SAT Critical Reading Section
Questions
• 19 sentence completion: Tests
vocabulary
• 48 passage-based reading
questions
Strategies
• Consider related words, familiar sayings
and phrases, prefixes, and suffixes
• Work on sentence completion questions
first
–Questions range from easy to hard
• Mark your test booklet EVERYWHERE
• Use the process of elimination
Passage-Based Reading Strategies
• You must annotate while you read
• Break the long passages down into sections
• Summarize what you read at the end of each
section and write it on the test
• Highlight key vocabulary words and phrases
• Find the main idea of the passage—circle it
Tone, Mood, Attitude
Ask yourself the following questions while you
read a passage:
*What is the author’s attitude about this
subject?
*Which words add to the mood of the
selection?
*What is the author’s overall tone in the last
paragraph?
Passages
• Short, paired passages—Look at two passage
and compare (typically the most difficult
questions)
• Short passage—Difficult questions
• Long Passage—Easier questions
• Long, paired passages—typically the easiest
questions on the test
Sentence Completion
• Strategy #1—Answer the questions without
looking at the answer choices.
• Hoping to ------- the dispute, negotiators
proposed a compromise that they felt would be
------- to both labor and management.
•
(A) enforce. .useful (B) end. .divisive (C)
overcome. .unattractive (D) extend. .satisfactory
(E) resolve. .acceptable
Vocabulary in Context
• Somewhere in the sentence the words will be
defined.
• Ravens appear to behave -------, actively
helping one another to find food.
• (A) mysteriously (B) warily (C) aggressively
(D) cooperatively (E) defensively
Example 2
Both ------- and -------, Wilson seldom spoke and never spent money.
Example 2
• Both ------- and -------, Wilson seldom spoke
and never spent money.
• (A) vociferous. .generous (B) garrulous.
.stingy (C) effusive. .frugal (D) taciturn.
.miserly (E) reticent. .munificent
Example 3
• Once Murphy left home for good, he wrote no
letters to his worried mother; he did not,
therefore, live up to her picture of him as her ------ son.
•
(A) misunderstood
(B) elusive
(C) destructive
(D) persuasive
(E) dutiful
Logic-Based Questions
• You need to know the meanings of the words ,
know how the words are used in context, and
understand the logic of a complicated
sentence. (Basically, how is the word being
used in the sentence)
Examples
• After observing several vicious territorial
fights, Jane Goodall had to revise her earlier
opinion that these particular primates were
always ------- animals.
• (A) ignorant (B) inquisitive (C) responsive (D)
cruel (E) peaceful
• Example 2
• Although its publicity has been -------, the film
itself is intelligent, well-acted, handsomely
produced, and altogether -------.
• (A) tasteless. .respectable (B) extensive.
.moderate (C) sophisticated. .amateur (D)
risqué. .crude (E) perfect. .spectacular
Two-Blank Questions
• Eliminate some answers based on just one plank.
We will use example 2 as our practice.
• Although its publicity has been -------, the film
itself is intelligent, well-acted, handsomely
produced, and altogether -------.
(A) tasteless..respectable
(B) extensive..moderate
(C) sophisticated..amateur
(D) risqué..crude
(E) perfect..spectacular
More Strategies
• Start out reading the entire sentence, saying
“blank” for the blanks to get an overall
understanding of the sentence.
• Always begin by trying to understand
dictionary definitions of the words in the
sentence and the answers.
• Watch out for transitional words!
– But, although, however, yet, even though
Strategies, Cont’d
• Most difficult sentence completion questions
contain negatives.
• Choose the BEST answer!
• Check your answer choice by reading the
entire sentence with the answer you have
selected in place to make sure the sentence
makes sense.
Quiz
• 1. A judgment made before all the facts are
known must be called -------.
•
(A) harsh (B) deliberate (C) sensible (D)
premature (E) fair
•
Despite their ------- proportions, the murals of
Diego Rivera give his Mexican compatriots the
sense that their history is ------- and human in
scale, not remote and larger than life.
(A) monumental. .accessible
(B) focused. .prolonged
(C) vast. .ancient
(D) realistic. .extraneous
(E) narrow. .overwhelming
• 3. The research is so ------- that it leaves no
part of the issue unexamined.
•
•
•
•
(A) comprehensive
(B) rewarding
(C) sporadic
(D) economical
(E) problematic
•
A dictatorship ------- its citizens to be docile and
finds it expedient to make outcasts of those who
do not -------.
(A) forces. .rebel
(B) expects. .disobey
(C) requires. .conform
(D) allows. .withdraw
(E) forbids. .agree
5. Alice Walker’s prize-winning novel exemplifies
the strength of first-person narratives; the
protagonist tells her own story so effectively
that any additional commentary would be -------.
(A) subjective
(B) eloquent
(C) superfluous
(D) incontrovertible
(E) impervious
The Supreme Court’s reversal of its previous ruling
on the issue of states’ rights ------- its reputation
for -------.
(A) sustained. .infallibility
(B) compromised. .consistency
(C) bolstered. .doggedness
(D) aggravated. .inflexibility
(E) dispelled. .vacillation