Speed. I am speed.
One section, 52 reading questions.
Goal: 740 plus. Time: 8 minutes
Recently, I made an SAT reading speed run video where I answered all 52 questions in 8 minutes.
So today, I'm gonna be sharing with you all my six best SAT reading tips that will help you answer questions
faster and help you get a 740 + score.
Okay, so most of you were probably taught to read the passages quickly so that you have more time to spend on the questions, or
maybe you were taught to skim the questions first, then read the passages quickly, and then answer the questions.
But either way, both of these methods are actually hurting your timing.
You probably never realized this since you're so used to doing it,
but the reason why you have to spend so much time on the questions is because you're reading passages quickly, which prevents you from getting
a thorough understanding of the text. And if you're not able to completely understand the passages,
then you're gonna have to spend more time on the questions and more time flipping back to the passage to reread certain parts.
So here's where the reverse method comes into play. Instead of answering the questions quickly and reading the passages slowly,
I do the exact opposite. I spend more time reading the passages and less time answering the questions.
So it takes me about six to eight minutes to read each passage and
one to two minutes to answer the question set for each particular passage.
So I'm spending about 35 minutes reading all the passages and
a total of eight minutes answering all 52 questions,
giving me about 20 minutes or more than 20 minutes to spare. And besides improving your speed, this method will also improve your accuracy. And
the reason being is that when you're reading passages slowly but thoroughly,
you're more likely to pick up on tiny details that will help you answer some of the more specific questions.
So even if you're able to attain a general understanding by reading the passage fast,
you're likely to miss certain nuances in the text that make it hard to answer some of the questions. And this will also put you
at risk of falling for trap answers.
So this next tip builds off of the first tip. You want to make it a goal to only refer back to the passage when
the question asks you to. And while this might seem hard,
it's actually pretty easy to do once you gain a deep understanding of the text. And
this will save you a lot of time since you're not gonna be flipping back and forth between the questions and the passage.
The only time you should be flipping back to the passage is when you come across a question
that's something like, "What does this word in line 35 mean" or
"Which line best supports the answer to the previous question" or maybe even something like, "what is the purpose of this paragraph in lines
33 to 39." For those types of questions,
it's nearly impossible to answer them without going back to the passage and rereading specific lines.
But there is a trick you can do to answer those types of questions faster, which I'll explain in tip number 3.
Okay, so you might be used to crossing out each answer choice for the questions that are like, "which line best supports the answer to
the previous question" but this is a huge waste of time.
Well, I mean the whole SAT in general is a waste of time, but this is also a waste of time.
So what I do is instead of checking the lines and going back to the passage for each answer choice,
I think about whether I saw the evidence in the beginning, middle, or end of the passage. And from there,
I'm able to eliminate at least two answer choices. So I'm left with just checking the remaining two.
For example, in this question over here,
I would think about around where in the passage I remember that evidence being and if it was at the end of the passage,
then I'd be able to safely eliminate the first two options over here.
And then I'd just have to check the last two options.
Also just a bonus tip for these types of questions,
you want to make sure you're
underlining the line in the passage that you chose as the answer so that when you finish early it's easier for you to double check
your work, and you can see exactly where you found the evidence.
For questions that ask you to define words based on the context, do not choose primary definition
answers. I repeat: do not choose primary definition answers.
honestly, if you see a primary definition answer choice,
you can just eliminate it right off the bat. And just to clarify, the primary definition of a word is its main definition.
So for instance, you might have come across a question
like, "What does common mean in line 38?" Then a primary definition for common would be
usual or
typical, and a secondary definition would be
shared. And a trick for these types of questions is you can substitute your answer choice and see if it still makes sense.
So like say the question was talking about the word, "common."
You could replace the word, "common" with the word, "shared," and if it still makes sense in the context,
then it's likely gonna be the answer. And the reason why it's gonna be the answer is because the primary
definitions may be the definition of common,
but they're not gonna fit in that context because usually a word like "common" is being used for its secondary
definition if the question is asking like "What does it mean in this context?" Generally, it's not what you think it's gonna be.
It's the secondary definitions. So whatever answer choice you choose, it has to fit in the context.
Okay, when I say eat the science and history passages,
I literally mean eat the science and history
passages. During your SAT exam, tear out those two passages from your test booklet, make eye contact with your Proctor, and
with purpose, munch on those two fine delicacies. I'm
kidding, don't actually eat the science and history passages. They don't really taste that good. Trust me,
I would know. What you should do though is spend more time reading these two passages than any other passage in the test.
And the reason being is that they are dense, and they are riddled with complex language that makes it really difficult to thoroughly
understand. So if you're not reading carefully enough,
you might end up finishing a paragraph and have no idea what it was talking about. Or maybe you have a slight idea of
what it was talking about, like some scientific study on the human genome, but that's about it. So basically, it's okay
you're spending more time reading the science and history passages than say... the fiction passages,
but make sure that you're still spending one to two minutes answering each question set per passage.
The only thing I don't not like about the SAT is the feeling you get when you cross out answer choices right away.
It's kind of like getting revenge on our beloved nonprofit organization, who we shall never mention on this YouTube channel,
because you're literally taking a couple of seconds to cross out answers that took a certain company days, if not months, to perfect. But in
all seriousness,
I'd recommend crossing out answer choices for basically any question that is not the evidence questions
I mentioned earlier since for those questions, you don't have to check every single answer.
It might take some practice, but after reading each passage slowly and learning how to thoroughly read the text,
you'll eventually be able to cross out at least two answer choices for every single question. And
just a bonus tip:
if you get stuck on a question during the reading section,
put a star next to it, guess, and move on.
The worst thing you can do is dwell on a question during the reading section. That would not only affect your timing,
but also your confidence. And when you move through questions quickly,
you build a momentum that helps you gain confidence and avoid second-guessing yourself.
If you want to learn how to improve your SAT reading score by over 200 points,
or if you just some last-minute SAT reading tips,
I'll put a link to both videos in the end screen. And if you want to see me do another
SAT reading speedrun, except this time with explanations so that I can show my reasoning for each question,
make sure to subscribe and I will see you all in the next video!