SAT Reading Test 7 - Questions 11-20 Focus

Sep 14, 2026

Uploaded by Aditya

SAT Reading Test 7 includes a reading passage adapted from Taras Grescoe and related supplementary material, followed by multiple-choice comprehension questions. The passage discusses how most people rely on public transportation instead of privately owned cars, contrasts North American transit perceptions with examples worldwide, and explains demographic and behavioral reasons for growing transit use. Questions focus on paragraph function, the author’s claimed advantages of automobile travel, supporting evidence, and the central idea of specific sections.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time8 min

AccessFree to download

Questions 11-20

Passage context and paragraph function

Author’s cited advantage of automobile travel

Evidence supporting answers

Central idea of the fourth paragraph

# SAT Reading Test 7 Questions 11-20 are based on the followingpassageand supplementary material. This passage is adapted from Taras Grescoe,Straphanger.Saving OurCties and Ourselves from the Automobile.02012by Taras Grescoe. Though there are 600 million cars on the planet,and counting there are also seven billion people,which means that for the vast majority of us gettingLine around involves taking buses,ferryboats,commuter s trains,streetcars,and subways.In other words,traveling to work,school,or the market means beinga straphanger:somebody who,by choice or necessity.relies on public transport,rather than a privatelyowned automobile. 10 Half the population of New York,Toronto,andLondon do not own cars.Public transportis howmost of the people of Asia and Africa,the world'smost populous continents,travel.Every day,subwaysystems carry 155million passengers,thirty-four is times the number carried by all the world's airplanes,and the global public transport market is now valuedat $428 billion annually.A century and a half afterthe invention of the internal combustion engine,private carownership is still an anomaly. 20 And yet public transportation,in many minds,isthe opposite of glamour-a squalid last resort forthose with one too many impaired driving charges,too poor to afford insurance,or too decrepit to getbehind the wheel of a car.In much of North 25 America,they are right:taking transit is a depressingexperience.Anybody who has waited far too long ona street corner for the privilege of boarding alurching,overcrowded bus,or wrestled luggage ontosubways and shuttles to get to a big city airport, 30 knows that transit on this continent tends to beunderfunded,ill-maintained,and ill-planned.Giventhe opportunity,who wouldn't drive?Hoppinginacar almost always gets you to your destination morequickly. 35 It doesn't have to be like this.Done right,publictransport can be faster,more comfortable,andcheaper than the private automobile.In Shanghai,German-made magnetic levitation trains skim overelevated tracks at 266 miles an hour,whisking people 40 to the airport at a third of the speed of sound.Inprovincial French towns,electric-powered streetcarsrun silently on rubber tiressliding through narrowstreets along a single guide rail set into cobblestones.From Spain to Sweden,Wi-Fiequipped high-speed45 trains seamlessly connect with highly ramified metro networks,allowing commuters to work on laptops asthey prepare for same-day meetings in once distantcapital cities.In Latin America,China,and India,working people board fast-loading buses that move so like subway trains along dedicated busways,leavingthe sedans and SUVs of the rich mired indawn-to-dusk trafficjams.And some cities havetransformed their streets into cycle-path freeways,making giant strides in public health and safety and 5s the sheer livability of their neighborhoods—in theprocess turning the workaday bicycle into a viableform of mass transit. Ifyou credit the demographers,this transit trendhas legs.The "Millenials,"who reached adulthood60 around the turn of the century and nowoutnumberbaby boomers,tend to favor cities over suburbs,andare far more willing than their parents to ride busesand subways.Part of the reason is their ease withiPads,MP3 players,Kindles,and smartphones:you 65 can get some serious texting done when you're notdriving,and earbuds offer effective insulation fromall but the most extreme commuting annoyances.Even though there are more teenagers in the countrythan ever,only ten million have a driver's license 7n0(versus twelve million a generation ago).Babyboomers may have been raised in Leave It to Beaversuburbs,but as they retire,a significant contingent isfavoring older cities and compact towns where theyhave the option of walking and riding bikes.Seniors, 75 too,are more likely to use transit,and by 2025,therewill be64 million Americans over the age ofsixty-five.Already,dwellings in older neighborhoodsin Washington,D.C.,A

FAQs

What is the purpose of the third paragraph (lines 20-34) in the passage as a whole?

It explains a negative public transportation experience in North America while setting up why the passage argues transit can be improved and is not inherently inferior.

Which advantage of automobile travel in North America does the author explicitly cite?

Convenience.

What does the fourth paragraph (lines 35-57) mainly focus on?

Some public transportation systems are superior to travel by private automobile.

Sep 14, 2026

Uploaded by Aditya