Hard SAT Reading Worksheet
12 multiple-choice questions, with answers and explanations.
8 pages. Print pages 1–6 for students; the answer key is on pages 7–8.
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Try two questions before you print
Question 1
A survey of surviving nineteenth-century workshop journals found frequent references to tools that do not appear in the workshops' sales catalogs. A historian argues that the catalogs were selective advertisements rather than complete inventories. However, because some journals cover years for which no catalogs survive, the historian limits her conclusion to tools documented in journals and omitted from catalogs issued during the same years.
Which choice best explains the purpose of the historian's limitation?
- It establishes that workshops never changed the tools they used.
- It reduces the possibility that apparent omissions simply reflect a comparison of different time periods.
- It proves that the journals list every tool used in the workshops.
- It shows that catalogs were intended only for workshop employees.
Show answer and explanation
B. Matching years addresses a competing explanation: a tool might be absent because the compared catalog comes from a different period. The limitation does not prove journal completeness or unchanging practices.
Question 2
In an experiment, volunteers who received a diagram completed a mechanical task faster than those given written instructions. Yet the diagram group also received a brief demonstration, whereas the written-instruction group did not. The researchers therefore cautioned against attributing the entire performance difference to the format of the instructions.
Which follow-up study would most directly address the researchers' concern?
- Compare diagram and written-instruction groups that receive the same demonstration.
- Repeat the original study with more volunteers but the same unequal demonstrations.
- Compare people who own different kinds of tools.
- Ask only the diagram group whether the task was enjoyable.
Show answer and explanation
A. Equalizing the demonstration isolates instruction format more effectively. Increasing sample size without removing the unequal demonstration would preserve the confounding difference.
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These are original 1600.now questions for classroom or personal use. They are not official College Board items. Reading questions use short passages and paragraphs.
Skill labels follow the College Board content domains.