Nature of the Reading Text in the SAT
The nature and purpose of an SAT reading text are basically to tell a story, make an argument and explain or describe a scientific process on the course of research, discovery, and invention. The test takers therefore must be well informed about what the test is trying to do and what they have to do. Test takers must never answer or get prompted to answer any of the questions based on their priori -the previous knowledge (knowledge devoid of evidence) the test takers have obtained on a certain subject or areas of studies.
1. Tell a story
2. Make an argument
3. Explain a study or experiment/research process
Level of Difficulty
The reading texts meet the difficulty level of 9th graders to the first year of college or post-secondary school training.
Question Category
The SAT questions in the verbal section fall under three main categories, viz.
Information and Ideas: these are questions that focus on what the passage says directly or indirectly.
Rhetoric: These are questions that ask you to think about how the author conveys his/her messages and ideas.
Synthesis: These questions require you to make or draw conclusions and make connections between passages/texts or between texts and infographics.
The basic strategy to handle questions is to read between the lines and understand the implication of the expressions partially or fully as a complete text. You need to carefully locate the piece of information the questions demand.
Question Area/General Scope of the Reading Text
1 passage from classic/contemporary work of the US or World Literature
1 or 2 passages from either the US founding documents or a text in the great global conversations that inspired the US Constitution or a speech by great leaders like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr, J. F. Kennedy, etc.
A text about economics, psychology, sociology, or some other areas of social sciences
2 science passages or 1 passage and one pair of passages that examine basic concepts and developments in Earth science, biology, chemistry, or physics.
What should a test taker know or what the reading text expects you to know and do.
Command of evidence:
a) Here the test taker has to find evidence in a passage or a pair of passages that best support the answer to a given/previous question or serves as the basis for a reasonable conclusive idea.
b) Identify how the author uses evidence to support his/her claims.
c) Find a relationship/connection between an infographic and the passage that is paired with it.
Words in Context:
a. Here the test takers have to look for important or widely used words and phrases that are often found in many different subjects which later you will frequently come across in your college text.
b. As test takers, you need to learn to use the context clues in passages to figure out which meaning of a word/phrase is being used.
c. You need to carefully make a decision as to how the author’s choice of words fleshes out meanings/messages/style/ tone and attitude of the overall or a portion of the text.
Analysis in History/Social Studies/ Science:
Here the test takers have to carefully examine the text and
answer a set of questions based on research or experiment
like:
a) Evaluate a hypothesis
b) Interpret data
c) Consider implication (effect)
Please note all the answers are based only on the context stated/given or implied by the passage.
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