologist Grace Muthoni argues that mandatory paid sick leave policies reduce the spread of contagious illness in workplaces by allowing sick employees to stay home without losing income. Text 2: Economist Bilal Rahman counters that some small businesses respond to mandatory paid sick leave by reducing overall staffing levels, which can increase workplace crowding among remaining employees and potentially offset some of the public health benefit Muthoni describes.
Which choice best describes the relationship between the two arguments?
C — They agree that sick leave policy affects workplace health but disagree about its net effect.. Both scholars are engaged with the policy's health impact, but Muthoni sees a net public health benefit while Rahman raises a potential offsetting mechanism (staffing reductions)—shared topic, differing conclusions about net effect.
Text 1: Psychologist Noor Hassan's study of 180 college students found that those who studied in the same room where they would later take an exam scored higher than those who studied in a different room, and she concluded that environmental context itself improves recall. Text 2: A subsequent study by psychologist Diego Fuentes replicated Hassan's design with a different group of 180 students and found no advantage for same-room studiers, though those students did report feeling calmer during the exam, suggesting the original effect may not generalize to all student populations.
Which choice best describes the significance of Fuentes's study in relation to Hassan's?
D — It suggests that Hassan's conclusion about recall may not generalize across all student populations.. Fuentes replicated the method but found no recall advantage in a different group, implying the original result may be population-specific rather than universal—challenging generalizability without claiming fabrication.
Text 1: Hydrologist Marta Kowalczyk's model predicts that a particular mountain snowpack will shrink by half within 30 years given current warming trends. Text 2: A separate research team led by David Okonjo found that higher-elevation snowfall in the same mountain range has increased slightly due to a regional shift in storm tracks, adding snow mass at the highest elevations fast enough to partially offset the melting occurring at lower elevations, though not eliminate the overall shrinkage.
How does the finding described in Text 2 relate to the prediction in Text 1?
C — It suggests Kowalczyk's timeline may be too pessimistic, though significant shrinkage is not ruled out.. Added high-elevation snow offsetting melting 'though not eliminate the overall shrinkage' suggests the snowpack may shrink less severely than projected, but significant shrinkage isn't ruled out—softening, not confirming or negating, Kowalczyk's timeline.
Text 1: Political scientist Desmond Okoro argues that campaign finance disclosure requirements increase public trust in elections by making donor information transparent. Text 2: Political scientist Ingrid Halvorsen counters that disclosure requirements can also discourage small, individual donors who fear harassment or professional repercussions for publicly supporting a controversial candidate, potentially reducing broad-based participation even as transparency improves.
Which choice best describes the relationship between the two arguments?
A — They agree that disclosure policy affects the political process but disagree about its net effect.. Both scholars are engaged with disclosure's effect on the political process, but Okoro sees a net trust benefit while Halvorsen raises a potential participation cost—shared topic, differing conclusions about net effect.
Text 1: Epidemiologist Farida Haidari argues that mandatory workplace vaccination requirements reduce the spread of contagious illness by increasing overall immunity rates among employees. Text 2: Human resources researcher Trevor Lang counters that some employees respond to mandatory vaccination requirements by working while feeling unwell rather than risk conflict over exemption requests, potentially increasing illness spread in ways that offset some of the public health benefit Haidari describes.
Which choice best describes the relationship between the two arguments?
B — They agree that vaccination policy affects workplace health but disagree about its net effect.. Both scholars are engaged with the policy's health impact, but Haidari sees a net public health benefit while Lang raises a potential offsetting behavioral mechanism—shared topic, differing conclusions about net effect.
Text 1: Climatologist Nadia Farouk's model predicts that a particular coastal wetland will be fully submerged within 30 years given current sea-level rise trends. Text 2: A separate research team led by Omar Haddad found that sediment naturally accumulating in the same wetland is raising its elevation fast enough to offset a significant portion of the projected sea-level rise, though not all of it.
How does the finding described in Text 2 relate to the prediction in Text 1?
D — It suggests Farouk's timeline may be too pessimistic, though submersion may still eventually occur.. Sediment accumulation offsetting 'a significant portion... though not all' of the rise suggests the wetland may last longer than 30 years, but submersion is not ruled out entirely—this softens, rather than confirms or negates, Farouk's timeline.
Text 1: Psychologist Renata Silva's study of 150 remote workers found that those who took short walking breaks every hour reported higher afternoon productivity than those who worked without breaks, and she concluded that movement itself boosts productivity. Text 2: A subsequent study by psychologist Adam Kessler replicated Silva's design with a different group of 150 remote workers and found the walking-break group did not show a productivity advantage, though they did report lower stress, suggesting the original effect may not generalize to all worker populations.
Which choice best describes the significance of Kessler's study in relation to Silva's?
A — It suggests that Silva's conclusion about productivity may not generalize across all worker populations.. Kessler replicated the method but found no productivity advantage in a different group, implying the original result may be population-specific rather than universal—challenging generalizability without claiming fabrication.
Text 1: Psychologist Mireille Fontaine's study of 140 students found that those who took practice tests under strict time limits performed better on a final exam than students who reviewed the same material without time pressure, and she concluded that time pressure itself improves retention. Text 2: A subsequent study by psychologist Ibrahim Osei replicated Fontaine's design with a different group of 140 students and found no exam advantage for the timed group, though they did report higher test-day anxiety, suggesting the original effect may not generalize to all student populations.
Which choice best describes the significance of Osei's study in relation to Fontaine's?
D — It suggests that Fontaine's conclusion about retention may not generalize across all student populations.. Osei replicated the method but found no exam advantage in a different group, implying the original result may be population-specific rather than universal—challenging generalizability without claiming fabrication.
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.