SAT Critical Reading: How to Read a Passage

When reading an SAT Critical Reading passage, underline the one or two most important parts of each paragraph. Don’t worry about absorbing every detail of the passage. Just read each paragraph quickly and underline the most important parts.

Even if you are not sure what is truly important, always be sure to underline SOMETHING in each paragraph. Underlining keeps you focused on the passage as well as marks information that can help you answer the questions. Most importantly, the more you practice underlining, the better your reading comprehension will become and, believe it or not, the faster you will actually read.

Re-read the underlined parts of Long Passages. Before answering the questions, quickly scan your underlining to give yourself a mental map of the passage. This quick and easy strategy really helps put the various parts of the passage in context.

Tip: Always read the italicized introduction and any asterisked (*) notes. The introduction and notes are very helpful in giving context to the passage and filling in extra details that help you answer the questions more easily.

From my SAT training guide: SAT Unlocked.

SAT Critical Reading: Mark Line Numbers & Circle Key Words

Before reading a passage, mark question line numbers and circle key words.
Quickly scan the passage reading questions for line numbers (shown in parentheses) and mark these numbers with a check or bracket in the margin next to the appropriate line(s) in passage. Line number questions also often ask about “key words” (shown in quotes in the question). If you see a “key word” in quotes in a line number question, circle that same word in the passage.

Some SAT prep folks tell you to read the the passage reading questions before reading the actual passage. In my experience, this is NOT a good strategy, because you simply don’t have time to read all of the questions, then the passage, then the questions again, and still expect to finish the Critical Reading section within the 20-25 minutes allowed.

What you can do, however, is quickly scan the questions for line numbers and then mark the corresponding line numbers in the margin next to the passage. For a long passage, this process only takes about 20-30 seconds, yet this strategy is extremely valuable because it shows you exactly where in the passage you need to focus your greatest attention.

Line number questions can total up to 3/4 of the questions for any given long passage, so when you mark line numbers, you are also targeting the specific information you need to answer the bulk of SAT Passage Reading questions.

Adapted from my SAT training guide: SAT Unlocked.

SAT Critical Reading: Answering Line Number Questions

Always read a few lines above and below the line numbered portion of text to understand its context. The SAT counts on students simply reading only the specific text cited by the line number. For this reason, most line number questions include false answer choices that appear correct when a line is read on its own, but not when read in context of the larger passage. Reading above and below is the key to getting the correct answer because the information you need from the passage is usually located nearby (but not within) the text cited by line number.

Tip:
Between 2/3 and 3/4 of all SAT Passage Reading questions in any given long passage question set include at least one line number reference.