I'm having trouble doing passage-based reading questions for the SAT. How do you deal with them?!?

Question

I've tried every single tactic, every single suggestive way to attack them, but nothing is working on me! The Princeton Review's method won't help, and I've tried numerous things from skimming the passage to using the CHART method - it's just not doing anything! The only way that I CAN do well on these questions is to read the passages normally, but that's time consuming, especially on a 25-minute section (the passages are usually 100+ lines long!). I feel like I don't get enough information when I skim the passages for the main idea, and it sure doesn't help me answer the questions either. Please help - I'd really appreciate it! Tips? Suggestions?

I also have some kind of trouble with the questions too..since a majority of the selective answers on a multiple choice question could be true in this case, it's hard to find the right answer. I know you have to choose the answer that is found in the passage, but I don't know..I still find it hard to get to the correct answer. Help!

Answer 1

Personally, I do the questions with specified line numbers first then I read however much is needed to answer the ones about the whole passage.

Answer 2

I always tell my students to read the questions first, then go back and look for the answer.

The other bit of advice I give them is to not stress out so much, and it sounds like you could use a little relaxation. Try to destress and clear your mind before the test. If you worry too much, then you will take more time to read the passages. Work on reading for fun. If you can read quickly for fun, it will transfer to your target reading.

For example, I read at about 100 pages an hour for fun. My test reading is slower, but I always have plenty of time to take the tests.

Answer 3

Try reading the question and looking for the answer.