📐 SAT
📝 ACT
🎓 AP Exams
About Contact Blog Privacy Policy

SAT Reading & Writing: Rhetorical Synthesis (Drill 3)

Drill 3 · Reading & Writing · Rhetorical Synthesis

0 / 5
←
Previous drill
Drill 2
More Sat Reading Writing Rhetorical Synthesis drills
Drill 1 5 questions → Drill 2 5 questions →
Drill 3 — current you are here

About This Drill

SAT Reading & Writing: Rhetorical Synthesis (Drill 3) is a Reading & Writing practice drill covering Rhetorical Synthesis. It contains 5 original questions created by Brian Stewart, a Barron's test prep author with over 20 years of tutoring experience.

Rhetorical Synthesis questions present a set of notes on a topic and ask you to select the sentence that best uses them to accomplish a stated goal. This drill emphasizes goal-directed synthesis, where you must match the rhetorical purpose (introduce, contrast, exemplify) to the correct sentence construction.

Questions & Explanations

Notes
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: • The Haber-Bosch process is an industrial process used to manufacture ammonia (NH₃). • It was invented by chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch in 1910. • The process's primary reaction combines nitrogen (N₂) from the air with hydrogen (H₂). • It requires an iron catalyst and high temperatures and pressures. • Most of the ammonia produced by this process is used in fertilizers.

Question 1. The student wants to provide an overview of the Haber-Bosch process. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

  • A) The Haber-Bosch process needs nitrogen, hydrogen, and an iron catalyst.
  • B) The Haber-Bosch process uses an iron catalyst along with high temperatures and pressures to manufacture ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen. ✓
  • C) Chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch invented an industrial process to manufacture ammonia to be used in fertilizers.
  • D) In 1910, chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch invented the Haber-Bosch process, which requires high temperatures and pressures, as the notes explain.

Explanation: Choice B is the best answer. The sentence provides an overview of the process, explaining that it uses an iron catalyst, high temperatures, and high pressures to manufacture ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen. Choice A identifies some components but doesn't explain what the process does or its conditions. Choice C mentions the inventors and the product but omits ingredients and conditions. Choice D mentions inventors and conditions but doesn't explain the process produces ammonia or what components are needed.

Notes
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: • The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike was a road built between 1792 and 1794. • It was the first private turnpike in the United States. • It connected the cities of Philadelphia and Lancaster in the state of Pennsylvania. • It was sixty-two miles long.

Question 2. The student wants to emphasize the distance covered by the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

  • A) The sixty-two-mile-long Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike connected the Pennsylvania cities of Philadelphia and Lancaster. ✓
  • B) The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike was the first private turnpike in the United States.
  • C) The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, which connected two Pennsylvania cities, was built between 1792 and 1794 as the passage indicates.
  • D) A historic Pennsylvania road, the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike was completed in 1794.

Explanation: Choice A is the best answer. The sentence emphasizes the distance covered by the turnpike, noting that it was sixty-two miles long and connected Philadelphia and Lancaster. Choice B emphasizes the turnpike's significance as the first private turnpike. Choice C mentions the cities but doesn't include the distance. Choice D emphasizes when it was completed.

Notes
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: • Some powerful works of literature have so influenced readers that new legislation has been passed as a result. • The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789) is the autobiography of a man who endured slavery on both sides of the Atlantic. • Equiano's book contributed to the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807. • The Jungle (1906) is a fictional work by Upton Sinclair that describes unsanitary conditions in US meatpacking plants. • Sinclair's book contributed to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906.

Question 3. The student wants to emphasize a difference between the two books. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

  • A) Although both are powerful works of literature that contributed to new legislation, Equiano's book is an autobiography, while Sinclair's is fictional. ✓
  • B) They may have written about different topics, but Equiano and Sinclair both influenced readers.
  • C) The 1807 Slave Trade Act resulted in part from a book by Equiano, while the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act resulted in part from a book by Sinclair, as presented in the notes.
  • D) The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano and The Jungle are two works of literature that contributed to new legislation.

Explanation: Choice A is the best answer. It emphasizes a difference between the two books by contrasting their genres: one is autobiography, the other is fiction. Choice B mentions different topics but emphasizes their similarity (influencing readers). Choice C provides information reflecting both a similarity and a difference without emphasizing either. Choice D emphasizes a similarity rather than a difference.

Notes
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: • Grimanesa Amoros is a Peruvian American artist well known for her LED light sculptures. • Her sculpture Uros Island is made of smooth multicolored LED domes. • It occupies 335 cubic feet of space. • Her sculpture Fortuna is made of entangled blue and white LED tubes. • It occupies 19,950 cubic feet of space.

Question 4. The student wants to emphasize a similarity between Uros Island and Fortuna. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

  • A) The smooth LED domes of Grimanesa Amoros's Uros Island stand in contrast to the tangled LED tubes of Fortuna.
  • B) At 19,950 cubic feet in size, Grimanesa Amoros's Fortuna cuts a larger figure than the 335-cubic-foot Uros Island.
  • C) Grimanesa Amoros is the artist behind Uros Island, a sculpture made of smooth multicolored LED domes.
  • D) Uros Island is an LED light sculpture made by Grimanesa Amoros, as is Fortuna. ✓

Explanation: Choice D is the best answer. The sentence emphasizes a similarity, noting that both Uros Island and Fortuna are LED light sculptures by Grimanesa Amoros. Choice A contrasts the sculptures' materials (a difference, not a similarity). Choice B contrasts their sizes (a difference). Choice C describes only one sculpture without mentioning the other.

Notes
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: • The human body requires magnesium for over 300 metabolic processes. • Magnesium is a mineral present in many foods. • Peanuts contain 49 milligrams per ounce (mg/oz) of magnesium. • Almonds contain 80 mg/oz. • Chia seeds contain 150 mg/oz.

Question 5. The student wants to identify which of the three foods has the highest magnesium content. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

  • A) At 80 mg/oz, almonds contain more magnesium than peanuts (49 mg/oz).
  • B) Chia seeds contain 150 mg/oz of magnesium, which is more than peanuts and almonds. ✓
  • C) Magnesium is present in many foods, including peanuts, almonds, and chia seeds.
  • D) Peanuts contain 49 mg/oz of magnesium, a mineral the human body requires for over 300 metabolic processes.

Explanation: Choice B is the best answer. The sentence identifies chia seeds as having the highest magnesium content at 150 mg/oz, noting this is more than both peanuts and almonds. Choice A compares only almonds and peanuts. Choice C merely mentions the three foods without identifying which has the most. Choice D identifies peanuts' content without comparing to the others.