SAT Reading and Writing Practice Test: Transitions
- Transitions
- 10 questions
- 12 minutes
These 10 questions practice Transitions, an Expression of Ideas skill on the digital SAT. Read the sentences before and after the blank and name their relationship (contrast, cause, example, addition or sequence) before you look at the choices.
Tap an option to mark your answer. You can change your mind, or tap the same option again to leave the question blank. The correct answers and explanations appear when you finish the test.Tap an option to answer; tap it again to leave the question blank.
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Question 1
Octopuses have no bones. ______ they can squeeze through any opening larger than their beak, the only hard part of their body.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Correct answer: B
Having no bones is the reason octopuses can squeeze through small openings, so the second sentence is a result of the first. "However" and "In contrast" signal opposition, which is not present.
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Question 2
The first two-wheeled riding machine, built in Germany in 1817, had no pedals; riders pushed it along with their feet. ______ in the 1860s, makers began attaching pedals to the front wheel.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Correct answer: A
The second sentence describes a development that came decades after 1817, so a time transition is needed. Pedals were not a consequence of having no pedals, so "Therefore" does not fit.
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Question 3
Many desert plants store water in thick stems or leaves. The saguaro cactus, ______ can swell noticeably after a heavy rain as its stem fills with water.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Correct answer: D
The saguaro is a specific case of a desert plant that stores water in its stem, so "for example" fits. Nothing in the second sentence contrasts with the first, which rules out "however" and "nevertheless."
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Question 4
The research team expected the new fertilizer to raise crop yields. ______ yields in the test plots were slightly lower than in plots that received no fertilizer at all.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Correct answer: C
The result was the opposite of what the team expected, so "Surprisingly" fits. "Furthermore" and "Similarly" would present the lower yields as agreeing with the expectation.
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Question 5
The museum's new wing doubled the space available for exhibitions. ______ it added a classroom where local schools can hold workshops.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Correct answer: D
The classroom is a second benefit of the new wing, listed alongside the extra exhibition space, so "In addition" fits. A classroom is not caused by more exhibition space, so "Consequently" is illogical.
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Question 6
Early films were silent because the technology to record synchronized sound did not yet exist. ______ theaters often hired pianists or organists to play live music during screenings.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Correct answer: B
Theaters hired musicians because the films had no sound, so the second sentence gives a result of the first. "Nonetheless" would wrongly suggest that hiring musicians happened despite the silence.
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Question 7
A hummingbird's heart can beat more than 1,000 times per minute while the bird is flying. At night, ______ its heart rate can drop sharply as the bird enters a sleeplike state called torpor.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Correct answer: A
The very slow nighttime heart rate contrasts with the very fast rate during flight, so "however" fits. "Similarly" would suggest the two rates are alike.
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Question 8
Researchers first tested the new vaccine on cells grown in a laboratory. ______ they tested it in a small group of adult volunteers.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Correct answer: C
The sentences describe two steps in order, so a sequence word is needed. Testing on volunteers is not an example of laboratory testing, and nothing in the text sets the two steps against each other.
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Question 9
Concrete gains strength gradually as it cures, a process that continues for weeks. ______ builders usually wait several days before removing the wooden forms that hold freshly poured concrete in place.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Correct answer: B
Builders wait because the concrete needs time to become strong, so the second sentence is a consequence of the first. "Even so" would suggest that waiting happens in spite of the curing process.
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Question 10
The two poets admired each other's work and exchanged letters for more than thirty years. ______ they met in person only once.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Correct answer: C
Meeting only once is unexpected after decades of friendship by letter, so a contrast word is needed, and "Yet" provides it. "Consequently" would claim that the letters caused them to meet rarely, which the text does not say.
Questions you leave blank are not counted as wrong.
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