SAT Reading section historical timeline & themes

Historical timeline for SAT Reading section historical passages

• historical literacy can help students understand passage context and author purpose in historical passages
• students are NOT required to know the particular history, as questions are "evidence-based"
  • but it helps to know the time period and/or historical times, people and perspectives

click EXPAND for an example from an SAT practice test of how historical knowledge can answer questions

• • College Board practice test 10, 4hth passage, question 39:
    • the passages are from 1898 & 1900 regarding the Spanish-American War, in which the U.S. fully engaged in imperialism and colonialism
    • possible answers to question 39 are:

A) founding and history of the United States.
B) vibrancy and diversity of American culture.
C) worldwide history of struggles for independence.
D) idealism that permeates many aspects of American society

simply by knowing the perspective of 1898/1900, we can eliminate:

• x B) "diversity" = a modern not a c. 1900 political value or expression
• x C) "worldwide history" = a modern not a c. 1900 political value or expression (which would be concerned about American and not "worldwide" history)
• x D) "idealism that permeates" = a modern and not a c. 1900 perspective
  • without looking at the text, we can eliminate down to the correct answer, A)

Major wars timeline

• at a minimum, knowing the dates of major 18th-21st century wars will help identify historical context
  • i.e.: identifying a document from, say, 1844, it is helpful to know that it was written after the War of 1812 and before both the Mexican-American and Civil wars.
  • knowing that helps understand the perspective of the author, as the Mexican-American War changed American attitudes towards slavery and sectionalism and broke down the Compromise of 1820 that was born of the "Era of Good Feelings" that followed the War of 1812.