One of the big changes on the new SAT is the inclusion of historical documents. The SAT is expecting you to enter the “Great Global Conversation”

In other words, these essays are sort of like a huge group text. But instead of figuring out where to go for dinner, everybody is, you know…making history. There’s a really good chance some of these essays, letters, and documents will show up on the SAT Reading test.
 

Great Global Conversation: Founding Fathers

• George Washington
• Thomas Jefferson
• Benjamin Franklin

 

Great Global Conversation: Founding Documents

 

• The Declaration of Independence
• The Constitution
• The Federalist Papers
• The Bill of Rights

Great Global Conversation: Later American Presidents

• Abraham Lincoln:

Gettysburg Address
Second Inaugural Address

• Franklin Roosevelt
• Harry Truman
• Dwight Eisenhower
• John F. Kennedy
• Jimmy Carter
• Ronald Reagan

SAT Reading: Civil Rights and Suffrage

• Frederick Douglass:

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
My Bondage and My Freedom

• Sojourner Truth:

The Narrative of Sojourner Truth

• Booker T. Washington:

Up From Slavery
The Future of the American Negro

• W.E.B. DuBois:

The Souls of Black Folk
The Conservation of Races

• Ida B. Wells-Barnett:

Southern Horrors
The Red Record
Mob Rule in New Orleans

• Elizabeth Cady Stanton:

History of Woman Suffrage
The Woman’s Bible
Reminiscences

SAT Reading: British Voices

• Mary Wollstonecraft
• Edmund Burke
• The Magna Carta

SAT Reading: American Voices

• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Henry David Thoreau

You’ve got a great reading list here, but don’t forget to check out other Magoosh blogs to help you figure out what to do with all these documents. Now get reading!

Popular Resources

• SAT Practice Test – PDF Download
• SAT Study Schedules
• Free SAT Study Resources
• SAT Test Dates
• SAT Diagnostic Test
• SAT Question of the Day
• SAT vs. ACT Quiz
• SAT Video Lessons
• SAT Practice Question