SAT Reading and Writing Unit 2: Information and Ideas

Roman concrete structures built two thousand years ago — the dome of the Pantheon, the harbor breakwaters that still line parts of the Mediterranean coast — remain intact today. Recent chemical analysis has identified small lumps of unmixed lime in the original concrete that, when exposed to water through small cracks, react with the surrounding silica to form new minerals that seal the damage from within.

According to the text, what role do the lumps of lime play in Roman concrete?

Architectural historian Lina Marquez argues that the Gothic style, often described as a uniform European phenomenon, in fact developed independent regional variations driven by local stone, local craft traditions, and the building practices of particular regional schools of masons. Her case rests heavily on a comparative analysis of vaulting techniques in cathedrals built between 1180 and 1260.

Which finding, if confirmed by additional research, would most directly support Marquez's argument?

A long-term observation study of meadow plants and their pollinators found that flower species with deeper corollas were visited almost exclusively by long-tongued bees, while species with shallower corollas attracted a broader mix of pollinators. When long-tongued bee populations dropped sharply in one region, deep-corolla flowers produced significantly less seed in that region — though other pollinator species there remained common.

Which inference is best supported by the text?

Paleontologists dating ancient deposits typically combine two complementary methods. Radiometric techniques yield absolute ages by measuring the decay of radioactive isotopes; biostratigraphic dating assigns relative ages by comparing the species of fossils present in a layer to species whose lifespans are already known from other dated deposits. In layers where one method produces a clear date but the other produces no usable signal, researchers prefer to report a range of plausible ages rather than a single number.

Which inference about dating practice is best supported by the text?

A study of gray squirrels in eastern oak forests found that the animals recover roughly 85 percent of the acorns they bury, relying on spatial memory of nearby trees and landmarks rather than on scent. The unrecovered acorns germinate at higher rates than acorns left on the surface, helping to spread the very trees that the squirrels depend on.

According to the text, how do gray squirrels primarily locate the acorns they have buried?

California's oak woodlands evolved with frequent low-intensity fire, much of it set deliberately by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years before European contact. Land managers who exclude all fire now find that the woodlands accumulate dense undergrowth, which in turn fuels the rare but catastrophic wildfires that today's headlines tend to focus on.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

Microbiologist Henry Park studied the growth rate of one strain of bacteria at four temperatures. The table below reports the number of viable cells per milliliter after 24 hours at each temperature.

A student claims: This bacterial strain grows best at temperatures close to human body temperature and is sharply limited by either cool or hot extremes.

Which choice best uses data from the table to support the student's claim?

A team surveying songbirds in two adjacent restored prairies recorded the number of individuals of each species observed across a two-week period in May. The table summarizes their counts.

Prairie A has been managed for denser ground litter and taller native bunchgrasses than Prairie B. A researcher hypothesizes: Restored prairies managed for denser litter and taller grass support disproportionately more bobolinks and grasshopper sparrows than otherwise similar prairies with shorter, sparser vegetation.

Which choice from the table most directly supports the researcher's hypothesis?

Some urban-planning researchers have proposed that increased street-tree canopy lowers neighborhood temperatures during summer heat waves. To convincingly establish the claim, they would need to compare temperatures across neighborhoods that resemble one another in their populations, infrastructure, and built density but differ chiefly in canopy cover.

Which finding would best support the claim that increased street-tree canopy lowers summer temperatures?

Along stretches of the Pacific coast, kelp forests had thinned dramatically by the late twentieth century as sea-urchin populations, freed from predation, grazed unchecked on the young kelp. The recovery of sea otters — which prey on urchins — has been followed by a rebound in kelp cover within a decade in many bays, though kelp recovery has been uneven and incomplete in others.

Which inference about the relationship between sea otters, urchins, and kelp is most strongly supported by the text?

Many wildflower species rely on ants — not bees — to disperse their seeds. The seeds carry a small fatty appendage called an elaiosome that worker ants harvest as food and carry back to the colony; the seeds themselves are typically dropped in the soil near the nest, where they germinate the following spring under more favorable conditions than they would on the open surface.

Which choice best describes the main idea of the text?

When Galileo turned his improved telescope toward Jupiter in 1610, he saw four small bright points whose positions changed from night to night and that occasionally disappeared entirely from view. After recording their positions over several weeks, he concluded that the points were moons orbiting Jupiter, not background stars.

Which choice describes a conclusion about Galileo's reasoning that is most strongly supported by the text?