SAT Prep Course

Critical Reading II
Passage-Based Reading
Jennifer L. Fry

jenniferfry1@mac.com (469)995-5771
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Verbal: Critical Reading II

Overview
You will encounter 48 passage-based reading
questions in Critical Reading.
No specific prior knowledge of the subject matter
is required in order to do well on these questions.
There is no way to study in advance for the topics
covered, but you can effectively prepare yourself to
do well.

Verbal: Critical Reading II

Essential Preparation
Escalate the amount of reading and listening you
do to elevate your exposure to global issues and
new vocabulary.
Time, Newsweek, The Economist, Scientific American, National
Geographic, PBS, BBC

Additionally, practice makes perfect. Practice these

questions and practice them a lot.
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Verbal: Critical Reading II

Recommendations
Mark the passages in your test booklet.
Underline key words and phrases as you read.
Try taking a real interest in what you are reading.
Psych yourself up a bit and approach every
passage with the proper attitude.
While reading, ask yourself, what are they
talking about? You want to keep the BIG
PICTURE in mind as you progress.
Harder passage? Take a peek at the questions to
get a sense of what you are looking for while
reading.

Verbal: Critical Reading II

Extended Reasoning Questions
With these questions, you are asked to draw
conclusions or evaluate information, such as
themes, tone, parallel themes, and the authors
purpose or attitude.
Certain key words and phrases will appear in the
passage which you should underline, words like
probably, apparently, seems, suggest, it can be
inferred, the author implies, etc.
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Verbal: Critical Reading II

Extended Reasoning Questions
Extended reasoning questions are likely to ask you
to identify assumptions or inferences the author
may be making and it is important to be prepared
to identify these.
1. Assumption - a supposition an author makes to
reach a conclusion.
2. Inference a conclusion reached based upon
something said in a passage.
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Verbal: Critical Reading II

Vocabulary in Context Questions
Here you are asked to identify the meaning of the
word as used in the passage. If you do not
immediately know the meaning of the word, often
you can figure it out by carefully reading the
surrounding text.
Some words will have multiple meanings and it is
probably not the most common definition of the
word that will be the correct answer.
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Verbal: Critical Reading II

Literal Comprehension Questions
These questions tend to be the easiest to answer
because the correct answer can be gleaned directly
from the passage.
Immediately eliminate wrong answers to save you
a lot of time. Be on the look out for words such as
except, not, and only and underline those words.

Verbal: Critical Reading II

Double Reading Passages
These passages will have a common theme or subject
and one of the passages will oppose, support or relate
to the other passage.
Try this method to avoid frustration:
1. Read the first passage and answer questions related
to it ONLY.
2. Read the second passage and answer its questions.
3. Answer the questions that relate to both passages
last.

Verbal: Critical Reading II

Recommendations
If you experience difficulty completing the verbal
subsections, you should skip the longest reading
passage and come back to it only if you have
time. Since all answers are worth the same
number of points, you will have more time to
devote to all the other questions that take far less
time to answer.

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Verbal: Critical Reading II

Exercise
1. Turn to p. 57 of The Official SAT Study Guide,
Second Edition, and answer questions 1-8.
2. Turn to p. 60 of The Official SAT Study Guide,
Second Edition, and answer questions 9-19.
3. Turn to p. 664 of The Official SAT Study Guide,
Second Edition, and answer questions 13-24.

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Verbal: Critical Reading II

Homework Assignment
Answer questions 7-19 on p. 792-794 of The Official SAT Study
Guide, Second Edition.

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