Basics
How should you choose the order in which you do the passages?
These things will help when ordering your passages. • Your POOD: genres and topics you fi nd interesting or easier
• Paragraphs: about 8–12 paragraphs is best. Too few or too many paragraphs makes it harder to fi nd the answers.
• Questions: easy-to-fi nd line references and great lead words
• Answers: short is better than long
How do you spot a reasoning question?
• infer, means, suggests, implies
• longer answers
• purpose or function of part or all of the passage
• what the author or a person in the passage would agree or disagree with
• characterize or describe all or parts of the passage
What makes a NOW question?
To identify NOW questions, consider two things: 1. Is the question Easy to Answer?
• Yes—the answers to Fetch questions match the passage very closely. Look for shorter questions with words like “According to the passage…” or “The passage states…”
• Maybe not—Reasoning questions will require more POE. These questions are longer and have words like “infer,” “means,” “suggests,” or “implies.”
2. Is the answer Easy to Find?
• Yes—line or paragraph references or great lead words make answers easier to find.
• Maybe not—leave questions that ask about the passage as a whole or that lack good lead words and line references for the end.
Should you answer every question for every passage?
You should bubble in a guess for every answer but you can choose several ways to move through the section.
• Fewer Passages, Greater Accuracy: Get each passage you do and nail all the questions.
• Get Your Points Where You Can: Do all the Now and Later questions on several passages
Once you have chose a passage to work on what should you do?
Read and map out the questions!
ANNOTATE
How can you spot Fetch questions?
• According to the passage…
• states, indicates, offers
• short answers