Reading and Writing · 226 questions in our bank

SAT Transitions: Practice Questions and How to Beat Them

Transition questions give you two sentences and ask which connecting word belongs between them. They look like vocabulary questions, and that is the trap. They are logic questions. The correct answer is determined entirely by the relationship between the two ideas, and that relationship is decided before you ever look at the choices.

There are only about six relationships the SAT tests: contrast (however, nevertheless), cause and effect (therefore, consequently), addition (moreover, furthermore), example (for instance), sequence (subsequently), and concession (admittedly, granted). Every question is one of these. Once you can name the relationship, usually only one choice expresses it, and the remaining three fall away without deliberation.

The reliable method is to cover the answer choices with your hand. Read the sentence before the blank, then the sentence after. Say the relationship out loud in plain words: this contradicts that, or this caused that. Then uncover the choices and find the one that matches your prediction. Students who read the choices first almost always talk themselves into a transition that merely sounds sophisticated.

Where students lose the point

  • Picking a transition because it sounds academic. Nevertheless and furthermore feel like the kind of word a correct answer would use, so they get chosen on vibe rather than on logic.
  • Missing the direction of a contrast. Two sentences can both be about a problem and still contrast, if the second one qualifies or undercuts the first.
  • Confusing addition with cause. Moreover adds a second independent fact; therefore claims the second fact follows from the first. Only one is defensible in any given question.
  • Reading only the sentence containing the blank. The relationship lives across both sentences, so a one-sentence read has nothing to compare.

10 practice questions with worked answers

Work each one before opening the explanation. The answer is hidden until you ask for it, which is the only way practice tells you anything useful.

Question 1

easy

When Kenyan chemist Amina Otieno accepted the 2022 Helios Prize for her work on low-cost water filters, she made the prize’s history. ______ only one other woman, Helen Marsh of the United Kingdom, had received that prize, making Otieno the second woman and the first African woman to win it.

Which option supplies the most logical transition?

  1. A

    Consequently,

  2. B

    Earlier,

  3. C

    Nevertheless,

  4. D

    Similarly,

Show the worked answer

Otieno’s 2022 award is the later event. Marsh’s prize came before it, which is why Otieno’s win is historic. Earlier places Marsh’s award on that prior timeline. Consequently would make Marsh’s prize an effect of Otieno’s. Nevertheless would contrast the two sentences, but they work together. Similarly would claim the two awards were alike in circumstance rather than sequential.

Question 2

easy

As biologist Naomi Reeves has recorded, long dives pose a problem for penguins and other diving birds. A penguin must spend enough energy to drive itself tens of meters down, while keeping its heart rate low enough that it does not exhaust its oxygen before it surfaces. ________ a penguin strokes as little as possible on a long dive, gliding in order to save energy.

Which option supplies the most logical transition?

  1. A

    To begin with,

  2. B

    Conversely,

  3. C

    Consequently,

  4. D

    By comparison,

Show the worked answer

The first sentences describe the energy-and-oxygen bind of a long dive. The last sentence describes the gliding habit that follows from that bind. Consequently marks the result. To begin with would start a list, not close a cause-and-effect chain. Conversely and By comparison would oppose or analogize two cases, but the sentence is the penguin’s solution, not a rival example.

Question 3

easy

A glassblower selecting which formula of silica to use for a vessel weighs two main considerations: the hoped-for appearance of the vessel and its planned function. ________ soda-lime glass is frequently chosen for ornamental bowls because of its milky sheen. This formula of glass is rarely chosen for laboratory ware, though, because it is less heat-resistant than other formulas.

Which option supplies the most logical transition?

  1. A

    That is,

  2. B

    Nevertheless,

  3. C

    In sum,

  4. D

    For instance,

Show the worked answer

The opening sentence states a general rule: appearance and function guide the choice of silica. The next sentence gives a concrete case—soda-lime glass for ornamental bowls—so For instance is the fit. That is would restate the rule, not illustrate it. Nevertheless would reverse it. In sum would close an argument that has not yet been developed.

Question 4

medium

Using ground-penetrating radar, Ashmere University archaeologists scanned and mapped the medieval abbey at Coldharrow, which sits among dense woodland in northern England. Some of the abbey’s foundation stones are locked in the roots of nearby oaks, leaving stretches of the site physically unreachable. _______ the radar’s subsurface pulses were the only means of recovering several previously unmapped parts of the complex.

Which option supplies the most logical transition?

  1. A

    Likewise,

  2. B

    Later,

  3. C

    Therefore,

  4. D

    In particular,

Show the worked answer

Tree roots make parts of the abbey impossible to inspect on foot; as a result, radar was the only way to map those stretches. Therefore records that cause-and-effect. Likewise would need a parallel case, not a consequence. Later would sequence events in time, but the radar work is not presented as a later step. In particular would narrow an example, not state a result.

Question 5

medium

In 1986, the city of Portland adopted a transit charter. The charter requires that light-rail lines open no later than eighteen months after funding is approved. _____ the charter requires newly authorized bus routes to begin service within ninety days of approval.

Which option supplies the most logical transition?

  1. A

    Rather,

  2. B

    For example,

  3. C

    In particular,

  4. D

    Furthermore,

Show the worked answer

The second sentence names a separate mandate—the bus-route deadline—alongside the light-rail deadline already stated. Furthermore adds that independent requirement. Rather would replace the first rule. For example and In particular would treat the bus rule as an illustration of the light-rail rule, but it is another provision, not an instance of the first one.

Question 6

medium

Building a shared seismic catalog is no simple job. Each month, one-second readings from seismographs around the world are recorded and forwarded to the International Seismological Centre (ISC) in the United Kingdom. ________ ISC analysts do the painstaking work of combining these slightly mismatched readings into a globally shared event list.

Which option supplies the most logical transition?

  1. A

    There,

  2. B

    Specifically,

  3. C

    For instance,

  4. D

    On the contrary,

Show the worked answer

The readings are sent to the ISC in the United Kingdom; the next sentence describes the combining work that happens at that office. There points back to that place. Specifically and For instance would introduce a narrowing or an example, but the sentence is the next step in the process, not an illustration. On the contrary would reverse the prior claim, which it does not.

Question 7

medium

When minting copper tokens for the colony of Massachusetts in the 1720s, silversmith Eliza Hart—then a Boston shopkeeper—took measures to limit fake coins, such as pressing silk fibers and crushed mica (a glittering mineral) into the metal she used. ________ she struck the tokens with finely cut maple-leaf dies that proved hard for forgers to copy.

Which option supplies the most logical transition?

  1. A

    Furthermore,

  2. B

    In particular,

  3. C

    For instance,

  4. D

    Even so,

Show the worked answer

The first sentence already gives examples of anti-counterfeit steps (fibers and mica). The second names another, independent step: maple-leaf dies. Furthermore adds that extra measure. In particular and For instance would treat the dies as a restatement of the fibers-and-mica method, but they are a further tactic. Even so would introduce a concession the passage does not make.

Question 8

hard

Since 1952, the East Bay Workshop in Oakland, California, has nurtured successive generations of Black artists—from poet June Ellis, to composer Ellis Ward, to painters such as Nia Cole and Marcus Bell. ________ it has come to be known as a gathering place for Black art and culture in the Bay Area.

Which option supplies the most logical transition?

  1. A

    Consequently,

  2. B

    By contrast,

  3. C

    Even so,

  4. D

    From time to time,

Show the worked answer

The first sentence states that the workshop has long supported Black artists. The second states the reputation that followed from that work. Consequently marks that cause-and-effect link. By contrast and Even so signal opposition or concession, but the second sentence agrees with the first. From time to time adds a schedule the passage never claims.

Question 9

hard

In her review of recent studies of animal social copying, Lena Okonkwo presents several examples of adaptive copying (that is, following others in ways that help a group), including one that involves meerkats. However, not every instance of copying helps. _______ her review cites a study that described how house sparrows copied flock-mates’ choice of nesting site even when that site offered little shelter from rain.

Which option supplies the most logical transition?

  1. A

    Rather,

  2. B

    In turn,

  3. C

    In fact,

  4. D

    Furthermore,

Show the worked answer

The sentence before the blank claims that not every instance of copying helps. The next sentence offers a concrete case of a harmful copycat choice, which confirms that claim. In fact introduces evidence that underscores what was just said. Rather would replace the prior idea. In turn would mark a reaction in a sequence. Furthermore would add a new, independent point instead of illustrating the same one.

Question 10

hard

Anyone who looked up at the right moment on March 3, 1911, would have seen a total lunar eclipse, during which Earth’s shadow covers the Moon completely. _____ observers on July 16, 1946, would have seen a partial lunar eclipse, during which Earth’s shadow covers only part of the Moon and leaves a bright crescent.

Which option supplies the most logical transition?

  1. A

    Consequently,

  2. B

    By contrast,

  3. C

    At the same time,

  4. D

    In fact,

Show the worked answer

The two sentences pair different eclipse types on different dates: a total covering versus a partial covering. By contrast marks that opposition. Consequently would treat the second event as an effect of the first. At the same time would place both events in 1911. In fact would intensify the first claim rather than introduce a different kind of eclipse.