SAT Reading & Writing: Overall Passage Structure
27+ practice questions in Praczo
The concept, explained
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Questions ask you to describe how the passage is organized from beginning to end.
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Look at the opening, middle, and conclusion. Summarize what each part DOES, not just what it says.
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Examples of structure: "It introduces a hypothesis, details an experiment testing the hypothesis, and then discusses the implications of the results."
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Or: "It presents a historical misconception, provides evidence counter to it, and concludes with a new theory."
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Avoid answers that accurately describe half the passage but misrepresent the ending.
- ✗ Choosing an answer that summarizes the passage's CONTENT rather than its structural progression.
- ✗ Picking a choice where the first half is correct but the second half is wrong.
SAT-style practice
A passage begins by describing a strange animal behavior. Next, it outlines three different scientists' theories about the behavior. Finally, it notes that current research cannot definitively prove any of the three. What is the passage's overall structure?
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