SAT Prep: Critical Reading

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SAT Prep Critical Reading

• Part I Sentence Completion

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Critical Reading

• As it has been every year I have taught this
  class, Critical Reading is the area most people
  in this class had the lowest score in on the
  practice SAT test we took, so it is the area we
  will start with
• As discussed last class, Critical Reading is
  broken down into two parts sentence completion
  and passage-based reading
• Today we'll look at how to handle the sentence
  completion questions, which should amount to 19
  questions on the actual test

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"Definition" sentences

• Ravens appear to behave _____, actively helping
  one another to find food.
• mysteriously
• warily
• aggressively
• cooperatively
• defensively

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"Definition" sentences

• Both ____ and _____, Wilson seldom spoke and
  never spent money.
• vociferous...generous
• garrulousstingy
• effusivefrugal
• taciturnmiserly
• reticentmunificent

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Logic/Relationship Questions

• Most of the time, the blank will not be merely
  matching a definition as the past two examples
  were.
• You will need to look at "Key Words" to determine
  how the word in the blank fits in with the rest
  of the sentence

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Contrast Sentences

• In a "contrast" sentence, the blank will hold a
  statement that is opposite or in contrast to the
  rest of the sentence.
• Look for "Key Words" like
• however
• although
• rather than
• but
• despite
• instead
• yet
• even though

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Contrast Sentences

• Although in captivity the birds appear fragile,
  studies indicate the species is actually quite
  ___ in the wild
• delicate
• rigid
• cautious
• vigorous
• attractive

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Contrast Sentences

• I was amazed to hear that my friend, who I knew
  to be ____, was described by her teacher as quiet
  and shy.
• benevolent
• sedate
• circumspect
• verbose
• credible

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Sentence Completion Hints

• Underline the important words of the sentence
• Predict an answer, even before you look at the
  answer choices
• See if any of the words match your prediction. At
  the very least, you should be able to scratch out
  a few that don't

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Predict Answers

• Although these animals migrate, they are not
  _____ they remain loyal to their established
  ranges and seldom stray into new areas.
• Most art critics regard her early style as
  conventional, utterly devoid of technical or
  artistic _______.
• The Supreme Court's reversal of its previous
  ruling on the issue of states' rights ______ its
  reputation for _____.

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Look for tone of words

• Even if you don't know what a word means, you can
  sometimes tell if the word is positive, negative,
  or neutral just by looking at it.
• Likewise, you can read a sentence with a blank
  and figure out what the tone of the missing word
  should be.
• Try to match tones. If you can eliminate a few
  clearly incorrect words, this can be a great way
  to guess.

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On sentences with two blanks

• If a sentence has two blanks, don't try to pick
  both words at the same.
• Look for the blank that has the most context
  clues to go with it (usually the second blank),
  and try to figure out what should go there before
  moving to the remaining blank

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On sentences with two blanks

• The haiku, with its ____, its reduction of
  natural and everyday events to their mere
  essence, seems to economically depict the ___ of
  even the simplest human experience
• casualnessdestructiveness
• optimism.barrenness
• capriciousnessrigidity
• digressivenessprecariousness
• concisenesspoignancy

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Prefixes

• Look for prefixes (don't worry about suffixes as
  much they aren't as helpful) that you might
  know, and roots from words you might recognize
  (we'll do more of that next class)

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BUILD YOUR VOCABULARY!!!!!!!

• Of course, most of these hints won't help you at
  all if you don't know any of the words in the
  problem.
• Therefore, it is very important you continue to
  build your vocabulary. Its not hard!
• Read the Editorial/Opinion section of the
  newspaper each day. If you don't know a word
  used, look it up online, then re-read the
  sentence again to help the word sink in. In
  class, if you ever finish you work early, I
  highly encourage you to read this section from
  your favorite newspaper online.
• Read books! Any kind of book will work, but
  remember to have a computer or dictionary handy
  to look up words you don't know (or use context
  clues to figure out definitions). Also helpful
  Kaplan's SAT-friendly study novels (see links on
  my web site)
• Go to MajorTests.com (link on my web site) and
  memorize or glance through vocabulary word lists.
  Simply memorizing from a list is probably the
  most boring and least effective way of learning
  words, though.