Scope and prerequisites
Digital SAT framework; original paper practice is nonadaptive and gives no scaled-score prediction.
- Identify how a passage develops its central point
- Explain a sentence’s role in the larger argument 论证
- Distinguish a text’s purpose from its subject matter
Prerequisites: Follow a problem–response sequence; distinguish reported views.
Explain and choose the method
Summarise each part with an action: introduces a problem, describes an approach, presents evidence 证据 or notes a limitation. The ordered actions describe structure more precisely than a list of subject nouns. Look for a shift where the author moves from background to a claim or from a claim to a qualification 限定.
For the function of a marked sentence, compare what comes before and after. If it contradicts an earlier expectation and the next sentence explains that surprise, its role may be to introduce an unexpected result. It is not automatically the author’s conclusion just because it appears late.
Purpose states what the author is trying to do with the information: explain a distinction, challenge an assumption, evaluate a method or describe a response. An option that merely names the topic is incomplete. An option that says persuade readers to take action needs actual advocacy, not an informative description alone.
Distinguish an objection the author presents from a view the author endorses. Reported claims, examples and hypothetical situations can serve an argument without becoming the author’s final position. Use the passage’s wording and relationship markers to assign roles rather than imposing a favourite argument structure.
Sentence function 句子作用 states what a sentence does in its context. “The machine was fast. It damaged thin sheets. The team added a gentler setting.” The middle sentence limits an advantage and motivates a response. Calling it merely “about sheets” names a topic, not a function.
Existing worked example: Original passage: “Catalogues once grouped these objects by the material from which they were made. That approach placed tools with different uses together. The revised catalogue therefore adds a function label to each entry.” Structure: describe an existing approach, identify its limitation, then explain a response. The middle sentence supplies the limitation motivating the revision; it does not claim material is irrelevant.
Complete original context
Original passage: Early walking maps marked every route with the same solid line. This kept the map simple, but walkers could not tell whether a route included steps. Some designers proposed adding a written note beside every staircase. A trial instead used a distinct line pattern for routes without steps and explained it in a clear legend. Walkers then identified these routes more accurately in the trial, although some readers needed help noticing the legend. The designers retained the pattern and made the legend more prominent.
Independent practice and checked reasoning
Transfer 1
State the overall structure using actions rather than a list of subjects.
Reasoning: The passage introduces an earlier design, identifies an access problem, reports one proposal 提案 and a different tested response, qualifies the trial's success, and describes a refinement.
Transfer 2
What does “although some readers needed help noticing the legend” do? Why is it not proof the whole trial failed?
Reasoning: It qualifies improved accuracy by identifying a remaining obstacle. The trial still reports more accurate identification, so a total-failure interpretation contradicts the stated improvement.
Transfer 3
Does the writer endorse written notes beside every staircase? Explain the difference between reporting that proposal and describing the retained design.
Reasoning: The notes are a reported proposal, not the design tested and retained. The retained approach is a line pattern with a more prominent legend. Attributing the proposal to the writer as the final recommendation merges different stages.
Limits and next use
Do not confuse what a sentence is about with what it does, or turn a described method into a recommendation without textual support.
All tasks here are public original practice with authored guidance. They are not official questions or fresh diagnostics. Existing protected tests and mocks remain separate.