SAT Critical Reading Tips

Students who plan to take the SAT will have to go through seventy minutes of critical reading questions, which cover both sentence completion questions and passage-based reading questions. These questions will be broken up into three shorter sections scattered throughout the whole SAT. Since these sections make up a major portion of the exam, students need to feel confident with both question types, and, in particular, be proficient in English grammar.

SAT Critical Reading | Passage-Based Reading Questions

In order to ace the passage-based reading questions in the SAT critical reading section, students need to develop the ability to read long passages without losing track of the passage’s main idea. Questions will require students to analyze information, identify cause and effect, infer what will happen later from given information, and understand how arguments are constructed. A good method to get comfortable with this question type is to go through whatever practice books are available: the best way to improve reading comprehension performance is to actually do reading comprehension questions!

SAT Critical Reading | Sentence Completion Questions

Sentence completion questions require students to choose a correct answer to fix or complete a given sentence. These questions necessitate a thorough understanding of English grammar, as most answer choices will be nearly identical. Sometimes a few words will be different, or perhaps a few letters, or maybe even just a punctuation mark. Knowledge of proper sentence structure and subject/verb agreement, along with rules of punctuation and modifying words, is key. Again, the best way to improve here is to do lots of practice.

SAT Critical Reading | Could Tutoring Help?

With the help of a few practice SAT books, any student can get some extra problems done, and this will definitely help improve critical reading scores. For students who want even more practice or some specialized help, tutoring can be a good choice. With some one-on-one tutoring sessions, it will be easy to learn tips for identifying important phrases or parts of arguments. A tutor can also help students learn to speed up their reading or to annotate passages as they go, which can save time later. Students who are a little shaky with tough grammar rules can also ask any questions that they have, which will help them improve their sentence completion performance. At the very least, the extra practice that tutoring gives can help students do better on test day.

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Preparation for the SAT does not have to be daunting and exasperating; instead, it can represent an important opportunity along a student’s path to learning mastery. Indeed, the perspectives and abilities acquired during preparation can be transformative and last a lifetime. Our two-track approach to mastering content and improving test-taking skills means that students will not only thoroughly understand the fundamental concepts and skills tested by the SAT, but they will also excel in using essential techniques to improve attitude, endurance and focus. Our students hone their independent thinking skills while developing a resilient mindset so they can perform on test day in a powerful, resourceful, creative and calm manner. Each student in our program receives the undivided attention and expertise of a dynamic and experienced coach who provides the framework to support each student on his unique path to becoming a master learner. Call 917.287.7927 for a complimentary consultation on how to best prepare for SAT today.