by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 22, 2011 | Blog, SAT Critical Reading (Old Test)
One of the things that continually amazes me is the following situation: a student is working carefully through a reading question and begins to cross off answers. First one, then another, then a third. And then…nothing. The student continues to stare at the two answer choices. “Is there anything in the passage that clearly points to one of the answers?” I ask. The student scrunches up his or her face in concentration, staring off into space, trying, trying to remember….
At which point I oh-so-politely suggest that perhaps the student might want to consult the passage…because, you know, there’s an off chance the answer might be in there. As opposed to somewhere on the wall across the room. To paraphrase Jane Austen, it is a standardized testing strategy universally acknowledged that if you are down to two answer choices, you should guess. (One answer is just as likely to be right as the other, right?)
Except that you really shouldn’t.
As a matter of fact, there are a couple of very specific things you should do instead. First, you should reiterate your main point (which, ideally, you should have written down as soon as you finished reading the passage), or at least the point of the lines in question. Is there an answer that rephrases it? If there is, chances are it’s right. If that doesn’t work, you should go back to the passage and read it very, very carefully, making sure to start a couple of lines above and read to a couple of lines below.
With the exception of questions that ask about the passage as whole, the information you need to answer the question will always be located in the immediate vicinity of the lines you’ve been given. It might not be in the lines themselves, but it’ll almost always be very close by.
In addition, when you do go back and read (instead of, say, waiting for the heavens to open and an angel to descend and inform you of the correct answer), you need to pay particular attention to any important transitions or explanations that appear in the text. Chances are they’ll give you the information you need. Usually when students go back to the passage, they’re astonished to discover that the answer was right there all along.
Amazing, isn’t it?
Bonus question (scroll down for the answer):
Throughout this article, my tone could best be characterized as
(A) perplexed
(B) hostile
(C) appreciative
(D) facetious
(E) ambivalent
Answer: (D)
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 17, 2011 | ACT Reading, Blog, SAT Critical Reading (Old Test)
If you have timing issues on reading, you may want to try the following:
1. Read the introduction slowly until you figure out the basic point of the passage. Underline it.
2. Read the first and last sentence of each of the body paragraphs; if you can skim through the rest, do; if you’re too afraid you’ll run out of time, don’t bother. The goal is to establish a mental outline of the argument being presented. 1 Paragraph = 1 Idea, and the first (topic) sentence will give you the point of the paragraph, which the remainder of the information in it will most likely support.
3. Read the conclusion slowly and underline the last sentence, which usually restates the main point.
As long as you can keep in mind the important shifts (for example, the places where an author switches from criticizing one idea to proposing her own explanation), you’ll have plenty of context when you go back and answer the questions. In fact, working this way can actually make it easier to answer them because you won’t be so caught up in the details.
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 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…)
