SAT · session Aug 2026 to Jun 2027
Reading and Writing
54 questions, 64 minutes, two modules of 27.
11 subtopics0 diagrams18,244 words
0 of 11 read
Craft and StructureTest setQuick reference
- CS.1 Words in context the sentence has a blank, or a word you half-know, and four options that all look plausible. How do you find the one the text actually forces?
- CS.2 Text structure and purpose the passage makes sense, you understood it, and the question asks what it is doing. How is that different from what it is about?
- CS.3 Cross-text connections two short texts, one question, and four sentences about how their authors relate. What exactly is being compared?
Information and IdeasTest setQuick reference
- II.1 Central ideas and details what is this passage actually claiming, and how do you tell the claim from the three true things sitting next to it?
- II.2 Command of evidence: textual a claim is stated, four quotations follow, and every one of them is from the same work. Which one actually proves the claim?
- II.3 Command of evidence: quantitative there is a figure, a claim, and four statements about the figure. All four can be read off it. Which one supports the claim?
- II.4 Inferences the passage stops mid-thought and asks you to finish it. How do you tell the conclusion the text forces from the three that merely sound sensible?
Standard English ConventionsTest setQuick reference
- SEC.1 Boundaries the blank sits between two pieces of a sentence and the options are a comma, a semicolon, a colon and a full stop. Which one, and how do you know in fifteen seconds?
- SEC.2 Form, structure and sense the punctuation is fine and the options are four versions of a verb, a pronoun, a noun or a phrase. Which form does the sentence require?
Expression of IdeasTest setQuick reference
- EOI.1 Rhetorical synthesis you are given a student's research notes as bullet points and four sentences built from them. All four are true. Which one is the answer?
- EOI.2 Transitions two sentences, a blank between them, and four transitions that all sound like English. How do you pick without guessing?
Nothing matches that.
The section in one page
The section in one page. 54 questions, 64 minutes, two modules of 27. Every question has its own short passage. Nothing you need to know is outside the passage in front of you.
What you are actually sitting
| Modules | 2 × 32 minutes, separately timed, no going back |
|---|---|
| Questions per module | 27 — of which 25 are scored and 2 are being trialled |
| Passage length | 25 to 150 words, one per question |
| Options | Four, always |
| Score | 200–800, added to Math for 400–1600 |
| Time per question | 71 seconds average |
The second module is chosen by how the first went: on average harder, or on average easier. Harder is what you want — it is where the high scores live.
The order is fixed, and knowing it is worth points
Questions arrive by domain, in this order, every module, every form:
| Domain | Share | Questions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Craft and Structure | ≈28% | 13–15 |
| 2nd | Information and Ideas | ≈26% | 12–14 |
| 3rd | Standard English Conventions | ≈26% | 11–15 |
| 4th | Expression of Ideas | ≈20% | 8–12 |
Inside Craft and Structure, Information and Ideas and Expression of Ideas, questions testing the same skill are grouped and run easiest to hardest. Standard English Conventions runs easiest to hardest regardless of which rule is being tested.
Three things follow.
You always know where you are. Vocabulary first, then reading, then grammar, then revision. If you are at a grammar question you are roughly two-thirds through the module.
The grammar block is the fast block. Eleven to fifteen questions with no interpretation in them: the sentence is either correct or it is not. This is where you buy time for the rest.
Difficulty resets at each domain boundary. The question after a brutal one is often easy again, because a new skill group has started. Never let a hard question at the end of a group convince you the rest of the module is lost.
The skills, as the framework names them
Ten testing points — command of evidence counts as one, and appears in two forms.
| Domain | Skills |
|---|---|
| Craft and Structure | Words in context · Text structure and purpose · Cross-text connections |
| Information and Ideas | Central ideas and details · Command of evidence: textual · Command of evidence: quantitative · Inferences |
| Standard English Conventions | Boundaries · Form, structure and sense |
| Expression of Ideas | Rhetorical synthesis · Transitions |
The method that works on all of them
- Read the question before the passage. It tells you what to look for, and half the passages are short enough that you will read them twice anyway.
- Answer in your own words first. Before you look down. An answer you have already formed cannot be talked out of you by a well-built wrong option.
- Eliminate on direction, then on precision. Two options usually point the right way. One of them is imprecise, and it is there for you.
- Prove it from the text. Point at the words that make your answer right. If you cannot, you are answering from knowledge, and knowledge is not what is being tested.
- Answer everything. Nothing is deducted. A blank is the only guaranteed zero.
What a wrong option is made of
Four families, and they cover almost every wrong answer on the section:
- The opposite — right topic, reversed direction. You missed a pivot word.
- Too strong — devastating where the text said disappointing.
- Right topic, wrong function — matches the subject, does a different job.
- True but not stated — correct about the world, unsupported by this passage.
Where the time goes
Thirty-two minutes, 27 questions. A working plan:
| Block | Questions | Spend |
|---|---|---|
| Craft and Structure | ~7 | 6–7 min |
| Information and Ideas | ~6 | 8–9 min |
| Standard English Conventions | ~7 | 5–6 min |
| Expression of Ideas | ~5 | 6–7 min |
| Flagged questions | — | the rest |
Mark for review and move on the moment a question stops paying. Two minutes on one question costs you two questions elsewhere, and they are worth the same.
What to study, in order
- Standard English Conventions — rules, finite, learnable in a weekend. Biggest score per hour.
- Transitions — one table of relationships, and it never changes.
- Words in context — method, not vocabulary.
- Command of evidence and Inferences — the reading core, slowest to move.
- Rhetorical synthesis — easy once you learn to read the goal first.
- Cross-text connections — rare, and the last thing worth your time.
Educerie · written from the published College Board* Assessment Framework for the Digital SAT Suite and Specifications Overview *(Tables 1 and 2). Original text. Last reviewed 12 September 2026.