You can actually sharpen your data interpretation skills by practicing with ACT Science questions. The ACT questions may call for more specialized scientific knowledge, but they still demand the same skills of interpretation as will the SAT Reading questions. By referring to charts and graphs for your answer and looking for evidence in data, you'll be better prepared for the data and evidence-based Reading questions on the SAT. SAT Reading is primarily concerned with understanding function of words, sentences, paragraphs and argument.
Therefore, most of your SAT reading practice should focus on deciphering the logic and structure of a piece. However, it's still useful to review the most common literary terms , like theme, style, tone, foreshadowing, and imagery, as well as some of the most common words to describe them. In addition to reviewing definitions, you should learn how to apply and find them in something you read.
It's one thing to know that a tone can be somber, hopeful, or suspicious; it's another to determine the tone of a given passage. Test prep will help you get better and better at this, along with reading and analyzing as much as you can in and out of the classroom. As mentioned above, the vocabulary questions based on passages will not test your understanding of little-used big words. Instead of obscure vocab, Reading questions might ask about relatively common words that are used in an unusual way within the context of the passage.
This means you should practice interpreting meaning in context, along with understanding the denotations definitions and connotations what words imply or suggest of words. To give a simplistic example, note how the phrase, "Nice job," can have two very different connotations in these two contexts. Understanding multiple-meaning words, as well as tone, is all about context.
Given these steps and strategies, how can you strengthen your Reading skills? The Reading section on the SAT is not always so closely aligned with your high school English classes, although the redesigned version is more connected than ever before with its emphasis on evidence-based reading.
While your English classes may encourage you to be creative and support all kinds of interpretations, your SAT Reading questions will only have one absolutely correct answer, and that answer must be derived from and supported by the text itself. You can strengthen your ability to read and answer questions quickly with serious test prep, which will not only help your reading comprehension skills, but also your time management and pacing.
Reading sources outside of class, like news articles from the New York Times, will also help you hone your skills of analyzing logic, deconstructing arguments, and determining author opinion and tone. If you're applying as a humanities or social sciences major, you especially want to make sure you score highly on the Reading section of the SAT. Take practice tests , identify your weaknesses, understand your mistakes , and practice often and effectively so you can score highly on Reading.
With the right approach and sufficient test prep, you could even achieve a perfect Reading score. Now that you know about the changes to the Reading section, check out our Complete Guide to the New SAT to learn about the rest of the redesigned test!
You can read all about how the two tests compare to each other here , as well as learn about the changes taking place to the Writing section of the ACT. Want to improve your SAT score by points? We have the industry's leading SAT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and SAT full scorers , the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so you get the most effective prep possible.
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See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. Ask questions; get answers. How to Get a Perfect , by a Perfect Scorer. Score on SAT Math. Score on SAT Reading. Score on SAT Writing. What ACT target score should you be aiming for? How to Get a Perfect 4. How to Write an Amazing College Essay. A Comprehensive Guide. Choose Your Test. Types of Reading Questions On the SAT The new SAT asks reading comprehension questions about main points, details, inferences, vocabulary in context, function, author technique, evidence support, and data analysis from a graph, table, or chart.
One step at a time How to Read the Passages Some students jump into reading, others read the questions first, and still others swear by a "back and forth" method.
Step 1 A good standard approach is to glance over the corresponding questions before you begin to read the first passage. Step 2 Quickly read the information blurb that comes at the very beginning of the passage. Step 3 Now, go ahead and read the passage. Step 4 On to answering the questions. These kinds of questions will call on you to find evidence in numbers as well as in prose, as in this table and question based on the above mentioned passage by Watson and Crick: Notice how this question isn't straightforward data analysis.
Step 5 Once you've answered the other questions, you can go back to the general purpose questions you circled. Let's discuss some other tips and strategies that are helpful to keep in mind. Be on the lookout for SAT "red herrings"! Tips and Strategies for Critical Reading Beyond practicing your reading efficiency, you can use some other strategies as you answer the questions and prep for this section.
Click on the button below to try it out! Rebecca Safier. About the Author. Search the Blog Search. Find Out How. Strategy Advantages Disadvantages 1 Read the passage fully before looking at any of the corresponding questions. The Verdict Most high-scoring testers find success with the first strategy.
There are always going to be questions about smaller parts of a passage, such as individual lines or paragraphs, and the second strategy works fine when answering those questions. However, focusing solely on the smaller parts necessary to answer those questions will cause you to lose sight of the main idea, which every SAT Reading passage will ask you about. You have to go with an approach that works best for you, so try out both of the above on your own under timed conditions, and pick the one you prefer!
Two Main sat reading Approaches. The Verdict. Is there a bias? Is it informative or persuasive? For the humanities passage, use your brain voice to hear the words in your head, and use your intonation to help understand the subtext of each sentence.
When necessary, check for understanding by rephrasing the passage in your own words. Focus on the main idea and passage structure.
Your job is to determine the purpose of the passage. Why did the author write this? The paired passages are usually two natural science or social science passages, so you can use some techniques from those passages when reading.
However, your goal when reading these passages is to figure out how they relate. When considering how the passages relate to one another, think about these options:. Basically, the passages will agree on some points and disagree on others. The simpler the sentence the better! The first approach is to read the question and before reading the choices, decide on an answer in your head, and then answer the question.
Or, decide on an answer in your head and return to the passage to confirm your answer. Or, before reading the answer choices, decide that you know exactly where in the passage to find the answer, return to that spot in the passage, then say the answer in your own words.
The key here is to know the answer in your head before reading the answer choices. This is the fastest way to answer the questions — but not all questions can be answered this way.
The second approach is to read the question and look through answer choices for the answer. If you need to confirm your choice, look back in the passage with purpose. Once you confirm your answer choice, circle it and move on. The third approach comes as a result of striking out on approaches one and two.
In our third approach, you have to decide what answers are wrong. This is where process of elimination comes in. Move through each answer choice and decide if it is correct or incorrect.
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