SAT writing from notes: review and practice

• Pick the sentence that does exactly what the student's goal says.
• Combine the right facts from the notes into one clear sentence for a given audience.
• Highlight a similarity or a difference between two people, places or things.
• Introduce a person, work or study with the background a new reader would need.

• Picking an accurate sentence that ignores the goal. If the goal is to emphasize how long a project took, a sentence about where it took place is wrong no matter how true it is.
• Doing half the goal. If the goal is to "emphasize a difference between the two prizes," a sentence that describes each prize without contrasting them doesn't do it.
• Writing for the wrong audience. If the audience is unfamiliar with the historian, the right sentence says who she is. A choice that assumes the reader already knows her falls short.
• Swapping details between subjects. If Prize A accepts translations and Prize B doesn't, a choice that gives that rule to Prize B is built to catch quick readers.
• Dropping a condition from a note. If a note says the museum is free on Sundays, a choice saying the museum is free is no longer accurate.

1. Question 1 · Easy

   While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: • Delphine Robichaud is an oral historian who documents the working lives of textile workers. • Between 1984 and 1996, she recorded interviews with 72 former mill employees. • The interviews form the Robichaud Collection at the Wrenfell Archive. • Audio technician Amos Standish converted the collection’s tapes into digital files in 2017. • Visitors can listen to the recordings through the archive’s online catalog. Which choice most effectively uses information from the given sentences to introduce Delphine Robichaud to readers unfamiliar with her?

   • ANamed for Delphine Robichaud, the Robichaud Collection contains interviews available through the Wrenfell Archive’s online catalog.
   • BOral historian Delphine Robichaud recorded dozens of former textile workers’ accounts of their working lives.
   • CIn 2017, recordings that Delphine Robichaud had made between 1984 and 1996 were converted into digital files.
   • DAmos Standish is the audio technician who digitized the interviews in the Robichaud Collection in 2017.
   Show the answer

   B. Choice B identifies Robichaud as an oral historian and explains her work documenting textile workers’ lives. Choice A introduces the collection instead, choice D introduces Standish, and choice C centers on a later change to the recordings without identifying Robichaud’s role.

2. Question 2 · Easy

   While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: • The Bracken Island ferry carries passengers between two villages. • On weekdays, its first departure is at 6:40 a.m. • The crossing takes eighteen minutes. • Each ferry can carry forty-two passengers. The student wants to specify when the Bracken Island ferry first departs on weekdays. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

   • AThe Bracken Island ferry provides a passenger connection between two villages.
   • BThe Bracken Island ferry takes eighteen minutes to travel between the villages.
   • CThe Bracken Island ferry has room for forty-two passengers on each crossing.
   • DThe Bracken Island ferry begins its weekday service at 6:40 a.m.
   Show the answer

   D. Choice D gives the first weekday departure time, exactly the requested detail. Choice B accurately gives the crossing’s duration; choice C gives capacity; choice A describes the route’s function.

3. Question 3 · Medium

   While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: • The Lantern Fiction Medal and the Open Folio Translation Prize both recognize novels published in English. • A novel’s first English publication can be either an English-language original or a translation. • The Lantern Fiction Medal accepts only novels originally written in English, including previously unpublished manuscripts released as books. • The Open Folio Translation Prize accepts only novels translated into English from another language, including works published abroad years earlier. The student wants to distinguish the prizes’ language requirements for eligible novels. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

   • AThe Lantern Fiction Medal requires English-language publication, whereas the Open Folio Translation Prize requires previous publication abroad.
   • BThe Lantern Fiction Medal accepts English originals, while the Open Folio Translation Prize accepts translations into English.
   • CThe Lantern Fiction Medal accepts English originals, while the Open Folio Translation Prize accepts translations out of English.
   • DThe Lantern Fiction Medal and the Open Folio Translation Prize both recognize novels available to readers in English.
   Show the answer

   B. B distinguishes novels composed in English from novels translated into English, matching the two eligibility rules. A replaces the translation requirement with an unsupported requirement of prior foreign publication; C reverses the translation direction; D gives a shared publication language rather than the differing requirements.

4. Question 4 · Medium

   While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: • Phoebe Ansell was a translator working in a port city during the 1840s. • She translated Spanish navigation manuals into English for apprentice sailors. • One manual was written by sea captain Guillermo Terán and described coastal navigation. • Ansell added explanations of technical vocabulary for readers beginning their training. • Her editions circulated through reading rooms maintained by sailors’ associations. Which choice most effectively uses information from the given sentences to introduce Phoebe Ansell to readers who are unfamiliar with her?

   • AA translator in the 1840s, Phoebe Ansell produced editions that could be found in reading rooms maintained by sailors’ associations.
   • BGuillermo Terán, a sea captain who wrote about coastal navigation, was the author of a manual translated by Phoebe Ansell.
   • CPhoebe Ansell translated Spanish navigation manuals into English, adding explanations to help apprentice sailors understand technical vocabulary.
   • DPhoebe Ansell’s English edition of Guillermo Terán’s coastal-navigation manual circulated through reading rooms maintained by sailors’ associations.
   Show the answer

   C. Choice C identifies Ansell’s translation work, the readers it served, and her contribution to their understanding of technical vocabulary. Choice A gives her occupation but centers on distribution without explaining what she translated or contributed, choice B introduces Terán, and choice D reports where one translated edition circulated without explaining Ansell’s instructional contribution.

5. Question 5 · Hard

   While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: • Ecologist Uma Toivonen studied relocation trials of a shrub whose documented historical range extends from 34 to 41 degrees north latitude. • Toivonen defines an established assisted-colonization population as one that lies beyond that historical range and has produced two surviving generations born at the site without further planting. • At Willow Pass, 40.5 degrees north, planted shrubs produced two surviving generations of naturally established descendants. • At Slate Wash, 43.6 degrees north, staff replaced the planted shrubs twice with nursery-grown plants. • At Quarry Brook, 42.8 degrees north, offspring of the planted shrubs produced a surviving generation of their own; no additional shrubs were planted. • At Cedar Hollow, 43.2 degrees north, the planted shrubs produced one surviving generation, which had not yet reproduced. The student wants to identify an example of an established population resulting from assisted colonization under Toivonen’s criteria. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

   • AQuarry Brook qualifies because it lies beyond the historical range and its unplanted descendants include surviving offspring of the first locally born generation.
   • BWillow Pass qualifies because its naturally established descendants survived for two generations, allowing the population to persist without additional planting.
   • CCedar Hollow qualifies because it lies beyond the historical range and the planted shrubs have produced a surviving generation of locally born offspring.
   • DSlate Wash qualifies because its population lies beyond the historical range and has been renewed twice since the shrubs were first planted.
   Show the answer

   A. Choice A combines an out-of-range latitude with two locally born surviving generations and no further planting. Choice B meets the reproduction requirement within the historical range; choice D substitutes nursery replacements for locally born generations; choice C stops after one locally born generation.

6. Question 6 · Hard

   While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: • Philosophers Fenna Giordano and Marcus Thorne explain why voluntarily made promises can create obligations without legal penalties. • Both accept that a promise can create a new obligation and that the recipient can release the promisor from it. • Giordano’s assurance account grounds the obligation in the recipient’s reliance on an assurance about future conduct. • On her account, a promise on which the recipient places no reliance creates no new obligation. • Thorne’s authority account grounds the obligation in a power the promisor gives the recipient to demand or release performance. • On his account, that power creates an obligation even when the recipient places no reliance on performance. The student wants to distinguish Giordano’s assurance account from Thorne’s authority account. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

   • AGiordano’s assurance account grounds obligation in reliance; Thorne’s authority account denies that recipients can release promisors from obligations.
   • BGiordano’s assurance account requires the recipient’s reliance for a new obligation; Thorne’s authority account allows one without reliance.
   • CGiordano’s assurance account grounds obligation in the recipient’s authority, while Thorne’s authority account grounds it in reliance on an assurance.
   • DGiordano’s assurance account requires reliance; Thorne’s authority account adds the recipient’s authority as a further requirement after reliance is established.
   Show the answer

   B. Giordano makes reliance necessary for a new obligation, whereas Thorne’s transfer of authority can create one without reliance, as B states. A denies Thorne a release power he accepts; C swaps the accounts’ grounds; D incorrectly makes Thorne’s account dependent on Giordano’s reliance condition.

Ashore's SAT course starts with a 15-minute check that finds the question types costing you the most points, then gives you lessons and practice for each.

• Sentence Boundaries and Punctuation
• Agreement, Verb Forms, and Modifiers
• Choosing the Precise Word
• Purpose, Structure, and Paired Texts
• Main Ideas and Details
• Using Evidence: Quotes and Data
• Drawing Inferences
• Transitions Between Ideas
• SAT score calculator