1. SAT Critical Reading Section

2. Questions 19 sentence completion: Tests vocabulary 48 passage-based reading questions

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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?

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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)

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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.

17. Quiz 1. A judgment made before all the facts are known must be called -------. (A) harsh (B) deliberate (C) sensible (D) premature (E) fair

18. 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

19. 3. The research is so ------- that it leaves no part of the issue unexamined. (A) comprehensive (B) rewarding (C) sporadic (D) economical (E) problematic

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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