The New SAT - Test Taking Strategies

SAT test preparation involves a clever SAT study plan, along with diligence and consistency. Critical Reading sections consist of two 25-minute sections and one 20-minute section. Short critical reading passages, lengthy (and often boring) reading comprehension passages, and (not necessarily) paired or double passages are found in the Critical Reading section. SAT practice tests, therefore, are an important part of SAT test preparation program.

The new SAT does not provide reading comprehension passages and questions in the order of difficulty. Short-paragraph length passages have also been included lately. SAT pre test questions in a SAT practice test can acquaint you with the new SAT structure. What does the Critical Reasoning section test? This section essentially tests a student on three parameters- understanding, interpretation, and analysis. Passages in this section are taken from social sciences, humanities, natural sciences and fiction/non-fiction work.

Let us look at some of the common types of questions of the CR section:

1. Word Meaning or meaning of a phrase from the passage
2. Main idea, tone, mood, or the title.
3. Information directly stated in the passage
4. Implied/assumed/suggested information

Research shows that students who read a lot perform better than those who do not read often. Reading is a good habit; it should be a part of your routine, and not just of your SAT test preparation plan. There are some researched strategies that are quite effective while dealing with the Critical Reading section.

1. Never try answering the questions of two passages at the same time: always tackle one passage at a time, and then move to the other.
2. Stuck at a question? Skip it. SAT test would not appreciate your efforts put into a single question.
3. Read the introduction to a passage (if given) carefully
4. Do not answer questions based on your assumptions. Always, use the information that is implied (or given) in the passage.

In addition to these, there are some general strategies that a SAT test preparation program should focus on:

Take Interest in reading: Unless you take interest in the given passage, you might not be able to get into the author's shoes. To get high SAT Exam score, you must develop the habit of reading even those things that do not interest you. This is the reason why SAT practice tests also contain not-so-interesting passages.

Underlining: It is important that you underline important points while you read. This saves time when you would have to refer to the passage again to find a piece of information. (Note- Do not under-line every part of the passage. This will lead to confusion.) Do not underline only on the actual SAT, even when you solve SAT practice tests, you should make it a point to underline important parts of a passage.

Keep track of time: Do not spend more than two minutes on a question. In case, you find yourself stuck on any of the questions, try making an educated guess, else skip that question.

Read all given choices: In many questions you may feel that more than one choice is correct. Hence, you just go through all the given option to select the 'best' answer.

Watch out for the distracter(s): In some questions, you would come across a choice that would look good, but would not be the best answer. Such options are given to distract the test taker. Do not fall into the trap.

A solid SAT test preparation program should entail time-based SAT Practice Tests with SAT Pre test questions that cover all levels of difficulty- easy, medium, and hard.SAT test preparation courses help students analyze their weaknesses, and learn strategies to maximize their SAT Exam Scores. It is a good idea to start with a SAT practice test before jumping on to an actual full-length SAT test. Finally, SAT test preparation should be interesting, and not some kind of donkey-work. Stay posted to learn more strategies to deal with various sections of the New SAT.

The Author brings over 6 years of e-learning, online tutoring, homework help, assignment help and test preparation experience. Having a deep understanding of pedagogy and child psychology, the writer has developed numerous strategies to improve e-learning and online tutoring for Grades K-12 and higher through various techniques that sometimes question the conventional ways of instructing.