PSAT 10: Reading and Writing

What the section tests

The PSAT 10 Reading and Writing section is two 32-minute modules, 27 questions each. Every item is a short passage-often a single paragraph-followed by one question, so each item must be solved from its own text. The four content domains are Information and Ideas (central ideas, details, command of evidence, inferences), Craft and Structure (words in context, text structure and purpose, cross-text connections), Expression of Ideas (transitions, rhetorical synthesis), and Standard English Conventions (sentence boundaries, punctuation, agreement, pronouns, verbs, modifiers, parallelism).

Core rules

• For words in context, predict a word from the sentence's logic before looking at choices; contrast words such as although and unlike often reverse the meaning.
• For command of evidence, match the choice to the exact claim; a true statement that does not support the claim is wrong.
• For transitions, name the relationship first-contrast, cause, addition, example, sequence-then pick the word.
• For rhetorical synthesis, read the goal in the question stem; include only bullet points that accomplish that goal.
• In conventions, find the main clause. A semicolon or colon needs an independent clause before it; a colon also needs a list or explanation after it. Semicolons join two independent clauses; commas do not.

Worked example

The botanist surveyed three wetland habitats ___ the coastal marsh, the inland bog, and the river delta. Choices: comma, semicolon, colon, no punctuation. The words after the blank are not a full sentence, so a semicolon fails. A comma alone is too weak before this explanatory list. A colon correctly introduces the list that identifies the three habitats. Answer: colon.

Traps

• Choosing a familiar word that fits grammatically but not logically.
• Treating a plausible detail as evidence for a different claim.
• Using a semicolon before a fragment.
• Adding every note in a synthesis item instead of only goal-relevant notes.
• Ignoring apostrophes and subject-verb agreement in long sentences.