by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 2, 2011 | Blog, Reading (SAT & ACT)
One of the first things my new students usually ask is whether they should read the passage or the questions first. My response: always, always the passage first.
Here’s why: the vast majority of reading questions on both the SAT and, to a somewhat lesser extent, the ACT are context-based. That is, you need to have a sense of the general argument or idea being presented in order to understand how a particular detail or piece of information fits into the larger picture. It’s really difficult to see how ideas relate when you only have part of the story.
The second question I usually get, though, is: Won’t I run out time if I spend all my time reading before I even look at the questions? To put it bluntly, no, you won’t. At least not if you approach the passage with the goal of understanding its overall argument rather than worrying about every little detail that might be just a tiny bit confusing. On the ACT, you should try to get through each passage in about three minutes; on the SAT, you can probably spend closer to five.
It might feel as if you’re taking more time upfront, but that extra time will pay off in the time you save by not having to search for information later. In addition, you may also want to answer some questions as you read the passage. When you get done, you’ll likely have more time to spend on less straightforward questions than you would have otherwise.
If, on the other hand, you just jump right to the questions, you’ll have to spend most of your time figuring out the significance or the function of the piece of information being asked about. You’ll have to hunt through the passage without any framework already in place, and you may overlook key areas that indicate a piece of information is contradicting or challenging an argument rather than supporting it. If you’re already read the passage, you’re a lot more likely to either remember on your own why the information was important or recognize the reason off the bat when you see it in the answer choice.
Remember: it’s the role the information plays in the overall argument, that matters — not the information itself. Yes, this tends to be more true on the SAT than the ACT, but the ACT has many “big picture” questions as well, and knowing the point of a passage can sometimes allow you to answer two or three questions immediately.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Feb 22, 2011 | Blog, SAT Critical Reading (Old Test)
The kind of reading the SAT asks you to do is probably unlike any other kind of reading you’ve ever been asked to do. It’s almost certainly different from the kind of interpretive reading you’re asked to do in English class.
For starters, the SAT is a test about arguments, not a test about literature, and your own personal interpretation of the texts you are asked to read matters not one little bit. In fact, the only thing that matters is the author’s intention: what point she/he is attempting to make in a given piece of writing and, just as importantly, how she/he conveys that point by using specific words, argument structures, and rhetorical strategies (such as metaphor, analogy, anecdote, repetition, etc.)
The skill that the SAT requires is therefore something I like to call “rhetorical reading.” Rhetoric is the art of persuasion, and reading rhetorically simply means that you are reading primarily to determine the point of the passage and the function that various words, phrases, and pieces of information play within it (Do they support the point, or do they contradict it? Do they emphasize an idea or question it? Strengthen it or cast doubt on it?) Everything else is more or less irrelevant.
And contrary to what the College Board would have you think, reading this way is an acquirable skill, not an innate ability. It just takes some getting used to.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Sep 2, 2010 | Blog, Issues in Education
There’s a lot of controversy over what the SAT actually measures — and, in fact, whether it actually measures anything at all. Although the test was originally conceived as a form of IQ test, the notion that it is actually capable of measuring innate scholastic ability has essentially been debunked, as has the notion that it can successfully predict a student’s ultimate success or failure in college (the only thing it has been shown to correlate with is freshman college grades). So the question remains then: if the SAT does not actually measure intelligence or academic potential, what on earth does it actually measure?
My response, thoroughly non-empirical and based strictly on personal experience, would be as follows: the SAT (Critical Reading) measures students’ ability to understand, summarize, make simple inferences, and compare arguments from relatively sophisticated texts — in other words, skills that students at competitive colleges must at minimum possess in order to be successful. After all, if you can’t truly understand someone else’s argument based on a close reading of specific textual elements, how can you possibly formulate a coherent response to it?
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by Erica L. Meltzer | Sep 1, 2010 | Blog, SAT Critical Reading (Old Test)
For students who are already in the 650-700 range on Critical Reading, attempts to boost their score into the exceptional (750+ range) can be an exercise in frustration. Since reading comprehension comes easily to them naturally, most have never taken the time to truly analyze their responses and instead rely on instinct, answers that “feel right,” to get them through.
In my experience, however, there are a couple of factors that typically separate relatively high scorers from exceptionally high scorers, and those factors have absolutely nothing to do with intelligence. The difference between a 700 and an 800 can be as little as five questions, and it’s often the student’s approach to those questions rather than the actual content of the questions that determines the ultimate score.
So if that describes you, here are my biggest pieces of advice: (more…)
by Erica L. Meltzer | Feb 20, 2010 | Blog, General Tips, The Mental Game, Uncategorized
One of the most-common issues that many SAT-takers face, particularly in Critical Reading, is the seeming randomness of many of the answers. While I do agree that the College Board occasionally does in fact come up with a set of answers choices that are uniformly awful, this is actually a pretty rare occurrence.
I say this because I have had countless conversations with students about why their (incorrect) answer was truly the right one, or why such-and-such answer could not possibly be correct. While I admire their conviction, my response, uttered from the bottom of my heart and with the greatest possible affection, is ‘Get Over It.’
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