SAT OwlQuestion bank / Cross-Text Connections
Text 1: In a widely cited study, psychologists found that students who took lecture notes by hand did better on conceptual questions than students who typed notes on laptops. Because typing is faster, the researchers reasoned, laptop users tended to copy lectures word for word rather than summarizing ideas in their own words, which led to shallower understanding.
Text 2: Attempts to repeat the handwriting study have produced mixed results. In one larger replication, the advantage for handwritten notes was small and not statistically reliable. And when laptop users were told to summarize rather than transcribe, they performed as well as handwriters. What matters, it seems, is how students process information, not the tool they use to record it.
Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the reasoning in Text 1?
By rejecting the idea that summarizing lecture content leads to better understanding
By accepting that how students process information may matter but questioning whether handwriting itself gives a reliable advantage
By arguing that typed notes lead to better conceptual understanding than handwritten notes do
By claiming that the original study did not measure conceptual understanding at all
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B
Text 2 agrees with part of Text 1's reasoning: summarizing rather than transcribing seems to help. But it disputes the conclusion that handwriting itself is better, citing a weak replication and laptop users who matched handwriters when told to summarize. Choice B captures this partial agreement.
Choice C overstates Text 2, which finds laptop users performed as well as handwriters under some conditions, not better.
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