Cross-Text Connections sample question 1

By arguing that social and economic conditions were also important to the printing press's spread.

Cross-Text Connections sample question 2

They would argue that it overlooks a factor that their data show is more closely associated with nighttime singing.

Cross-Text Connections sample question 3

They would accept that it raises participation but note that workers may also keep a low default contribution rate.

Cross-Text Connections sample question 4

Text 2 questions what evidence cited in Text 1 can establish and proposes another cause for the change that Text 1 describes.

Cross-Text Connections sample question 5

She would caution that evidence from actual forests is too inconsistent to show that the networks help seedlings survive.

SAT · Reading and Writing · Craft and Structure

Cross-Text Connections

Cross-Text Connections is part of Craft and Structure in the SAT Reading and Writing section. The questions below are written in the style of the real test, each with the answer and a worked explanation.

Question types you will see here include how Text 2's author would respond, second text qualifies the first, point both authors would accept and evidence in one text challenges the other.

Common traps: response that agrees where the author argues; response too extreme for the author's stated view; response that addresses a different claim.

Sample questions

Cross-Text Connections
Text 1 Some historians credit the rapid spread of the printing press in fifteenth-century Europe mainly to the technical brilliance of Johannes Gutenberg's design.
Text 2 Other scholars point out that Europe already had a growing class of literate merchants, expanding universities, and cheap paper, which together created strong demand for printed books.
Question 1
Based on the texts, how would the scholars in Text 2 most likely respond to the historians in Text 1?
- A.
  By denying that Gutenberg invented a printing press.
- B.
  By claiming that paper was unavailable in Europe.
- C.
  By arguing that social and economic conditions were also important to the printing press's spread.
- D.
  By agreeing that technical design was the only factor.
Answer: C. By arguing that social and economic conditions were also important to the printing press's spread.
Text 2 emphasizes demand created by literacy, universities, and cheap paper, which are factors beyond the technical design Text 1 highlights.
Question 2
Based on the texts, how would Lindqvist and colleagues most likely respond to the ornithologists' conclusion in Text 1?
- A.
  They would agree that nighttime light triggers hormonal changes in robins but add that this effect is strongest at noisy sites.
- B.
  They would argue that it overlooks a factor that their data show is more closely associated with nighttime singing.
- C.
  They would claim that urban robins actually sing at night less often than the ornithologists in Text 1 assume.
- D.
  They would suggest that nighttime singing is just as common among rural robins once daytime noise is measured.
Answer: B. They would argue that it overlooks a factor that their data show is more closely associated with nighttime singing.
Text 2 reports that daytime noise, not nighttime light, best predicted where robins sang at night, and that light 'added little predictive power once noise was accounted for,' so the team would say the ornithologists' light-based conclusion misses the more important factor. The choice saying they would accept the hormonal effect of light is tempting because both texts discuss light, but Text 2's findings cast doubt on light's role rather than confirming it.
Question 3
Based on the texts, how would Whitfield and colleagues most likely respond to the proposal in Text 1?
- A.
  They would argue that it fails to raise participation, since workers' preferences rather than plan design determine whether they save.
- B.
  They would claim that workers who enroll on their own tend to contribute less than workers who are enrolled automatically.
- C.
  They would accept that it raises participation but note that workers may also keep a low default contribution rate.
- D.
  They would suggest that it succeeds only when employers set the default contribution rate above 3 percent of salary.
Answer: C. They would accept that it raises participation but note that workers may also keep a low default contribution rate.
Whitfield's team found that automatic enrollment lifted participation to nearly 90 percent, confirming Text 1's point about the power of defaults, but also that most enrollees stayed at the 3 percent default even though self-enrollees had often chosen more. They would therefore endorse the proposal while warning that the default rate itself shapes saving. The choice saying the plan works 'only' above 3 percent is tempting, but the study tested only one rate and showed participation did rise at 3 percent.
Question 4
Which choice best describes the relationship between the texts?
- A.
  Text 2 presents evidence confirming the cutting of trees described in Text 1 and then explains how the islanders moved their statues.
- B.
  Text 2 questions what evidence cited in Text 1 can establish and proposes another cause for the change that Text 1 describes.
- C.
  Text 2 argues that the forest described in Text 1 was less extensive than the pollen preserved in the lake sediments suggests.
- D.
  Text 2 agrees with Text 1 that the island was once forested but disputes Text 1's account of when Europeans first arrived there.
Answer: B. Text 2 questions what evidence cited in Text 1 can establish and proposes another cause for the change that Text 1 describes.
Text 1 relies on stumps and charcoal to blame human cutting for the loss of the forest; Text 2 says that evidence 'cannot show that cutting alone destroyed the forest' and points to rats eating palm seeds as a different cause. The choice saying Text 2 confirms the cutting is tempting because Text 2 grants that people cleared trees, but it does so only to argue that cutting does not fully explain the forest's disappearance, and it never discusses moving statues.
Question 5
Based on the texts, how would Okafor most likely respond to the ecologists' argument in Text 1?
- A.
  She would caution that evidence from actual forests is too inconsistent to show that the networks help seedlings survive.
- B.
  She would reject the claim that mycorrhizal fungi form networks that connect the roots of many neighboring trees.
- C.
  She would agree that the networks aid seedlings but argue that the benefit goes mostly to unrelated trees rather than to offspring.
- D.
  She would contend that greenhouse experiments show networked seedlings grow worse than seedlings without connections.
Answer: A. She would caution that evidence from actual forests is too inconsistent to show that the networks help seedlings survive.
Okafor points out that transfer experiments were often done in greenhouses or pots and that field studies give 'mixed results,' so she would doubt that the networks have been shown to aid seedling survival in real forests. The choice rejecting the existence of the networks is tempting because Text 2 is skeptical, but Text 2 calls the networks 'well documented' and questions only their effect; the choice about greenhouse experiments reverses what those experiments reportedly showed.

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