Fiveable SAT Reading: Tips and Tricks

The reading section is often a really difficult part of the SAT for many. You may see long and confusing passages, followed by even more confusing questions, and it becomes a very stressful section of the SAT for many students. To help with that, we created this list of tips and tricks to help you tackle the reading section! 🤝

💡 SAT Reading Section: Tips & Tricks

🤗 Do What Feels Comfortable

Sometimes, you'll see advice to approach the test in certain ways (ex. read the questions first or skim the passage and then re-read it). However, if these methods are not what you're used to, don't change up your test-taking style completely. 

Do what feels comfortable to you, and make any modifications that you feel you need. Don't completely change up your strategy to the test because it might feel forced or even more stressful to go through a process that feels entirely unnatural to you, and you'll see worse results because of this. Essentially, be you! 🪄

🧠 Understand How the Section Works

The reading section tests your comprehension skills when presented with one/two passages of text. In order to fairly assess you, the SAT will ask you questions that are fully based on the text that you are given. The correct answer to the reading question has to be found somewhere in the text, or else it would be an entirely unfair question. Usually, in school English classes, you are asked to provide your own commentary or inferences or interpretations on a piece of literature. The SAT is the exact opposite—if you have to add additional interpretations or background knowledge to the text, that can't be correct. 

The correct answer to any reading question on the SAT is 100% of the time found in the text itself, even when the question asks for your inferences. The wrong answers in the reading section contain phrases or ideas that are 100% wrong since they are not found in the text. Recognizing this fact, along with the fact that you must look back to the passages to figure out the correct answer to the question, puts you in the right mindset to take the reading SAT section. 💪🏽

❎ Eliminate Obviously Wrong Answer Choices ASAP

The SAT commonly features 2 obviously wrong answer choices, 1 distractor answer choice, and 1 correct answer choice. By immediately eliminating the 2 obviously wrong answer choices, you have more time to check the text for evidence to support the correct answer choice and eliminate the distractor answer choice. 

🕵🏼 Read Every Word of Every Answer Choice

Often, the incorrect answer choices will have 1-2 words at the end of the answer choice which will make the answer choice wrong. In order for an answer choice to be correct, 100% of the words in the answer choice must also be correct and textually supported. This makes it easy for you to miss 1-2 words at the end of the answer choice that makes the answer choice incorrect. So, be careful! Read everything! 

✍🏼Try Annotating the Passages

Since the reading questions' answer choices are found in the passage, it may help you to annotate the passage. This can help you simplify complex pieces of information in the passage to understand it better, find certain key events in the passage better, or just stay more focused. Regardless, while preparing, try out annotating the passages and see if it helps! 

🤔 Make Your Best Guesses

You are not penalized for wrong answers on the SAT, so if you run out of time or just do not think you'll be able to answer a question, make an educated guess and move on (for now). You can come back to these questions if you finish early, but at least you won't be scrambling to bubble in a random answer when there are 15 seconds left. 👟

🔙Go Back to the Text

Wait...didn't we already talk about this tip? We wanted to repeat it for emphasis. 😉

Especially if a question directly references line numbers in the passage, definitely go back and read that area. Even if the question does not explicitly reference line numbers, go back to the place in the text where the question is based so that you're relying on the passage itself for the question rather than your memory of the passage. 

😤 Breathe

Breathe. This can get stressful, especially with so many questions and so little time, but it's better to breathe and collect yourself instead of panicking through the test. Trust yourself and believe in yourself.

💥 Use Released Exams to Practice

College Board released a few exams for you to practice with, and I highly recommend using these exams to practice the above strategies for the SAT reading section. Definitely print out and time yourself taking these exams to simulate the real testing environment, if possible. This will help you and alleviate some stress. Let's get as much stress off your plate as possible! 🍽️

YOU GOT THIS! Equipped with these tips and tricks and the motivation to improve your score or do your best, we know you got this. Good luck, we're rooting for you! 🍀