When taking the SAT Reading & Writing section, students often encounter logical completion questions, which require them to select the answer that best completes a passage based on its context. These questions test critical reasoning and reading comprehension, making them an essential part of achieving a high SAT score.
One such example is the following SAT question:
SAT Question Example
“Volunteering, or giving time for a community service for free, is a valuable form of civic engagement because helping in a community is also good for society as a whole. In a survey of youths in the United States, most young people said that they believe volunteering is a way to help people on an individual level. Meanwhile, only 6% of the youths said that they think volunteering is a way to help fix problems in society overall. These replies suggest that ______”
Answer Choices:
A. many young people think they can volunteer only within their own communities.
B. volunteering may be even more helpful than many young people think it is.
C. volunteering can help society overall more than it can help individual people.
D. many young people may not know how to find ways to volunteer their time.
Breaking Down the Passage and Answer Choices
To determine the correct answer, let’s analyze the passage step by step.
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Main Idea of the Passage
- The passage describes the perception of volunteering among young people in the U.S.
- It states that most youths believe volunteering helps individuals rather than society as a whole.
- Only 6% of youths see volunteering as a way to solve broader societal issues.
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What Does This Suggest?
- If only a small percentage of young people recognize volunteering’s larger societal impact, it implies that many may not fully understand how far-reaching the benefits of volunteering can be.
- The passage does not suggest that young people think they can only volunteer in their communities (eliminating A).
- It also does not argue that volunteering helps society more than individuals (eliminating C).
- There is no mention of young people struggling to find volunteer opportunities, so D is incorrect.
- The best answer is B: “Volunteering may be even more helpful than many young people think it is.” This aligns with the idea that young people might underestimate how volunteering benefits society as a whole.
Why This Question Matters for the SAT
SAT logical completion questions test critical reading and inference skills, which are crucial for college success. These questions ask students to:
- Identify key ideas in a passage.
- Draw logical conclusions from the given information.
- Recognize underlying implications rather than just explicit statements.
By mastering these skills, students can significantly boost their SAT Reading & Writing scores and improve their ability to analyze information effectively—an essential skill for college essays and coursework.
Tips to Ace SAT Logical Completion Questions
- Read the passage carefully – Look for the central theme or key argument.
- Identify the gap in reasoning – What conclusion naturally follows from the information?
- Eliminate incorrect answers – If an option is too extreme, unrelated, or not supported by evidence, cross it out.
- Look for subtle wording clues – Terms like only, always, never often indicate incorrect answers because they are too absolute.
- Practice with real SAT questions – Exposure to official College Board questions helps recognize patterns in logical completion questions.
Final Thoughts
Understanding logical completion questions is essential for scoring high on the SAT. The best approach is to analyze the passage, identify key points, and choose the most logically supported conclusion. In the case of the volunteering question, many young people underestimate the broad impact of volunteering—making B the correct answer.
For more SAT practice questions and free Common App essay reviews, visit Pathways. Get expert insights to boost your SAT score and strengthen your college applications!
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