SAT Practice Test -
Passage-Based Reading
SAT Test Structure
Passage-based reading
questions will compose 71% of the total questions you will see on the critical
reading SAT.
One 30 minute section will contain a passage with up to 13 questions and the
other 30 minute section will contain a passage followed by up to 15 more
questions. The 15 minute section will consist of a passage and up to 13
questions.
* Unlike the
other SAT questions, the critical reading questions are not arranged in order of
difficulty. This is actually fortunate as they are arranged in chronological
order.
Read the
introductory italicized sentence
This
sentence will describe the passage and is the only thing you will read that is
not directly related to a test question...
Read
the questions - not the rest of the passage
The questions will
direct you to the part of the passage that contains the information you need to
correctly answer the question. What more could you want than the actual answer
itself?!
Note: Should the
question not give you a line number, it should be relatively easy to scan the
passage for the key word or phrase, ex. Aristotle.
Remember time is of
the essence
You will waste too much
time if you read the entire passage and then begin the questions. Remember this
is a timed test and you are not being graded on your reading form. (Yes, we know
this is an ironic way to approach the critical reading section. But trust
us that this is a very powerful technique!)
Read a line above and
a line below those specified in the question
This will insure that
you catch the entire context of the reading relating to the question.
Expect to
see incorrect answers that seek to exploit those test takers who do not read
these additional lines.
Answer
the questions in the order they are asked except...
Because
the questions are arranged in chronological order instead of order of
difficulty, answering them in order allows you to move right along. However, if
you come across a question which relates to the "general summary/general
tone" of the passage before the end of the series of questions, you are
well advised to skip it until you have answered the other questions. By the time
you do answer these questions, you should have a good idea how to answer the
question.
If
you find yourself still unable to answer the question, read the first sentence
of each paragraph. You should not invest the time to read the entire passage for
this one question unless it is necessary and you have time left
over at the end of the section.
Dual
passages
One
of the 3 passages you will encounter will be a "dual passage". Quite
simply, this section will be 2 short passages that offer different perspectives
on the same topic. You should answer all the questions on the first passage
first and then answer all the questions about the second passage. The last
questions you should answer should be those that refer to both passages.
Where to
go from here:
SAT
critical reading question types
SAT
critical reading practice questions
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