SAT Reading & Writing

5. Advanced Reading Skills

Written by: Pranav I
Formatted by: Rithanya S

Vocabulary: Playing the Greatest Hits

Vocabulary questions can be frequently seen in the RW modules
Their increasing difficulty will be evident

🔥 Tip

Spending 5-10 minutes a day on a combination of the Princeton Review’s Greatest Hits and our own Greatest Hits is the best way to improve your RW score

Mastering POE

Look for trap answers when you cannot eliminate three answer choices or cannot pin down definitive evidence from the text

Common Trap Answers (from Chapter 6)

Recycled Language: Establish false relationships between words and phrases lifted from the text
Could Be True: Seem logical based on outside reasoning, but are not supported by the text
Extreme Language: Contain words or phrases that exceed the text’s supporting limits
Right Answer, Wrong Question: True based on the text, but do not satisfy the Question’s task
Opposite: Use a word or phrase that conveys something not intended by the author
Half-Right: Addresses the Question Task partly

🔥 Tip

It is best to apply our knowledge of trap answers when we are down to 2-3 answer choices after comparing all of them to your highlights and annotations

Answers that say something will happen are almost certainly wrong
The correct answer for a CONCLUSIONS question will be the best supported of the 4 answer choices, and will not be directly stated by the text

Poetry: Keeping your cool

There will at most be 2 Poetry Question in an RW module
Poems still make claims, and thus are most commonly seen in CLAIMS questions
Poems use comparative literary devices like analogies, metaphors and similes more often

Poetic Contraction or Abbreviation	Modern English Word(s)
’tis	it is
’twas	it was
o’er	over
ne’er	never
ere	before
e’en	even
o’	of
an’	and

Sentence Function: Understanding why sentences are included

Approximate time per question: 1 minute and 11 seconds
It will be easier to navigate through the text(s) when you understand the role of each of the sentences in the passage(s)
The Sentence Functions are more common in non-literature texts than in literature texts

Sentence Functions

Background:
- Often occur at the start of the text
- Provide context or information regarding a topic before the arguments are placed
Claim:
- Contains the main argument, theory or opinion of the text
- Can be disagreed with
- Needs factual support
Objection:
- Argument placed against the Claim
- Contains words such as but not limited to, “but” and “however”
Evidence:
- Usually comes after the Claim or Objection
- Contains lots of details and supports the respective Claim or Objection