On the SAT Reading and Writing section, Inferences questions ask students to draw a conclusion the passage supports without stating it outright. Students must combine details—why tools survive in one archaeological layer but not another, what a voice-matching experiment still shows after pauses are equalized, or what a shopkeeper will do after a quiet look at the ledger—and pick the completion that follows. The exam typically offers a short text that trails off and asks which choice most logically completes it. Wrong answers overreach the evidence, ignore a leftover detail, or restate a fact instead of taking the next supported step.
Section: Reading and Writing 54 questions on the paper
137 practice questions in the app
Sample questions
Question 1
Archaeologists excavating a coastal settlement found almost no wooden fishing tools in dry upper layers but many such tools in a deeper, waterlogged layer. Stone sinkers occurred throughout the site, and impressions in hardened clay show that wooden tools had once been present in some upper-layer rooms. Excavators also recovered ceramic fragments and animal bones from both layers. This evidence suggests that
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Aresidents stopped fishing after the deeper layer was formed.
Bthe wooden tools in the deeper layer were made much later than the stone sinkers.
Cupper-layer rooms never contained wooden fishing tools.
Ddifferences in preservation, rather than in tool use alone, help explain the layers’ different contents.
Show answer
Answer: D — differences in preservation, rather than in tool use alone, help explain the layers’ different contents.
The clay impressions indicate that wooden tools existed in the upper layers even though the wood itself is gone. Waterlogging likely preserved wood in the deeper layer while wood decayed above.
Question 2
A linguist proposed that listeners identify unfamiliar speakers partly by each speaker’s characteristic pauses. In recordings with the words unchanged, shortening every pause to the same duration made listeners much less accurate at matching voices to speakers. Their accuracy did not fall to chance, however. The findings indicate that
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Alisteners rely exclusively on pause patterns to identify speakers.
Cpause patterns aid speaker identification but are not the only cues listeners use.
Dlisteners identify unfamiliar speakers more accurately than familiar speakers.
Show answer
Answer: C — pause patterns aid speaker identification but are not the only cues listeners use.
Accuracy fell when distinctive pauses were equalized, so pause patterns help with speaker identification. Accuracy did not fall to chance, so listeners also use other cues and do not rely on pauses alone. Equalizing pauses changed accuracy rather than leaving it unchanged, and the study does not compare unfamiliar speakers with familiar ones.
Question 3
The following text is from Lena Hartwell's 2014 novel The Quiet Ledger.
The shopkeeper checked the figure entered for the gilt lamp in the day's sales. It was a fraction of the lamp's price; the apprentice had let it go for almost nothing. He reached for the ledger, then closed it and turned to the boy, who stood waiting. "Explain how the error occurred," he said. When the apprentice had finished, the shopkeeper said, "You will design a system that keeps this from happening again."
Based on the text, what is true about the shopkeeper?
AHe cares more about recovering the lamp than about improving the shop.
BHe values learning from the mistake more than immediately assigning blame.
CHe is primarily concerned with determining whether the apprentice can repay the lamp's full price.
DHe intends to remove the apprentice from the shop before hearing any explanation.
Show answer
Answer: B — He values learning from the mistake more than immediately assigning blame.
The shopkeeper closes the ledger, asks the apprentice to explain the error, and then has him design a preventive system. Those actions show that he values learning from the mistake more than immediately assigning blame.
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