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SAT SAT-Critical-Reading Exam Syllabus Topics:

SAT Section One : Critical Reading Sample Questions:

1. He was held up to small children as an ______, one who is worthy of imitation, principally because of his
self-sacrificing dedication to helping others--clearly his ______ made him deserving of such claim.

A) idol. . .immortality
B) exemplar. . .altruism
C) emancipator. . .thrift
D) egotist. . .devotion
E) enigma. . .heart

2. Scott Fitzgerald was a prominent American writer of the twentieth century. This passage comes from one
of his short stories and tells the story of a young John Unger leaving home for boarding school.
John T. Unger came from a family that had been well known in Hades a small town on the Mississippi
River for several generations. John's father had held the amateur golf championship through many a
heated contest; Mrs. Unger was known "from hot-box to hot-bed," as the local phrase went, for her
political addresses; and young John T. Unger, who had just turned sixteen, had danced all the latest
dances from New York before he put on long trousers.
And now, for a certain time, he was to be away from home That respect for a New England education
which is the bane of all provincial places, which drains them yearly of their most promising young men,
had seized upon his parents.
Nothing would suit them but that he should go to St. Midas's School near Boston--Hades was too small to
hold their darling and gifted son. Now in Hades--as you know if you ever have been there the names of
the more fashionable preparatory schools and colleges mean very little. The inhabitants have been so
long out of the world that, though they make a show of keeping up-to-date in dress and manners and
literature, they depend to a great extent on hearsay, and a function that in Hades would be considered
elaborate would doubtless be hailed by a Chicago beef-princess as "perhaps a little tacky." John T. Unger
was on the eve of departure. Mrs. Unger, with maternal fatuity, packed his trunks full of linen suits and
electric fans, and Mr. Unger presented his son with an asbestos pocket-book stuffed with money.
"Remember, you are always welcome here," he said. "You can be sure, boy, that we'll keep the home
fires burning." "I know," answered John huskily.
"Don't forget who you are and where you come from," continued his father proudly, "and you can do
nothing to harm you. You are an Unger--from Hades."
So the old man and the young shook hands, and John walked away with tears streaming from his eyes.
Ten minutes later he had passed outside the city limits and he stopped to glance back for the last time.
Over the gates the old-fashioned Victorian motto seemed strangely attractive to him. His father had tried
time and time again to have it changed to something with a little more push and verve about it, such as
"Hades--Your Opportunity," or else a plain "Welcome" sign set over a hearty handshake pricked out in
electric lights. The old motto was a little depressing, Mr. Unger had thought--but now.
So John took his look and then set his face resolutely toward his destination. And, as he turned away, the
lights of Hades against the sky seemed full of a warm and passionate beauty.
The "Chicago beef-princess" can best be described as representing the Chicago upper class by way of
which literary device?

A) Apostrophe
B) Simile
C) Anachronism
D) Metaphor
E) Neologism

3. The main purpose of this story is to appeal to the reader's interest in a subject which has been the theme
of some of the greatest writers, living and dead--but which has never been, and can never be, exhausted,
because it is a subject eternally interesting to all mankind. Here is one more book that depicts the struggle
of a human creature, under those opposing influences of Good and Evil, which we have all felt, which we
have all known.
It has been my aim to make the character of "Magdalen," which personifies this struggle, a pathetic
character even in its perversity and its error; and I have tried hard to attain this result by the least
obtrusive and the least artificial of all means--by a resolute adherence throughout to the truth as it is in
Nature. This design was no easy one to accomplish; and it has been a great encouragement to me
(during the publication of my story in its periodical form) to know, on the authority of many readers, that
the object which I had proposed to myself, I might, in some degree, consider as an object achieved.
Round the central figure in the narrative other characters will be found grouped, in sharp contrast--
contrast, for the most part, in which I have endeavored to make the element of humor mainly
predominant.
I have sought to impart this relief to the more serious passages in the book, not only because I believe
myself to be justified in doing so by the laws of Art--but because experience has taught me (what the
experience of my readers will doubtless confirm) that there is no such moral phenomenon as unmixed
tragedy to be found in the world around us. Look where we may, the dark threads and the light cross each
other perpetually in the texture of human life.
What does the author likely mean when he writes, "truth as it is in Nature" in 2nd paragraph?

A) No matter what, Magdalen will be truthful.
B) The struggle of Good and Evil as embodied by Nature is truth.
C) Natural things do not always appear as they seem.
D) Nature changes often as does the character in the story.
E) Good and Evil are presented through Magdalen in her Natural characterization.

4. George Washington served as president of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and was then elected
President of the United States in 1789. This is from his first address to Congress. Such being the
impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it
would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to the Almighty Being,
who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can
supply every human defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the
people of the United States a government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may
enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to
his charge. In tendering this homage to the great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself
that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, less than
either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the affairs
of men, more than the people of the United States.
Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been
distinguished by some token of providential agency. And, in the important revolution just accomplished in
the system of their united government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct
communities, from which the event has resulted, cannot be compared with the means by which most
governments have been established, without some return of pious gratitude along with a humble
anticipation of the future blessings which the past seems to presage. These reflections, arising out of the
present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me, I
trust, in thinking that there are none, under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free
government can more auspiciously commence.
By the article establishing the executive department, it is made the duty of the President "to recommend
to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." The circumstances,
under which I now meet you, will acquit me from entering into that subject farther than to refer you to the
great constitutional charter under which we are assembled; and which, in defining your powers,
designates the objects to which your attention is to be given. It will be more consistent with those
circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a
recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and the
patriotism, which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them. In these honorable
qualifications I behold the surest pledges, that as, on one side, no local prejudices or attachments, no
separate views or party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye, which ought to
watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests; so, on another, that the foundations of
our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the
preeminence of a free government be exemplified by all the attributes, which can win the affections of its
citizens, and command the respect of the world.
The "comprehensive and equal eye" that is to watch over Congress is

A) the power of the press
B) the will of the people
C) the eye of God
D) Congress's unbiased objectivity
E) a "Big Brother" figure in government

5. When Rob became interested in electricity, his clear-headed father considered the boy's fancy to be
instructive as well as amusing; so he heartily encouraged his son, and Rob never lacked batteries, motors,
or supplies of any sort that his experiments might require.
He fitted up the little back room in the attic as his workshop, and from thence, a network of wires soon ran
throughout the house. Not only had every outside door its electric bell, but every window was fitted with a
burglar alarm; moreover, no one could cross the threshold of any interior room without registering the fact
in Rob's work- shop. The gas was lighted by an electric fob; a chime, connected with an erratic clock in
the boy's room, woke the servants at all hours of the night and caused the cook to give warning; a bell
rang whenever the postman dropped a letter into the box; there were bells, bells, bells everywhere,
ringing at the right time, the wrong time and all the time. And there were telephones in the different rooms,
too, through which Rob could call up the different members of the family just when they did not wish to be
disturbed. His mother and sisters soon came to vote the boy's scientific craze a nuisance; but his father
was delighted with these evidences of Rob's skill as an electrician and insisted that he be allowed perfect
freedom in carrying out his ideas.
Which is the best selection describing the social commentary inferred in the passage?

A) Father makes the decisions as head of household.
B) Sisters have a vote in the family business as do all family members
C) Mother has half decision-making authority over the children.
D) Mother provides input taken into consideration by father.
E) Father knows best.

Solutions: