SAT Reading & Writing Module – Detailed Page-by-Page Notes

Page 1

• Focus: Multiple-choice vocabulary completion regarding Cuban composer and pianist Ernesto Lecuona.

• Key facts about Lecuona: composed hundreds of pieces across genres (orchestral, opera, film scores).

• Prompt stem: “Especially impressive is how Lecuona showcased a diverse range of musical talents … his body of work is: ____.”

• Options:

  1. outdated

  2. varied ✅ (most logical—matches “diverse range”)

  3. forgotten

• Concept check: choosing the precise adjective that parallels “diverse range.”

Page 2

• Passage from Amy Tan’s 1989 novel The Joy Luck Club: narrator rehearses Schumann’s “Pleading Child.”

• Narrator “cheats” while practicing—looks at the sheet instead of memorizing; daydreams; doesn’t truly listen.

• Question: What does “cheating” most likely mean? ⇒ Violating an expectation about proper performance (looking instead of memorizing).

• Literary point: internal conflict between expectation and actual effort; theme of self-discipline.

Page 3

• Topic: Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction (crowdsourced, started 2001 by Jesse Sheidlower).

• Volunteers digitize old sci-fi magazines → allow earliest uses of terms (“warp speed,” 1952) to be recorded.

• Completion item: “… added to the dictionary.” Logical word: contributions (refers to volunteers’ shared excerpts).

• Concepts: lexicography; crowd-sourcing; tracing etymology.

Page 4

• Subject: Agglomeration economies (firms clustering geographically, eg. Wolverhampton iron/steel & hardware).

• Study by Giulia Faggio et al.: drivers of agglomeration differ across industries; correlations can be weak.

• Economic significance: challenges assumption of uniform clustering motives (e.g., labor pooling vs. knowledge spillovers).

Page 5

• Text from Bram Stoker’s The Lair of the White Worm (1911). Adam invites great-uncle Richard to stay aboard ship.

• Main-purpose question: Best answer ⇒ shows how Adam’s flexibility and consideration strengthen relationship.

• Literary devices: hospitality, generational bonding.

Page 6

• Community science definition: collaboration between professional scientists & amateurs.

• Benefits listed: supports conservation, sparks youth interest, increases data volume.

• Example study: Abigail Merrill et al. on butterfly color vs. flower choice; drew on data from hundreds of NW Arkansas students & community members.

• Structure ID: identifies research approach → lists benefits → cites study using that approach.

Page 7

• Jupiter’s moons timeline: Galileo discovers 4 major moons (1610); Voyager 1 finds Adrastea (1979); Dark Energy Camera detects 12 more (recent).

• As of 2023 confirmed moons = 95; future discoveries expected.

• Direct question: Adrastea discovered 1979.

Page 8

• Museum contrast: Museo de Las Americas (Denver, 1991, 4{,}800 objects) vs. LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes (Los Angeles, 2011, Mexican-American focus).

• Question contrast: LA Plaza opened more recently than Museo de Las Americas.

• Cultural note: growth of Latino-culture institutions since 2000.

Page 9

• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz—claim: house became “very faded.”

• Quotation options; most effective: “Once the house had been painted … now the house was as dull and gray as everything else.” ✅

• Illustrates gradual weathering (sun blister, rain washed paint).

Page 10

• Research: starch/gelatin sponge absorbs microplastics; pore size adjustable.

• Chemist Christian Adlhart claims mass production would be difficult.

• Supporting finding (if true): worldwide starch & gelatin already in high demand for food industry ⇒ difficult to source at scale.

• Broader themes: material availability, scalability of green tech.

Page 11

• Life Among the Paiutes (1882) by Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins; she directly addresses reader.

• Claim: She directly explains customs to reader.

• Best illustrative quotation: “Now, my dear reader, there is no word so endearing as the word father …” (direct address).

• Narrative style: didactic, personable rhetoric.

Page 12

• Graph: average agricultural-export growth rates pre- & post-FTA (Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico). Student’s claim (unstated) weakened by data.

• Weakening evidence: Canada’s exports grew post-NAFTA but grew even faster pre-NAFTA.

• Numerical detail: Costa Rica ~13.5\% post-CAFTA-DR.

• Concept: correlation vs. causation in trade analysis.

Page 13

• Table: Australian workplace programs—EET (exercise) vs. EHP (health promotion).

• Productivity loss (AUD) at 12 weeks & 12 months.
  • EET: 268 \to 171 (decrease)
  • EHP: 282 \to 436 (increase)

• Strengthening conclusion (exercise better): At 12 weeks losses similar, but by 12 months EHP ↑ significantly, EET ↓ significantly.

• Concepts: absenteeism, presenteeism, delayed program effect.

Page 14

• Nueva canción chilena pioneer Violeta Parra (born 1917). She archived folk music, recipes, proverbs; movement blended tradition & modern realities advocating social change.

• Underlined claim: as movement spread, breadth of musical traditions expanded.

• Supporting detail: Many songs show stylistic influence of corrido, a Mexican narrative genre with political themes → illustrates expansion beyond Chilean traditions.

Page 15

• Museo Castillo Serrallés among 80+ Puerto Rico museums.

• Sentence-completion testing gerund vs. infinitive; correct form: “museums inform visitors about everything …” (parallel verb in series).
  Options: informing / to inform / having informed / inform ✅

Page 16

• Exhibition sentence: “Snowy Landscape with the Old Tower,” Van Gogh drew it nearly 150 years ago in Nuenen.

• Standard English completion: “… which Van Gogh completed nearly 150 years ago.” ✅ simple past for finished action.

Page 17

• Kizomba dance global phenomenon.

• Sentence-completion: proper punctuation “phenomenon in 2022” needs comma: “phenomenon, in 2022, the Indian dance duo …” ⇒ correct: phenomenon, in.

Page 18

• Navajo Nation administrative units (chapters). Round Rock = 201{,}000 acres; Navajo language name Tsé Nikání.

• Completion: “Nation, in the Navajo language, …” (comma then “in”).

Page 19

• Documentary Without a Whisper—Konnon:Kwe; shows Haudenosaunee influence on early 19th-century US suffragists.

• Punctuation completion: “early nineteenth century, revealing …” (comma not colon/semicolon).

Page 20

• Earth’s magnetic poles currently stable for 20 million yr; historically reversed (polar wandering).

• Completion: “This has not always been the case, though; throughout geologic history …” (comma + “though” after clause). Correct: case, though;

Page 21

• Study on “charismatic” animals: list ranking; elephants 3rd, crocodiles 15th.

• Sentence flaw: duplicate “elephants were ranked higher than crocodiles.. elephants were ranked …” (grammatical edit not specified in transcript; note redundancy).

Page 22

• 1920 USGS cardboard-cutout center of Montana vs. modern computer center; differed by 1 mile.

• Transitional adverb: “Still,” (contrasts crude method with accuracy).

Page 23

• Astrophysics: debris rings inside vs. outside Roche limit; Quaoar ring found 2{,}500 mi (>> 1{,}100 mi limit) yet intact—unexpected.

• Study by Bruno Morgado et al. challenges Roche-limit expectation.

Page 24

• Student notes: slow-TV genre; example MORA: Zeichner; label of “world’s most boring television” vs. praise of “visceral armchair tourism.”

• Effective refutation quotation: “Far from boring, slow TV programs can provide a ‘visceral kind of armchair tourism,’ as Heller puts it, whereby viewers can watch artists at work in real time.”

Page 25

• Dinosaur-fossil nickname example needed.

• Best sentence: “Pops is the nickname of a Triceratops fossil specimen housed at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in Denver, Colorado.”

Page 26

• Japanese soundscapes list (100). Example: black-tailed gulls at Hachinohe Port, Aomori Prefecture, northern Honshu.

• Best location-specific sentence: “The sound of black-tailed gulls at Hachinohe Port can be heard in Aomori Prefecture on northern Honshu Island, Japan.”

Page 27

• Seed-dispersal study, Oahu. Native Ilex anomala vs. non-native Trema orientalis found in non-native birds’ feces.

• Emphasizing difference: “Though Ilex anomala and Trema orientalis can both be found in Oahu, Hawaii, only the former plant is native.”

Page 28

• Nobel Prize in Chemistry sometimes joint. Example: 2020 award incl. Jennifer Doudna for CRISPR.

• Completion word: jointly (awarded jointly when 2–3 individuals share).

Page 29

• Krishna River delta: dynamic network; completion requires adjective describing its “network of channels” ⇒ evolving is supplied in prompt; missing word maybe “ever-shifting,” but logical precise word: evolving or dynamic (in transcript blank). Context note.

Page 30

• Whistler’s urban scenes unsentimental, anticipating Walker Evans’s documentary photography style.

• Underlying structure: compare artistic approaches; realism vs. sentimentality.

Page 31

• George Eliot excerpt: Others praise Mr. Ely; text structure: presents favorable public opinion then shows his behaviors that sustain it (never controversial, hides laughter, avoids ridicule).

Page 32

• Luis Barragán career phases; travel influenced shift to modernist geometry (Pizarro Suárez House) vs. earlier historicist Guadalajara works.

• Structure: general claim → early phase → later shift (answer B).

Page 33

• Hidalgo, Castañer & Sevtsuk model neighborhood amenity clusters via algorithm; application: determine optimal business mix.

• Structure: introduces study → methodology aspect (algorithm) → potential application.

Page 34

• Text 1: Hycean planets; K2-18 b on inner edge at 1 AU.

• Text 2: Tsai et al. recalculate inner HZ edge at 3.85 AU due to light absorption raising temperature.

• Likely response: Tsai et al. would maintain that Madhusudhan et al.’s model underestimates surface temperatures (i.e., estimates too low/edge too close); proper answer: Madhusudhan relied on model whose temperature estimates are too low (third option in list—careful text says “too high”; correct reasoning: Tsai think temps higher, so M’s are too low; pick answer about model temps too low). Note discrepancy.

Page 35

• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o switches from English to Gikuyu despite accessibility concerns; wrote dozens, translated into 30+ languages.

• Main idea: initial skepticism didn’t hinder his success.

Page 36

• Park-use survey Quito vs. Buenos Aires.
  • Quito respondents who use parks: 82.9\% (of 618)
  • Buenos Aires: 69.9\% (of 683)

• Lower access to other amenities in Quito means difference NOT due to amenity proximity.

• Main idea: Greater park use in Quito isn’t explained by greater nearby amenities.

Page 37

• Chesapeake Bay seagrass coverage (2012-2019); eelgrass declining, widgeon grass increasing; total coverage up, then big drop in 2019.

• Researcher point: widgeon grass heat-tolerant. Supporting statement: 2019 heavy rains → algal blooms blocking sunlight (affects eelgrass > widgeon), accounting for drop. Option with algal bloom aligns.

Page 38

• Piezoelectric harvesters with CFRP electrode supply steady energy; prerequisite for wireless communication.

• Supporting finding: High conductivity of CFRP makes energy output sufficient (first option).

Page 39

• Bumblebee generalism & sociality confer resilience; Ghisbain warns against over-generalizing.

• Logical completion: researchers need caution extrapolating from bumblebees (option D).

Page 40

• Microbial fuel cells (MFC) description; silver-nanoparticle anode ups power density 0.30 \rightarrow 0.66 mW/cm².

• Hypothesis: silver nanoparticles allow electrons to bypass redox chain directly to electrode (option C).

Page 41

• Titan methane mole fraction; IPSL model fixes uniform low-level value.

• Completion: some disagreements expected between model & real data (first option).

Page 42

• Lorna Simpson’s multimedia art juxtaposes text & images; challenges norms, expands conceptual photography.

• Sentence needs parallel series end: “race, gender, history, and memory.” (no extra comma afterwards).

Page 43

• Home Ground editors; “thalweg” by D. J. Waldie; “cape” entry by novelist Lan Samantha Chang — requires comma after appositive: “novelist, Lan Samantha Chang,”

Page 44

• Austronesian family ≈ 1{,}200 languages (≈ 20\% of world’s). Example speakers: Gilbertese 120{,}000, Tongan 108{,}000.

• Punctuation correction: “languages— including Gilbertese and Tongan, which are spoken by … — and accounts …” (dash already in text; choose “languages—”).

Page 45

• 1961 radio hit: “A Tear” by Gene McDaniels spent weeks on Billboard Hot 100.

• Sentence needs colon after “hit”: “the hit song, ‘A Tear’ …” or “hit, song:” Correct option: song (no punctuation needed because comma already).

• Grammar nuance: “the hit, ‘A Tear’ …” avoid colon usage; correct answer in list was “song.”

Page 46

• Outer-solar-system object 1999 OX3 color red; rocky inference speculative—color could be from radiation, etc.

• Correct punctuation: “Speculative, though;” (likely “speculative, though,” with comma). The answer with comma + though.

Page 47

• Mitochondrial genomes & compensatory nuclear genes.

• Correct participle: “Such a compensatory measure, counteracting the organelle’s decline, offers …”

Page 48

• Sebouh David Aslanian macro-analysis of \approx1000 Armenian titles (1512-1800): religion steady popular; secular history/geography increasing.

• Correct verb: “macroanalysis examining nearly 1,000 book titles … shows …”

Page 49

• Bright stars: Shaula (rank 23, 570 ly), Alsephina (rank 45, 80 ly). Emphasis on proximity explains brightness.

• Transitional word: “Indeed,” connects evidence.

Page 50

• Ekphrastic poetry definition; Robert Hayden’s “Monet’s Waterlilies” example; Sasha Pimentel’s “The Kiss” likewise on Klimt.

• Logical connector: “Likewise, Sasha Pimentel’s …”

Page 51

• Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” serene nature yet critique of industrialization.

• Best transition: “Nevertheless, despite its idyllic quality, the poem bears …” (links contradictory ideas).

Page 52

• SSWTUF (South Sudan Workers Trade Union Federation) improves worker conditions; ITUC-Africa represents national unions.

• Effective synthesis: National union federations, such as the SSWTUF, work to improve conditions for workers in their member nations.

Page 53

• Art-criticism approaches: emphasis vs. cultural analysis. Cultural analysis definition & example suggested.

• Best intro sentence: “An approach to art criticism, cultural analysis considers the cultural trends, beliefs, and values of an artwork’s time.”

Page 54

• Fodor (1983): modularity limited to low-level systems; Carruthers (2003) MMH: all cognitive systems modular.

• Best comparison: “Following Fodor’s 1983 hypothesis, Carruthers proposed that modularity of mind includes all cognitive systems.” (option B from list) — clearly contrasts scope.

These page-by-page notes compile each reading-writing item’s context, key facts, and logical answer or explanation, providing a comprehensive study outline.