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Rhetorical Synthesis: SAT Reading and Writing notes
Rhetorical Synthesis questions give you a student's bullet-point notes and a goal, and ask which sentence uses the notes to meet that goal.
Study it with worked examples and 8 practice questionsPractise Rhetorical Synthesis questions
What this topic tests
Each question shows a list of notes a student took while researching, followed by one line that starts 'The student wants to...'. All four answer choices are built from those notes, and most of them are true. Your job isn't to find a true sentence. It's to find the one sentence that does exactly the job the goal describes.
That makes the goal the most important line on the screen, so read it first, before the notes. It usually hinges on a key word or two: similarity, difference, aim, findings, example, generalization, or a description of the audience. Once you know the job, test each choice with one question: does this sentence do that?
You rarely need to study the notes closely. Use them at the end to check that the choice you like is accurate, because some wrong answers twist a detail, swap two facts, or claim more than the notes say.
Key ideas
- Read the goal first. It's the last line before the choices.
- Pick out the key words in the goal: specify, similarity, difference, aim, method, findings, example, generalization, audience.
- Almost every choice is true. The right one is the one that does the job in the goal.
- If the goal has two parts joined by 'and', the right choice must do both.
- An unfamiliar audience needs to be told who or what something is. A familiar audience doesn't need a definition.
- For a similarity or a difference, both things must be named and actually compared.
- In study questions: the aim is why they did it, the method is what they did, and the findings are what they learned.
- Check your choice against the notes. Wrong answers sometimes flip or stretch a fact.
The 4 kinds of Rhetorical Synthesis question
Sorted from every Rhetorical Synthesis question in the site's bank: each kind keeps coming up, and has a method that works every time.
1. Pin down one specific point
How to spot it. The goal asks for one particular piece of information: a number, a place, a name, a definition, how something works, why something happens, an advantage or problem, or a study's aim, method or findings. Words like specify, identify, describe, explain, present and emphasize usually signal it.
How to answer it:
- Read the goal and pick out the exact thing it asks for, such as the study's methods or the number of wolves.
- Find the note or notes that supply that thing.
- Go through the choices and cross out any that are about something else, even if they are true.
- Of what's left, pick the one that states the point accurately and fully. Check its details against the notes.
The trap. Choosing a sentence that is true and on the right topic but answers a different question. In research-study questions this is the classic mix-up: the aim is why the researchers did the study, the method is what they did, and the findings are what they learned. Wrong answers swap one for another, so match the choice to the exact word in the goal.
2. Compare or contrast two things
How to spot it. The goal names two things and asks you to emphasize a similarity, a difference or a contrast, or simply to compare them. The notes usually describe the two things one after the other.
How to answer it:
- Note which kind of comparison the goal wants: a similarity, a difference, or a general comparison.
- Cross out any choice that talks about only one of the two things.
- Check the linking words. A similarity needs words like both, like, also or as is. A difference needs words like while, whereas, unlike, but or although.
- Make sure the feature being compared is the one the goal asks about, and that each thing gets the right trait from the notes.
The trap. A choice that mentions both things but never actually compares them, or one that compares the wrong feature (their careers when the goal asks about a single event, for instance). Also watch for a choice that frames a difference when the goal wants a similarity, or that flips which item has which trait.
3. Two-part goals
How to spot it. The goal asks for two jobs at once: define a term and give an example, make and support a generalization, show a change and explain why it happened, describe something and explain why it matters, or make a point using a quotation. The question often ends with 'these goals' instead of 'this goal'.
How to answer it:
- Split the goal into its two parts and hold each one in mind.
- Check every choice against part one. Cross out any that miss it.
- Check the choices that are left against part two. Cross out any that miss it.
- The right answer does both. For 'make and support a generalization', that means a broad statement plus specific facts from the notes that back it up.
The trap. A choice that does one half perfectly. These are the most tempting wrong answers: a clear definition with no example, a broad claim with no support, or a list of specific facts with no general point. Don't stop checking just because a choice nails the first part.
4. Introduce or write for an audience
How to spot it. The goal describes the reader, such as 'an audience unfamiliar with' or 'an audience already familiar with' something, or it asks you to introduce a person or work, or to begin a story.
How to answer it:
- Ask what this reader already knows. Unfamiliar means they need a quick explanation of who or what something is. Already familiar means they don't.
- For an unfamiliar audience or an introduction, pick the choice that identifies the person or thing (who they are, what it is, why it matters) instead of jumping to a narrow detail.
- For a familiar audience, cross out choices that spend words defining the term they already know.
- To begin a story, start at the beginning: who, what and when, not the ending or the awards it won.
- Make sure the choice still does the main job, such as presenting the findings or describing the work.
The trap. Defining a term for readers who already know it, or skipping the introduction for readers who don't. A choice can describe one painting in rich detail and still fail to introduce the artist, because it never says who she is.
Practise Rhetorical Synthesis
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