Transitions
The library was supposed to be a quiet place to study. ______, a group of students near the entrance kept talking loudly the entire afternoon.
A) However
B) Therefore
C) Similarly
D) For instance
A) However. The second sentence contradicts the first (supposed to be quiet → actually loud), so you need a contrast word.
A student claims that her school's new later start time has helped classmates feel more rested. Which finding, if true, would most directly support her claim?
A) Most students said they enjoy having lunch earlier in the day.
B) After the change, students reported sleeping an average of 45 minutes longer on school nights.
C) The school added two new elective courses this year.
D) Some teachers preferred the old schedule.
B. Support means "find the evidence that makes the claim more likely true." The claim is about feeling more rested, and sleeping 45 minutes longer directly connects to that. The others are irrelevant (lunch, electives, teacher opinions).
The bakery is famous not only for its cakes ______ for its warm, fresh bread.
A) but also
B) and also
C) or also
D) so also
A) but also. Pure recognition: not only is permanently paired with but also. Nothing else completes it. Easiest possible version of the skill.
The team practiced every morning for a month ______ they were determined to win the championship.
A) month, they
B) month; they
C) month they
D) month, they,
B) month; they. Both sides are independent clauses ("The team practiced…" / "they were determined…"), so you need a full stop: semicolon (or period, or comma + FANBOYS). Trap: D) "month, they" is a comma splice — the single most common boundaries error. A) runs the two clauses together with no punctuation (run-on).
Every winter, the small café near the train station becomes crowded with commuters escaping the cold. In summer, however, most travelers prefer to wait outside on the platform, so the café ______
A) serves the best coffee in town.
B) is much busier in winter than in summer.
C) will close down permanently next year.
D) was built over a hundred years ago.
B. The passage literally says crowded in winter, empty in summer — the inference just restates the given evidence as a conclusion. A, C, D all require information the text never gives (quality of coffee, future closure, age). Teach the core habit here: cross out any choice that adds a fact from outside the passage.
The old wooden bridge had not been inspected in over fifty years. ______, city engineers decided it was no longer safe for heavy trucks to cross.
A) For example
B) However
C) Therefore
D) Meanwhile
C) Therefore. Cause and effect: the bridge is old and un-inspected, so engineers acted. "Therefore" signals the result.
A scientist argues that a certain lake is becoming too polluted for fish to survive. Which finding, if true, would most directly support this argument?
A) The lake is a popular spot for weekend visitors.
B) The number of fish in the lake has dropped sharply over the past five years.
C) The lake freezes over every winter.
D) A new species of bird was recently seen near the lake.
B. A sharp drop in fish supports the idea that the lake is becoming unlivable for them. Trap: all four options are about the lake, but only B connects to fish surviving. Teach students to match the evidence to the exact claim, not just the topic.
After the storm, the town had neither electricity ______ clean drinking water for three days.
A) or
B) and
C) but
D) nor
D) nor. Neither pairs only with nor.
The museum's new exhibit features ancient pottery ______ it also includes rare gold jewelry from the same period.
A) pottery, it
B) pottery; it
C) pottery it
D) pottery it,
B) pottery; it. Again two independent clauses. Semicolon is the only choice here that fully separates them. Trap: A) "pottery, it" is a comma splice — same error as Q100, now that students think they've "got it." Repetition on purpose: the SAT tests the comma splice constantly.
A study found that students who took short breaks while studying remembered more than those who studied for hours without stopping. This suggests that, when preparing for an exam, ______
A) students should never study for more than one hour total.
B) taking occasional breaks may improve how much students remember.
C) breaks are the only thing that affects memory.
D) studying is not useful for exams.
B. The study compared breaks vs. no breaks and breaks won, so the supported conclusion is a cautious one — "may improve." Trap: A ("never more than one hour") and C ("the only thing") are too extreme. The passage supports a mild claim, not an absolute one. This is the #1 inference skill: the right answer is usually the modest one ("may," "some," "can"), and extreme words ("always," "never," "only") are usually traps.
Honeybees communicate in surprisingly complex ways. ______, a foraging bee can perform a "waggle dance" that tells the other bees the exact direction and distance of a food source.
A) However
B) For example
C) In addition
D) Therefore
B) For example. The second sentence gives one specific instance of the general claim "communicate in complex ways." Trap: In addition (C) feels tempting because it continues the idea, but the waggle dance isn't a separate point — it's an example of the first.
A researcher hypothesizes that a particular plant grows faster when exposed to classical music. Which finding, if true, would most weaken this hypothesis?
A) Plants in a silent room grew at exactly the same rate as plants exposed to classical music.
B) Plants exposed to classical music produced slightly more flowers.
C) The researcher used the same type of soil for every plant.
D) Classical music was played for six hours each day.
A. Weaken means "find the evidence that makes the claim less likely." If silent plants grew the same, then music made no difference — the hypothesis falls apart. Trap: B (more flowers) tempts students because it sounds positive, but the claim was about growing faster, not flowering. Wrong measure.
The workshop taught the students not only how to write clearly ______ persuasively.
A) but also to argue
B) but also how to argue
C) but arguing
D) and also arguing
B) but also how to argue. Now the pair is easy, but the form after it must be parallel: "how to write" → "how to argue.
The hikers reached the summit just before sunset ______ and they watched the sky turn orange over the valley.
A) sunset,
B) sunset;
C) sunset
D) sunset:
C) sunset (no punctuation). This is the key twist. The sentence already has "and" after the blank. "And" here joins two independent clauses, so it needs a comma before it — BUT look closely: the choices put punctuation right before an existing "and." A) "sunset, and they watched" would actually be correct comma + FANBOYS… so this question is testing whether they notice the "and" is already there. Let me flag this one honestly below.
A species of moth that lives on tree bark is usually pale gray, blending in with the lichen that covers the trees. In one forest where pollution killed the lichen and darkened the bark, biologists found that the surviving moths were mostly dark-colored. This suggests that in that forest, ______
A) the moths had learned to change their color at will.
B) pale moths were more likely to be seen and eaten by predators.
C) pollution had no effect on the moth population.
D) dark-colored moths lived longer than any other insect.
B. The lichen died → bark darkened → surviving moths were dark. The logical bridge: pale moths no longer blended in, so predators spotted and ate them, leaving dark ones. Trap: A ("change color at will") invents a superpower the text doesn't mention — moths don't choose their color. This tests whether students can supply the unstated but forced link (camouflage → predation) without inventing extra abilities.
The author never claims that her study method is the only path to a high score. ______, she openly states that other approaches may work just as well for different types of learners.
A) However
B) In fact
C) For example
D) Nevertheless
B) In fact. The second sentence doesn't contrast the first; it goes further and strengthens it (she doesn't just avoid the claim — she actively says the opposite). Trap: However (A) catches strong students because the sentence contains "never," but there's no contrast here — both sentences agree.
In an essay, a writer claims that public libraries remain essential even in the age of the internet because they provide services beyond simply lending books. Which quotation from a librarian would most effectively illustrate the writer's claim?
A) "Our building was renovated three years ago and now has a modern reading room."
B) "We lend thousands of novels and textbooks to readers every single month."
C) "We offer free job-application workshops, internet access, and tutoring to people who have nowhere else to turn for them."
D) "Many of our visitors have been coming to this library since they were children."
C. Illustrate means "give a concrete example of the claim in action." The claim is specifically about services beyond lending books, and C lists exactly those (workshops, internet, tutoring). Trap: B is about lending books — the very thing the claim says to look beyond. Strong students grab B because it's clearly "library stuff," but it contradicts the point.
The average rainfall of the Amazon rainforest is much greater than ______ the Sonoran Desert.
A) the
B) that of
C) those of
D) it is in
B) that of. Logical comparison enters. You're comparing rainfall to rainfall, so you need "that of the Sonoran Desert" = the rainfall of the Sonoran Desert.
Although the recipe looked complicated ______ it required only five ingredients and about twenty minutes of work.
A) complicated;
B) complicated,
C) complicated:
D) complicated. It
B) complicated, The first part — "Although the recipe looked complicated" — is a dependent clause (starts with "Although," can't stand alone). A dependent clause joined to an independent clause takes a comma, not a semicolon or colon. Trap: A) semicolon is wrong because the first half isn't independent — this catches students who learned "semicolon joins two things" but forgot both sides must stand alone. D) makes a fragment out of "Although the recipe looked complicated."
An economist noted that whenever a new highway is built to reduce traffic in a city, the roads become just as congested within a few years. She observed that the easier commute initially encourages more people to drive and to move farther from the city center. Her observations suggest that building new highways ______
A) always makes traffic worse than it was before.
B) may fail to reduce congestion in the long run because it encourages more driving.
C) should never be attempted by any city.
D) reduces congestion permanently once completed.
B. Her evidence: new highway → easier commute → more people drive and move farther → congestion returns. The supported inference is exactly that causal chain. Trap: A ("always makes traffic worse than before") overshoots — she said it returns to the same congestion, not worse, and not always. C ("should never be attempted") is a policy opinion the passage never makes. Classic extreme-vs-measured split: B says "may fail… in the long run," which matches her tentative, specific claim.
Researchers now believe the collapse of the bee colonies was not caused by any single factor. ______, it resulted from pesticides, habitat loss, and disease all acting together over many years.
A) However
B) Therefore
C) Instead
D) For example
C) Instead. Classic "not X… ______, Y" correction structure: the wrong idea is replaced by the right one. Trap: However (A) again — students grab it because of "not," but "however" signals contrast, while "instead" signals replacement, which is what's happening.
A team of biologists hypothesizes that a species of frog changes color primarily to regulate its body temperature, not to hide from predators. Which finding, if true, would most directly support their hypothesis?
A) The frogs turn darker in cool conditions and lighter in warm conditions, regardless of whether predators are nearby.
B) The frogs are most often eaten by birds that hunt during the day.
C) The frogs turn a brighter green when placed against green leaves.
D) The frogs are more active at night than during the day.
A. The hypothesis has two parts: color change is for temperature, not for hiding. The right answer must support both. A does exactly that — color tracks temperature, and it happens "regardless of whether predators are nearby," which rules out the hiding explanation. Trap: C (brighter green against leaves) actually supports the predator/camouflage idea the biologists are arguing against. This is the hardest kind of SAT claim question: the correct choice has to confirm one explanation and exclude the rival one.
Many readers find that the short stories of the debut author are more emotionally powerful, if less technically refined, than ______.
A) the celebrated veteran novelist
B) that of the celebrated veteran novelist
C) those of the celebrated veteran novelist
D) the celebrated veteran novelist's writing
C) those of. Same logic as 400, but harder — and the trap is built to punish students who memorized 400 mechanically. You're comparing short stories (plural) to short stories, so you need "those of."
The novelist spent years researching the period ______ interviewing historians, visiting archives, and reading hundreds of letters ______ before she wrote a single chapter.
A) period; ... archives, and reading hundreds of letters;
B) period, ... archives, and reading hundreds of letters,
C) period— ... archives, and reading hundreds of letters—
D) period ... archives and reading hundreds of letters
C) dashes. The middle part ("interviewing historians, visiting archives, and reading hundreds of letters") is a nonessential list that interrupts the main sentence, and it already contains commas. To set off an interrupter that has internal commas, you use a matching pair of dashes so the reader can see where the interruption starts and ends. Trap: B) commas on both sides bury the interruption in a sea of commas (unreadable). A) semicolons are wrong because neither the interrupter nor "before she wrote a single chapter" is an independent clause
In an experiment, participants were given a difficult puzzle and told they could quit whenever they wished. Those who were paid a large sum to participate gave up sooner, on average, than those who were paid nothing and were told the study was about personal curiosity. The researchers concluded that, at least in some cases, ______
A) people never work hard unless they are paid for it.
B) offering a payment can reduce a person's own internal motivation to continue a task.
C) money is the strongest motivator for solving puzzles.
D) the unpaid participants were simply better at puzzles than the paid ones.
B. This is the hardest kind — the inference is counterintuitive. Paid people quit sooner than unpaid people, which means the payment somehow reduced their drive to keep going. The only conclusion that explains the result is B (external reward undercut internal motivation). Trap: C ("money is the strongest motivator") is the opposite of what the data show — students grab it because it "sounds true" in real life, but the experiment showed money made people quit earlier. This is the trap the SAT loves most: an answer that matches your common sense but contradicts the passage. Also A ("never work hard unless paid") is too extreme and contradicted.