Critical Reading Strategies

1
Critical Reading Strategies

• College Board Prep

2
Reading Test-Taking Tactics

• Understand the test format
• Pace yourself
• Decide on a focusing technique
• Decide on a reading technique
• Identify each question by type
• Answer general questions first
• Do easy passages first

3
Understand the Test Format

• SAT
• Sentence Completion
• ARRANGED EASIEST TO HARDEST
• Short Reading Comprehension
• IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER
• Long Reading Comprehension
• IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

• ACT SAT
• Prose fiction
• Humanities
• Social studies
• Natural sciences
• Paired passages

4
Pace Yourself

• SAT
• 3 sections, 70 minutes total
• Shorter passages are around 100 words
• Each short passage usually has 2-3 questions
  with it
• Longer passages are about 450-800 words
• Longer passages usually have 6-12 questions

• ACT
• 4 passages, 40 questions, 35 minutes
• 10 questions per passage
• Approximately 8 to 8 ½ minutes to read each
  passage and answer the questions

5
Decide on a Focusing Technique

• Annotate the test booklet
• Underline
• Circle
• Draw
• ?
• !
• Look at all of the topics choose your
  preference and decide whether to do this first or
  last

6
Reading Techniques

• Read the text skim, but skim carefully get
  overall message
• Read the question stem read the question
  carefully one word can change the entire meaning
• Locate the material you need line references are
  key
• Come up with an idea of the right answer you
  only need a general sense of what youre after
• Scan the answer choices

7
Identify the Type of Question Reasoning and
Referring

• Main idea questions
• Specific detail questions
• Interpretation questions
• Comparative relationships (C/C)
• Cause-Effect relationships (C/E)
• Generalizations
• Meaning of words
• Methods/craft of writing (purpose, role of a part
  within the whole)
• Tone/mood questions
• Authors voice

8
Final Tips and Tactics

• Read openings and closings
• The stuff in the italics is important
• Study transitional devices
• Look for words and phrases such as, that is,
  however, therefore, but, for example
• Suspend disbelief
• Dont question the content!