SAT Critical Reading Masterpost
The SAT season is just around the corner so I considered it a good thought to make posts on individual sections. Therefore, without further ado here goes the SAT CRITICAL READING SECTION MASTERPOST.
Disclaimer: This is going to be one hella long post.
One of the three sections on the SAT (the other two are Writing and Math)
Score division: 800 out of the total of 2400 for all the three sections
3 sections, out of the total ten sections, are always the Critical Reading ones
Total Questions: 67 (19 Sentence Completion; 48 Passage Based)
Total time allotted to the three critical reading sections is 70 minutes (2 sections of 25 min and 1 of 20 min)
It’s a rule of thumb to ALWAYS answer the sentence completion questions first
Their difficulty increases in ascending order
You need to have a literally killer vocabulary to do great on these questions
Once you know an ample amount of words, you’d be able to solve these questions fairly quickly and save yourselves enough time for the other harder Passage-Based questions
Introductory and transitional words are extremely important, that is that they help figure out the logic of the sentence and indicate that how the parts of the sentence relate to each other
(for example in a two-blank question if the word although is used in the beginning you, now, know that you need to look out for two words that are not analogous and are probably opposite of each other)
Examples of some intro and transitional words: but, although, however, yet, even though…
Some of the most difficult sentence completion questions contain negatives (for example: According to Burgess, a novelist should not preach, for sermonizing has no place in good fiction.)
In many cases the mathematics rule [–(–1) =+1] applies.
Steps to extract the right answer:
While reading the sentence instead of simply saying blank for the empty line, say one of the following by scanning the answer choices to see the endings of the words and not the complete word: blanked, blanking blanks, blankly
Think of a word yourself, after you read the sentence, that you find fitting in the blank before looking at the answer choices and then look for a word in the answer choices that matches most closely to your word.
Jot down a positive (+) or negative (-) sign to the blank to indicate your feel for the needed word
.
Level of difficulty increases. Most of the time, the answer to a hard sentence completion question is a very hard vocabulary word. Therefore maintain an awareness of the difficulty level of the questions.
Never settle for the first answer that seems to fit. Distinguish clearly b/w the answer choice that is sort of fit or the best fit by referring back to the sentence and determining why the one of the choice is the best one and not the other.
Read the sentence now to yourself to ensure that it makes sense.
Each word that an author uses means something. Words reflect author’s point of view, meaning and mood.
Read actively. ABS: Use abbreviations, very brief notes and symbols to scribble on the empty space the main idea, tone and structure of the passage/paragraph. You may also underline certain sentences that you find important. These are to your aid only and these should only help you remember important details. These would help you mainly in general questions. But don’t go too overboard with this._ ! Don’t waste all your time on this. Scribbling ABS shouldn’t take you more than 10-15 seconds.
More often than not you’ll find the main idea of the passage in one of these places:
(1)The italicized part in the beginning
(2)The last line of the first paragraph
(3)Somewhere in the concluding paragraph
Before reading a paragraph of a passage just very quickly scan the questions related to that paragraph for line references and sidebars related to that paragraph so that you’d know what part to focus on very attentively. If possible, mark all the lines of the passage referred to in the questions beforehand. This shouldn’t take you more than 30 seconds if you’ve practiced this habit enough during prep-time.
Speed read through the unmarked portion (i.e. the one not mentioned in the questions). BUT DON’T SKIP IT!
Attempting the questions:
ALWAYS answer line reference (in line 13 and 17 the author…) and sidebars (from line 13-15 the author’s…) questions before the general questions! ALWAYS!
This way you would have grasped a deeper insight into the paragraph and would be more able to answer the general questions to your best.
Consider reading 5 lines up and 5 lines down of the mentioned line-reference or sidebar.
For long passages, after you’ve read a paragraph or two of the passage, answer the questions related to that passage right away! Don’t take all the questions at once, instead deal with them paragraph to paragraph as you’d still have the contents of the paragraph you just read very fresh in your mind.
Collect specific words, phrases and sentences that support a particular answer choice.
Even if a small part of an alluring answer is not supported by the passage then the choice should be scrapped
Answer each and every question according to what is provided in the paragraph, not according to what your opinion is, even if you don’t agree with the author.
Instead of thinking why this particular answer choice is the right one think why it is the wrong one. Having that said, the following are the characteristics of a wrong answer:
(1)The answer is too extreme (too negative or too positive)
(2)The answer is absolute (all or nothing, always or never, everyone or no one)
(3)The answer is judgmental (Offensive: politically incorrect)
(4)The answer is out of scope (irrelevant; not related to passage or given line numbers)
(5)The answer is too narrow (general questions have general answers)(6)The answer is too broad (specific questions should have specific answers)
Answer the easier and more straightforward vocabulary-in-context questions first.
The correct answer to a hard vocabulary-in-context question is usually the word’s lesser known secondary or tertiary meaning.
When sidebars are short(3 lines or fewer): scrutinize the lines; the passage evidence is likely to be subtle
When sidebars are long (4 lines or more): skim the lines to find the validating info that you need in order to select the right answer.
When sidebars are non-existent: skim these parts but don’t skip them!
Consider the italicized intro when comparing passages.
Ask yourself these questions:
Are the passages are more similar, or more different from, each other?
Do the authors have similar views on the issue at hand?
Are the authors supporting or undermining each other?
Do the authors have similar tones or moods, or are they quiet different?
When answering questions:
If a question asks about something that is common to both reading passages or true for both, eliminate any answer choice that is true for only one.
Focus on only the specific subject of the question! Don’t try to remember everything from both passages but instead refer to the passage as you work your way through the five choices.
Do at least 3 reading sections every day!
See why you got a question wrong and get back to it. Don’t go like oh okay this is the right answer I get it instead go like oh why couldn’t I get it right?
Use the process of elimination to narrow down on the right answer choice.
Learn lots and lots of vocabulary. I just can’t stress this enough!
Make flashcards or whatever method suits you to learn the words you didn’t know from the reading sections you did.
PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE! All these tips and tricks won’t do you any good if you don’t practice the hell out of them!
