Free SAT Prep · Reading and Writing
Reading and Writing on the Digital SAT
The Reading and Writing section is two modules of 27 questions, and every question is one of a small, predictable set of skills. Learn what each one is actually testing and the section stops feeling like a reading test and starts feeling like a checklist.
These guides group the 10 skills into the four official domains. Start with the domain you keep losing points in, or work top to bottom. Each skill has its own page with the strategies that work and practice questions with worked solutions.
How the Reading and Writing section is built
- Two modules of 27 questions in 32 minutes each, so 54 questions and 64 minutes in total.
- The section is adaptive. Module 1 mixes easy, medium, and hard questions, and how you do on it routes you into an easier or harder Module 2. That second module sets the score range you can reach.
- The four domains appear in the same order every module, each running easiest to hardest: Craft and Structure, then Information and Ideas, then Standard English Conventions, then Expression of Ideas.
Craft and Structure
≈28% · 13–15 questionsReading and Writing groups its questions by domain. Craft and Structure comes first, roughly questions 1 to 7 of each module, ordered easiest to hardest. Your total is spread across both modules.
Close reading: word meaning in context, the purpose and structure of a passage, and the connections between paired texts. One of the four Reading and Writing domains.
- Words in Context
- Text Structure and Purpose
- Cross-Text Connections
Information and Ideas
≈26% · 12–14 questionsReading and Writing groups its questions by domain. Information and Ideas comes second, roughly questions 8 to 14 of each module, ordered easiest to hardest. Your total is spread across both modules.
Finding and reasoning from what a text or data graphic states: central ideas, supporting details, command of evidence, and logical inferences.
- Central Ideas and Details
- Command of Evidence (Textual and Quantitative)
- Inferences
Standard English Conventions
≈26% · 11–15 questionsReading and Writing groups its questions by domain. Standard English Conventions comes third, roughly questions 15 to 20 of each module, ordered easiest to hardest. Your total is spread across both modules.
The grammar and punctuation of edited English: sentence boundaries, subject-verb agreement, verb tense, and pronouns. Building clear, correct sentences.
- Boundaries
- Form, Structure, and Sense
Expression of Ideas
≈20% · 8–12 questionsThese close out every Reading and Writing module.
Revising for a goal: rhetorical synthesis from a set of notes, and choosing the transition that fits the logical relationship between ideas.
- Rhetorical Synthesis
- Transitions
Keep missing Reading and Writing questions?
SAT Prep Quest tracks your level on every Reading and Writing skill, then feeds you 5-minute drills right at your challenge zone until it is fixed.
Drill your weak spots freeSAT is a registered trademark of the College Board, which was not involved in producing, and does not endorse, this product. Score estimates are Learner Labs projections, not official College Board scores.