If you’re like the majority of my private SAT students who come to me to dramatically raise their test scores, you’ve probably sensed a major disconnect between:
1. “reading comprehension”—you know, that miracle whereby you read books and articles and websites and understand what’s going on; and
2. the SAT’s way of testing your reading comprehension, i.e. the “Evidence-Based Reading” section of the SAT.
And there’s a VERY good reason for this disconnect: the SAT’s Reading section is unlike any other reading test you’ve EVER taken (save the PSAT, which is supposed to mirror the SAT in the first place!).
There’s Nothing to “Learn” for the SAT Reading Test…Except Strategy!
Understanding what you read is important, sure. However, more than any other section on the SAT, the Reading section rewards students who go in knowing how the section is structured, who understand how to navigate specific invented-for-the-SAT question types, and who have a tried-and-true strategy to actually maneuver through each passage. It’s this preemptive know-how that will make the difference between a mediocre Reading score…and an AMAZING one.
The trick is this: you can’t go about the SAT’s Reading section the same way you normally go about English/Literature or even state reading exams. And no recollection of specific works by Shakespeare or literary greats will save you. You have to master this part of the test like the very different—and very peculiar—beast that it is.
SAT Reading: Basic Info
So, what are these mysterious differences and methods of which I speak? The ones that will magically and swiftly carry you to a perfect 400 possible points in the SAT Reading section? Lucky for you, I’m breaking down all the topics that you’ll need to learn to master this section in today’s post. But first, you need to understand the framework for the section:
1) Structure of the SAT Reading Section
The Reading portion of the SAT tests your ability to swiftly and accurately answer questions on a variety of reading passages. The section consists of 52 multiple choice questions that must be completed in 65 minutes for a regular-time test taker. You’ll be reading five passages and answering 10-11 questions about each of them. No passage is intended to be harder than another, and the difficulty level of the questions is random. There’s always a Fiction passage, followed by 4 Non-Fiction passages that cover history, social science, and natural science topics. A couple passages will have a chart or graph. One will be a Double Passage. One will be an older text. Your job is to read and answer each passage in 13 minutes or less so that you make it through all of the passages in 65 minutes. (Multiply that time by 1.5 if you get extended time.)
2) How to Guess on the SAT Reading section
If you have trouble completing all 52 questions within the 65 minutes you’re allotted (again for regular time test takers), you’ll need a guessing strategy. Luckily, I bring you my top SAT guessing strategy in this post.
Specific Question Types on the SAT Reading Section
There are certain question types on the SAT’s Evidence-Based Reading Test that you may have seen before…and one BIG one you haven’t! You need to understand how to efficiently answer these particular question types—and even WHEN to answer them!—to save time and get them right.
3) How to Get Evidence Questions Right
This is the elephant in the room for the SAT’s Reading section: the dreaded Evidence Question! The thing is, “Evidence Questions” don’t exist in a vacuum: they usually have a second question in the pair. And here’s the rub: if you understand how to recognize them and how to use BOTH questions to point you to the answer, it’s like getting two questions right for the “price” (or “effort” and “time”) of one! Not bad! Since up to ONE THIRD of the questions in this section will be of this type, it behooves you to be an Evidence Question master. I bring you my basic strategy for doing so here.
4) Answering “Infer”/“Imply”/“Suggest” Questions
These are usually what I consider “open-ended” Evidence Questions. That said, there’s an extra step when the Evidence Question falls into this category, as I briefly mentioned in my post on the subject. In addition, you need to understand what the SAT test-makers mean when they say “infer” / “imply” / “suggest” in a question: they are not asking you to make as big of a logical leap as most students think they are!
5) SAT Vocab-in-Context Questions
This is another type of question that the SAT Reading section loves to throw at you, though I’m sure you’ve also seen it come up in other reading comprehension tests over the years. This previous blog post shows you my basic strategy for how to go about vocabulary questions on the SAT’s Reading section (hint: no vocab flash cards required!).
6) Are there Graph Questions on the SAT’s Reading Section?
You didn’t think that just because you were taking the SAT you’d be off the hook for that whole “chart and graph” interpretation thing, did you? Well, two of your Reading passages will have some infographic questions at the end, so you’ll need to know how to interpret the types of charts, graphs and tables you might come across.
7) Study “Purpose”/“Function”/“In Order To” Questions
What is the SAT really asking you when they use these words in a Reading question? You’ll need to understand what this question type is going for from the test-maker’s perspective.
8) How to Solve Big Picture and Specific Detail Questions on the SAT
Or rather, how to understand WHEN to answer “Big Picture” questions and “Specific Detail” questions on the SAT’s Reading section! I’ve got a free article up about Big Picture questions, but what might surprise you is that ALL of these questions—Big Picture, Specific Detail WITH line numbers, and Specific Detail questions withOUT line numbers—all get taken care of automatically…IF you have the right strategy to read and answer questions about SAT Reading passages!
9) The Best SAT Reading Strategy for Single Passages
Now that you understand how to quickly and accurately answer a slew of different question types, you need to develop a specific method—a particular order of doing things—so that you answer questions while they’re fresh on your mind, understand what you read, and minimize the time-sink that is rereading paragraphs (and whole passages!).
Knowing the exact choreography (if you will) of WHAT to do WHEN in a passage is the single most impactful score-raiser I’ve seen in my dozen years of prepping students worldwide for the SAT Reading.
I happen to have a strategy that I’ve honed since this version of the SAT made its debut in 2016, and I’ve gotten it to be such a well-oiled machine that it works for 90-95% of my private SAT students! I call it “The Highway Method.” (And I’ve developed a couple alternative strategies for that remaining 5-10% of students for whom it doesn’t work so well.)
10) Double Passage Strategy
Once you know how to save time and sanity and RAISE your accuracy on the four single passages, you need a specific strategy for how to handle the Double Passage that’ll get thrown at you. This tactic is going to save you time, help you avoid rereading, and get you to the correct answer for every question. I wrote an article outlining my basic Double Passage strategy here. Depending on which regular Reading strategy you’ve adopted, you might need to tweak the Double Passage strategy to fit it.
11) How to Practice for the SAT Reading
Now you understand how to recognize and answer the basic question types (because you have a foolproof SAT Reading Strategy and SAT Double Passage Strategy). What’s next? You’ll need to practice enough that you can automatically jump into the appropriate method as soon as you identify a given question type on the test. And there is (of course!) a meta-method for this!
Think of it like learning the choreography to dance in The Nutcracker. First, you might need to learn how to master certain moves and jumps, like a brisé or an assemblé. (Think of this like learning to master each question type.) Then, you might learn some short-ish dance sequences that combine many of these moves in a precise order. (This is like learning your SAT Reading Strategy and your Double Passage Strategy.) At first, you just work on connecting the different moves into the sequence, but soon, you’ll need to practice this in time with the music. Once these sequences are second nature and you’re up to speed, you’ll then need to practice all of Act I. (This is like doing a whole Reading Section, timed.) And then, you’ll advance to the whole ballet (practice tests), then dress rehearsals with full costume and makeup (mock tests). And then, of course, there’s the opening night performance (Test Day).
Obviously, trying to give a dress rehearsal before learning the basic jumps and sequences makes no sense…about as much sense as banging out practice test after SAT practice test without mastering question type strategies and passage strategies ;)
12) Get in the Right Headspace for the SAT Reading
Even if you practice in the systematized way I’ve recommended, such that these strategies become second nature to you, none of it will matter if you’re so worried about the test that your inner monologue pummels you with criticism and self-doubt! You need to have some tools to get out of your own way to truly achieve what you’re capable of achieving! My two favorite hacks for maximum focus on the SAT Reading Section are Power Poses and something I call “Three Points of Contact.”
Sound Like a Lot?
After YEARS of teaching my proprietary SAT Reading tricks and strategies and getting fantastic scores (and college acceptances!) for my students, I finally recorded all of my insider knowledge in an online video course, so that you can ace the SAT’s Evidence-Based Reading section! The Ultimate SAT Reading Strategy has 32 lessons and over 4.5 hours of video, and it’s as close as you can get to working with me…well, without actually being my private student! You can go at your own pace from the comfort of your home, at a fraction of the price of working with me privately.
Alternatively, if you want to be taught by the master herself, you can find out how private tutoring with me works—and if I have availability—by contacting me here.
