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Question ID 3dcdd94f
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Question ID 3dcdd94f
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 3dcdd94f
Text 1
Because literacy in Nahuatl script, the writing system of the Aztec Empire, was lost after Spain invaded central Mexico
in the 1500s, it is unclear exactly how meaning was encoded in the script’s symbols. Although many scholars had
assumed that the symbols signified entire words, linguist Alfonso Lacadena theorized in 2008 that they signified units
of language smaller than words: individual syllables.

Text 2
The growing consensus among scholars of Nahuatl script is that many of its symbols could signify either words or
syllables, depending on syntax and content at any given site within a text. For example, the symbol signifying the word
huipil (blouse) in some contexts could signify the syllable “pil” in others, as in the place name “Chipiltepec.” Thus, for
the Aztecs, reading required a determination of how such symbols functioned each time they appeared in a text.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely characterize Lacadena’s theory, as described in Text 1?

A. By praising the theory for recognizing that the script’s symbols could represent entire words

B. By arguing that the theory is overly influenced by the work of earlier scholars

C. By approving of the theory’s emphasis on how the script changed over time

D. By cautioning that the theory overlooks certain important aspects of how the script functioned

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Question ID bba06da2
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: bba06da2
Text 1
Microbes are tiny organisms in the soil, water, and air all around us. They thrive even in very harsh conditions. That’s
why Noah Fierer and colleagues were surprised when soil samples they collected from an extremely cold, dry area in
Antarctica didn’t seem to contain any life. The finding doesn’t prove that there are no microbes in that area, but the
team says it does suggest that the environment severely restricts microbes’ survival.

Text 2
Microbes are found in virtually every environment on Earth. So it’s unlikely they would be completely absent from
Fierer’s team’s study site, no matter how extreme the environment is. There were probably so few organisms in the
samples that current technology couldn’t detect them. But since a spoonful of typical soil elsewhere might contain
billions of microbes, the presence of so few in the Antarctic soil samples would show how challenging the conditions
are.

Based on the texts, Fierer’s team and the author of Text 2 would most likely agree with which statement about
microbes?

A. Most microbes are better able to survive in environments with extremely dry conditions than in environments with
harsh temperatures.

B. A much higher number of microbes would probably be found if another sample of soil were taken from the
Antarctic study site.

C. Microbes are likely difficult to detect in the soil at the Antarctic study site because they tend to be smaller than
microbes found in typical soil elsewhere.

D. Most microbes are probably unable to withstand the soil conditions at the Antarctic study site.

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Question ID 68f5dab1
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 68f5dab1
Text 1
Historians studying pre-Inca Peru have looked to ceramic vessels to understand daily life among the Moche people.
These mold-made sculptures present plants, animals, and human faces in precise ways—vessels representing human
faces are so detailed that scholars have interpreted facial markings to represent scars and other skin irregularities.
Some historians have even used these objects to identify potential skin diseases that may have afflicted people at the
time.

Text 2
Art historian and archaeologist Lisa Trever has argued that the interpretation of Moche “portrait” vessels as hyper-
realistic portrayals of identifiable people may inadvertently disregard the creativity of the objects’ creators. Moche
ceramic vessels, Trever argues, are artworks in which sculptors could free their imagination, using realistic objects and
people around them as inspiration to explore more abstract concepts.

Based on the texts, what would Lisa Trever (Text 2) most likely say about the interpretation presented in the underlined
portion of Text 1?

A. Depictions of human faces are significantly more realistic than depictions of plants and other animals are.

B. It is likely that some depictions of human faces with extensive markings are intended to portray the same historical
individual.

C. Some vessels may have been damaged during their excavation and thus provide little insight into Moche culture.

D. Markings on depictions of human faces are not necessarily intended to portray particular details about the physical
appearance of individuals.

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Question ID 5d2fe389
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 5d2fe389

Text 1
In 2007, a team led by Alice Storey analyzed a chicken bone found in El Arenal, Chile, dating it to 1321–1407 CE—over a
century before Europeans invaded the region, bringing their own chickens. Storey also found that the El Arenal chicken
shared a unique genetic mutation with the ancient chicken breeds of the Polynesian Islands in the Pacific. Thus,
Polynesian peoples, not later Europeans, probably first introduced chickens to South America.

Text 2
An Australian research team weakened the case for a Polynesian origin for the El Arenal chicken by confirming that the
mutation identified by Storey has occurred in breeds from around the world. More recently, though, a team led by
Agusto Luzuriaga-Neira found that South American chicken breeds and Polynesian breeds share other genetic markers
that European breeds lack. Thus, the preponderance of evidence now favors a Polynesian origin.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the underlined claim in Text 1?

A. By broadly agreeing with the claim but objecting that the timeline it presupposes conflicts with the findings of the
genetic analysis conducted by Storey’s team

B. By faulting the claim for implying that domestic animals couldn’t have been transferred from South America to the
Polynesian Islands as well

C. By critiquing the claim for being based on an assumption that before the European invasion of South America, the
chickens of Europe were genetically uniform

D. By noting that while the claim is persuasive, the findings of Luzuriaga-Neira’s team provide stronger evidence for it
than the findings of the genetic analysis conducted by Storey do

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Question ID 1eb7e794
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 1eb7e794
Text 1
In a study of insect behavior, Samadi Galpayage and colleagues presented bumblebees with small wooden balls and
observed many of the bees clinging to, rolling, and dragging the objects. The researchers provided no external rewards
(such as food) to encourage these interactions. The bees simply appeared to be playing—and for no other reason than
because they were having fun.
Text 2
Insects do not have cortexes or other brain areas associated with emotions in humans. Still, Galpayage and her team
have shown that bumblebees may engage in play, possibly experiencing some kind of positive emotional state. Other
studies have suggested that bees experience negative emotional states (for example, stress), but as Galpayage and
her team have acknowledged, emotions in insects, if they do indeed exist, are likely very rudimentary.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the underlined portion of Text 1?

A. By objecting that the bees were actually experiencing a negative feeling akin to stress rather than a positive feeling

B. By arguing that some insects other than bumblebees may be capable of experiencing complex emotional states

C. By pointing out that even humans sometimes struggle to have fun while engaging in play

D. By noting that if the bees were truly playing, any positive feelings they may have experienced were probably quite
basic

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Question ID 4c603792
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 4c603792
Text 1
Most scientists agree that the moon was likely formed after a collision between Earth and a large planet named Theia.
This collision likely created a huge debris field, made up of material from both Earth and Theia. Based on models of
this event, scientists believe that the moon was formed from this debris over the course of thousands of years.

Text 2
Researchers from NASA’s Ames Research Center used a computer to model how the moon could have formed.
Although simulations of the moon’s formation have been done in the past, the team from NASA ran simulations that
were much more detailed. They found that the formation of the moon was likely not a slow process that took many
years. Instead, it’s probable that the moon’s formation happened immediately after impact, taking just a few hours.

Which choice best describes a difference in how the author of Text 1 and the author of Text 2 view the evidence for the
formation of the moon?

A. The author of Text 1 argues that the formation of the moon occurred much earlier than the author of Text 2 argues.

B. The author of Text 1 suggests there is more evidence confirming the existence of Theia than the author of Text 2
suggests.

C. The author of Text 1 claims that the moon’s surface is more similar to Earth’s surface than the author of Text 2
claims.

D. The author of Text 1 believes that the moon formed more slowly than the author of Text 2 believes.

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Question ID c9a2edec
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: c9a2edec
Text 1
Some animal species, like the leopard, can be found in many kinds of areas. On the other hand, tropical mountain bird
species tend to be limited in the types of spaces they can call home. This is because many mountain bird species are
only able to survive at very specific elevations. Over time, these species have likely become used to living at a specific
temperature. Therefore, these species struggle to survive at elevations that are warmer or colder than they are used to.

Text 2
A new study reviewed observations of nearly 3,000 bird species to understand why tropical mountain bird species live
at specific elevations. They noted that when a mountain bird species was found in an area with many other bird
species, it tended to inhabit much smaller geographic areas. It is thus likely that competition for resources with other
species, not temperature, limits where these birds can live.

Based on the texts, both authors would most likely agree with which statement?

A. Tropical mountain bird species are restricted in where they can live.

B. Scientists have better tools to observe tropical mountain birds than they did in the past.

C. Little is known about how tropical mountain birds build their nests.

D. Tropical mountain bird species that live at high elevations tend to be genetically similar.

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Question ID 82d80616
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 82d80616
Text 1
Soy sauce, made from fermented soybeans, is noted for its umami flavor. Umami—one of the five basic tastes along
with sweet, bitter, salty, and sour—was formally classified when its taste receptors were discovered in the 2000s. In
2007, to define the pure umami flavor scientists Rie Ishii and Michael O’Mahony used broths made from shiitake
mushrooms and kombu seaweed, and two panels of Japanese and US judges closely agreed on a description of the
taste.

Text 2
A 2022 experiment by Manon Jünger et al. led to a greater understanding of soy sauce’s flavor profile. The team initially
presented a mixture of compounds with low molecular weights to taste testers who found it was not as salty or bitter
as real soy sauce. Further analysis of soy sauce identified proteins, including dipeptides, that enhanced umami flavor
and also contributed to saltiness. The team then made a mix of 50 chemical compounds that re-created soy sauce’s
flavor.

Based on the texts, if Ishii and O’Mahony (Text 1) and Jünger et al. (Text 2) were aware of the findings of both
experiments, they would most likely agree with which statement?

A. On average, the diets of people in the United States tend to have fewer foods that contain certain dipeptides than
the diets of people in Japan have.

B. Chemical compounds that activate both the umami and salty taste receptors tend to have a higher molecular
weight than those that only activate umami taste receptors.

C. Fermentation introduces proteins responsible for the increase of umami flavor in soy sauce, and those proteins
also increase the perception of saltiness.

D. The broths in the 2007 experiment most likely did not have a substantial amount of the dipeptides that played a key
part in the 2022 experiment.

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Question ID d87106d7
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: d87106d7
Text 1
The live music festival business is growing in event size and genre variety. With so many consumer options, organizers
are finding ways to cement festival attendance as a special experience worth sharing. This phenomenon is linked to
the growing “experiential economy,” where many find it gratifying to purchase lived experiences. To ensure a profitable
event, venues need to consider the overall consumer experience, not just the band lineup.
Text 2
Music festival appearances are becoming a more important part of musicians’ careers. One factor in this shift is the
rising use of streaming services that allow access to huge numbers of songs for a monthly fee, subsequently reducing
sales of full-length albums. With this shift in consumer behavior, musicians are increasingly dependent on revenue
from live performances.

Based on the texts, both authors would most likely agree with which statement?

A. Consumers are more interested in paying subscription fees to stream music than in attending music festivals in
person.

B. Consumers’ growing interest in purchasing experiences is mostly confined to the music industry.

C. Changing consumer behaviors are leading to changes in music-related businesses.

D. The rising consumer demand for live music festivals also generates higher demand for music streaming platforms.

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Question ID 81283e3c
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 81283e3c

Text 1
Digital art, the use of digital technology to create or display images, isn’t really art at all. It doesn’t require as much skill
as creating physical art. “Painting” with a tablet and stylus is much easier than using paint and a brush: the technology
is doing most of the work.

Text 2
The painting programs used to create digital art involve more than just pressing a few buttons. In addition to knowing
the fundamentals of art, digital artists need to be familiar with sophisticated software. Many artists will start by
drawing an image on paper before transforming the piece to a digital format, where they can apply a variety of colors
and techniques that would otherwise require many different traditional tools.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the claims of the author of Text 1?

A. By arguing that a piece of art created digitally can still be displayed traditionally

B. By explaining that it’s actually much harder to use a tablet and stylus to create art than to use paint and a brush

C. By insisting that digital art requires artistic abilities and skill even if it employs less traditional tools

D. By admitting that most digital artists don’t think fundamental drawing skills are important

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Question ID b72d0320
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: b72d0320
Text 1
Growth in the use of novel nanohybrids—materials created from the conjugation of multiple distinct nanomaterials,
such as iron oxide and gold nanomaterials conjugated for use in magnetic imaging—has outpaced studies of
nanohybrids’ environmental risks. Unfortunately, risk evaluations based on nanohybrids’ constituents are not reliable:
conjugation may alter constituents’ physiochemical properties such that innocuous nanomaterials form a nanohybrid
that is anything but.
Text 2
The potential for enhanced toxicity of nanohybrids relative to the toxicity of constituent nanomaterials has drawn
deserved attention, but the effects of nanomaterial conjugation vary by case. For instance, it was recently shown that a
nanohybrid of silicon dioxide and zinc oxide preserved the desired optical transparency of zinc oxide nanoparticles
while mitigating the nanoparticles’ potential to damage DNA.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the assertion in the underlined portion of
Text 1?

A. By concurring that the risk described in Text 1 should be evaluated but emphasizing that the risk is more than offset
by the potential benefits of nanomaterial conjugation

B. By arguing that the situation described in Text 1 may not be representative but conceding that the effects of
nanomaterial conjugation are harder to predict than researchers had expected

C. By denying that the circumstance described in Text 1 is likely to occur but acknowledging that many aspects of
nanomaterial conjugation are still poorly understood

D. By agreeing that the possibility described in Text 1 is a cause for concern but pointing out that nanomaterial
conjugation does not inevitably produce that result

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Question ID d27d7984
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: d27d7984
Text 1
Dance choreographer Alvin Ailey’s deep admiration for jazz music can most clearly be felt in the rhythms and beats his
works were set to. Ailey collaborated with some of the greatest jazz legends, like Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker, and
perhaps his favorite, Duke Ellington. With his choice of music, Ailey helped bring jazz to life for his audiences.

Text 2
Jazz is present throughout Ailey’s work, but it’s most visible in Ailey’s approach to choreography. Ailey often
incorporated improvisation, a signature characteristic of jazz music, in his work. When managing his dance company,
Ailey rarely forced his dancers to an exact set of specific moves. Instead, he encouraged his dancers to let their own
skills and experiences shape their performances, as jazz musicians do.

Based on the texts, both authors would most likely agree with which statement?

A. Dancers who worked with Ailey greatly appreciated his supportive approach as a choreographer.

B. Ailey’s work was strongly influenced by jazz.

C. Audiences were mostly unfamiliar with the jazz music in Ailey’s works.

D. Ailey blended multiple genres of music together when choreographing dance pieces.

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Question ID d7aa47e1
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: d7aa47e1

Text 1
Ecologists have long wondered how thousands of microscopic phytoplankton species can live together near ocean
surfaces competing for the same resources. According to conventional wisdom, one species should emerge after
outcompeting the rest. So why do so many species remain? Ecologists’ many efforts to explain this phenomenon still
haven’t uncovered a satisfactory explanation.

Text 2
Ecologist Michael Behrenfeld and colleagues have connected phytoplankton’s diversity to their microscopic size.
Because these organisms are so tiny, they are spaced relatively far apart from each other in ocean water and,
moreover, experience that water as a relatively dense substance. This in turn makes it hard for them to move around
and interact with one another. Therefore, says Behrenfeld’s team, direct competition among phytoplankton probably
happens much less than previously thought.

Based on the texts, how would Behrenfeld and colleagues (Text 2) most likely respond to the “conventional wisdom”
discussed in Text 1?

A. By arguing that it is based on a misconception about phytoplankton species competing with one another

B. By asserting that it fails to recognize that routine replenishment of ocean nutrients prevents competition between
phytoplankton species

C. By suggesting that their own findings help clarify how phytoplankton species are able to compete with larger
organisms

D. By recommending that more ecologists focus their research on how competition among phytoplankton species is
increased with water density

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Question ID 3ca2f8d7
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 3ca2f8d7

Text 1
Films and television shows commonly include a long list of credits naming the people involved in a production. Credit
sequences may not be exciting, but they generally ensure that everyone’s contributions are duly acknowledged.
Because they are highly standardized, film and television credits are also valuable to anyone researching the careers of
pioneering cast and crew members who have worked in the mediums.

Text 2
Video game scholars face a major challenge in the industry’s failure to consistently credit the artists, designers, and
other contributors involved in making video games. Without a reliable record of which people worked on which games,
questions about the medium’s development can be difficult to answer, and the accomplishments of all but its best-
known innovators can be difficult to trace.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 1 most likely respond to the discussion in Text 2?

A. By recommending that the scholars mentioned in Text 2 consider employing the methods regularly used by film and
television researchers

B. By pointing out that credits have a different intended purpose in film and television than in the medium addressed
by the scholars mentioned in Text 2

C. By suggesting that the scholars mentioned in Text 2 rely more heavily on credits as a source of information than
film and television researchers do

D. By observing that a widespread practice in film and television largely prevents the kind of problem faced by the
scholars mentioned in Text 2

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Question ID 6fae7757
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 6fae7757
Text 1
Africa’s Sahara region—once a lush ecosystem—began to dry out about 8,000 years ago. A change in Earth’s orbit that
affected climate has been posited as a cause of desertification, but archaeologist David Wright also attributes the shift
to Neolithic peoples. He cites their adoption of pastoralism as a factor in the region drying out: the pastoralists’
livestock depleted vegetation, prompting the events that created the Sahara Desert.
Text 2
Research by Chris Brierley et al. challenges the idea that Neolithic peoples contributed to the Sahara’s desertification.
Using a climate-vegetation model, the team concluded that the end of the region’s humid period occurred 500 years
earlier than previously assumed. The timing suggests that Neolithic peoples didn’t exacerbate aridity in the region but,
in fact, may have helped delay environmental changes with practices (e.g., selective grazing) that preserved vegetation.

Based on the texts, how would Chris Brierley (Text 2) most likely respond to the discussion in Text 1?

A. By pointing out that given the revised timeline for the end of the Sahara’s humid period, the Neolithic peoples’ mode
of subsistence likely didn’t cause the region’s desertification

B. By claiming that pastoralism was only one of many behaviors the Neolithic peoples took part in that may have
contributed to the Sahara’s changing climate

C. By insisting that pastoralism can have both beneficial and deleterious effects on a region’s vegetation and climate

D. By asserting that more research needs to be conducted into factors that likely contributed to the desertification of
the Sahara region

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Question ID 0edc0ea9
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 0edc0ea9

Text 1
Most animals can regenerate some parts of their bodies, such as skin. But when a three-banded panther worm is cut
into three pieces, each piece grows into a new worm. Researchers are investigating this feat partly to learn more about
humans’ comparatively limited abilities to regenerate, and they’re making exciting progress. An especially promising
discovery is that both humans and panther worms have a gene for early growth response (EGR) linked to regeneration.

Text 2
When Mansi Srivastava and her team reported that panther worms, like humans, possess a gene for EGR, it caused
excitement. However, as the team pointed out, the gene likely functions very differently in humans than it does in
panther worms. Srivastava has likened EGR to a switch that activates other genes involved in regeneration in panther
worms, but how this switch operates in humans remains unclear.

Based on the texts, what would the author of Text 2 most likely say about Text 1’s characterization of the discovery
involving EGR?

A. It is reasonable given that Srivastava and her team have identified how EGR functions in both humans and panther
worms.

B. It is overly optimistic given additional observations from Srivastava and her team.

C. It is unexpected given that Srivastava and her team’s findings were generally met with enthusiasm.

D. It is unfairly dismissive given the progress that Srivastava and her team have reported.

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Question ID 17ecac52
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 17ecac52
Text 1
Italian painters in the 1500s rarely depicted themselves in their work. Even more rare were self-portrait paintings that
portrayed the artist as a painter. At the time, painting was not yet respected as a profession, so painters mostly chose
to emphasize other qualities in their self-portraits, like their intellect or social status. In the city of Bologna, the first
artist to depict themself painting was a man named Annibale Carracci. A painting of his from around 1585 shows
Carracci in front of an easel holding a palette.

Text 2
In their self-portraits, Bolognese artists typically avoided referring to the act of painting until the mid-1600s. However,
Lavinia Fontana’s 1577 painting, Self-Portrait at the Keyboard, stands out as the earliest example of such a work by an
artist from Bologna. Although the artist is depicted playing music, in the background, one can spot a painting easel by a
window.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the underlined claim in Text 1?

A. Carracci and Fontana were among the most well-respected painters in Bologna at the time.

B. The depiction of Fontana in Self-Portrait at the Keyboard was intended to underscore the artist’s creativity.

C. Fontana likely inspired the reference to an easel and palette in Carracci’s painting.

D. Self-Portrait at the Keyboard was painted earlier than Carracci’s painting and also refers to the artist’s craft.

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Question ID e2d13873
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: e2d13873
Text 1
Philosopher G.E. Moore’s most influential work entails the concept of common sense. He asserts that there are certain
beliefs that all people, including philosophers, know instinctively to be true, whether or not they profess otherwise:
among them, that they have bodies, or that they exist in a world with other objects that have three dimensions. Moore’s
careful work on common sense may seem obvious but was in fact groundbreaking.

Text 2
External world skepticism is a philosophical stance supposing that we cannot be sure of the existence of anything
outside our own minds. During a lecture, G.E. Moore once offered a proof refuting this stance by holding out his hands
and saying, “Here is one hand, and here is another.” Many philosophers reflexively reject this proof (Annalisa Coliva
called it “an obviously annoying failure”) but have found it a challenge to articulate exactly why the proof fails.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 1 most likely respond to proponents of the philosophical stance
outlined in Text 2?

A. By agreeing with those proponents that Moore’s treatment of positions that contradict his own is fundamentally
unserious

B. By suggesting that an instinctive distaste for Moore’s position is preventing external world skeptics from
constructing a sufficiently rigorous refutation of Moore

C. By arguing that if it is valid to assert that some facts are true based on instinct, it is also valid to assert that some
proofs are inadequate based on instinct

D. By pointing out that Moore would assert that external world skepticism is at odds with other beliefs those
proponents must unavoidably hold

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Question ID 03e53728
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 03e53728

Text 1
A tiny, unusual fossil in a piece of 99-million-year-old amber is of the extinct species Oculudentavis khaungraae. The O.
khaungraae fossil consists of a rounded skull with a thin snout and a large eye socket. Because these features look like
they are avian, or related to birds, researchers initially thought that the fossil might be the smallest avian dinosaur ever
found.

Text 2
Paleontologists were excited to discover a second small fossil that is similar to the strange O. khaungraae fossil but
has part of the lower body along with a birdlike skull. Detailed studies of both fossils revealed several traits that are
found in lizards but not in dinosaurs or birds. Therefore, paleontologists think the two creatures were probably unusual
lizards, even though the skulls looked avian at first.

Based on the texts, what would the paleontologists in Text 2 most likely say about the researchers’ initial thought in
Text 1?

A. It is understandable because the fossil does look like it could be related to birds, even though O. khaungraae is
probably a lizard.

B. It is confusing because it isn’t clear what caused the researchers to think that O. khaungraae might be related to
birds.

C. It is flawed because the researchers mistakenly assumed that O. khaungraae must be a lizard.

D. It is reasonable because the O. khaungraae skull is about the same size as the skull of the second fossil but is
shaped differently.

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Question ID a9e8c48c
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: a9e8c48c
Text 1
Polar bears sustain themselves primarily by hunting seals on the Arctic sea ice, but rising ocean temperatures are
causing the ice to diminish, raising concerns about polar bear population declines as these large predators’ seal-
hunting habitats continue to shrink. A 2020 study examining polar bear populations across the Arctic concluded that
populations affected by sea-ice loss are at great risk of extinction by the end of the twenty-first century.
Text 2
Monitoring carried out by researchers from the Norwegian Polar Institute shows that the polar bear population on the
Arctic archipelago of Svalbard remains stable and well nourished despite rapidly declining sea ice in recent years. The
researchers attribute this population’s resilience in part to a shift in feeding strategies: in addition to hunting seals, the
Svalbard polar bears have begun relying on a diet of reindeer meat and birds’ eggs.

Based on the texts, how would the researchers in Text 2 most likely respond to the conclusion presented in the
underlined portion of Text 1?

A. By noting that it neglects the possibility of some polar bear populations adapting to changes in their environment

B. By suggesting that it is likely incorrect about the rates at which warming ocean temperatures have caused sea ice
to melt in the Arctic

C. By asserting that it overlooks polar bear populations that have not yet been affected by loss of seal-hunting habitats

D. By arguing that it fails to account for polar bears’ reliance on a single seal-hunting strategy

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Question ID f01cb598
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: f01cb598
Text 1
The fossil record suggests that mammoths went extinct around 11 thousand years (kyr) ago. In a 2021 study of
environmental DNA (eDNA)—genetic material shed into the environment by organisms—in the Arctic, Yucheng Wang
and colleagues found mammoth eDNA in sedimentary layers formed millennia later, around 4 kyr ago. To account for
this discrepancy, Joshua H. Miller and Carl Simpson proposed that arctic temperatures could preserve a mammoth
carcass on the surface, allowing it to leach DNA into the environment, for several thousand years.
Text 2
Wang and colleagues concede that eDNA contains DNA from both living organisms and carcasses, but for DNA to
leach from remains over several millennia requires that the remains be perpetually on the surface. Scavengers and
weathering in the Arctic, however, are likely to break down surface remains well before a thousand years have passed.

Which choice best describes how Text 1 and Text 2 relate to each other?

A. Text 1 discusses two approaches to studying mammoth extinction without advocating for either, whereas Text 2
advocates for one approach over the other.

B. Text 1 presents findings by Wang and colleagues and gives another research team’s attempt to explain those
findings, whereas Text 2 provides additional detail that calls that explanation into question.

C. Text 1 describes Wang and colleagues’ study and a critique of their methodology, whereas Text 2 offers additional
details showing that methodology to be sound.

D. Text 1 argues that new research has undermined the standard view of when mammoths went extinct, whereas Text
2 suggests a way to reconcile the standard view with that new research.

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Question ID e19a5d1f
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: e19a5d1f
Text 1
The idea that time moves in only one direction is instinctively understood, yet it puzzles physicists. According to the
second law of thermodynamics, at a macroscopic level some processes of heat transfer are irreversible due to the
production of entropy—after a transfer we cannot rewind time and place molecules back exactly where they were
before, just as we cannot unbreak dropped eggs. But laws of physics at a microscopic or quantum level hold that those
processes should be reversible.

Text 2
In 2015, physicists Tiago Batalhão et al. performed an experiment in which they confirmed the irreversibility of
thermodynamic processes at a quantum level, producing entropy by applying a rapidly oscillating magnetic field to a
system of carbon-13 atoms in liquid chloroform. But the experiment “does not pinpoint ... what causes [irreversibility] at
the microscopic level,” coauthor Mauro Paternostro said.

Based on the texts, what would the author of Text 1 most likely say about the experiment described in Text 2?

A. It would suggest an interesting direction for future research were it not the case that two of the physicists who
conducted the experiment disagree on the significance of its findings.

B. It provides empirical evidence that the current understanding of an aspect of physics at a microscopic level must
be incomplete.

C. It is consistent with the current understanding of physics at a microscopic level but not at a macroscopic level.

D. It supports a claim about an isolated system of atoms in a laboratory, but that claim should not be extrapolated to a
general claim about the universe.

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Question ID 1e7c4c03
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 1e7c4c03
Text 1
Despite its beautiful prose, The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman’s 1962 analysis of the start of World War I, has
certain weaknesses as a work of history. It fails to address events in Eastern Europe just before the outbreak of
hostilities, thereby giving the impression that Germany was the war’s principal instigator. Had Tuchman consulted
secondary works available to her by scholars such as Luigi Albertini, she would not have neglected the influence of
events in Eastern Europe on Germany’s actions.

Text 2
Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August is an engrossing if dated introduction to World War I. Tuchman’s analysis of
primary documents is laudable, but her main thesis that European powers committed themselves to a catastrophic
outcome by refusing to deviate from military plans developed prior to the conflict is implausibly reductive.

Which choice best describes a difference in how the authors of Text 1 and Text 2 view Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of
August?

A. The author of Text 1 argues that Tuchman should have relied more on the work of other historians, while the author
of Text 2 implies that Tuchman’s most interesting claims result from her original research.

B. The author of Text 1 believes that the scope of Tuchman’s research led her to an incorrect interpretation, while the
author of Text 2 believes that Tuchman’s central argument is overly simplistic.

C. The author of Text 1 asserts that the writing style of The Guns of August makes it worthwhile to read despite any
perceived deficiency in Tuchman’s research, while the author of Text 2 focuses exclusively on the weakness of
Tuchman’s interpretation of events.

D. The author of Text 1 claims that Tuchman would agree that World War I was largely due to events in Eastern
Europe, while the author of Text 2 maintains that Tuchman would say that Eastern European leaders were not
committed to military plans in the same way that other leaders were.

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Question ID b2e31abc
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: b2e31abc
Text 1
American sculptor Edmonia Lewis is best known for her sculptures that represent figures from history and mythology,
such as The Death of Cleopatra and Hagar. Although Lewis sculpted other subjects, her career as a sculptor is best
represented by the works in which she depicted these historical and mythical themes.

Text 2
Art historians have typically ignored the many portrait busts Edmonia Lewis created. Lewis likely carved these busts
(sculptures of a person’s head) frequently throughout her long career. She is known for her sculptures that represent
historical figures, but Lewis likely supported herself financially by carving portrait busts for acquaintances who paid her
to represent their features. Thus, Lewis’s portrait busts are a central aspect of her career as a sculptor.

Based on the texts, both authors would most likely agree with which statement?

A. Lewis’s portrait busts have overshadowed her other work.

B. The Death of Cleopatra is Lewis’s most famous piece.

C. Sculpting representations of historical figures was a short-lived trend.

D. Lewis’s works are varied in the subjects they depict.

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Question ID 8c5a6863
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 8c5a6863
Text 1
Although food writing is one of the most widely read genres in the United States, literary scholars have long neglected
it. And within this genre, cookbooks attract the least scholarly attention of all, regardless of how well written they may
be. This is especially true of works dedicated to regional US cuisines, whose complexity and historical significance are
often overlooked.

Text 2
With her 1976 cookbook The Taste of Country Cooking, Edna Lewis popularized the refined Southern cooking she had
grown up with in Freetown, an all-Black community in Virginia. She also set a new standard for cookbook writing: the
recipes and memoir passages interspersing them are written in prose more elegant than that of most novels. Yet
despite its inarguable value as a piece of writing, Lewis’s masterpiece has received almost no attention from literary
scholars.

Based on the two texts, how would the author of Text 1 most likely regard the situation presented in the underlined
sentence in Text 2?

A. As typical, because scholars are dismissive of literary works that achieve popularity with the general public

B. As unsurprising, because scholars tend to overlook the literary value of food writing in general and of regional
cookbooks in particular

C. As justifiable, because Lewis incorporated memoir into The Taste of Country Cooking, thus undermining its status
as a cookbook

D. As inevitable, because The Taste of Country Cooking was marketed to readers of food writing and not to readers of
other genres

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Question ID 748ab121
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 748ab121

Text 1
In a study of the benefits of having free time, Marissa Sharif found that the reported sense of life satisfaction tended to
plateau when participants had two hours of free time per day and actually began to fall when they had five hours of free
time per day. After further research, Sharif concluded that this dip in life satisfaction mainly occurred when individuals
spent all their free time unproductively, such as by watching TV or playing games.

Text 2
Psychologist James Maddux cautions against suggesting an ideal amount of free time. The human desire for both free
time and productivity is universal, but Maddux asserts that individuals have unique needs for life satisfaction.
Furthermore, he points out that there is no objective definition for what constitutes productivity; reading a book might
be considered a productive activity by some, but idleness by others.

Based on the texts, how would Maddux (Text 2) most likely respond to the conclusion Sharif (Text 1) reached after her
further research?

A. By acknowledging that free time is more likely to enhance life satisfaction when it is spent productively than when it
is spent unproductively

B. By challenging the reasoning in Text 1, as it has not been proved that productivity commonly contributes to
individuals’ life satisfaction

C. By warning against making an overly broad assumption, as there is no clear consensus in distinguishing between
productive and unproductive activities

D. By claiming that the specific activities named in Text 1 are actually examples of productive activities rather than
unproductive ones

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Question ID 4871dabb
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 4871dabb
Text 1
Public policy researcher Anthony Fowler studied the history of elections in Australia, a country that requires citizens to
vote. Fowler argues that requiring citizens to vote leads to a significant increase in voters who would otherwise not
have the time or motivation to vote. Thus, election results in countries that require citizens to vote better reflect the
preferences of the country as a whole.

Text 2
Governments in democratic countries function better when more people vote. However, forcing people to vote may
have negative consequences. Shane P. Singh and Jason Roy studied what happens when a country requires its citizens
to vote. They found that when people feel forced to vote, they tend to spend less time looking for information about
their choices when voting. As a result, votes from these voters may not reflect their actual preferences.

Based on the texts, how would Singh and Roy (Text 2) most likely respond to the research discussed in Text 1?

A. Only countries of a certain population size should implement mandatory voting.

B. People who are forced to vote are likely to become politically engaged in other ways, such as volunteering or
running for office.

C. Requiring people to vote does not necessarily lead to election outcomes that better represent the preferences of the
country as a whole.

D. Countries that require voting must also make the process of voting easier for their citizens.

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Question ID 50894857
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 50894857
Text 1
Literary scholars have struggled with the vastness of Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka’s collective works of drama
(spanning over 20 plays in total). It is best, however, to understand Soyinka’s body of work as a dramatist
chronologically. Soyinka’s progression as a playwright can be considered to fall into three periods, with each one
representing a particular thematic and stylistic cohesion: the 1960s, the two decades between 1970 and 1990, and
lastly, from roughly 1990 onwards.

Text 2
It is tempting to impose a linear sense of order on the expanse of Wole Soyinka’s body of work as a dramatist.
However, critics who have considered Soyinka’s plays to fit neatly into three phases overlook potential commonalities
in Soyinka’s work that span across these phases. Additionally, this view may discount significant differences in the
styles and content of plays written around the same time.

Which choice best describes a difference in how the author of Text 1 and the author of Text 2 view the study of
Soyinka’s works of drama?

A. While the author of Text 1 believes that thinking about Soyinka’s works of theater in phases is useful, the author of
Text 2 views such an approach as limiting.

B. Although the author of Text 1 claims that Soyinka’s style as a dramatist has evolved over time, the author of Text 2
argues that Soyinka’s style has remained consistent throughout his career.

C. The author of Text 1 considers Soyinka’s plays to showcase his strongest writing, whereas the author of Text 2
believes that Soyinka’s poetry is where he is most skilled.

D. The author of Text 1 argues that Soyinka’s early plays were his most politically charged, whereas the author of Text
2 claims that Soyinka’s most recent plays are the most politicized.

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Question ID 23718fee
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 23718fee
Text 1
For decades, bluegrass musicians have debated whether their genre should exclude influences from mainstream
genres such as rock. Many insist that bluegrass is defined by its adherence to the folk music of the US South, out of
which bluegrass emerged. Such “purists,” as they are known, regard the recordings of Bill Monroe, which established
the bluegrass sound in the 1940s, as a standard against which the genre should still be measured.

Text 2
Bluegrass isn’t simply an extension of folk traditions into the era of recorded music. In reality, Bill Monroe created the
bluegrass sound in the 1940s by combining Southern folk music with commercial genres that had arisen only a few
decades before, such as jazz and the blues. Since bluegrass has always been a mixed genre, contemporary bluegrass
musicians should not be forbidden from incorporating into it influences from rock and other mainstream genres.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely regard the perspective of bluegrass purists, as
described in Text 1?

A. As inconsistent, since bluegrass purists themselves enjoy other musical genres

B. As unrealistic, since bluegrass purists have no way of enforcing their musical preferences

C. As shortsighted, because bluegrass could enlarge its audience by including influences from mainstream genres

D. As illogical, because the purists overlook crucial aspects of how the bluegrass sound first originated.

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Question ID d9a6817c
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: d9a6817c
Text 1
A team led by Bernardo Strassburg has found that rewilding farmland (returning the land to its natural state) could help
preserve biodiversity and offset carbon emissions. The amount of farmland that would need to be restored, they found,
is remarkably low. Rewilding a mere 15% of the world’s current farmland would prevent 60% of expected species
extinctions and help absorb nearly 299 gigatons of carbon dioxide—a clear win in the fight against the biodiversity and
climate crises.

Text 2
While Strassburg’s team’s findings certainly offer encouraging insight into the potential benefits of rewilding, it’s
important to consider potential effects on global food supplies. The researchers suggest that to compensate for the
loss of food-producing land, remaining farmland would need to produce even more food. Thus, policies focused on
rewilding farmland must also address strategies for higher-yield farming.

Which choice best describes a difference in how the author of Text 1 and the author of Text 2 view Strassburg’s team’s
study?

A. The author of Text 2 approaches the study’s findings with some caution, whereas the author of Text 1 is optimistic
about the reported potential environmental benefits.

B. The author of Text 2 claims that the percentage of farmland identified by Strassburg’s team is too low for rewilding
to achieve meaningful results, whereas the author of Text 1 thinks the percentage is sufficient.

C. The author of Text 2 believes that the results described by Strassburg’s team are achievable in the near future,
whereas the author of Text 1 argues that they likely aren’t.

D. The author of Text 2 focuses on rewilding’s effect on carbon emissions, whereas the author of Text 1 focuses on its
effect on biodiversity.

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Question ID 912389e9
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 912389e9
Text 1
Stage lighting theorist Adolphe Appia was perhaps the first to argue that light must be considered alongside all the
various elements of a stage to create a single, unified performance. Researcher Kelly Bremner, however, has noted that
Appia lacked technical expertise in the use of light in the theater. As a result of Appia’s inexperience, Bremner argues,
Appia’s theory of light called for lighting practices that weren’t possible until after the advent of electricity around 1881.

Text 2
Adolphe Appia was not an amateur in the practice of lighting. Instead, it is precisely his exposure to lighting techniques
at the time that contributed to his theory on the importance of light. When working as an apprentice for a lighting
specialist in his youth, Appia observed the use of portable lighting devices that could be operated by hand. This
experience developed his understanding of what was possible in the coordination of elements on the stage.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the claim about Appia’s level of technical
expertise made by Bremner in Text 1?

A. Many lighting technicians dismissed Appia’s ideas about light on the stage.

B. Appia likely gained a level of technical expertise during his time as an apprentice.

C. Theater practitioners who worked with Appia greatly admired his work.

D. Appia was unfamiliar with the use of music and sound in theater.

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Question ID ac2a3e8e
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: ac2a3e8e
Text 1
On April 26th, 1777, Sybil Ludington rode 40 miles by horse through Putnam County, New York, to gather up local
militia. British forces were burning nearby Danbury, Connecticut, and Ludington wanted to rally rebel troops to meet
them. Although she was only 16 years old at the time, her brave feat made Ludington one of the heroes of the American
Revolution. Since then, Ludington has been widely celebrated, inspiring postage stamps, statues, and even children’s
TV series.

Text 2
Historian Paula D. Hunt researched the life and legacy of Sybil Ludington but found no evidence for her famous ride.
Although many articles and books have been written about Ludington, Hunt believes writers may have been inventing
details about Ludington as they retold her story. Ludington is revered by Americans today, but there simply isn’t a strong
historical record of her heroic ride.

Based on the texts, both authors would most likely agree with which statement?

A. Sybil Ludington was crucial to the outcome of the Revolutionary War.

B. Historians have confirmed which route Sybil Ludington took.

C. Sybil Ludington was likely not a real person.

D. Many people have come to admire the story of Sybil Ludington’s ride.

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Question ID e70d7578
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: e70d7578
Text 1
Fossils of the hominin Australopithecus africanus have been found in the Sterkfontein Caves of South Africa, but
assigning an age to the fossils is challenging because of the unreliability of dating methods in this context. The
geology of Sterkfontein has caused soil layers from different periods to mix, impeding stratigraphic dating, and dates
cannot be reliably imputed from those of nearby animal bones since the bones may have been relocated by flooding.
Text 2
Archaeologists used new cosmogenic nuclide dating techniques to reevaluate the ages of A. africanus fossils found in
the Sterkfontein Caves. This technique involves analyzing the cosmogenic nucleotides in the breccia—the matrix of
rock fragments immediately surrounding the fossils. The researchers assert that this approach avoids the potential for
misdating associated with assigning ages based on Sterkfontein’s soil layers or animal bones.

Based on the texts, how would the researchers in Text 2 most likely respond to the underlined portion in Text 1?

A. They would emphasize the fact that the A. africanus fossils found in the Sterkfontein Caves may have been
corrupted in some way over the years.

B. They would contend that if analyses of surrounding layers and bones in the Sterkfontein Caves were combined,
then the dating of the fossils there would be more accurate.

C. They would argue that their techniques are better suited than other methods to the unique challenges posed by the
Sterkfontein Caves.

D. They would claim that cosmogenic nuclide dating is reliable in the context of the Sterkfontein Caves because it is
applied to the fossils directly.

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Question ID 05d9b07b
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 05d9b07b

Text 1
Conventional wisdom long held that human social systems evolved in stages, beginning with hunter-gatherers forming
small bands of members with roughly equal status. The shift to agriculture about 12,000 years ago sparked population
growth that led to the emergence of groups with hierarchical structures: associations of clans first, then chiefdoms,
and finally, bureaucratic states.

Text 2
In a 2021 book, anthropologist David Graeber and archaeologist David Wengrow maintain that humans have always
been socially flexible, alternately forming systems based on hierarchy and collective ones with decentralized
leadership. The authors point to evidence that as far back as 50,000 years ago some hunter-gatherers adjusted their
social structures seasonally, at times dispersing in small groups but also assembling into communities that included
esteemed individuals.

Based on the texts, how would Graeber and Wengrow (Text 2) most likely respond to the “conventional wisdom”
presented in Text 1?

A. By conceding the importance of hierarchical systems but asserting the greater significance of decentralized
collective societies

B. By disputing the idea that developments in social structures have followed a linear progression through distinct
stages

C. By acknowledging that hierarchical roles likely weren’t a part of social systems before the rise of agriculture

D. By challenging the assumption that groupings of hunter-gatherers were among the earliest forms of social
structure

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Question ID 83e391e6
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 83e391e6
Text 1
Dominique Potvin and colleagues captured five Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen) to test a new design for
attaching tracking devices to birds. As the researchers fitted each magpie with a tracker attached by a small harness,
they noticed some magpies without trackers pecking at another magpie’s tracker until it broke off. The researchers
suggest that this behavior could be evidence of magpies attempting to help another magpie without benefiting
themselves.

Text 2
It can be tempting to think that animals are deliberately providing help when we see them removing trackers and other
equipment from one another, especially when a species is known to exhibit other cooperative behaviors. At the same
time, it can be difficult to exclude the possibility that individuals are simply interested in the equipment because of its
novelty, curiously pawing or pecking at it until it detaches.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the researchers’ perspective in Text 1 on the
behavior of the magpies without trackers?

A. That behavior might have been due to the novelty of the magpies’ captive setting rather than to the novelty of the
tracker.

B. That behavior likely indicates that the magpies were deliberately attempting to benefit themselves by obtaining the
tracker.

C. That behavior may not be evidence of selflessness in Gymnorhina tibicen because not all the captured magpies
demonstrated it.

D. That behavior might be adequately explained without suggesting that the magpies were attempting to assist the
other magpie.

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Question ID fb54c4a0
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: fb54c4a0
Text 1
Virginia Woolf’s 1928 novel Orlando is an oddity within her body of work. Her other major novels consist mainly of
scenes of everyday life and describe their characters’ interior states in great detail, whereas Orlando propels itself
through a series of fantastical events and considers its characters’ psychology more superficially. Woolf herself
sometimes regarded the novel as a minor work, even admitting once that she “began it as a joke.”

Text 2
Like Woolf’s other great novels, Orlando portrays how people’s memories inform their experience of the present. Like
those works, it examines how people navigate social interactions shaped by gender and social class. Though it is
lighter in tone—more entertaining, even—this literary “joke” nonetheless engages seriously with the themes that
motivated the four or five other novels by Woolf that have achieved the status of literary classics.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the assessment of Orlando presented in Text
1?

A. By conceding that Woolf’s talents were best suited to serious novels but asserting that the humor in Orlando is
often effective

B. By agreeing that Orlando is less impressive than certain other novels by Woolf but arguing that it should still be
regarded as a classic

C. By acknowledging that Orlando clearly differs from Woolf’s other major novels but insisting on its centrality to her
body of work nonetheless

D. By concurring that the reputation of Orlando as a minor work has led readers to overlook this novel but maintaining
that the reputation is unearned

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Question ID 74e7cada
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 74e7cada
Text 1
In 2021, a team led by Amir Siraj hypothesized that the Chicxulub impactor—the object that struck the Yucatán
Peninsula sixty-six million years ago, precipitating the mass extinction of the dinosaurs—was likely a member of the
class of long-period comets. As evidence, Siraj cited the carbonaceous chondritic composition of samples from the
Chicxulub impact crater as well as of samples obtained from long-period comet Wild 2 in 2006.

Text 2
Although long-period comets contain carbonaceous chondrites, asteroids are similarly rich in these materials.
Furthermore, some asteroids are rich in iridium, as Natalia Artemieva points out, whereas long-period comets are not.
Given the prevalence of iridium at the crater and, more broadly, in geological layers deposited worldwide following the
impact, Artemieva argues that an asteroid is a more plausible candidate for the Chicxulub impactor.

Based on the texts, how would Artemieva likely respond to Siraj’s hypothesis, as presented in Text 1?

A. By insisting that it overestimates how representative Wild 2 is of long-period comets as a class

B. By arguing that it does not account for the amount of iridium found in geological layers dating to the Chicxulub
impact

C. By praising it for connecting the composition of Chicxulub crater samples to the composition of certain asteroids

D. By concurring that carbonaceous chondrites are prevalent in soil samples from sites distant from the Chicxulub
crater

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Question ID 236404af
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 236404af
Text 1
Many studies in psychology have shown that people seek out information even when they know in advance that they
have no immediate use for it and that they won’t directly benefit from it. Such findings support the consensus view
among researchers of curiosity: namely, that curiosity is not instrumental but instead represents a drive to acquire
information for its own sake.
Text 2
While acknowledging that acquiring information is a powerful motivator, Rachit Dubey and colleagues ran an
experiment to test whether emphasizing the usefulness of scientific information could increase curiosity about it. They
found that when research involving rats and fruit flies was presented as having medical applications for humans,
participants expressed greater interest in learning about it than when the research was not presented as useful.

Based on the texts, how would Dubey and colleagues (Text 2) most likely respond to the consensus view discussed in
Text 1?

A. By suggesting that curiosity may not be exclusively motivated by the desire to merely acquire information

B. By conceding that people may seek out information that serves no immediate purpose only because they think they
can use it later

C. By pointing out that it is challenging to determine when information-seeking serves no goal beyond acquiring
information

D. By disputing the idea that curiosity can help explain apparently purposeless information-seeking behaviors

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Question ID 29b5b9c2
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 29b5b9c2
Text 1
Today the starchy root cassava is found in many dishes across West Africa, but its rise to popularity was slow.
Portuguese traders brought cassava from Brazil to the West African coast in the 1500s. But at this time, people living in
the capitals further inland had little contact with coastal communities. Thus, cassava remained relatively unknown to
most of the region’s inhabitants until the 1800s.

Text 2
Cassava’s slow adoption into the diet of West Africans is mainly due to the nature of the crop itself. If not cooked
properly, cassava can be toxic. Knowledge of how to properly prepare cassava needed to spread before the food could
grow in popularity. The arrival of formerly enslaved people from Brazil in the 1800s, who brought their knowledge of
cassava and its preparation with them, thus directly fueled the spread of this crop.

Based on the texts, the author of Text 1 and the author of Text 2 would most likely agree with which statement?

A. Cassava did not become a significant crop in West Africa until long after it was first introduced.

B. Several of the most commonly grown crops in West Africa are originally from Brazil.

C. The climate of the West African coast in the 1500s prevented cassava’s spread in the region.

D. The most commonly used methods to cook cassava today date to the 1500s.

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Question ID 9c0074c0
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 9c0074c0
Text 1
In 1916, H. Dugdale Sykes disputed claims that The Two Noble Kinsmen was coauthored by William Shakespeare and
John Fletcher. Sykes felt Fletcher’s contributions to the play were obvious—Fletcher had a distinct style in his other
plays, so much so that lines with that style were considered sufficient evidence of Fletcher’s authorship. But for the
lines not deemed to be by Fletcher, Sykes felt that their depiction of women indicated that their author was not
Shakespeare but Philip Massinger.
Text 2
Scholars have accepted The Two Noble Kinsmen as coauthored by Shakespeare since the 1970s: it appears in all major
one-volume editions of Shakespeare’s complete works. Though scholars disagree about who wrote what exactly, it is
generally held that on the basis of style, Shakespeare wrote all of the first act and most of the last, while John Fletcher
authored most of the three middle acts.

Based on the texts, both Sykes in Text 1 and the scholars in Text 2 would most likely agree with which statement?

A. John Fletcher’s writing has a unique, readily identifiable style.

B. The women characters in John Fletcher’s plays are similar to the women characters in Philip Massinger’s plays.

C. The Two Noble Kinsmen belongs in one-volume compilations of Shakespeare’s complete plays.

D. Philip Massinger’s style in the first and last acts of The Two Noble Kinsmen is an homage to Shakespeare’s style.

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Question ID 1f38cdb9
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 1f38cdb9
Text 1
Like the work of Ralph Ellison before her, Toni Morrison’s novels feature scenes in which characters deliver sermons of
such length and verbal dexterity that for a time, the text exchanges the formal parameters of fiction for those of oral
literature. Given the many other echoes of Ellison in Morrison’s novels, both in structure and prose style, these scenes
suggest Ellison’s direct influence on Morrison.
Text 2
In their destabilizing effect on literary form, the sermons in Morrison’s works recall those in Ellison’s. Yet literature by
Black Americans abounds in moments where interpolated speech erodes the division between oral and written forms
that literature in English has traditionally observed. Morrison’s use of the sermon is attributable not only to the
influence of Ellison but also to a community-wide strategy of resistance to externally imposed literary conventions.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely characterize the underlined claim in Text 1?

A. As failing to consider Ellison’s and Morrison’s equivalent uses of the sermon within the wider cultural context in
which they wrote

B. As misunderstanding the function of sermons in novels by Black American writers other than Ellison and Morrison

C. As disregarding points of structural and stylistic divergence between the works of Ellison and those of Morrison

D. As being indebted to the tradition of resisting literary conventions that privilege written forms, such as novels, over
sermons and other oral forms

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Question ID 60451ae9
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 60451ae9

Text 1
Astronomer Mark Holland and colleagues examined four white dwarfs—small, dense remnants of past stars—in order
to determine the composition of exoplanets that used to orbit those stars. Studying wavelengths of light in the white
dwarf atmospheres, the team reported that traces of elements such as lithium and sodium support the presence of
exoplanets with continental crusts similar to Earth’s.

Text 2
Past studies of white dwarf atmospheres have concluded that certain exoplanets had continental crusts. Geologist
Keith Putirka and astronomer Siyi Xu argue that those studies unduly emphasize atmospheric traces of lithium and
other individual elements as signifiers of the types of rock found on Earth. The studies don’t adequately account for
different minerals made up of various ratios of those elements, and the possibility of rock types not found on Earth that
contain those minerals.

Based on the texts, how would Putirka and Xu (Text 2) most likely characterize the conclusion presented in Text 1?

A. As unexpected, because it was widely believed at the time that white dwarf exoplanets lack continental crusts

B. As premature, because researchers have only just begun trying to determine what kinds of crusts white dwarf
exoplanets had

C. As questionable, because it rests on an incomplete consideration of potential sources of the elements detected in
white dwarf atmospheres

D. As puzzling, because it’s unusual to successfully detect lithium and sodium when analyzing wavelengths of light in
white dwarf atmospheres

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Question ID 7dd29895
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

PSAT/NMSQT & Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text

PSAT 10 Connections

ID: 7dd29895
Text 1
The Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction event is usually attributed solely to an asteroid impact near
Chicxulub, Mexico. Some scientists argue that volcanic activity was the true cause, as the K-Pg event occurred
relatively early in a long period of eruption of the Deccan Traps range that initially produced huge amounts of climate-
altering gases. These dissenters note that other mass extinctions have coincided with large volcanic eruptions, while
only the K-Pg event lines up with an asteroid strike.

Text 2
In a 2020 study, Pincelli Hull and her colleagues analyzed ocean core samples and modeled climate changes around
the K-Pg event. The team concluded that Deccan Traps gases did affect global conditions prior to the event, but that
the climate returned to normal well before the extinctions began—extinctions that instead closely align with the
Chicxulub impact.

Based on the texts, how would Hull’s team (Text 2) most likely respond to the argument in the underlined portion of
Text 1?

A. By agreeing that the Chicxulub impact changed the climate and that the Deccan Traps eruption caused the K-Pg
event

B. By declaring that the changes in climate caused by the Deccan Traps eruption weren’t the main cause of the K-Pg
event

C. By questioning why those scientists assume that the Chicxulub impact caused the Deccan Traps eruption

D. By asserting that the Deccan Traps eruption had a more significant effect on global conditions than those scientists
claim

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