Timothy K. answered • 03/27/19
13 Years of Teaching Experience (5 to 250 student classrooms)
I find that the most common problem that students run into with the reading section is that they are unable to answer the question because they do not correctly understand the passage. The most common reason for this that I've seen is that students do not understand the vocabulary. Something very frustrating is when there is a word that a student is very familiar with, but the test uses a very uncommon definition. Also, for non-native speakers, I have noticed that context comprehension is also difficult in passages that use a lot of slang.
The way to improve this is by first identifying which type of questions you get wrong the most (analytic, words in context, etc) and then targeting just those question types especially when reading topics that are the hardest for you. Some students have a hard time with science passages, others have a problem with founding documents, while still others have a hard time with literature. Finding your weakest point and strengthening that through targeted practice is the best way to really earn a high score on Reading. Good luck!
