SAT Critical Reading Test

Class Location: The Internet.

Description: This course is designed to help you do better on the SAT critical reading section.

Objective: Become familiar with the critical reading portion of the SAT.

The critical reading section of the SAT includes two types of questions—passage-based reading, which comprises 72 percent of your score for the section, and sentence completion, which makes up the remaining 28 percent.

The passage-based reading includes two 30-minute sections and one 15-minute section. Each section will include a passage, followed by at least 13 questions on it. Unlike the other test sections, the questions appear in chronological order rather than order of difficulty, which actually makes this section easier. First read the italicized introductory sentence, which will tell you what the passage is about. Then read the questions before you read the passage. This way, you’ll know exactly what information you’re looking for. Plus, you’ll save time. If you read the passage before the questions, you’re likely to run out of time before you finish. Always read the line before and the line after those you need for each question so you’re sure to get the entire context of the sentence the question addresses. Answer the questions in order, since that will allow you to move through the passage. The only exceptions are questions that address an overall theme or message. Answer those last, since you’ll need to have read the entire passage.

The sentence-completion questions will appear in order of increasing difficulty. These questions test your vocabulary and your ability to understand the logic of formal English sentences. By the time you take the test, you should already understand the instructions from your practice, so don’t waste time on them. This portion of the test requires that you study your vocabulary. The SAT tests you on key words—anywhere from 500 to 3,000 of them. But if you study the 500 vocabulary words that most often appear on the SATs, process of elimination should help you through this section. You can find these 500 key words in most SAT prep books and study aids.