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SAT Reading and Writing
Cross-Text Connections
Cross-Text Connections is a skill in the Craft and Structure domain of the Digital SAT Reading and Writing section. These are practice questions on it, and each answer choice comes with an explanation of why it is right or wrong.
13 questions. After every answer you’ll see why each choice is right or wrong, not just the one you picked.
Sample questions
Open a question to see the answer choices and the correct answer.
Text 1: A team of marine biologists studying coral reefs near a Pacific island found that reefs closer to shore had significantly lower coral diversity than reefs farther offshore. The biologists conclude that runoff from coastal development, which is more concentrated near shore, is the primary driver of reduced coral diversity. Text 2: Other researchers studying the same region note that reefs closer to shore are also exposed to more variable water temperatures than reefs farther offshore, since shallow coastal waters heat and cool more quickly than deeper offshore waters. Coral species are known to be highly sensitive to temperature fluctuations, independent of water quality. Based on the texts, how would the researchers in Text 2 most likely respond to the conclusion in Text 1?
- A. They would suggest that temperature variability, not only runoff, may help explain the lower coral diversity near shore. ✓
- B. They would argue that coral diversity is unrelated to distance from shore in this region.
- C. They would agree completely that coastal development is the only factor affecting coral diversity near shore.
- D. They would argue that reefs farther offshore are more vulnerable to temperature changes than reefs near shore.
Correct answer: A. Text 2 identifies a separate factor, temperature variability near shore, that could also explain the pattern Text 1 attributes solely to runoff.
Text 1: Music historians have traditionally credited a single European composer with inventing the modern symphony orchestra's standard seating arrangement, in which string instruments are placed nearest the audience and brass and percussion are placed farthest back. Text 2: Recent archival research has uncovered orchestra seating charts from several court orchestras that predate this composer's career by decades, each already arranging strings nearest the audience. The researchers argue that the seating arrangement likely developed gradually across many court orchestras rather than being invented by any single individual. Based on the texts, the researchers discussed in Text 2 would most likely respond to the claim in Text 1 by
- A. praising the composer discussed in Text 1 for popularizing an arrangement invented in another era entirely.
- B. questioning whether the standard seating arrangement can be credited to one composer, given evidence that similar arrangements existed before his career began. ✓
- C. arguing that seating arrangement has no meaningful effect on orchestral sound.
- D. agreeing that the composer discussed in Text 1 was the first to place string instruments nearest the audience.
Correct answer: B. The archival evidence in Text 2 of earlier orchestras using a similar arrangement directly challenges the claim that one composer invented it.
Text 1: Field researchers who tracked a population of migratory songbirds found that birds which departed earliest in the fall tended to be the same individuals that arrived earliest at the breeding grounds the following spring, leading the researchers to propose that individual birds have a consistent, innate "internal schedule" that governs migration timing across years. Text 2: A separate team studying a different songbird population found that migration timing shifted significantly from year to year for the same individual birds, closely tracking changes in food availability along the migration route rather than remaining fixed. The team argues that environmental conditions, not a fixed internal schedule, primarily determine when individual birds migrate. Based on the texts, how would the researchers in Text 2 most likely respond to the proposal in Text 1?
- A. They would argue that the birds in Text 1 were not actually migratory.
- B. They would argue that food availability has no effect on migration timing for any songbird species.
- C. They would suggest that the consistent timing observed in Text 1 might instead reflect stable environmental conditions across those years rather than a fixed internal schedule. ✓
- D. They would agree that migration timing is entirely fixed and unrelated to environmental conditions.
Correct answer: C. Since Text 2's team believes environmental conditions primarily drive migration timing, they would likely propose that stable conditions, not an innate schedule, explain the consistency observed in Text 1.
Text 1: Researchers who tracked undergraduates completing memorization tasks found that instrumental background music raised recall scores by nearly 12 percent compared with silence, provided the music lacked lyrics. The team concluded that moderate auditory stimulation can sharpen focus by preventing the mind from wandering during repetitive tasks that would otherwise feel monotonous. Text 2: A separate study measured reading comprehension, not memorization, and found that any background music, instrumental or not, reduced comprehension scores by an average of 15 percent. The authors argued that reading for meaning draws on the same verbal-processing resources that music engages, so the two compete for cognitive bandwidth in a way that rote memorization does not. Based on the texts, how would the authors of Text 2 most likely respond to the conclusion in Text 1 that background music sharpens focus?
- A. They would qualify the claim, suggesting that music's effect on performance may depend on the type of cognitive task rather than being universally beneficial. ✓
- B. They would flatly reject it, since their results show music always impairs performance.
- C. They would fully agree, since both texts show music helps people focus in different ways.
- D. They would argue that Text 1's results are invalid because instrumental music contains lyrics.
Correct answer: A. Text 2's finding that music impairs comprehension, a different task from memorization, supports the idea that music's effect depends on what kind of mental work is being done, which qualifies rather than confirms or denies Text 1's broader claim.
Text 1: Entomologists surveying commercial hives across the Midwest documented a marked rise in colony collapse coinciding with expanded use of a new class of systemic pesticides. Because colonies near treated fields failed at nearly triple the rate of those near untreated land, the team proposed the pesticides as the primary driver of recent pollinator declines. Text 2: A follow-up analysis compared colonies exposed to identical pesticide treatments but differing in mite infestation levels. Colonies with heavy mite loads collapsed at similar rates regardless of nearby pesticide use, while lightly infested colonies survived even next to treated fields. The analysts suggested that parasitic mites, not pesticide exposure alone, may better explain which colonies fail. Based on the texts, how would the analysts in Text 2 most likely respond to the proposal in Text 1 that pesticides are the primary driver of colony collapse?
- A. They would agree completely, since both texts studied colonies exposed to the same pesticides.
- B. They would suggest the proposal overlooks another variable, mite infestation, that may better account for which colonies actually survive or fail. ✓
- C. They would argue that pesticides play no role whatsoever in colony collapse.
- D. They would claim that the Midwest survey used too few colonies to draw any conclusion.
Correct answer: B. Correct — Text 2's central finding is that mite infestation level, not pesticide exposure alone, tracked more closely with colony survival, directly qualifying Text 1's causal claim.