The SAT Reading test measures a student’s reading comprehension with 5 passages and multiple-choice questions. While the Reading Test might feel confusing at first, students can improve their scores substantially by taking practice tests and learning strategies.
With the SAT Reading tips mentioned below, many of my own students have boosted their SAT Reading scores by over 100 points in just a few weeks.
This article will outline 4 tips for the SAT Reading section, including real examples of how to apply the strategies.
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What is the SAT Reading Test?
The SAT Reading Test is the first portion of the SAT. It evaluates reading skills, including close reading, vocabulary, identifying details, and determining a passage's main idea. The Reading Section consists of 52 multiple-choice questions and five texts.
The SAT Reading Test evaluates multiple reading skills:
Identify the main idea: Determine the text’s main idea
Define vocabulary: Explain the meaning or definition of terms and phrases as they are used in the passage
Comprehend details: Correctly answer questions about details mentioned in the passage
Find supporting evidence: Identify which sentences and details provide the best supporting evidence for inferences
Determine the purpose: Analyze the purpose of the whole passage or specific details within the passage, explaining how they develop the text
How Many Passages Are on the SAT Reading Test?
The SAT Reading Test includes five readings–four single passages and one double passage–with 10 or 11 questions per reading. The test has a 65-minute time limit, providing an average of 12 to 13 minutes per passage. Each passage is roughly 500 to 700 words and accompanies a combination of question types.
The passages cover 4 academic genres:
Literature and fiction (1 passage)
Social science: Psychology or sociology (1 passage)
Natural science: Biology, chemistry, or physics (2 passages)
US history: Excerpts from historical documents and speeches addressing important topics like freedom, government, voting rights, and others (1 or 2 passages)
What is Included in each SAT Reading Passage?
Each SAT Reading passage has 4 main components: the introductory blurb, the text itself, sometimes figures, and the questions.
Introductory blurb: Each passage starts with an introductory blurb that provides important background information about the text—title, topic, characters, passage context, author, time period
Passage: Next comes the passage itself. All SAT readings, even the double passage, are between 500 and 750 words in length.
Figure, table, or graph: The natural science and social science passages usually include a figure—a graph or table—that elaborates on the passage
Questions: Each passage is followed by 10 or 11 questions, which cover a variety of question types. Each question has 4 answer options: one correct answer and 3 incorrect answers.
4 Tips for the SAT Reading Test
These 4 tips have helped my students boost their SAT Reading performance:
Find the one objectively correct answer
The questions move in order through the passage
Don’t infer
Find the paragraph with the answer
Tip #1: Find the One Objectively Correct Answer
Every question on the SAT Reading Test has one objectively correct answer, and 3 objectively wrong answers. One answer choice is supported by what the text says, and three incorrect answers are not.
The most common error students make in SAT Reading is trying to infer or assume the right answer, rather than looking objectively at what the text says. While inference-making might help when writing literary analysis essays, the SAT’s multiple-choice structure requires that only one answer choice is 100% objectively right–and 3 are objectively wrong.
For question 13, both B and D seem like decent choices. Maybe embodied cognition can improve physiological performance (choice B), and maybe it does demand conscious mental effort (choice D). However, the text does not say anything that directly supports either of these conclusions.
On line 12, the text says “The theory that thought might involve simulating the activity patterns in our sensory and motor areas of the brain is called grounded or embodied cognition.”
C is the correct answer because it is the only one directly supported by the text.
Tip #2: The Questions Progress in Order Through the Passage
For the most part, each passage’s questions move in order through the passage. The first question refers to the beginning of the passage, the next question moves forward a little bit, and so on. While you should always read the full passage before starting the questions, this tip helps you determine where to find each question’s answer.
Note how questions 13 through 16–and the corresponding answers–progress through the text in order:
Question 13’s answer (C) is found on lines 12-15
Question 14 asks about line 20
Question 15 asks about lines 21 and 52
Question 16’s answer (A) is found on lines 34 to 38
The only exceptions to this rule are “main idea” questions, which ask about the entire passage.
Tip #3: Don’t Infer
This tip is basically a rephrasing of tip 1, but I must emphasize it: Never infer an answer, rather use the text to determine the one objectively right answer.
One of the answer choices is supported by the passage, every time. The answer may tweak a few words, or substitute a few synonyms, but the correct answer resides in the passage and does not require any inference.
This is true for every single question on the SAT Reading Test–even the questions that say “Which answer can be most reasonably inferred?” like question 16.
For 16, A, B, and C all seem like decent answers. Maybe the participants were carefully selected based on their backgrounds (choice B), and maybe they did frequently use the pictured utensils (choice C). To determine the correct option, you must closely read the passage’s language.
From lines 34 to 48, the passage says “Secretly, Tucker and Ellis were not particularly interested in the upright/inverted choices, but whether the subjects would respond faster when they had to press the button with the hand on the same side as the handle of the object in the photograph.”
These lines say that “secretly” the authors “were not particularly interested” in the buttons themselves, but actually the speed with which participants chose an answer. The language suggests that Tucker and Ellis tricked their participants about the study’s actual purpose, directing us to the right answer choice: A.
Tip #4: Find the Paragraph with the Answer
Except for questions that explicitly ask about the “whole passage," all the evidence you need to answer a question is contained within one paragraph. Detail-based questions newer draw an answer from two separate paragraphs.
Most questions don’t tell you where in the passage to find the answer. Instead, they say something like “Based on the passage…” and mention a detail from the reading. Using this detail, and the knowledge that questions progress in order, you must figure out which paragraph contains the answer.
To answer question 12, I need to find the paragraph that discusses two topics:
Embodied cognition
Abstract concepts (or something related to them)
Since this is only the passage’s second question, I know the relevant paragraph will be early–perhaps even the first paragraph. I revisit the first paragraph and find relevant text:
Lines 4 and 5 say, “Perhaps the operations of cognition are implemented at least in part via sensory and motor structures.”
Lines 12 to 15 say, “The theory that thought might involve simulating the activity patterns in our sensory and motor areas of the brain is called grounded or embodied cognition.”
The author mentions that our cognition is operated “at least in part” by sensory and motor structures, and simulating these is called embodied cognition. Since this language indicates that there are other parts of thought not governed by sensory and motor pathways, D is our best answer.
Use These SAT Reading Tips to Boost Your Score
The best way to improve your SAT Reading score is to combine practice tests with intentional strategies, like the ones I described in this article. I have seen dozens of students improve their scores, sometimes up to hundreds of points, by applying these strategies. However, I also recommend taking at least a few practice tests. Best of luck.
If you're also taking the ACT, check out my tips for the ACT Reading and English sections.
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