Free printable SAT practice test for Grade 11

Reading and Writing

Circle the letter of the best answer. About 12 minutes.

1. Moonlight

   The Moon does not produce its own light. Instead, it ______ sunlight, and the shape we see each night depends on how much of its sunlit side faces Earth.

   1.

   Which choice gives the most logical and precise word or phrase for the blank?

   1. Aabsorbs
   2. Breflects
   3. Cfollows
   4. Dgenerates

2. Continental drift

   When the idea that continents move was first proposed in the early 1900s, many geologists were ______. They accepted that the coastlines of Africa and South America seemed to fit together, but they could not imagine a force strong enough to push entire continents across the globe.

   2.

   Which choice gives the most logical and precise word or phrase for the blank?

   1. Arelieved
   2. Bskeptical
   3. Centhusiastic
   4. Dindifferent

3. The piano tuner

   The piano tuner worked in silence for an hour, striking one key at a time and turning a small wrench. Malik, who had been told to stay out of the way, watched from the doorway. When the tuner finally played a full chord, the old piano sounded like a different instrument. Malik decided then that he would learn to play it.

   3.

   Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

   1. AIt reveals that the tuner had trouble finishing the job.
   2. BIt describes the moment that leads Malik to make a decision.
   3. CIt suggests that the tuner made the piano sound worse.
   4. DIt explains why Malik was told to stay out of the way.

4. Honeybee dances

   When a honeybee finds a rich patch of flowers, it flies back to the hive and performs a series of movements often called a waggle dance. The angle of the dance tells other bees which direction to fly compared with the position of the sun, and the length of each waggle tells them roughly how far away the flowers are. Bees that watch the dance can then fly straight to the food.

   4.

   Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

   1. AHoneybees prefer flowers that grow close to their hive.
   2. BHoneybees compete with one another for the richest patches of flowers.
   3. CHoneybees use a patterned movement to tell other bees where food is.
   4. DHoneybees need bright sunlight before they are able to leave the hive.

5. Cover crops

   Farmers sometimes plant a cover crop such as rye after harvest so that roots hold the soil through winter. Agricultural scientists measured soil lost to erosion over one winter on steep and gently sloping fields, some planted with rye and some left bare. They concluded that rye reduced erosion substantially regardless of slope: ______

   5.

   Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the statement?

   1. Arye cut soil loss sharply on the steep fields but had little effect on the gentle ones.
   2. Brye cut soil loss from 4.8 to 1.1 tons per acre on steep fields and from 2.0 to 0.6 on gentle ones.
   3. Cthe steep fields left without rye lost 4.8 tons of soil per acre, the most of any fields in the study.
   4. Dgentle fields planted with rye lost less soil per acre than steep fields planted with rye did.

6. Silk Road traders

   The trade routes known as the Silk Road stretched thousands of miles across Asia. Few merchants traveled the entire distance. Instead, goods such as silk and spices usually passed from trader to trader, each carrying them along one section of the route before selling them to the next. A merchant selling silk in a city near the western end of the routes, then, most likely ______

   6.

   Which choice most logically completes the text?

   1. Anever met the people who first made the silk.
   2. Bbought the silk directly from those who produced it.
   3. Csold the silk to traders heading back toward the east.
   4. Dtraveled to the eastern end of the routes each year.

7. Venus's heat

   Venus, whose thick clouds and dense carbon dioxide air trap heat so efficiently that its surface is even hotter than ______ often called Earth's twin, since the two planets are nearly the same size and mass.

   7.

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

   1. AMercurys, is
   2. BMercury's, is
   3. CMercurys' is
   4. DMercury's is

8. Trusting the senses

   In ancient Greece, thinkers argued fiercely about knowledge. The debate between two schools of ______ about whether the senses can be trusted still shapes how scientists design careful experiments today.

   8.

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

   1. Aphilosophers'
   2. Bphilosophers's
   3. Cphilosophers
   4. Dphilosopher's

9. Waggle dance

   When a honeybee finds a rich patch of flowers, it returns to the hive and performs a "waggle dance" that tells other bees where the flowers are. ______, the angle of the dance shows the direction to fly, and the length of the waggle shows the distance.

   9.

   Which choice gives the most logical transition for the blank?

   1. AConsequently
   2. BSpecifically
   3. CMeanwhile
   4. DHowever

10. Hawaiian hot spot

    While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
    • The Hawaiian Islands formed over a hot spot, a place where melted rock rises from deep within Earth.
    • The Pacific Plate moves northwest over the hot spot about 3 inches a year.
    • Each island formed while it sat over the hot spot.
    • Kauai, about 5 million years old, lies northwest of the island of Hawaii.
    • The island of Hawaii is less than 1 million years old and still has active volcanoes.

    10.

    The student wants to explain why Kauai is older than the island of Hawaii. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

    1. AAs the Pacific Plate carried Kauai northwest, away from the hot spot, newer islands like Hawaii formed over it.
    2. BKauai is about 5 million years old, while the island of Hawaii, which still has active volcanoes, is less than 1 million.
    3. CThe Pacific Plate moves northwest over the hot spot at about 3 inches a year.
    4. DThe island of Hawaii, which is less than 1 million years old, still has active volcanoes.