SAT Reading and Sentence Foundations Study Guide
Prepare for SAT Reading and Writing. Study sentence structure, difficult prose, arguments and vocabulary. Choose a lesson below, or take an optional starting check to find a topic to study.
Alongside the core guide, the topic lessons include additional instruction and 12 targeted practice questions. Find these sets under Practice options.
All lessons
5 lessons
About this guide
Five chapters, 30 worked examples and 105 practice activities: 85 multiple-choice questions and 20 written drills.
How to use this guide
Strong students can understand a topic and still miss what a sentence actually says. Familiar vocabulary, a plausible explanation, or a generally true statement can distract from the precise claim being tested. This guide makes the underlying reading operations visible, then asks you to perform them independently.
Learn | Practice | Check |
|---|---|---|
Study the reasoning in each worked example. Before reading the solution, try the task yourself. | Complete four short drills and twelve multiple-choice questions per chapter. Write one evidence phrase beside each choice. | Read the explanation for every missed or uncertain answer. Identify the exact change in meaning that made the wrong choice fail. |
A practical study sequence
- Take the 10-question diagnostic without a timer. Mark each answer certain, uncertain, or guess. A correct guess still deserves review.
- Work through the five chapters in order if sentence structure is a weakness. Otherwise, use the diagnostic map to select your starting chapter.
- Split each chapter into two or three sessions: instruction and worked examples; practice; explanation review and a short retest.
- Revisit missed items after a day or two and again about a week later. Explain the answer without relying on memory of its letter. These intervals are an adjustable study routine.
- Finish with the 15-question cumulative review. Use a timer only after you can read accurately; record elapsed time without treating this set as an official SAT module.
What this volume covers
These are foundations for the official Reading and Writing domains, not a complete course in every SAT question type. Dedicated instruction in punctuation, transitions, rhetorical synthesis, and the full range of reading questions should follow. The test uses short passages or passage pairs across academic and literary contexts, generally with one multiple-choice question per passage. [1, 2]
All passages, examples, scenarios, and questions in this guide are original instructional material. Studies, statistics, people, and institutions in them are invented unless explicitly identified as a source. Difficulty labels describe the demands within this guide; they are not College Board calibrations. The diagnostic and review do not predict an SAT score. This independent guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by College Board.