On SAT Reading, do I read the passages or skip them?

Question

There's not enough time to read the passages and answer all the questions on the SAT reading, but some people get perfect scores. Are they just faster readers?

I know some people skip the passages. Is this the only way to do it?

Answer 1

The Reading section of the SAT can be challenging for slower readers, like myself. When I took SAT prep, they taught me to read the questions first so I knew what I was looking for. To build on Stephen's answer, you can skim the passage first and aim to gather what the passage is about prior to looking at the questions. I found this extremely useful, because not only will you have an idea of what the passage is about without reading in detail, but remembering key ideas and their location in the story will make answering questions much quicker instead of skimming through the entire passage for every single question.

Answer 2

Reading very quickly can be helpful on the SAT Reading section, but it’s not the only way to get a great score. 

Many people waste time by reading the passage first and trying to answer questions later. “Reading” can be a slow process since the reader is trying to understand everything. “Skimming” might work better because it lets the reader know where information is in the passage. 

Skipping the passage is another good option, but the SAT Reading questions have changed to make this harder in recent years. You can still do it, but you may have to answer the questions in a different order than they’re given in order to make best use of this.

Answer 3

Each student develops his or her own technique for reading passages on the SAT. For instance, there are many paired questions: “Which choice provides the evidence for the answer to the previous question?” Some students find the evidence and then answer the previous question. Also, bear in mind that you may need to develop different approaches to the history, science, social science and literary texts. For example, you must identify the thesis in the history passages. Keep it in mind to answer the detail questions, which point toward the same thesis as the main idea questions. However, in science, claims are made and then methodological steps are taken to provide evidence to prove or null the hypotheses. The writing can be dense so you have to develop your own art to skim the text and find the details. Lastly, students may find they are weak in a particular discipline. The SAT is testing your literacy in varying academic fields.

Answer 4

You must read the passage or the passages if it is a paired passage. I have developed my own educational tools for the Reading and Writing/Language sections of the SAT and ACT. Students who have implemented my strategies have gained more than 200 points!

The best way to accomplish this gain is through practice utilizing active reading.