PSAT Reading — mixed 13-question set in module order

Practicing one question type at a time builds skill; the test itself asks you to switch. In each PSAT/NMSQT Reading and Writing module, the questions arrive in a fixed order of domains: Craft and Structure first, then Information and Ideas, then Standard English Conventions and Expression of Ideas. Within each of the first two domains, questions that test the same skill are grouped together and run from easier to harder. Knowing that order changes how you pace a module: the first question of each new group is usually easier than the last question of the group before it.

This material is a diagnostic set of thirteen questions covering the two reading domains in that order, about as many reading questions as one module contains. It opens with two words-in-context questions, moves to three text structure and purpose questions (the function of a sentence, a main purpose, an overall structure) and two cross-text connections, then turns to Information and Ideas: two central idea questions (one on an excerpt from Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs, 1896), two command of evidence questions (one textual, one with a bar graph) and two inferences. Each question names its domain and skill, so the results show at a glance which skills are secure and which need the dedicated materials in this category. The passages are original, apart from the Jewett excerpt, and span science, history, the humanities and literature. Each explanation shows the deciding words and why every other choice fails.

The flashcards cover the format and pacing facts behind a module (54 questions in two 32-minute modules, the domain order, flagging and returning within a module, the adaptive second module) and one key move per skill. The printable written work gives one open task per skill, with short passages to analyze, plus a pacing plan. The oral exam runs a short set in module order, one skill at a time, and ends with feedback on the strongest and weakest skill.

Practice material written by Zestly for students preparing for the PSAT/NMSQT; it is not produced or endorsed by the College Board or NMSC.

  • Work through Craft and Structure and Information and Ideas questions in the order they appear in a module
  • Switch between skills: words in context, structure and purpose, cross-text, central ideas, evidence, inferences
  • Use the easier-to-harder order within each skill to pace a module
  • Identify which reading skills need more practice
  • Justify each answer with the deciding words or numbers

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the College Board's Assessment Framework for the Digital SAT Suite (Reading and Writing: content domains, skill order within modules, timing). Passages are original except a short excerpt from Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896, public domain).

Sample question

Bar graph of the percent of pollen caught in each distance band from the plant: 0 to 10 meters, 48 percent; 10 to 50 meters, 27; 50 to 100 meters, 15; 100 to 200 meters, 7; beyond 200 meters, 3.

Question 11 of 13 (Information and Ideas: command of evidence) “Ecologists released pollen from a wind-pollinated grass and caught it in traps set in bands at increasing distances from the plant. Most of the pollen traveled only a short way: ______” Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to complete the statement?

See the answer

three quarters of it landed within 50 meters of the plant, and only 3 percent traveled farther than 200 meters.

Within 50 meters: 48 + 27 = 75 percent, three quarters; beyond 200 meters: 3 percent. That supports “most of the pollen traveled only a short way.” The share beyond 10 meters is 100 − 48 = 52 percent, not 48; the bands clearly differ; and 15 percent is only the 50–100 meter band, while 48 + 27 + 15 = 90 percent landed within 100 meters.

← Reading — information, ideas and craft

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