However, given the penalty for wrong answers, I have to argue that comprehension is by far the more important of the two. Speed for the sake of speed is NOT helpful on the SAT reading.

My note-taking strategy (I use it, my students use it) is to take 1-5 words of “keyword notes” on each paragraph. Slows you down a little, sure. But it acts as a “comprehension check” after each paragraph – if you can’t easily and quickly boil down the para into 5 or less words, it’s a sure sign you don’t have a clear understanding of what you just read. SAT reading passages emphasize clear paragraph breaks for different topics, so this works on every passage I’ve ever seen (and I’ve done hundreds).

These notes also provide a great “table of contents” style reference for use when you get to the questions, but their #1 function is to improve first-time reading comprehension, and it works.

I’ve had plenty of students argue about using it at first (waste of time, don’t know what to write, don’t need to do this are the three common objections). 9 out of 10 are thanking me a few weeks later when they’ve gotten used to it, and I no longer have to remind them to take notes, because they know it works.

As for reading speed – I have found my favorite reading speed software of all time and I’ve stopped looking for new products. Check out my review here: http://www.esatpreptips.com/ace-reader-speed-reading-software-review/

I’m a fast reader already (600 WPM) but this had me hitting 1100-1200 WPM within 3 hours of practice spread across 10 days. I have no doubt it will help any student read faster on the SAT and it’s the best reading software I’ve found to date.

Good luck out there!

Thank you for your advice.
When working with students we have noticed that your suggestion might work for some and backfire on others. Some people get so caught up trying to figure out which words to circle, that they run out of time. And we have calculated that in order to seamlessly get through an SAT passage, students have to move at a pace of 350-400 words per minute. An average student can only read as fast as 200 words per minute. Therefore, there is little to no time for circling.
A great advice for someone struggling with the time aspect of the test, try learning speed reading techniques and apply them to the critical reading section.
One such program is:
http://www.irisreading.com/sat-speed-reading/
This course is SAT specific and you can punch in the code “swift” for $49 OFF.
Good Luck on your SAT!!!