The sat critical reading section 4 doc

 Part 2: Reading Is Critical There are approximately 40 long-passage critical read- ing questions on the SAT. Each Critical Reading sec- tion contains at least one long passage, followed by questions about the passage. Passages are excerpted from writings in the fields of literature, humanities, and social and natural sciences. There is no poetry. Each passage is between 400 and 850 words in length, and there will be between 5 and 13 questions after each one. In one critical reading section of the exam, there will be a set of two long passages. These two passages will complement each other in some way. Most often, they will present either supporting or opposing points of view. Some of the questions about these passages will require that you be able to analyze similarities and dif- ferences between the two passages. Many of the reading comprehension questions are vocabulary-related. You can think of them as a vari- ation on sentence completion questions, asking you to determine the meaning of a word or phrase in con- text. Sometimes, the test-makers ask about fairly com- mon words that have multiple uses and ask you to choose the correct meaning or shade of meaning. Most often, the answer will be a more obscure meaning of the commonly used word. Other reading comprehension questions test your ability to understand what you read. SAT passages are usually complex, densely packed with ideas; and many are somewhat overwhelming at first glance. You will be asked to extract information that may be stated explic- itly or implied. In other words, a passage may contain arguments with underlying assumptions, which you will be asked to uncover. You will be asked about the logical flow of the texts and about their consistency or lack thereof. You may also have to answer questions about the tone of the passages as well as their overall theme or meaning. Fortunately, the skills you are learning for the sentence completion questions will also serve you well for the reading comprehension questions. Additionally, learning to make sense of complex passages will make your college career even more successful. Ready, Set, Read! If you are already skilled at quickly reading and under- standing dense prose, good for you! If not, try this approach. Feel free to adapt it and change it to suit your needs and temperament. There’s no one “right” way to read. The right way to do all of these things is the way that works for you; so as you practice, try variations on the method to see what suits you. Every reading comprehension passage has a short one- to three-sentence introduction. This introduc- tion will provide you with some context for the passage as a whole, so read it first. Occasionally, there will be a question that requires knowledge of this introduction, so read it carefully. Now you may want to skim the passage for its subject matter. With practice, you will find that topic sentences and key adjectives will practically leap out and grab your attention. Be sure to keep your pencil poised to write as you read. You will want to mark key words and phrases as you see them. Next, read the passage all the way through. As you finish each paragraph, determine its main idea. Then, jot a word or phrase that expresses that idea in the margin of your test booklet. This is a note to yourself, which will enable you to easily find sections of the pas- sage later and quickly tie the separate paragraphs into a coherent whole. As you read the passage, mark any words or phrases that seem particularly important or expres- sive. Often, adjectives that set a mood or tone will help you understand the author’s meaning, so underline them or jot them down in the margin. It’s also impor- tant to note the location of details that support the author’s main point(s). Of course, you were paying attention in English class when the teacher discussed topic sentences, so you know that most well-written paragraphs have at –THE SAT CRITICAL READING SECTION– 57 5658 SAT2006[03](fin).qx 11/21/05 6:42 PM Page 57 least one sentence that sums up the main thrust of the paragraph. It is most often either the first or the last sentence, so if you’re having trouble determining the author’s point, reread the first and last sentences of each paragraph. Once you’ve quickly but carefully read the entire passage, it’s time to tackle the questions. On the SAT, the questions are organized roughly in the same order as the parts of the passage to which they refer. In other words, the answer to the second question will most likely be found in the passage somewhere after the answer to the first question, and so forth. All of the pas- sages on the SAT are numbered every five lines. Addi- tionally, many of the questions contain the line number or numbers that will help you locate the answer. Beware, though, that you don’t assume that the answer to the question will be found exactly in the line refer- enced in the question. Chances are, it will be found somewhere near that line; but it still may be a few lines away. This is when the words and phrases you have marked and the notes you have jotted in the margin will come in really handy. When you have a set of questions on two related passages, there will be several questions without line numbers. Those questions will usually ask you to com- pare the two passages in various ways. Again, you will be glad for your marks and notes on the passages. As you read each question, approach it as you would any other sentence. Underline or circle key words and phrases that help you with the meaning of the question. Whenever you see a word or phrase such as best, primarily, most closely, or most nearly, it alerts you to the likely presence of particularly good dis- tracter answers. That is to say, there may be two or more answers that reflect language from the passage or that may be true about the passage. Rest assured, how- ever, that with careful attention to the wording of both question and answer choices, you can determine which choice is truly best. Nine Proven Strategies for Reading Comprehension Questions 1. Read actively! As you read, ask yourself at the end of each paragraph what it was about. Mark up the passage, and write any thoughts you have about it in the margins. Be an engaged reader. Try to become interested for a few minutes in whatever the subject of the passage is. 2. If you have an especially good short-term mem- ory, you may want to look at the questions before you read the passage. Mark the words and phrases the questions ask about, then look for those words and phrases in the passage. When you find them, you can either go ahead and answer the question right then or mark the area to come back to later. 3. If you don’t understand what a question is ask- ing, rephrase the question, using your own words. SAT questions are written in a very pre- cise, “hyper-grammatical” style to eliminate any ambiguity. Unfortunately, nobody talks that way, so the questions can be confusing at first glance. Once you have marked the key words and phrases, rearrange them in a way that makes sense to you. Don’t be afraid to add new words to the question; just be sure the words are express- ing the same ideas that are already in the ques- tion and not changing the meaning of the question in any way. 4. Once you understand a question, try to answer it in your own words before looking at the answer choices. Distracter answer choices often take one of several forms: ■ are close to the correct answer, but wrong in some detail ■ are true, but do not answer the question ■ use language found in the text, but do not answer the question correctly –THE SAT CRITICAL READING SECTION– 58 5658 SAT2006[03](fin).qx 11/21/05 6:42 PM Page 58 5. As with all the multiple-choice questions on the SAT, elimination is an important strategy for the reading comprehension questions. Even if you don’t know the answer to a particular question right away, you often will be able to eliminate one to three answer choices without even refer- ring back to the passage. Then you know that one of the remaining answers is the correct one, and you can spend your time more productively looking up those answers in the passage. 6. If you know from your preparation and pretest- ing that you don’t always have enough time to finish each section, don’t hesitate to skip around the questions. Look them over and answer the easy ones first, coming back to the more difficult questions. Remember, each correct answer is worth one point. You don’t get bonus points for answering more difficult questions. If you skip a question, though, mark it in your test booklet and come back to it if there’s time. 7. When you encounter a two-passage section, read the passages with their relationship in mind. Are they in agreement? Are they opposed? Is there some other kind of relationship? How would you describe the relationship? If the passages are opposed, what are the points of difference? Jot these things down and refer back to them, if necessary. 8. Expect to refer back to the passages(s) on virtu- ally every question. If you know the answer to a question without referring to the passage, fine; however, it might be a good idea to check the passage anyway, just to make sure you haven’t fallen for a distracter answer. 9. Remember to read between the lines! You may remember that you must be extremely literal with sentence completion questions and never read anything into them or bring in any ideas that are not clearly expressed within the sentence itself. That’s not true with critical reading ques- tions. In fact, you will be called upon to interpret almost every passage, to draw conclusions from the text, and to extend the author’s point of view to evaluate a statement that isn’t even in the pas- sage. That’s why it is so important to be actively engaged in reading each passage. Try to under- stand it as though you had written it yourself. –THE SAT CRITICAL READING SECTION– 59 5658 SAT2006[03](fin).qx 11/21/05 6:42 PM Page 59 5658 SAT2006[03](fin).qx 11/21/05 6:42 PM Page 60 –LEARNINGEXPRESS ANSWER SHEET– 61 1.abcde 2.abcde 3.abcde 4.abcde 5.abcde 6.abcde 7.abcde 8.abcde 9.abcde 10.abcde 11.abcde 12.abcde 13.abcde 14.abcde 15.abcde 16.abcde 17.abcde 18.abcde 19.abcde 20.abcde 21.abcde 22.abcde 23.abcde 24.abcde 25.abcde 26.abcde 27.abcde 28.abcde 29.abcde 30.abcde 31.abcde 32.abcde 33.abcde 34.abcde 35.abcde 36.abcde 37.abcde 38.abcde 39.abcde 40.abcde  40 Practice Long-Passage Critical Reading Questions Read the passage and the questions that follow it. As you form your answers, be sure to base them on what is stated in the passage and introduction, or the inferences you can make from the material. Use the answer sheet below to record your answers. ANSWER SHEET 5658 SAT2006[03](fin).qx 11/21/05 6:42 PM Page 61 5658 SAT2006[03](fin).qx 11/21/05 6:42 PM Page 62 . read the entire passage, it’s time to tackle the questions. On the SAT, the questions are organized roughly in the same order as the parts of the passage to which they refer. In other words, the.  Part 2: Reading Is Critical There are approximately 40 long-passage critical read- ing questions on the SAT. Each Critical Reading sec- tion contains at least one. to the correct answer, but wrong in some detail ■ are true, but do not answer the question ■ use language found in the text, but do not answer the question correctly THE SAT CRITICAL READING SECTION 58 5658