Drill 3 · Reading & Writing · Hard Transitions
SAT Reading & Writing: Hard Transitions (Drill 3) is a Reading & Writing practice drill covering Hard Transitions. It contains 5 original questions created by Brian Stewart, a Barron's test prep author with over 20 years of tutoring experience.
Hard SAT Transitions questions ask you to choose the word or phrase that captures the exact logical relationship between ideas. The answer is rarely the most familiar connector; difficulty comes from three distractors that each fit a different, plausible relationship, with only one matching what the passage actually does.
Question 1. The seventeenth-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza rejected the widely held idea that mind and body are two separate substances that somehow manage to interact across an unbridgeable gap. He held instead that thought and physical extension are simply two aspects of one and the same underlying reality, viewed from different angles; ______ a single event can be described completely in the language of the mind or completely in the language of the body, without either account being the cause of the other.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Explanation: (C) The clause after the blank restates Spinoza's claim that mind and body are two aspects of one reality, now phrased in terms of describing a single event two ways. "In other words" fits because the second clause says the same thing again in different language. Choice (A), "for example," tempts because the second clause could look like an illustration. But it does not offer a particular case; it rephrases the general claim itself, which restatement, not exemplification, describes. Choice (B), "by contrast," points to a conflict, yet the second clause agrees with and clarifies the first rather than opposing it. Choice (D), "as a result," claims a causal link, but the passage explicitly denies that one description causes the other, so a result transition contradicts the sentence.
Question 2. The first feature films made with synchronized sound, which arrived in the late 1920s, are often dismissed by critics as clumsy and stagebound, their bulky cameras locked inside soundproof booths to stay within range of fixed, hidden microphones. ______ many of these early sound films do feel static and talky beside the fluid, inventive silent pictures that came just before them. Yet a few directors quickly turned the new constraint into an asset, using sound to build tension precisely where the image was forced to hold still.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Explanation: (A) The blank sentence concedes the criticism in the opening, that early sound films feel static, and the next sentence answers it with "Yet." "Granted" introduces a point the writer admits before turning it around. Choice (B), "Therefore," signals a conclusion drawn from the first sentence. The blank sentence does not follow as a result; it concedes a complaint the writer will soon push back against. Choice (C), "In addition," would make the second sentence one more separate criticism. It is not a new point but an admission of the same one, set up to be qualified by the sentence that follows. Choice (D), "For instance," would introduce an example of the opening claim. The second sentence restates and concedes that claim rather than illustrating it with a specific case.
Question 3. Tracking studies that follow individual birds by satellite have revealed that some songbirds migrate thousands of miles along surprisingly narrow corridors, funneling through a mere handful of stopover sites where they rest and refuel before pressing on. The loss of any one of these crowded sites can ripple across an entire population, leaving birds too depleted to complete the journey. ______ several conservation groups have shifted their efforts away from scattered, opportunistic land purchases and toward protecting the specific wetlands and woodlands that lie along these vital flyways.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Explanation: (D) The first sentences establish a finding, that migration depends on a few crucial stopover sites, and the last reports the action conservation groups took because of it. "Accordingly" marks a response that follows logically from the preceding information. Choice (A), "In other words," must restate the finding. Shifting conservation strategy is a new action prompted by the finding, not a paraphrase of it. Choice (B), "Even so," signals that the action happens despite the finding. The groups act in line with the finding, not against it, so there is no concession. Choice (C), "For example," would make the strategy shift an instance of the finding itself. It is a downstream response to the finding, not a sample of it.
Question 4. Older histories of timekeeping often presented the late-medieval European mechanical clock as a sudden break from everything that came before, a single decisive leap that set Europe apart from the rest of the world and marked the true beginning of precise timekeeping. ______ historians of technology now emphasize a longer and more international story, tracing earlier water-powered clocks and sophisticated regulating mechanisms built in China and the Islamic world many centuries before Europe's weight-driven tower clocks ever became common in its towns and cathedrals.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Explanation: (B) The first sentence gives the traditional account of a single European invention, and the second corrects it with evidence of much earlier devices elsewhere. "However" fits because the new evidence works against the older view. Choice (A), "Likewise," would treat the two accounts as agreeing. They disagree about where and when the clock arose, so there is no similarity to mark. Choice (C), "Therefore," signals a conclusion that follows from the first sentence. The second sentence overturns the first rather than building on it, so no such consequence holds. Choice (D), "Indeed," is the closest trap, since it could seem to add force to a point. But "indeed" strengthens a claim already made, whereas this sentence reverses the traditional claim, so a contrast transition is required.
Question 5. The novelist spent three years drafting her sprawling manuscript in near-total isolation, then another full year revising it with a demanding editor who questioned nearly every chapter and cut whole subplots she had labored over. She set the book aside twice, each time convinced it had failed beyond rescue, before returning to it with fresh eyes and a clearer sense of its shape. ______ the version that finally reached print bore little resemblance to her first draft, a fact she came to regard as the whole point of writing rather than a sign of wasted effort.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Explanation: (D) The passage moves through a sequence of stages, drafting, revising, setting aside, returning, and the blank introduces the final result of that whole process. "Ultimately" fits because it marks the outcome that the preceding steps build toward. Choice (A), "For instance," would make the final version an example of the writing process. It is the end product of that process, not a sample of it. Choice (B), "By contrast," signals opposition between the last sentence and what came before. The final version is the culmination of the earlier work, not a contrast with it. Choice (C), "Admittedly," introduces a concession. The closing sentence is not a reluctant admission that weakens the passage; it is the destination the sequence has been heading toward.