How to Perform Well on SAT Critical Reading

Many clients have asked me to provide tips form taking SAT Critical Reading Test. What should they do for getting the best score? How can they avoid time trouble and how to find correct answers without wasting too much time?

First, you should prepare for the test. You need several different skills for getting a good result on SAT Critical Reading. The most important skills for the test are comprehension, vocabulary and concentration skills. In addition you will benefit from a fast reading speed.

If you want to improve your comprehension then you have to read different texts. You should also practice sample reading comprehension tests. Comprehension depends on your concentration abilities. If you are not focused to the text then you will not memorize it. In order to concentrate well you should read text without thinking on irrelevant things. Keep your mind only on the text. You concentration is affected by your energy level. Therefore sleep well before the test. Eat a decent and healthy breakfast. The test will take many hours and you hunger will distract you.

Work on your vocabulary. Many questions in the test require good understanding of meanings of not so common words. Read different types of texts for increasing your vocabulary such as fiction, journals, newspapers, scientific articles etc. If you encounter unknown words, then look them up from the dictionary.

Next, I will give you some more tips for two different parts of the test: Sentence Completion and Reading Comprehension.

In Sentence Completion test you will have to complete sentences with one or more words missing. You have to choose the best-fitting word to fill in the blanks. For getting a good results follow these tips:

o Before looking at the answers, try to complete the sentence in the way intuition tells you. If it matches the answer choices, then you have got a correct answer. If you have good vocabulary then you will get may correct answers before looking at the choices, which may sometimes mislead you.

o If you did not get the answer by intuition then read answer choices. Find which of them suits the best. If you have to fill in two words in the blank the both words have to fit. If you see that one of them does not make sense, then this is wrong answer.

o Context of nearby words will guide you. If you do not understand some words then think of other words that have similar prefixes, roots, or suffixes.

In Reading Comprehension test you have to answer questions about the content and style of reading passages. There are 48 multiple-choice questions in the test. Follow these tips for finding the right answers:

o Preview the passage before reading it. Scan it with your eyes at rapid pace. Search for the keywords within few seconds. It will prepare you mind for reading. Also read the italicized introductory text.

o Next read the passage. Keep yourself focused to the text. Keep your mind free of any other thoughts. Read actively. Underline keywords, which you consider the most important.

o Your answers have to be based on what is written in text. Do not give answers based on your other knowledge. If it is not in the texts then you cannot use if for finding the answer.

o In many cases a reference line number is provided in the question. Look at that line, but also read the preceding and following lines in order to put the answer to the context.

If you do not know correct answers then guess it. Do it both for Sentence Completion and Reading Comprehension tests. Still, you should rule out one of the answers before making the guess. You will be deducted 0.25 points for a wrong answer. But as you will get 1 point for a correct answer then you will benefit from guessing if you can rule out at least one wrong answer.

All questions will give you 1 point for a correct answer, but the difficulty of the questions is different. You will get no extra points for answering more difficult questions. Therefore answer easier questions first. If you find trouble answering to some questions then move to the next one. You should spend no more than 1 or 2 minutes on even the most difficult questions.