SAT Reading Tips and Reminders

Answer types
(You need to know these in order to eliminate the incorrect ones. Use this list if stuck
between two or more very convincing answers)

• Off-topic
• Too broad (e.g., the passage discusses one scientist while the answer refers to
scientists)
• Too extreme (e.g., they include words such as never, always, or completely)
• Half-right, half-wrong (e.g., right words, false statement)
• Could be true but not enough information
• True for the passage as a whole, but not for the specific lines in question
• Factually true but not stated in the passage

Don't assume you'll always recognize the right answer when you see it.

Answers are written to make incorrect options sound right and correct ones sound
wrong. So, make sure you think about the logic within the text.

Remember:
- confusing does not equal wrong.
- sometimes the right answer will not say what you expect it to say
- you need to keep an open enough mind
- be willing to go back and revise your original assumption

There are no trick questions

You need to apply very careful reasoning or make fine distinctions between ideas-but
they're also set up so that you can figure them out. If you think your way carefully through a
question and put the answer in your own words, then see an option choice that truly says the
same thing, it's almost certainly correct.

Quick solutions to remember when stuck:

1. Go back to the passage and read (only the bits relevant. Learn to skim)
2. Stress makes memory unreliable, so don't assume you can trust yours. Take the extra
few seconds and check.
3. Don't ever read just half a sentence.
4. Context counts. Read a sentence or two before and/or after, but never just a phrase.
5. If the answer isn't in the highlighted section, it must be somewhere else.
 6. Don't just assume you're missing something and read the same set of lines over and
over again or, worse, guess. This takes time but not as much as you might think. So,
use deliberate focus, and think.
7. When in doubt, reread the first and last sentences. If you get lost and start to
panic, stop and reread it to focus yourself. It won't work all the time, but it will work
often enough.

Work Through Sentence Completions

Work carefully and systematically through

1) Read the entire passage and identify the key words or phrases

Use the context of the full passage. If you focus exclusively on the line with the blank, you
are likely to miss important information

2) Plug your own words into the blank. But spend no more than a couple of seconds
attempting to fill in your own word. If this isn’t possible or relevant, skip to #3

3) Play positive/negative.

Find positive or negative context - it won't always be clear, but when it is, this is an incredibly
effective strategy.
Do not skip around. Going in order keeps you thinking logically and systematically and
reduces chances of a careless error.

Important: worry about what a word means, not how it sounds.

Working through meaning-in-context questions involves a slightly different approach

1) Read the entire passage and identify key words. Be careful to focus on what is truly
important and ignore what is not.
2) Plug in your own word and find the answer choice that matches. Do this only if you
are comfortable, otherwise skip to #3
3) Plug each answer choice into the sentence.
4) Play positive/negative, then plug in.

Additional Points:

A combination of positive/negative and process of elimination often works best for

complex WIC questions.
If you cannot determine the meaning of a word from the sentence in which it appears, you
must establish a slightly larger context. Read from the sentence above to the sentence
below-one of those sentences will very likely include the information you need to answer the
question.

• Don’t get distracted by unfamiliar words in the answer choices.

• Never choose an answer because it looks sophisticated.
• Work from what you know to what you don’t know.

Main Idea / Main Point

Steps to get this right:

• Identify topic
• Identify so what
• Identify main point
• (If required) Identify main purpose

Point = primary idea that the author wants to convey

So what = why the author thinks the topic is important

Topic + So What? = Main Point

Note: Often, the author states the point in the first sentence or two, and then states or
refers to it again for emphasis in the last sentence

Function

Focus not on what the lines say but rather why they say it.

You cannot understand function without understanding content, but understanding content
alone is not enough to understand function.
So, move beyond the literal meaning of a section of a passage, or a passage as a whole,
to understanding their larger purpose.

Note:
1. You are required to locate and focus on specific wording in the passage, but the
answers themselves are not stated word-for-word in the text. In this case, use your
understanding of Making the Leap chapter in Erica Meltzer’s book.
2. Function question skim strategy – look close to the highlighted portion. Usually
before the highlighting.
Primary Purpose

Primary Purpose = big picture + function

Main Point The primary argument the author is making.

Primary Purpose The rhetorical goal of the passage as a whole

Remember to use the first sentence as your guide – it contains the main idea as well as
a major part of the primary purpose

Text Completions

Use necessary information from within the text – Make a leap of logic – Discover an idea the
passage leaves unstated

Remember: answers will not be stated word-for-word in the passage, but the text will
always contain specific wording that clearly corresponds to a particular statement in the
correct answer.
To save time: the key information will appear very close to the blank, so use the earlier
part of the passage for context only. Skim, skim, skim!

To minimize confusion, follow the sequence below. (but remember you can break the
sequence if needed). But the general roadmap is:

1) Carefully read the claim or theory in question.

Usually this will be presented right before the blank.

2) Restate it for yourself in your own words.

3) Work out the implications, sticking as close to the passage as possible.

4) Look for the answer that matches.

Keep in mind that it may use wording very different from that in the passage!
Support / Undermine

Approach these questions methodically, and they become quite straightforward.

But you can’t get impatient, and you can’t skip steps.
If you can’t focus or are unsure, skip the question and come back to it.

Follow these steps:

1) Identify the claim and rephrase it if necessary.

You can’t determine whether a set of lines would support or weaken an
idea unless you know what that idea is.

2) Determine what sort of information would support or weaken the claim.

You should at least attempt to get a basic sense of this on your own. Do not assume you’ll
be able to recognize the information from the answer choices, which by definition are
written to confuse you.

3) Check the answers.

If you’ve done steps one and two carefully, the option closest to what you’ve said should be
correct.

Make sure you read the question properly to remember whether the answer
must support or undermine!

Quantitative Evidence

1. Always begin by carefully reading the passage -usually the last sentence- and
the question because these places tell you what theory, claim, or conclusion to
focus on.

2. Only a portion of the information in the graph will be relevant, and if you don’t
know where to direct your attention, you will waste both time and energy looking

3. In some instances, options will cite accurate information from the graphic; however,
only one option will correspond to the specific focus in the question.

4. While it is not a bad idea to double-check your answer against the graph, just to make
sure you haven’t overlooked anything, be careful not to start second-guessing
yourself. If only one option matches the specific criteria indicated in the question,
then it must be the correct answer by default.
Cross Text Questions

Remember: Content in the texts may be dense. In order to avoid confusion, you should aim
to deal with the smallest amount of information possible at any given time. The more
work you do in terms of determining arguments upfront, the less work you'll need to do later.

How to answer paired-passage questions:

1) Read Text 1: identify main point. Summarise

2) Read Text 2: identify main point. Summarise
3) Identify relationship – agreement, disagreement, partial
4) Answer the question in your own words.
5) Look at the choices, and pick the one closest to your answer

This question will always test your understanding of that connection between the two
texts, typically asking you what the author of one passage would "say about" or "respond to"
an idea in the other.

Once you have this information, you've essentially answered the question before you've
even looked.

All the best!