# SAT Cross-Text Connections: what Text 2 would say to Text 1

Cross-Text Connections gives two short texts on one topic and asks how the second author would respond to the first. How to find the exact point of disagreement, with three worked pairs.

## The short answer

Cross-Text Connections is the only Reading and Writing question that gives you two passages. Both are short and both are about one topic, and the question asks how the author of Text 2 would respond to something in Text 1. The answer is never a summary of either text. It is the single point where the two authors actually meet, agree or disagree. It sits in Craft and Structure, about 28% of the section.

## Key facts

- **Section:** Reading and Writing
- **Domain:** Craft and Structure
- **Domain share:** ~=28% of the section, 13-15 questions
- **Texts per question:** 2, on the same topic
- **Options:** 4 (A-D)
- **If you are unsure:** Guess rather than leave it blank

Question counts, timings and domain shares come from College Board's test pages and the Digital SAT Suite Specifications Overview, checked 28 September 2026.

## How it's scored

This is usually the longest item in the section to read, so the time you save is in knowing what to look for before you start.

The two authors rarely disagree about everything. Most pairs agree on the facts and disagree about what the facts mean, or agree on the conclusion and disagree about the reason. Finding which of those it is settles most items.

> Read Text 1 and write its claim in one line. Read Text 2 and write its claim in one line. The answer is the relationship between those two lines, not between the two texts as wholes.

## Cross-Text Connections examples

Worked examples written for this page. Answer each one before you open the model response: memorizing a response is scored as an irrelevant answer in the real test.

**Example 1 -- same facts, different meaning**

> Text 1: Restaurant menus grew longer through the twentieth century. Historians read this as a response to refrigeration and rail freight, which made more ingredients available year-round. The longer menu is a record of a wider supply chain.
> 
> Text 2: Supply explains what a kitchen could offer, not what it chose to print. Menus lengthened fastest in cities where restaurants competed hardest for the same diners. A long menu was an advertisement, aimed at the customer who might otherwise walk on.

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

- A. By disputing that menus grew longer during the period
- B. By agreeing that supply mattered but arguing that competition explains the pattern better
- C. By arguing that refrigeration had no effect on restaurant kitchens
- D. By noting that historians have ignored the role of rail freight
Answer: B.

Model response: B. Text 2 opens by conceding what supply explains, then says it is the wrong explanation for the choice to print a long menu. That is a disagreement about cause, not about fact.

Why it scores: Option C overstates it. Text 2 says supply explains what a kitchen could offer, which concedes rather than denies the effect.

**Example 2 -- agreement with a limit attached**

> Text 1: Handwriting instruction has largely disappeared from primary schools. Studies linking handwriting practice to letter recognition suggest this is a mistake, and several districts have restored it.
> 
> Text 2: The letter-recognition findings are solid, and young children clearly benefit. What does not follow is the case for handwriting through the upper grades, where the studies stop and the classroom time is expensive.

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

- A. By accepting the evidence for young children but denying that it supports instruction at older ages
- B. By rejecting the letter-recognition studies as unreliable
- C. By agreeing fully and calling for handwriting in every grade
- D. By arguing that classroom time is not a real constraint
Answer: A.

Model response: A. Text 2 calls the findings solid, then draws a line: the evidence covers young children and the studies stop after that.

Why it scores: Most pairs are partial. An option that has Text 2 rejecting everything is usually too strong for a text that opens by agreeing.

**Example 3 -- the disagreement is about what counts as evidence**

> Text 1: Sourdough starters are often described as centuries old. Bakeries date them by family record, and some claim an unbroken line to the nineteenth century.
> 
> Text 2: Sequencing tells a different story. The microbial community in a starter turns over within months, shaped by the flour and the kitchen it lives in. Whatever the family record says, the organisms are new.

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

- A. By accepting the family records as the best available evidence
- B. By arguing that the age of a starter cannot be established at all
- C. By holding that the biological evidence outweighs the documentary record
- D. By claiming that bakeries have deliberately misrepresented their starters
Answer: C.

Model response: C. Text 2 does not call the records false. It says sequencing answers the question and the organisms are new, which makes the biological evidence the one that settles it.

Why it scores: Option D adds an accusation the text never makes. Watch for options that turn a disagreement into an allegation of bad faith.

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## Common mistakes

| What costs marks | Do this instead |
| --- | --- |
| Summarizing both texts instead of finding where they meet. | Write one claim per text, then look only at the relationship between those two claims. |
| Choosing an option that makes Text 2 reject everything. | Partial agreement is the common pattern. If Text 2 opens by conceding a point, a total rejection is wrong. |
| Answering from Text 1 alone. | The question always asks what the second author would say. Text 1 only supplies the claim being responded to. |
| Reading both texts in full before reading the question. | Read the question first. It names which claim in Text 1 is at issue, and that is usually one sentence. |

**Turn correct answers into a score** The SAT score calculator maps correct answers per module onto a 400-1600 range with College Board's own table, and superscores across test dates. [Open the SAT score calculator](/sat/score-calculator)

## How to practice

1. Practice on paired op-eds. Write one claim per piece, then one line naming where they part.
2. Sort the disagreements you meet into three kinds: about the facts, about the cause, about what should follow.
3. Time yourself reading the question before the texts. Most students save 20 seconds an item this way.
4. For each item you miss, check whether the wrong option was too strong rather than simply wrong.

## Common questions

### How long are the two texts in Cross-Text Connections?

Each pair fits the section's normal range, 25 to 150 words in total. They are short, and both sit on screen at once, so nothing has to be held in memory.

### Do the two authors always disagree?

No. Some pairs agree and differ only in emphasis or in the reason they give. Deciding whether the pair agrees, disagrees, or does both is the first move.

### Should I read the question before the texts?

Yes. The question names the claim in Text 1 that is at issue, which is usually a single sentence. Reading it first tells you what to look for in Text 2.

**Sources**
- [College Board: what's on the SAT Reading and Writing section (checked 28 September 2026)](https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/sat/whats-on-the-test/reading-writing)
- [College Board: Digital SAT Suite of Assessments Specifications Overview (PDF)](https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/digital-sat-test-spec-overview.pdf)
- [College Board: how SAT scores are calculated (checked 28 September 2026)](https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/sat/scores/understanding-scores/how-scores-are-calculated)

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