STUDY SMART TUTORS
DOMAIN: CRAFT & STRUCTURE
• Students will use comprehension, vocabulary, analysis, synthesis, and reasoning skills to use and determine the meaning of high-utility academic words 14 and phrases in context, evaluate texts rhetorically, and make supportable connections between multiple topically related texts. • There are approximately 13 to 15 Craft & Structure questions on the SAT. • There are three, what the College Board calls, skill/knowledge testing points 15 in this domain: 1) Words in Context; 2) Text Structure & Purpose; 3) Cross-Text Connections.
Testing Point: Words in Context
• Tests a student’s ability to use and determine the meaning of words and phrases in the contexts in which they appear. • There are approximately 9 to 12 Words in Context questions on the SAT.
WHAT IS CONTEXT?
Webster’s 16 defines context as:
the parts of a discourse 17 that surround a word or passage and can throw light on its meaning.
In a way, almost all of the questions you will answer on SAT Reading could be thought of as words in context. For example,
1. The SAT is
.
Annoying! Gross! Horrible! Painful! Relaxing!
Relaxing??? Well, it could be relaxing given the right context.
2. The SAT is relaxing, leaving me in a state of unmatched tranquility—sometimes even utter bliss—because its questions boost activity in my prefrontal cortex with a concomitant hippocampal regulation of my stress hormones.
Here, the SAT is indeed relaxing! There is plenty of context to prove it.
14 In certain nerdy circles, words are categorized into three tiers: Tier 1 (Basic), Tier 2 (High-frequency), and Tier 3 (Domain-specific). Tier 2 words are defined as words that are commonly used across various academic disciplines but are not necessarily common in everyday conversations, often carrying multiple or subtle meanings. 15 Think of these as question types. 16 This has nothing to do with the internet. It is a dictionary. 17 Think of discourse as a discussion about something. For the SAT, this would be a written discussion.
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