Critical Reading Section

1. What to expect from the SAT Critical Reading Section

2. Types of Questions • Sentence completion—19 multiple choice questions that test your vocabulary in a complex sentence. • Passage-based reading—48 questions based on passages from 100-850 words in length. The passages are selected from the humanities, literary fiction, social studies and natural sciences.

3. How to Tackle the Critical Reading Section • Attempt the sentence completion questions first. About 1/3 of the critical reading questions are sentence completion. These take less time to finish than the passage based questions. • Mark up your booklet. Answer as many questions as you can with ease. Mark those you’ll need to revisit. Once you’ve answered all questions you are certain of, go back to the marked questions and answer any that won’t require you to spend excess time. Move onto the passage based questions next.

4. Note that the difficulty of the passage based questions increase the further you progress through the question set. Take a break and move to another section when the questions become too difficult. • Use the process of elimination. When looking at questions you skipped, rule out any known wrong choices immediately. • Consider related words, familiar sayings and phrases, roots, prefixes and suffixes when approached with unfamiliar vocabulary.

5. How to Tackle Sentence Completion Questions • Read the entire sentence and say “blank” in place of the blanks in the question. This will help you determine the parts of the sentence. • Decide upon the denotations (standard dictionary definitions) of the given words. You should not require knowledge of nonstandard definitions to answer these questions.

6. Focus on any introductory or transitional words. These are key to figuring out the logic of the sentences. • But • Although • However • Yet • Even though These terms indicate that the two parts of the sentences may contradict or contrast.

7. Remember that the most difficult sentence completion questions contain NEGATIVES. • Consider what types of word(s) should fill the blank(s) before looking at the options. You can rule out possibilities right away. • With two-blank questions, try eliminating some answers based on just one blank. Always read the complete sentence with both words in the blanks to make sure your choice fits. • Remember, the instructions tell you to choose the BEST answer. Read all of the selections, otherwise you might be selecting the second-best answer.

8. Turn in your texts to page 37. Take a moment to work through the problems 1-6. Utilize the strategies we’ve just discussed.

9. How to Tackle Passage-Based Reading Questions • Types of passages • They range in length from 100-850 words • Some are single passages while others are a related pair • They cover a wide range of subjects and genres • They will vary in style and tone • A set of questions follows each passage or pair of related passages

10. Mark the passage or make short notes as you read, particularly to briefly summarize if there are two passages to connect. • If you read actively (asking questions, drawing connections) you will more likely stay focused and engaged. • If the passage doesn’t make sense to you, read the questions before reading the rest of the passage to target what to read for.

11. Types of Questions • There will be up to three kinds of questions asked about each passage or paired passages • Extended Reasoning • Vocabulary in Context • Literal Comprehension

12. Extended Reasoning Questions • Here you are asked to draw conclusions or evaluate the passage. These will generally be inferential. • You might be asked about the overall theme, the author’s purpose or attitude, or the tone of the passage.

13. Vocabulary-in-Context Questions • Here you will need to understand the meaning of a term in its context, and not just its immediate denotation. Even if you don’t recognize the term, you can often utilize the context clues to figure out a word’s meaning. • They will often present more than one known meaning for a term in the answer choices—be aware.

14. Literal Comprehension Questions • These questions measure how well you read to acquire information. • Identify the portion of the passage where the question specifies. Remember to answer the question based on what the passage tells you and not necessarily your own experience. • Read the questions carefully, looking for terms such as EXCEPT, NOT and ONLY.

15. Turn in your texts to page 57. Answer questions 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Utilize the strategies that we’ve just discussed.