Cross-text connections

Digital SAT · Reading and Writing · Craft and Structure. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

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The idea

You get two short texts on the same topic. The question asks how the author, or the people named in one text, would most likely respond to a claim in the other.

First sum up each text in a few words of your own: what does Text 1 claim, and what does Text 2 say about it? Then name the relationship. Text 2 seldom simply rejects Text 1. More often it agrees in part and adds a limit, a condition, new evidence or a different explanation.

Find the exact claim the question names. Then choose the option that fits what Text 2 really says, no stronger and no weaker.

Rules to remember

Sum up each text in one short line before you read the options.
Common relationships: full agreement, partial agreement with a caution, a different explanation, new evidence that supports or weakens the claim.
Words such as "but," "however," "only if" and "yet" in Text 2 show where it parts from Text 1.
The answer must fit both texts. An option that describes either text wrongly is out.
Be careful with extreme options: "completely wrong," "never," "always," "proves."
Answer for the person the question names, not for yourself.

Common mistake

Picking an option that says Text 2 fully rejects Text 1 when it accepts part of it. Check first what Text 2 admits, often in its opening words.

Worked example

Text 1: Some teachers say homework builds good study habits, so schools should assign more of it. Text 2: Researchers found that homework helped older students, but for children under ten it made almost no difference to results. How would the researchers in Text 2 most likely respond to the teachers in Text 1?

Text 1 claims: homework is good, so assign more of it for everyone.
Text 2 finds: it helps older students but hardly helps children under ten.
So Text 2 agrees in part and adds a limit: age matters. It does not say homework is useless.

Answer: They would agree that homework can help but point out that the benefit depends on the age of the students.

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