Lesson 41

Today’s Agenda 1.Peer Evaluations (period 6 only) 2.Reading Comprehension 1.Overview 2.Tips 3.Argument Essay

Critical Reading Section of the SAT  Time  70 min. total  two 25. min sections  one 20 min. section  Content  Critical reading and sentence-level reading  Item Types  Reading comprehension  Sentence completion  Score = points

Critical Reading-Passage Based Reading Section Measure your ability to read and think carefully Passages range in length from about 100 to about 850 words Pair of related passages on a shared issue or theme; in some of the questions, you are asked to compare and contrast these passages.

The following kinds of questions may be asked about a passage: Vocabulary in Context: determine the meanings of words from their context in the reading passage Literal Comprehension: assess your understanding of significant information directly stated in the passage Extended Reasoning: Most of the reading questions fall into this category. measure your ability to synthesize and analyze information as well as to evaluate the assumptions made and the techniques used by the author. cause and effect make inferences recognize a analogy or an argument.

Answering Passage-Based Reading Questions Read the passage carefully and decide on the best answer to each question. Some of the reading passages in the SAT are as short as a paragraph or two, about 100 words in length. You will also find one or more pairs of related short passages in each edition of the test. Such material will be followed by one to five questions that measure the same kinds of reading skills as are measured by the questions following longer passages.

Critical Reading Comprehension Strategies 1. Keep a Positive Attitude. START WITH A PASSAGE THAT HAS A TOPIC THAT INTERESTS YOU! If you can’t find an interesting passage, pretend the passages are interesting so you can pay attention to what you read. If you don’t understand what you are reading, you are in trouble. Slow down, go back and understand what you are reading. 2. Read the Introduction to each reading passage. The introductory material helps you prepare for the TYPE of passage.

More Strategies… 3.Summarize each paragraph AS you READ. Mark the passage if it helps you, but don’t waste time taking notes. 4.UNDERLINE the MAIN IDEA (there’s always a main idea question). 5.UNDERLINE the main idea of each PARAGRAPH. 6.Read the questions and ALL the answers carefully. 7.Choose the BEST ANSWER for the question. 8.Don’t be tricked by a statement that is TRUE, but DOES NOT ANSWER the question. 9.As you read, be aware of the author’s feeling or attitude toward his/her subject.

More Critical Reading Comprehension Strategies 10.The SAT always asks the same questions. Do some practice questions and you will catch on. 11.Try not to SKIP questions. You spend so much time reading the passage, you should answer all the questions for that passage in case you run out of time reading the next passage. 12.AVOID EXTREME answers (answers that over or under-emphasize an aspect of the passage.)

and another… 13.In the DOUBLE READING PASSAGES: a. Read the 1 st passage. STOP! b. Answer the questions relating to the 1 st passage. c. When the questions start on the 2 nd passage, STOP and read the 2 nd passage. d. Answer questions for the 2 nd passage. e. The last questions will ask you to compare and contrast BOTH passages together. These are the hardest questions. If you run out of time, leave them blank.

There are 2 questions based on the following passage: line 5 10 “The rock was still wet. The animal was glistening, like it was still swimming,” recalls Hou Xianguang. Hou discovered the unusual fossil while surveying rocks as a paleontology graduate student in 1984, near the Chinese town of Chengjiang. “My teachers always talked about the Burgess Shale animals. It looked like one of them. My hands began to shake.” Hou had indeed found a Naraoi like those from Canada. However, Hou’s animal was 15 million years older than its Canadian relatives.

In line 4, “surveying” most nearly means a)Calculating the value of b)Examining comprehensively c)Determining the boundaries of d)Polling randomly e)Conducting a statistical study of It can be inferred that Xianguang’s“hands began to shake” (line 9) because Xianguang was a)Afraid that he might lose the fossil b)Worried about the implications of his finding c)Concerned that he might not get credit for his work d)Uncertain about the authenticity of the fossil e)Excited about the magnitude of his discovery

Argument Read the article. Find examples of LOGOS, ETHOS, and PATHOS. Bracket and label the elements of argument (claim, evidence, concession, refutation, conclusion). Mark and label examples of SLANTERS.