PSAT Reading and Writing
✏️PSAT Review
PSAT Reading and Writing
TL;DR
The PSAT/NMSQT is a digital adaptive test. The old paper-test writing label no longer applies. Reading and writing skills are tested together in the Reading and Writing section: 54 questions across two adaptive modules, 64 minutes total. This guide covers the question types, grammar rules, and strategies you need for that section.
PSAT/NMSQT Test Structure
| Section | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Reading and Writing (2 modules) | 54 | 64 minutes |
| Math (2 modules) | 44 | 70 minutes |
| Total | 98 | 2 hours 14 minutes |
Your performance on the first module of each section determines the difficulty level of the second module.
What Does the Reading and Writing Section Test?
Every question is paired with a short passage — usually one sentence up to a paragraph. You will not see long multi-page passages.
Passages draw from:
- Literature and nonfiction narratives
- History and social studies
- Humanities
- Science
Questions fall into four content domains.
Question Types (Content Domains)
1. Craft and Structure
These questions ask you to analyze how an author uses language and structure.
- Words in Context — Choose the word or phrase that best fits the meaning and tone of the passage.
- Text Structure and Purpose — Identify why a passage is organized a certain way or what role a specific sentence plays.
- Cross-Text Connections — Compare two short passages and identify how they relate (agree, disagree, build on each other).
Words in Context tip: Shorter and more precise is usually better. Eliminate choices that are redundant or shift the tone.
2. Information and Ideas
These questions test careful reading and use of evidence.
- Central Ideas and Details — Identify the main point or a key supporting detail.
- Command of Evidence (Textual) — Choose the answer best supported by the passage, or select a quote that supports a given claim.
- Command of Evidence (Quantitative) — Interpret a table, graph, or chart embedded in the question and connect it to the passage. No math calculations required.
3. Expression of Ideas
These questions ask you to improve how ideas are communicated.
- Selecting the most effective transition between ideas
- Choosing a sentence that best introduces or concludes a passage
- Adding, revising, or removing a detail to strengthen the argument or match the passage's purpose
Common question stem: "Which choice most effectively sets up the information that follows?"
4. Standard English Conventions
These questions cover grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. You select the version that follows standard written English.
Key topics:
- Subject-verb agreement
- Pronoun-antecedent agreement
- Verb tense and form
- Parallel structure
- Sentence boundaries (fragments and run-ons)
- Comma, semicolon, colon, and dash usage
- Apostrophes (possessives vs. contractions)
Grammar Reference Table
| Rule | How/When to Use It | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Subject-verb agreement | Subject and verb must both be singular or both be plural. | John and his sisters are at school. / Either Don or Laura is coming. |
| Pronoun-antecedent agreement | Pronouns must match their antecedents in number. Indefinite pronouns (everyone, nobody, either) are singular. | Each worker eats lunch in his or her office. |
| Fragments vs. complete sentences | A complete sentence needs a subject and a verb. A fragment is missing one or both. | Fragment: Running down the hall. / Complete: She was running down the hall. |
| Parallelism | Items in a list or paired structures should use the same grammatical form. | The ballerina was praised for her agility and her strength. |
| Semicolons | Connect two independent clauses. Do not use a semicolon before a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or). | The goalie's arm broke before halftime*;** the team lost.* |
| Commas | Use before a coordinating conjunction joining two independent clauses; after an introductory clause; around non-essential phrases; between items in a list. | After going to the store*,** Chris got food.* / Janet*,** the oldest child**,** felt left out.* |
| Colons | Introduce a list or a clarifying explanation. The clause before the colon must be independent. | I grabbed three things*:** cookies, chips, and candy.* |
| Dashes | Use a pair of em dashes to set off a non-essential phrase (like commas). Use a single em dash before a list or explanation. | Shanghai*—an ancient city—*now has skyscrapers. |
| Apostrophes | Use for possessives (the student's essay) and contractions (it's = it is). Do not use for plural nouns or possessive pronouns (its, their, your). | Today's test (possessive) / Their jobs (not they're jobs) |
| Conjunctions (FANBOYS) | For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So — use with a comma to join two independent clauses. | I was late*, yet** the ceremony had not started.* |
Strategies
- Read the question before the passage. Knowing what you are looking for helps you read efficiently.
- Use process of elimination. Identify what is wrong with each incorrect choice rather than just hunting for the right one.
- For grammar questions, read the full sentence. The error is often not in the underlined portion alone — context matters for agreement and punctuation.
- For evidence questions, go back to the text. Do not rely on memory. The correct answer will be directly supported by specific words in the passage.
- For words in context, try substituting. Replace the word with each answer choice and see which one preserves the original meaning without sounding awkward.
- Manage your time across modules. You have roughly 71 seconds per question on average. Flag difficult questions and return to them rather than getting stuck.
Practice Questions
These 12 questions work like the real digital PSAT: each one has its own short passage and a single question. They cover all four content domains, with extra Standard English Conventions practice. Answers and explanations follow the last question.
Question 1: Words in Context (Craft and Structure)
When engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan designed the structure of Chicago's Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower), he bundled nine square steel tubes together so they could brace one another. This ______ design let the building resist strong winds while using less steel than a conventional frame of the same height would have required.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word?
- A. extravagant
- B. efficient
- C. fragile
- D. conventional
Question 2: Text Structure and Purpose (Craft and Structure)
Most people picture deserts as lifeless places. Chile's Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth, seems to fit that image: some areas there go years without measurable rain. In 2015, however, unusually heavy rains fell, and months later large stretches of the desert were covered in pink and purple flowers. Seeds had been lying dormant in the soil, waiting for enough water to sprout.
Which choice best describes the function of the third sentence in the overall structure of the text?
- A. It presents an observation that complicates the common view described in the first sentence.
- B. It explains why some areas of the Atacama go years without measurable rain.
- C. It offers a hypothesis that the final sentence goes on to disprove.
- D. It introduces a second desert to contrast with the Atacama.
Question 3: Cross-Text Connections (Craft and Structure)
Text 1 Many accounts of the printing press claim that it spread literacy quickly across fifteenth-century Europe. Because printed books were cheaper than hand-copied manuscripts, these accounts argue, ordinary people suddenly gained access to reading material and learned to read in large numbers.
Text 2 Other historians question this story. In many regions, they point out, literacy rates rose only gradually for more than a century after printing arrived. Early printed books were still too expensive for most families, and access to schooling, not just cheaper books, shaped who learned to read.
Based on the texts, how would the historians in Text 2 most likely respond to the claim in Text 1?
- A. They would argue that the claim overstates how quickly the printing press led to widespread literacy.
- B. They would agree that cheaper books were the main reason ordinary people learned to read.
- C. They would argue that hand-copied manuscripts were more affordable than printed books.
- D. They would claim that literacy rates fell after the printing press was introduced.
Question 4: Central Ideas and Details (Information and Ideas)
Honeybees share the location of food through a movement called the waggle dance. A forager returning to the hive moves in a figure-eight pattern, and the angle of the straight "waggle" run, measured from vertical, shows the direction of the food relative to the sun. The length of the waggle run signals distance: the longer a bee waggles, the farther away the food is. Other bees follow the dancer closely, then fly out to search for the spot she has described.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
- A. Honeybees prefer food sources that are close to the hive.
- B. Honeybees use a dance with specific features to communicate where food can be found.
- C. Honeybees can find food only when the sun is visible.
- D. Forager bees fly in a figure-eight pattern on their way to food.
Question 5: Command of Evidence, Textual (Information and Ideas)
Along the Pacific coast of North America, sea otters eat large numbers of sea urchins, spiny animals that graze on kelp. Ecologists call sea otters a keystone species because their effect on the ecosystem is much larger than their numbers would suggest. A student claims that sea otters help protect kelp forests.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the student's claim?
- A. Sea otters spend much of each day floating and resting on the ocean's surface.
- B. Under ideal conditions, some kelp can grow more than 30 centimeters in a single day.
- C. In areas where sea otters disappeared, sea urchin populations grew and kelp forests shrank.
- D. Several kinds of fish also eat sea urchins.
Question 6: Command of Evidence, Quantitative (Information and Ideas)
A team of researchers grew three plots of the same tomato variety and gave each plot a different amount of water per week. They then measured the average harvest per plant. The researchers concluded that giving the plants more water did not always increase the harvest: ______
| Plot | Water per week (liters per plant) | Average harvest per plant (kg) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 2.1 |
| 2 | 8 | 3.4 |
| 3 | 12 | 2.9 |
Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the statement?
- A. plants in Plot 2 received twice as much water as plants in Plot 1 and produced a larger average harvest.
- B. plants in Plot 1 received the least water and produced the smallest average harvest.
- C. plants in Plot 3 produced a larger average harvest than plants in Plot 1.
- D. plants in Plot 3 received the most water but produced a smaller average harvest than plants in Plot 2.
Question 7: Boundaries (Standard English Conventions)
In 1928, after returning from a vacation, Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming noticed something unusual on a dish of bacteria he had left out in his lab. Around a patch of mold, the bacteria had ______ realized that the mold was releasing a substance that killed bacteria, a discovery that led to penicillin.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- A. died, Fleming
- B. died. Fleming
- C. died Fleming
- D. died, and, Fleming
Question 8: Form, Structure, and Sense: Subject-Verb Agreement (Standard English Conventions)
Local historians are excited about a recent donation to the city library. The collection of handwritten letters, which belonged to a family that ran the town's general store for three generations, ______ rare insights into daily life in the town during the 1800s.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- A. offer
- B. are offering
- C. have offered
- D. offers
Question 9: Form, Structure, and Sense: Possessives (Standard English Conventions)
Architect Zaha Hadid became known for buildings with sweeping, curved forms. The ______ design for the London Aquatics Centre, built for the 2012 Olympic Games, features a wave-shaped roof that seems to ripple above the pools.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- A. architects
- B. architects'
- C. architect's
- D. architect
Question 10: Boundaries: Supplementary Elements (Standard English Conventions)
Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in ______ rises nearly 5,900 meters above sea level. Its summit is capped by glaciers that have been shrinking for more than a century.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- A. Africa,
- B. Africa
- C. Africa;
- D. Africa:
Question 11: Transitions (Expression of Ideas)
Early telescopes produced blurry, color-fringed images because their glass lenses bent different colors of light by different amounts. In 1668, Isaac Newton built a telescope that gathered light with a curved mirror, which reflects all colors of light the same way. ______ his design avoided the color distortion that troubled lens-based telescopes.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
- A. Similarly,
- B. Nevertheless,
- C. As a result,
- D. For example,
Question 12: Rhetorical Synthesis (Expression of Ideas)
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
- The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is on a Norwegian island in the Arctic.
- It stores backup copies of seeds from crop collections around the world.
- The vault is built deep inside a mountain.
- The surrounding rock and permafrost keep the seeds cold even if the power fails.
- The vault can hold up to 4.5 million varieties of crops.
The student wants to explain how the vault's location helps protect the seeds. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
- A. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, on a Norwegian island in the Arctic, can hold up to 4.5 million varieties of crops.
- B. The vault stores backup copies of seeds from crop collections around the world.
- C. Located on a Norwegian island, the vault stores seeds from many countries.
- D. Because the vault is built deep inside an Arctic mountain, the surrounding rock and permafrost keep the seeds cold even if the power fails.
Answers & Explanations
- B — The text says the design resisted wind "while using less steel" than a conventional frame, so it got strong results from fewer materials. That is what efficient means. Extravagant (A) suggests wastefulness, and fragile (C) contradicts the building's ability to resist strong winds. Conventional (D) doesn't fit because the text contrasts Khan's design with a conventional frame.
- A — The first sentence gives the common view that deserts are lifeless, and the second shows the Atacama seems to fit it. The third sentence, signaled by however, describes the 2015 bloom, which complicates that view. B is wrong because the sentence describes rain that did fall, not why rain is rare. C is wrong because the final sentence explains the bloom rather than disproving anything. D is wrong because the whole text is about the Atacama.
- A — Text 1 says literacy spread "quickly" because books were cheaper. Text 2 says literacy rose "only gradually" for over a century and depended on schooling too, so its historians would say Text 1 overstates the speed. B contradicts Text 2's point that cheaper books were not the whole story. C is unsupported: Text 2 says printed books were still expensive, not that manuscripts were cheaper. D is wrong because Text 2 says literacy rose, just slowly.
- B — Every sentence explains how the waggle dance communicates the direction and distance of food, so the main idea is that bees use this dance to share where food is. A and C aren't stated in the text. D is an inaccurate detail: the figure-eight pattern happens during the dance inside the hive, not on the flight to food.
- C — The student's claim is that otters protect kelp. If removing otters led to more urchins and less kelp, that shows otters keep urchin numbers down and help kelp survive. A and B are about otters and kelp separately and don't connect the two. D, if anything, suggests otters may matter less, since other predators also eat urchins.
- D — To support "more water did not always increase the harvest," you need a case where more water came with a smaller harvest. Plot 3 got the most water (12 liters) but averaged 2.9 kg, less than Plot 2's 3.4 kg with 8 liters. A, B, and C are all accurate readings of the table, but each one shows more water going with a larger harvest, so none supports the conclusion.
- B — "Around a patch of mold, the bacteria had died" and "Fleming realized…" are both independent clauses. A period correctly separates them. A is a comma splice and C is a run-on. D adds an extra comma after and; "died, and Fleming" would be correct, but "died, and, Fleming" is not.
- D — The subject is collection, which is singular, so it needs the singular verb offers. The plural nouns letters and generations sit inside modifying phrases and don't change the subject. A, B, and C all use plural verb forms.
- C — The design belongs to one architect, Zaha Hadid, so the singular possessive architect's is correct. A is a plain plural with no possession. B is a plural possessive, which would mean more than one architect. D is missing the apostrophe and s needed to show possession.
- A — "The tallest mountain in Africa" is a nonessential phrase that renames Mount Kilimanjaro. It opens with a comma, so it must close with one. B leaves the phrase unclosed. C and D are wrong because a semicolon or colon can't separate a subject (Mount Kilimanjaro) from its verb (rises).
- C — The previous sentence says a mirror reflects all colors the same way, and this sentence gives the consequence: no color distortion. That cause-and-effect relationship calls for As a result. Similarly (A) signals a comparison, Nevertheless (B) signals a contrast, and For example (D) signals an illustration of a general point. None of these fits.
- D — The goal is to explain how the location protects the seeds. D explains how the Arctic mountain's rock and permafrost keep the seeds cold even without power. A gives the vault's location and capacity but not how the location protects anything. B and C describe what the vault stores without explaining any protection.
Practice Resources
- College Board Official Practice — The College Board offers free official PSAT/NMSQT digital practice tests through Bluebook, the same app used on test day. This is the most accurate preparation available.
- Khan Academy (SAT prep) — SAT and PSAT Reading and Writing content overlaps significantly. Khan Academy's free SAT practice covers the same grammar and reading skills tested on the PSAT.
- The Critical Reader — Detailed explanations of grammar rules with example sentences, useful for Standard English Conventions practice.
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