Craft and Structure is the largest Reading and Writing domain on the digital SAT: about 28% of the section, or 13 to 15 of the 50 scored questions. It covers three skills: Words in Context, Text Structure and Purpose, and Cross-Text Connections. They are the first questions in each module.
This page explains all three. The quiz above the fold draws from Larry's Words in Context pool, because that is the skill the bank tags on its own. Text structure and cross-text questions are explained here in worked examples written for this page. The mixed set on SAT English practice includes a cross-text item. It does not include a text-structure item. The people and texts below are invented.
Where Craft and Structure Sits
The digital SAT Reading and Writing section has two 32-minute modules, 54 questions, and 64 minutes. Fifty questions count and four are unscored pretest questions. College Board's specifications put Craft and Structure at about 28%, Information and Ideas at about 26%, Standard English Conventions at about 26%, and Expression of Ideas at about 20%.
Module order is the same every time: Craft and Structure first, then Information and Ideas, then Standard English Conventions, then Expression of Ideas. Within Craft and Structure, questions on similar skills are grouped and arranged from easier to harder. A slow start here steals time from every domain that follows. Passages are short, 25 to 150 words, with one question each. The section is scored from 200 to 800. The class of 2026 averaged 528, according to College Board's report on that class. The full section is on SAT Reading and Writing.
| Skill |
What the question asks |
Where to drill |
| Words in Context |
The most logical and precise word or phrase |
Words in Context practice |
| Text Structure and Purpose |
The function of an underlined part, or the purpose of the text |
Worked example below, plus mixed sets |
| Cross-Text Connections |
How the author of one text would respond to the other |
Worked example below, plus mixed sets |
Words in Context
The stem asks which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase. You are not reciting a definition list. You are picking the word the sentence's logic requires. A contrast word such as "but" or "although" means the blank disagrees with the clause before it. A colon means the blank is restated by what follows.
Cross out any choice that fits a dictionary but not the turn of the sentence. Then check that the word matches the tone. A science note does not need a melodramatic verb, and a literary sentence does not need a lab report's verb, unless the text itself is formal. Our SAT vocabulary in context page is the long drill for this skill, and the quiz on this page uses that same pool. A word list still helps as a side habit. It does not replace reading the sentence.
Text Structure and Purpose
These questions ask what the text is doing, or what an underlined sentence is doing inside it. Typical stems ask for the main purpose of the text, or for the function of the underlined portion. The answer is a job, not a topic. "To illustrate a claim made in the previous sentence" is a job. "A description of a river" is only a topic, and it is usually wrong if the question asked for function.
Name the job in your own words before you read the choices. Common jobs are: state a claim, give an example, concede a point, introduce a study, contrast two cases, or draw a conclusion. If the underlined sentence is a particular case after a general sentence, its function is an example, even if the case is interesting on its own.
Written for this page. City archivists argued that handwritten transit logs were too inconsistent to use in a ridership study. One 1924 log records 400 boardings on a Tuesday and, on the next line, 40,000. The archivists treated gaps like that as a reason to set the logs aside.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence?
- A) It gives an example of the inconsistency the archivists describe.
- B) It proves that ridership fell between those two days.
- C) It challenges the archivists' decision to set the logs aside.
- D) It compares 1924 ridership with modern ridership.
Answer: A. The underlined line is one case of the inconsistency named in the sentence before it. It does not prove a real change in ridership, argue with the archivists, or mention modern numbers.
Cross-Text Connections
You get two short texts. The question asks how the author of one would respond to the other, or what the two authors would both agree on. A common stem is that the authors of both passages would most likely agree, or that the author of Text 2 would respond in a particular way.
Read Text 2's claim in one sentence before you touch the choices. Wrong answers often come from Text 1 alone, or they invent a topic neither text mentions. Agreement questions require a point both texts actually share. A detail that appears in only one text cannot be the answer to an agreement question.
Text 1: The mural should be restored with the original palette. Later paint layers, even popular ones, hide the artist's first decisions.
Text 2: Restorers should keep the later layers that neighbors added in the 1970s. Those layers are part of the wall's history, and stripping them would erase a second work.
Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to Text 1?
- A) By agreeing that the original palette is the only layer worth keeping.
- B) By arguing that later layers can be historically valuable in their own right.
- C) By claiming the 1970s painters used the same palette as the first artist.
- D) By denying that the wall has more than one layer of paint.
Answer: B. Text 2 says the later layers are part of the history and a second work. That disagrees with Text 1's wish to clear them. Neither text says the palettes matched, and Text 2 depends on there being more than one layer.
How to Practice the Domain
Start with Words in Context until the contrast clues feel automatic. Then add purpose questions, because they use the same habit: say the job before you read the choices. Cross-text items take the longest, so practice them with a timer once the first two skills are steady. Ten purposeful items beat thirty items you click through.
Log misses as word, purpose, or cross-text. If cross-text dominates the log, slow down only on that skill. Do not treat the whole domain as vocabulary. Students who only study word lists stay stuck on the purpose and paired-text items inside these 13 to 15 questions. College Board does not publish how those 13 to 15 split across the three skills.
Because the domain is first, practice it at the start of a timed module so the pace is real. If you are choosing a test date, whether to retake the SAT depends on whether this domain, or another one, is the actual gap. The study calendars for November 7 and December 5 show how to place a domain drill inside a short week.
Frequently Asked Questions About Craft and Structure
How many Craft and Structure questions are on the SAT?
About 13 to 15 of the 50 scored Reading and Writing questions, roughly 28% of the section. Both modules start with this domain.
What are the three Craft and Structure skills?
Words in Context, Text Structure and Purpose, and Cross-Text Connections. College Board groups questions on the same skill and arranges them from easier to harder.
Are Words in Context just vocabulary definitions?
No. The stem asks for the most logical and precise word in that sentence. A definition that ignores a contrast or a colon is a wrong answer.
Why does the quiz on this page focus on words?
Larry's question bank tags Words in Context as its own subject. Text structure and cross-text items are not tagged separately, so this page teaches them with worked examples and points you to mixed Reading and Writing sets for more.
Does Craft and Structure include grammar?
No. Punctuation and sentence form are Standard English Conventions, which come later in the module. Transitions and rhetorical synthesis are Expression of Ideas, which come last.
Drill Words in Context in the quiz above, then open SAT reading practice questions for a wider mix. Start a free SAT quiz or create a free account so missed questions are saved in Practice your misses. A streak counts consecutive days of practice, not one skill.
