SAT passage reading is a part of the Critical Reading section of the SAT worth 800 points. While Critical reading is divided into two parts – Sentence Completion and Passage-Based Reading; the latter is what is more challenging, difficult of the sort. Passage-Based Reading questions need you to think and write about a single passage or a pair of related passages. Passages are between 450-600 words long. Hence, your ability to read and think carefully is judged here.

Passage Reading Flow :-

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Geez! so we know that the College Board is really into the Critical Reading since it devotes an entire 800-point section to this skill on the SAT. Here’s an overview of the format of the Critical Reading Section of the SAT.

Critical Reading (Multiple-Choice Questions)

1) Sentence Completions ( 19 questions)

2) Passage Based Reading/Reading Comprehension (long and short) (48 questions)

Total 67 questions in time allotted 70 minutes (two 25-minute sections; one 20-minutes section).

The Sentence Completions are plain old Fill in the Blanks sort  where an educated logical guess is all that it takes to ace the part;  the long and short  passage test entails general subjects which ask you to answer questions regarding the author’s point of view, the gist of the passage, editing in context etc.. The critical reading sections on SAT are designed to test your ability to read and understand written English so if you are an English speaker, it works well with some practice, but if you are not a native English speaker you might first like to brush up on your vocabulary and grammar before attempting any practice questions. Read more…

There are two types of critical reading portion in SAT: the sentence completion and the reading comprehension questions, which are both divided into three (3) sections, each of which has its own formatting.

You should expect to see something like the following on your test, but not necessarily as it is in order:

24-Question Critical Reading Section

24-Question Critical Reading Section

19-Question Critical Reading Section

With my last post Writing a Good SAT Essay, I discussed some insider tips to acing the SAT essay. In another post
Critical Reading in SAT , we had discussed about how to prepare for critical reading.

Now, we move on to the passage reading/questions part of the critical reading section. This portion of the SAT has traditionally stumped students, given its long, generally boring passages and difficult questions. This section is what gives students confidence that the SAT is not their friend. And it is not. It is designed to trick you and weed out the poor analyzers of literature. Well, poor analyzer or not, given the right advice, anyone can beat the SAT test makers at their own game. Read more…