Cross-text Connections — Digital SAT SAT Reading and Writing revision notes
A 3-page visual revision sheet for Cross-text Connections, written for Digital SAT SAT Reading and Writing. Formulas, diagrams and the traps that cost marks, laid out to be read the night before rather than the term before. Free, and it opens inside CapCompass.
Page 1 as PDF
Cross-text Connections in one look
two short passages, one question about how they meet
What this question puts in front of you
- two short passages, labelled Text 1 and Text 2, and a single question about the pair
- the two are always on the same subject and almost always take different positions on it, from agreeing with a reservation to flatly disagreeing
- the question never asks what either passage says on its own. It asks how the second stands towards the first
- the two most common stems: how would the author of Text 2 respond to the claim in Text 1, and which choice describes a point of agreement or disagreement
The order to read them in
- read the stem first: agreement and disagreement stems send you looking for opposite things
- read Text 1 and write its claim in your own five words in the margin
- read Text 2 the same way, then say the relation aloud before touching the options
- only then compare your one-line relation against each option
Name the relation in one word
- disagrees: Text 2 rejects the claim or its main support
- qualifies: Text 2 accepts the claim but narrows it to certain conditions, which is the most common relation and the least often chosen
- agrees: same position, usually reached by different evidence
- extends: Text 2 accepts the claim and applies it somewhere Text 1 never went
Page 1 of 3. The full sheet, all 3 pages, opens free in the app.
What this Cross-text Connections sheet covers
- What this question puts in front of you
- The order to read them in
- Name the relation in one word
- A pair of short passages, written out
- Text 1
- Text 2
- The pair above, fully worked
- The four wrong-option shapes
- Too strong
- One passage only
- Swapped
- Outside both
- Agreement and disagreement stems
- Pacing this domain
- Traps that cost points
- Tricks that save time
How CapCompass uses this sheet
These notes are not a standalone PDF. CapCompass plans SAT Reading and Writing chapter by chapter against your real exam dates and free hours, and when the plan reaches Cross-text Connections the sheet opens inside the study block itself — at the page covering the sub-topic that block is on, with the timer still running. Revision arrives at the moment the plan says revise, instead of having to be gone looking for.