How should you approach SAT critical reading passages and questions to maximize your score? There are numerous approaches, each favoring different test-taker characteristics, and some particularly preferred by specific test-prep providers. Take a look at some of these approaches and see which might be right for you.
1. Straight-Ahead
A. Read the passage from start to finish, focusing closely and probing the ideas and details presented.
B. Answer the questions in order. Read each question and use systematic critical reading tactics like those discussed below to answer it correctly.
Try this approach if: You are a moderate or fast reader with strong comprehension and good retention of details who recalls where to look in the passage to locate the justification for the right answer.
2. Straight-Ahead with Notetaking
A. Read the passage from start to finish, taking notes on key ideas and details, underlining and circling in the text, and adding notation and short phrases in the margins, to enhance your comprehension and retention.
B. Answer the questions in order. Read each question and use systematic critical reading tactics like those discussed below to answer it correctly. Use your notes as a guide to locating and understanding the justification for each correct answer.
Try this approach if: You are a moderate or fast reader who enhances comprehension and retention by taking notes while reading the passage.
3. Question Seeding
A. Read the questions (but not the answer choices) first, underlining and circling in each question any line references, quotations, italicized words/phrases, and passage-specific detail words. This will help imprint these as details to watch for as you read the passage.
B. Read the passage from start to finish, taking notes on key ideas and details, underlining and circling in the text, and adding notation and short phrases in the margins, to enhance your comprehension and retention, paying close attention any time a word or phrase rings a bell as something you noted in the questions.
C. Answer the questions in order. Read each question and use systematic critical reading tactics like those discussed below to answer it correctly. Use your notes as a guide to locating and understanding the justification for each correct answer.
Try this approach if: You are a slow or moderate reader who enhances comprehension, focus, and retention by taking notes on questions before reading the passage.
4. Easter Eggs
A. Scan the questions in order first. For each question that refers to a specific line or lines, mark its question number in the passage margin next and bracket the lines it refers to. Begin reading from the start of the passage.
B. Read until a line or two past the bracket of the next question number you marked in the margin. Read the question and use systematic critical reading tactics like those discussed below to answer it correctly. Repeat this step (B) until you have read the entire passage and answered all of the line-specific questions.
C. Answer the remaining (not line-specific) questions in order. Read each question and use systematic critical reading tactics like those discussed below to answer it correctly.
Try this approach if: You are a slow or moderate reader who enhances comprehension, focus, and retention by answering each line-specific question immediately after reading the section it refers to.
Critical Reading Tactics
