Free digital SAT practice test — 98 questions, timed 🇺🇸

8 original practice questions written by Myndaq in the SAT style. They are not taken from this mock paper or from official past papers. Try each one, then open the answer.

1. Question 1Reading and WritingOne correct answer

   Critics praised the early stoneware bowls of ceramicist Nkechi Obi for their flawless celadon glaze, but Obi herself came to regard that body of work as merely ______: each bowl repeated a recipe and a silhouette she had settled on years earlier, and none of them required her to solve a problem she had not already solved.

   Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word?

   1. A. derivative
   2. B. delicate
   3. C. ambitious
   4. D. obscure
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: A

   The blank must capture Obi's own dismissive judgment, and the clause after the colon explains that judgment: the bowls repeat an earlier recipe and pose no new problem. Work that only repeats what has already been done is derivative, so that word fits both the negative tone and the stated reason.

   'Delicate' describes physical fragility, which the text never raises. 'Ambitious' is the opposite of what the colon explains, since repeating a settled formula is the absence of ambition. 'Obscure' would mean little known, but the first clause says critics praised the bowls, so they were not obscure.

2. Question 2Reading and WritingOne correct answer

   Marine biologist Sofia Ardent spent four seasons recording the vocalizations of a dolphin pod off the Azores. Reviewing the recordings, she noticed that juveniles produced a distinctive three-click burst almost exclusively when an adult was within about ten meters of them.

   Ardent then returned to the pod with an underwater speaker and played that burst back at random intervals. Juveniles swimming nearby turned and approached the speaker within seconds, while adults in the same group continued feeding without any visible reaction.

   Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

   1. A. It argues that dolphin communication is more sophisticated than that of any other marine animal.
   2. B. It criticizes earlier researchers for having ignored the vocalizations of juvenile dolphins.
   3. C. It describes a pattern a researcher noticed and the experiment she designed to test it.
   4. D. It explains the technical difficulties of recording animal sounds underwater.
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: C

   The first paragraph reports an observation drawn from four seasons of recordings, and the second reports a playback experiment and its result. Describing an observed pattern and then the test built on it is exactly what the two paragraphs do together, so choice C states the purpose of the whole text.

   Choice A makes a comparison with other marine animals that the text never makes. Choice B is wrong because no earlier researchers are mentioned at all, let alone criticized. Choice D names equipment the text uses but never discusses as a difficulty, so it describes a detail rather than the purpose.

3. Question 3Reading and WritingOne correct answer

   Members of a school agricultural science club maintain that covering a vegetable bed with a layer of shredded leaves keeps the soil moist for longer after watering than leaving the same bed bare.

   Which finding, if true, would most directly support the club members' claim?

   1. A. Shredded leaves slowly break down into nutrients that vegetable roots can absorb during the growing season.
   2. B. Gardeners who cover their beds report spending noticeably less time pulling weeds than gardeners who do not.
   3. C. Soil in bare beds warmed several degrees faster in early spring than soil in covered beds did.
   4. D. Beds covered with shredded leaves still held measurable soil moisture nine days after watering, while bare beds beside them dried out within four days.
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: D

   The claim is specifically about how long soil stays moist after watering, so the supporting finding has to measure moisture over time and compare covered beds with bare ones. Choice D does both and reports a difference in the direction the club predicts.

   Choice A concerns nutrients, not moisture. Choice B concerns weeds, which is a different benefit and says nothing about water. Choice C compares soil temperature, and although temperature can affect drying, the finding as stated measures warmth rather than moisture and so does not test the claim.

4. Question 4Reading and WritingOne correct answer

   Architect Tomás Ferreira designed the seasonal exhibition pavilion to be taken apart and rebuilt on a different site each year, so every joint in its timber frame is bolted rather than glued or welded. ______ a crew of six can lower the structure, load it onto two trucks, and raise it again elsewhere in under a week.

   Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

   1. A. In contrast,
   2. B. For instance,
   3. C. As a result,
   4. D. Regardless,
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: C

   The second sentence states the practical consequence of the design choice in the first: because the joints are bolted rather than fixed permanently, the pavilion can be moved quickly. A cause-and-effect transition is therefore required.

   'In contrast' would signal opposition, but the two sentences agree. 'For instance' would introduce an example of bolted joints, whereas the sentence instead reports what the design makes possible. 'Regardless' would dismiss the first sentence as irrelevant, yet the bolted joints are precisely the reason the crew can work so quickly.

5. Question 5Reading and WritingOne correct answer

   The city archive's collection of hand-drawn harbor maps, most of them donated by a single shipbuilding family in 1974, ______ the growth of the waterfront district across six decades.

   Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

   1. A. document
   2. B. documents
   3. C. documenting
   4. D. to document
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: B

   The subject of the sentence is 'collection', a singular noun; 'of hand-drawn harbor maps' is a prepositional phrase and the modifier set off by commas is a nonessential phrase, so neither one supplies the subject. A singular subject takes the singular present-tense verb 'documents'.

   'Document' is the form that agrees with a plural subject, so it matches only the nearby noun 'maps', which is the trap here. 'Documenting' and 'to document' are non-finite forms, so choosing either would leave the sentence with no main verb at all.

6. Question 6MathOne correct answer

   An empty shipping crate has a mass of 14 kilograms. Each ceramic tile packed into the crate has a mass of 0.8 kilogram. If the packed crate has a total mass of 46 kilograms, how many tiles are inside it?

   1. A. 32
   2. B. 36
   3. C. 40
   4. D. 45
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: C

   Let t be the number of tiles. The total mass is 14 + 0.8t = 46, so 0.8t = 32 and t = 32/0.8 = 40.

   Choice A is the mass of the tiles in kilograms (32), not their number. Choice B is wrong because 36 tiles would make the packed crate 0.8(36) + 14 = 42.8 kilograms, which is too light; choice D is wrong because 45 tiles would make it 0.8(45) + 14 = 50 kilograms, which is too heavy. Checking the key: 40 tiles weigh 40 × 0.8 = 32 kilograms, and 32 + 14 = 46.

7. Question 7MathOne correct answer

   The function f is defined by f(x) = 3x² - 12x + 7. What is the minimum value of f(x)?

   1. A. -5
   2. B. -2
   3. C. 2
   4. D. 7
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: A

   Because the coefficient of x² is positive, the graph is a parabola opening upward and the minimum occurs at the vertex. The vertex is at x = -b/(2a) = 12/6 = 2, and f(2) = 3(4) - 12(2) + 7 = 12 - 24 + 7 = -5.

   Equivalently, completing the square gives f(x) = 3(x - 2)² - 5, so the smallest value is -5, reached when x = 2. Choice C is the x-value of the vertex rather than the minimum value, and choice D is f(0), the y-intercept. Choice B, -2, is f(1): a student who misreads the vertex as x = 1 instead of x = 2 lands there, but f(2) = -5 is smaller, so -2 is a value the function takes rather than its minimum.

8. Question 8MathType a numeric answer

   In triangle ABC, angle B is a right angle, AB = 7, and BC = 24. Point D lies on side AC so that segment BD is perpendicular to AC. What is the length of BD?

   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: 6.72

   By the Pythagorean theorem, AC = √(7² + 24²) = √(49 + 576) = √625 = 25.

   The area of the triangle can be written two ways: using the legs, it is (1/2)(7)(24) = 84; using AC as the base and BD as the height, it is (1/2)(25)(BD). Setting these equal gives (25/2)(BD) = 84, so BD = 168/25 = 6.72.