Reading Overview
How many passages are on the SAT Reading Test?
Five
What should you always read FIRST when starting a passage?
The introduction and blurb at the start of the passage.
What is the first step in answering Main Idea questions?
Read the FIRST and LAST paragraphs.
1. Which choice is the best synopsis of what happens in the passage?
Central Idea
This type of question deals with why the author did something specific.
Purpose
What passages should you annotate about the characters and their relationships?
Literature or Fiction passages
Where do you look to answer Vocabulary in context questions in a passage?
Context Clues -- read the word within the same sentence, read two lines up, and read 2 lines down.
2. Which choice best describes the developmental pattern of the passage?
Structure
This type of question focuses upon vocabulary usage.
Language or Word Choice
What passages should you annotate for the thesis statement or main idea?
Nonfiction passages (Social Science, Science, and History)
What's one strategy to answer Evidence linked questions?
Go for the second question, read the given line numbers in the passage and answer based off of that OR answer the first question and find the evidence to answer the second.
3. The excerpted passage, Treasure Island, as used in line 5 and line 10, "fancy" most nearly means:
a) elaboration
b) impatience
c) imagination
d) preference
Language or Word Choice
This type of question deals with specific writing style, including literary devices.
Rhetorical Devices
What are the three different passage types on SAT Reading?
Literature, Social Science, and Science
What passage will NEVER have a chart or graph next to it?
Literature or Fiction
TRUE OR FALSE: Annotations are not recommended on the SAT Reading Test.
FALSE: ALWAYS, ALWAYS underline, circle, and write margin notes to summarize.
4. Which emotion does the narrator most sense from the stranger regarding his imminent meeting with the captain?
a) The stranger is fearful about the captain's reaction to seeing him.
b) The stranger is overjoyed to reunite with the captain.
c) The stranger is worried the captain won't remember him.
d) The stranger is concerned the captain will be more interested in his breakfast than in conversation.
Inference
When you have a paired question and are asked to provide facts for your answer to another question. This, also, connects to when you need to explain how the graphs or other images connect to the passage.
Evidence
The Paired passage is typically found in what passage?
Social Science or Science
You should eliminate answer choices when...
ONLY what you know is wrong.
5. Which of the following choices provide the best support for the answer to the previous question?
Evidence
This type of question asks the reader to make a judgment about something either inside or outside of the text using information from or style of the text as the measure.
Inference