11 Wrong on the Reading Section of Sat

Are you lot scoring in the 600-750 range on Sat Reading + Writing? Practise you want to raise that score as high as possible—to a perfect 800?

Getting to a perfect SAT Reading test score isn't easy. Information technology'll require perfection. But with hard work and my strategies below, y'all'll exist able to do it. I've consistently scored 800 on Reading on my existent SATs, and I know what it takes. Follow my advice, and you'll get a perfect score—or go very close.

Brief note: This article is suited for avant-garde students already scoring a 600 on Saturday Reading or in a higher place (this equates to a Reading Exam Score of 30+ out of forty). If you're below this range, my "How to Amend your Sat Reading Score to a 600" article is more than appropriate for you lot. Follow the SAT Reading tips in that article, then come dorsum to this one when you've reached a 600.

As well, the Sat has a unmarried 800 Reading + Writing score, combining the individual Reading and Writing examination scores. Technically, when I mention a perfect Reading test score, I'm referring to a perfect forty/forty examination score, which is essential to getting an 800 Reading and Writing score. In this guide, I'll employ 800 and 40 interchangeably to mean a perfect Reading score. Nosotros won't talk about Writing here, simply if you want to amend your Writing score too, check out my Perfect SAT Writing score guide.

Overview

Most guides on the internet on how to score an 800 are pretty depression quality. They're oft written by people who never scored an 800 themselves. You can tell because their advice is usually vague and non very businesslike. It'south not enough to be reminded of simple Reading tips similar "don't forget to guess on every question!"

In dissimilarity, I've written what I believe to be the all-time guide on getting an 800 available anywhere. I have confidence that these strategies work considering I used them myself to score 800 on Sat Reading consistently. They've too worked for thousands of my students at PrepScholar.

In this article, I'chiliad going to discuss why scoring an 800 is a skillful idea, what information technology takes to score an 800, then get into the 11 key Sabbatum Reading strategies so you lot know how to go a perfect Sat Reading score.

Stick with me—as an advanced student, yous probably already know that scoring high is practiced. But it's important to know why an 800 Reading and Writing score is useful, since this will fuel your motivation to get a high score.

This guide has been updated for the current Saturday, and so you lot tin can exist sure my advice works for the test you lot're most to have.

Final notation: in this guide, I talk mainly about getting to an 800. But if your goal is a 700, these strategies still as apply.

Sympathise the Stakes: Why an 800 SAT Reading + Writing?

Permit'due south make something clear: a 1550+ on an SAT is equivalent to a perfect 1600. No summit college is going to give yous more credit for a 1590 than a 1550. You lot've already crossed their score threshold, and whether you get in now depends on the rest of your application.

So if you lot're already scoring a 1550, don't waste your time studying trying to get a 1600. You're already gear up for the top colleges, and information technology'due south time to work on the residual of your application.

But if you're scoring a 1540 or below and you lot want to go to a peak x college, information technology's worth your time to push your score up to a 1550 or higher up. There's a big divergence betwixt a 1450 and a 1550, largely because it's easier to go a 1450 (and a lot more than applicants do) and a lot harder to get a 1550.

A 1540 places you right effectually average at Harvard and Princeton, and being average is bad in terms of Ivy League-level admissions, since the admissions rate is typically below 10%.

So why become an 800 on Sat Reading+Writing? Because information technology helps you compensate for weaknesses in other sections. Mostly, schools consider your blended score more than and so than your individual section scores. If you can get a perfect 40 in SAT Reading, you tin get a 39 in Sat Writing (for a total of 790 in Reading + Writing) and a 760 in SAT Math and still be confident well-nigh your test scores. This gives you a lot more flexibility.

Harvard's 75th percentile Reading score is 780.

There'southward another scenario where an 800 in SAT Reading is really important. If you're planning to apply as a humanities or social science major (like English, political scientific discipline, communications) to a pinnacle school.

Here's the reason: college admissions is all about comparisons betwixt applicants. The school wants to admit the all-time, and y'all're competing with other people in the same "saucepan" as you.

By applying as a humanities/social science major, yous're competing against other humanities/social scientific discipline folks: people for whom Sabbatum Reading is easy. Really easy.

Hither are a few examples from schools. For Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and U Chicago, the 75th percentile Saturday Reading score is a 770 or above. That means at least 25% of all students at these schools accept a 770 in SAT Reading.

Merely if you lot can piece of work your way to an 800, you lot prove that you're at an equal level (at to the lowest degree on this metric). Even if it takes y'all a ton of piece of work, all that matters is the score you accomplish at the stop.

I'll be honest—Sabbatum Reading wasn't my stiff suit in high school. When I started studying, I was scoring effectually the 700 range. I was always stronger in math and science.

But I learned the tricks of the test, and I developed the strategies below to raise my score to an 800. At present I'chiliad sharing them with you.

Know That Yous Can Do It

This isn't just some fuzzy feel-skilful message you come across on the back of a Starbucks loving cup.

I mean, literally, you and every other reasonably intelligent pupil tin score a perfect SAT Reading score.

The reason most people don't is they don't try difficult enough or they don't study the correct way.

Even if language isn't your strongest suit, or you lot got a B+ in AP English language, you're capable of this.

Because I know that more than anything else, your Sabbatum score is a reflection of how hard y'all work and how smartly you study.

SAT Reading is Designed to Pull a fast one on Yous. Y'all Need to Learn How

Here's why: the SAT is a weird examination. When you take it, don't you get the sense that the questions are null like what you've seen in school?

I bet you lot've had this problem: in Sabbatum Reading passages, y'all frequently miss questions because of an 'unlucky estimate.' You lot'll try to eliminate a few respond choices, and the remaining answer choices will all sound equally good to y'all.

Well, y'all throw upward your easily and randomly guess.

This was 1 of the major issues for myself when I was studying Sat Reading, and I know it affects thousands of my students at PrepScholar.

The Sabbatum is purposely designed this way to confuse you. Literally millions of other students accept the exact same problem you exercise. And the SAT knows this.

Commonly in your schoolhouse'southward English class, the instructor tells you that all interpretations of the text are valid. Yous tin can write an essay well-nigh annihilation you want, and English language teachers aren't (usually) allowed to tell you that your stance is wrong. This is because they can make it trouble for telling you what to think, especially for complex issues like slavery or poverty.

Simply the SAT has an entirely different trouble. It's a national test, which means it needs a level playing field for all students around the country. It needs a solid exam to compare students with each other. Every question needs a unmarried, unambiguously, 100% right answer.

In that location'due south only ever one correct answer. Find a way to eliminate iii incorrect answers.

Imagine if this weren't the case. Imagine that each reading answer had two answer choices that might each exist plausibly correct. When the scores came out, every single student who got the question wrong would mutter to the College Board most the examination being incorrect.

If this were true, the College Lath would then have to invalidate the question, which weakens the power of the test.

The College Board wants to avert this nightmare scenario. Therefore, every single Reading passage question has simply ane, single correct reply.

Simply the SAT disguises this fact. It asks questions similar:

1. The author would near likely concur with which of the post-obit statements?
2. The commencement paragraph primarily serves to:
3. In line twenty, 'dark' most nearly means:

Detect a pattern here? The SAT e'er disguises the fact that there'due south always one unambiguous reply. It tries to MAKE yous waver between two or three answer choices that are most likely.

And then you lot estimate randomly.

And and so you get it wrong.

You tin bet that students fall for this. Millions of times every year.

Students who don't ready for the Sat in the correct mode don't appreciate this. But, if you set for the Saturday in the right way, you lot'll learn the tricks the Sat plays on you. And you'll enhance your score.

The Sat Reading department is full of patterns like these. To meliorate your score, yous just need to:

• Learn the types of questions that the SAT tests, like the 1 to a higher place
• Learn strategies to solve these questions, using skills you already know
• Practice on a lot of questions so you learn from your mistakes

The point is that y'all can larn these skills, fifty-fifty if you don't consider yourself a proficient reader or a great English pupil. I'll become into more detail about exactly how to do this.

One last betoken: let's make sure we understand how many questions we tin miss to score an 800.

What Information technology Takes to Become a Perfect forty in Reading

If we take a target score in mind, it helps to sympathize what y'all need to get that score on the bodily test. There are 52 questions in the Reading section, and how many questions y'all miss determines your scaled score out of xl.

From the Official SAT Practice Tests, I've taken the raw score to scaled score conversion tables from four tests. (If you could utilise a refresher on how the SAT is scored and how raw scores are calculated, read this.)

Raw Score	Test 1	Examination 2	Exam 3	Exam 4
52	40	40	twoscore	40
51	40	39	xl	39
50	39	38	39	39
49	38	37	38	38
48	38	37	38	37
47	37	36	37	36
46	37	35	36	35
45	36	35	36	35

These grading scales are harsh. For tests two and 4, if you miss just one question, yous go dropped downwards to a 39. This means your maximum Reading + Writing score is a 790.

For tests 1 and 3, if you miss one question, you lot're still at a perfect xl, but miss another and yous drop down to a 39.

The scoring chart bend depends on the difficulty of the test. The harder the test, the easier the curve. Only you lot tin't predict what kind of test you're going to go on test twenty-four hours.

The safest affair to do is to aim for perfection. On every exercise examination, you need to aim for a perfect raw score for an 800.

Whatever y'all're scoring at present, take note of the difference you need to become to a 800. For example, if you're scoring a 35 raw score, you need to answer six to seven more questions right to get to a perfect 40 and an 800.

As a final example, here's a screenshot from my exact score report from March 2014, showing that I missed one question and earned an 800.

(This was from the previous 2400 version of the Sat, but it had a like grading scale).

OK—so we've covered why scoring a higher Reading score is important, why you specifically are capable of improving your score, and the raw score you lot demand to become to your target.

Now we'll get into the meat of the commodity: actionable strategies and reading tips that you should use in your ain studying to maximize your score improvement.

Strategies to Get a Perfect Sat Reading Score

What's your greatest weakness?

Strategy i: Understand Your High Level Weakness—Time Management or Passage Strategy?

Every student has different flaws in Sat Reading. Some people don't accept good strategies for tackling the passage questions. Others don't manage their time correctly and run out of time before getting through all the questions.

Here's how you tin figure out which one applies more to you:

• Find an official SAT practice test, and take but the Reading section. We have the complete list of free practice tests here.

• For each section, apply a timer and have it count down the 65 minutes for the Reading department. Care for information technology similar a existent test.

• If time runs out for that section and you're 100% set up to motion on, then motility on. If you're not set up to movement on, keep on working for as long as y'all need. For every new respond or answer that you lot change, mark it with a special note as "Actress Fourth dimension."

• When you're set up, grade your examination using the reply primal and score nautical chart, but we desire two scores: 1) The Realistic score y'all got under normal timing conditions, and 2) The Extra Time score. This is why you marked the questions you answered or changed during Extra Time.

Get what we're doing here? By marking which questions yous did under Extra Time, we can figure out what score you lot got if y'all were given all the time you needed. This will help u.s.a. figure out where your weaknesses lie.

If you didn't have any extra time, and then your Extra Fourth dimension score is the same equally your Realistic score.

Here'southward a flowchart to assistance you effigy this out:

Was your Extra Time score a 35 or above?

If NO (Actress Fourth dimension score < 35), then you have strategy and content weaknesses. All the extra time in the world couldn't get you above a 35, so your commencement angle of attack will be to find your weaknesses and attack them (Nosotros'll encompass this after).

If YES (Extra Time score > 35), and so:

Was your Realistic score a 35 or above?

If NO (Actress Time score > 35, Realistic < 35), and then that means you lot have a deviation between your Extra Time score and your Realistic score. If this departure is more than three points, then you have some big problems with fourth dimension management. Nosotros need to figure out why this is. Are you using the all-time passage reading strategy for you? Does it accept you also much fourth dimension to get the respond for each question? Generally, doing a lot of do questions and learning the almost efficient passage strategies volition aid reduce your time. More on this after.

If YES (both Actress Time and Realistic scores > 35), then you lot have a really good shot at getting an 800. Compare your Extra Time and Realistic score—if they differed by more than than ii points, then you would benefit from learning how to solve questions more quickly. If not, then you likely can benefit from shoring upwards on your last content weaknesses and avoiding careless mistakes (more than on this strategy afterwards).

Hopefully that makes sense. Typically I run across that students have both timing and content issues, just you might discover that one is much more dominant for yous than the other. For example, if you lot can become a 40 with extra fourth dimension, but score a 35 in regular time, y'all know exactly that y'all need to piece of work on time direction to get a 40.

This type of assay is so important that it's a central part of my prep plan, PrepScholar. When a new student joins, he or she gets a diagnostic that figures out specific strengths and weaknesses. The plan then automatically customizes your learning then that you're always studying according to where you can brand the most improvement.

No thing what your weakness is, my following strategies volition address all weaknesses comprehensively.

Strategy ii: Learn to Eliminate 3 Incorrect Answers

This strategy was by far the most effective for me in raising my Reading score. It completely changed the way I viewed passage questions.

I spent some time talking above virtually how the Sat e'er has 1 unambiguous reply. This has a huge implication for the strategy y'all should apply to detect the right SAT Reading reply.

Hither'due south the other fashion to see it: Out of the iv respond choices, iii of them have something that is totally wrong virtually them. Only one reply is 100% correct, which ways the other iii are 100% incorrect.

You know how you effort to eliminate answer choices, and and so end up with a few at the end that all seem every bit probable to be correct? "Well, this tin can piece of work...but then again this could piece of work too..."

STOP doing that. You're not doing a good enough task of eliminating answer choices. Remember—every single wrong pick tin can be crossed out for its own reasons.

You demand to do a 180 on your approach to Reading questions. Instead, find a reason to eliminate three answer choices. "Tin can I detect a reason to eliminate this answer choice? How about this one?"

You have to learn how to eliminate 3 respond choices for every single question.

"Bully, Allen. Only this doesn't tell me anything almost how to eliminate answer choices."

Thank you for asking. One thing to recollect is that even a single give-and-take can make an answer choice wrong. Every unmarried give-and-take in each reply choice is put at that place past the Saturday for a reason. If a unmarried word in the reply choice isn't supported by the passage text, you need to eliminate it, fifty-fifty if the residue of the answer sounds skilful.

There are a few classic wrong answer choices the Saturday loves to apply. Hither'southward an case question.

For example, let's imagine y'all just read a passage talking about how human being evolution shaped the surroundings. It gives a few examples. Get-go, information technology talks nigh how the transition from before species like Man habilus to neanderthals led to more than tool usage like fire, which acquired wildfires and shaped the ecology. It then talks nearly Homo sapiens xl,000 years agone and their overhunting of species like woolly mammoths to extinction.

Then and so we run into a question asking, "Which of the post-obit all-time describes the main subject of the passage?" Here are the respond choices:

• A: The transition betwixt Homo habilus and neanderthals
• B: The written report of evolution
• C: How the environment shaped human evolution
• D: The plausibility of evolution
• East: The influence of human development on ecology

(We're using 5 answers for purposes of illustration—the Sat will only have four choices).

As you lot're reading these answer choices, a few of them probably started sounded really plausible to you.

Surprise! Each of the answers from A-D has something seriously incorrect about information technology. Each 1 is a archetype example of a wrong answer type given by the SAT.

Incorrect Respond 1: Too Specific

A: The transition between Homo habilus and neanderthals

This type of wrong answer focuses on a smaller detail in the passage. It's meant to flim-flam y'all considering you might think to yourself, "well, I see this mentioned in the passage, so it's a plausible answer option."

Wrong! Call up to yourself—tin this answer pick really describe the unabridged passage? Tin can it basically office as the championship of this passage? You lot'll discover that it's just way too specific to convey the point of the overall passage.

Incorrect Answer 2: Besides Broad

B: The study of evolution

This type of wrong reply has the opposite problem—it'south way besides broad. Yes, theoretically the passage concerns the study of evolution, but simply one aspect of it, and especially as information technology relates to the touch on the surroundings.

To requite some other ludicrous example, if you lot talked to your friend about your prison cell phone, and he said your main point was about the universe. Yes, y'all were talking virtually the universe, merely only a tiny fraction of it. This is way too broad.

Wrong Reply 3: Reversed Relationship

C: How the environment shaped human evolution

This wrong respond choice tin exist tricky because information technology mentions all the right words. But of course the relationship between those words needs to be right too. Here, the human relationship is flipped. Students who read too chop-chop make careless mistakes like these!

Wrong Reply iv: Unrelated Concept

D: The plausibility of evolution

Finally, this kind of wrong answer preys on the tendency of students to overthink the question. If you're passionate nearly arguing about evolution, this might be a trigger reply since whatever discussion of development becomes a take chances to fence nearly the plausibility of evolution. Of grade, this concept will appear nowhere in the passage, but some students just won't be able to resist.

Practice you see the bespeak? On the surface, each of the answer choices sounds maybe right. A less prepared student would think that all of these were plausible answers.

But plausible isn't good enough. The right answer needs to be 100%, totally right. Incorrect answers might be off by fifty-fifty one word—y'all need to eliminate these.

Deport this thought into every Sabbatum Reading passage question you do and I guarantee you will get-go raising your score.

Strategy 3: Predict the Answer Before Reading the Respond Choices

As we've discussed already, the Sat is designed to goad you into making mistakes by putting really similar answer choices next to each other.

In Strategy 2, we covered the strategy of ruthless, unforgiving emptying of answer choices.

Here's another Strategy that works well for me. Earlier reading the answer choices, come up upwards with your own answer to the question.

Gaze into your crystal ball and predict the right reply.

This strategy is exactly designed to counteract the trickiness of the respond choices.

If you don't apply this strategy, your thinking process likely meanders like this:

"OK, I just read the question. Reply A is definitely out. B can kind of work. C...information technology doesn't exactly fit, simply I can see how information technology might work." and so on. By now, you've already fallen into the Higher Board'southward trap of muddling the answer choices.

Take the opposite arroyo. While you're reading the question, come up with your ain ideal respond to the question earlier reading the reply choices. This prevents y'all from getting biased by the Sat's answer choices, especially the incorrect ones.

If it's a "Big Picture" type question asking nearly the main point of the passage, answer for yourself, "What would make a good title for this passage?"

If information technology's an "Inference" question, reply for yourself, "What would the writer call back about the situation given in the question?"

Even if you can't answer the question direct abroad—for case, if you lot accept to refer back to the line number to think what the passage was proverb—endeavour to solve the question before looking at the answer choices.

The cardinal hither is that the passage must support your answer choice. Every right answer on SAT passages needs to be justified by the passage—otherwise the answer would exist ambiguous, which would crusade bug of cancelling questions I referred to earlier.

Warning: this only works if you tin read and empathise passages well, and if you lot accept prior feel with SAT Reading questions! That's why I don't recommend this strategy yet before you striking a 600 level since you're more than likely to come up upwards with the incorrect answer pick in your head.

Strategy 4: Experiment With Passage Reading Strategies and Find the All-time for You

In your prep for the SAT, y'all may have read unlike strategies for how to read a passage and answer questions. Some students read the questions earlier reading the passage. Others read the passage in detail showtime.

At your high level, I tin't predict which method will work best for yous. We're going for perfection, which means that your strategy needs to line upwardly with your strengths and weaknesses perfectly, or else you lot'll make mistakes or run out of time.

What I will do, however, is become through the most effective methods. Y'all'll then accept to figure out through your test data which 1 leads to the highest score for yous.

Passage Method 1: Skim the Passage, So Read the Questions

This is the about common strategy I recommend to our students, and in my eyes the nearly effective. I prefer this one myself.

Here information technology is:

• Skim the passage on the beginning read through. Don't try to understand every single line, or write notes predicting what the questions will be. Just go a general understanding of the passage. You want to try to terminate reading the passage in three minutes, if possible.
• Next, become to the questions. If the question refers to a line number, then go dorsum to that line number and empathise the text around information technology.
• If yous tin can't answer a question within 30 seconds, skip it.

My preferred style to tackle a passage: skimming it on the first read-through.

This strategy is a revelation for students who used to close-read a passage and run out of time.

This skimming method works because the questions will ask virtually far fewer lines than the passage actually contains. For example, lines 5-twenty of a reading passage might not be relevant to any question that follows. Therefore, if you spend time trying to securely understand lines 5-twenty, yous'll be wasting fourth dimension.

Past taking the opposite arroyo of going back to the passage when you need to refer to information technology, you lot guarantee reading efficiency. Y'all're focusing simply on the parts of the passage that are important to answering questions.

Critical Skill: You must be able to skim effectively. This ways beingness able to quickly assimilate a text without having to slowly read every discussion. If you're non quite practiced at this yet, practice information technology on paper manufactures and your homework reading.

Passage Method 2: Read the Questions Get-go and Mark the Passage

This is the second most common strategy and, if used well, every bit effective equally the first method. Simply information technology has some pitfalls if you don't exercise it correctly.

Here's how it goes:

• Before yous read the passage, go to the questions and read each one.
• If the question refers to a series of lines, mark those lines on the passage. Take a brief note nigh the gist of the question.
• Go back to the passage and skim it. When you achieve one of your notes, slow down and accept more than observe of the question.
• Respond the questions.

Here's an example passage that I marked upwardly, with questions coming offset. Notice that beyond underlining the phrase referenced in the question, I left clues for myself on what's important to get out of this phrase.

(questions non relating to specific lines aren't shown above)

In the hands of an SAT good, this is a powerful strategy. Only like Method i above, you lot save time by skipping parts of the passage that aren't asked about. Furthermore, you get a caput start on the questions by trying to respond them beforehand.

Just there are serious potential pitfalls to this method if you're non careful or prepared plenty.

Here's one: when yous showtime read the questions before the passage, yous won't have enough time to digest the actual answer choices (nor will they make sense to you). And so you accept to make your all-time guess for what the question is asking when you're writing a note along the passage.

In some cases, this can lead y'all astray. Take this example from above:

When I read the question, I saw that information technology asked me to detect how Woolf characterized the questions I marked in lines 53-57.

The problem is how broad the question is. How something tin exist characterized gives a wide range of options. Here are a number of plausible characterizations as I read the text:

• of import, life-irresolute ("have to ask ourselves")
• communal ("we")
• item-oriented ("on what terms?")
• urgent ("here and now")
• ambitious
• progressive and future-looking ("where is it leading u.s.")

There's a lot of flexibility in interpretation here, since the questions really do touch on upon all these characterizations.

It turns out "important" and "urgent" are the right interpretations, for answer choice C.

Simply when I'm reading the passage and meet my note, I tin waste a lot of time coming up with potential options that aren't even correct respond choices. In the worst example, it can bias me toward the wrong reply.

Disquisitional Skill: You need to have and so much experience with the SAT Reading department that you can anticipate what the question is going to ask you lot for your notes to be helpful. If you're not certain of this, you can easily be led down the wrong track and focus on the wrong aspect of the passage.

Passage Method 3: Read the Passage in Detail, And then Reply Questions

This method is what beginner students usually use by default, because it'due south what they've been trained to do in schoolhouse. Some beginner books like Princeton Review and Kaplan also propose this every bit a strategy.

Information technology'due south my least favorite method because there are and then many ways for information technology to go wrong. But for the sake of abyss, I'1000 listing it here in case it works all-time for you.

Hither's how it goes:

• Read the passage in detail, line by line.
• Take notes to yourself about the main point of each paragraph.
• Reply the questions.

Equally you might judge, I don't similar this method for the post-obit reasons:

• By reading the passage closely, you lot blot a lot of details that aren't useful for answering questions.
• The notes you take aren't directed toward helping you answer the questions.
• By interpreting the passage alee of time, you risk being led astray.

But this might work especially well for yous if you're very adept at reading for agreement, and if yous have so much expertise with the SAT that you can predict what the test is going to ask you lot about anyway.

Choose Which Works Best for You, Based on Test Information

Because I can't predict which one will work best for you, you need to figure this out yourself. To exercise this, you need cold, hard data from your exam scores.

Attempt each method on 2 sample exam passages each, and tally upwards your percentage score for each. If ane of them is a clear winner for you lot, and then develop that method further. If at that place isn't a articulate winner, choose the one that feels near comfortable for you lot.

Equally part of our PrepScholar program, we requite you avant-garde statistics on your score performance so that you tin can experiment with methods that piece of work all-time for you lot.

Next strategy: Understand your mistakes.

Strategy v: Understand Every Unmarried Mistake You Brand

On the path to perfection, yous need to brand sure every unmarried ane of your weak points is covered. Even just one error will knock you down from an 800, as we saw in the score charts higher up.

The starting time pace is simply to do a ton of practise. If you're studying from free materials or from books, you have access to a lot of exercise questions in bulk. As function of our PrepScholar program, we accept over 7,000 Saturday questions customized to each skill.

The 2d footstep—and the more than important part—is to be ruthless virtually understanding your mistakes.

Every mistake you lot brand on a test happens for a reason. If you don't understand exactly why y'all missed that question, yous will make that mistake over and again.

I've seen students who did 20 practice tests. They've solved over 3,000 questions, but they're withal nowhere most a perfect SAT Reading score.

Why? They never understood their mistakes. They just hit their heads against the wall over and over once more.

Think of yourself as an exterminator, and your mistakes are cockroaches. You lot need to eliminate every single one—and find the source of each one—or else the restaurant you work for will be shut downwardly.

Here's what you need to practise:

• On every practice test or question set that you have, marker every question that you're even xx% unsure most.
• When you grade your examination or quiz, review every unmarried question that you lot marked, and every incorrect question. This way even if you guessed a question correctly, yous'll make sure to review it.
• In a notebook, write down:
       #1: the gist of the question
       #2: why you missed information technology, and
       #3: what you'll do to avoid that mistake in the future.
  Have carve up sections by question type (vocab questions, big motion-picture show questions, inference questions, etc).

Information technology'due south not enough to simply think about it and motion on. It's not enough to just read the answer explanation. You have to think difficult well-nigh why you specifically failed on this question.

By taking this structured arroyo to your mistakes, you lot'll at present have a running log of every question you missed, and your reflection on why.

No excuses when it comes to your mistakes.

Always Go Deeper—Why Did You Miss a Reading Question?

Now, what are some mutual reasons that you missed a question? Don't just say, "I didn't get this question right." That's a cop out.

Always take it 1 step further—what specifically did you miss, and what do y'all have to improve in the future?

Here are some examples of common reasons you miss a Reading question, and how you lot have the assay one step further:

Elimination: I couldn't eliminate enough incorrect answer choices, or I eliminated the correct reply.

1 footstep further: Why couldn't I eliminate the answer pick during the test? How can I eliminate reply choices like this in the time to come?

Careless Error: I misread what the question was asking for or answered for the wrong thing.

One pace further: Why did I misread the question? What should I do in the futurity to avoid this?

Vocab: I didn't know what the primal give-and-take meant.

I step further: What word was this? What is the definition? Are there other words in this question I didn't know?

Go the thought? Yous're really digging into agreement why you lot're missing questions.

Yes, this is hard, and it'due south draining, and information technology takes work. That'south why most students who study ineffectively don't improve.

Many people don't know the right fashion to report. Of the people who do, very few will diligently apply the right methods, day in, and day out, with subject.

But you're different. Just by reading this guide, yous're already proving that y'all care more than other students. And if you apply these principles and analyze your mistakes, you'll improve more than other students too.

Reviewing mistakes is then important that in PrepScholar, for every one of our 7,000+ exercise questions, we explicate in detail how to get the correct answer, and why incorrect answers are incorrect. We besides point out bait answers so that you can yous can larn the tricks that the Saturday plays on exam takers like y'all.

Bonus Tip: Re-Solve the Question Before Reading the Answer Caption

When you lot're reviewing practice questions, the beginning affair you probably do is read the answer caption and at near reflect on it a piddling.

This is a piddling too easy. I consider this passive learning—you lot're non actively engaging with the mistake you lot fabricated.

Instead, try something dissimilar—detect the right answer pick (A-D), but don't look at the explanation. Instead, endeavour to re-solve the question in one case over over again and try to get to the correct respond.

This will often be hard. Y'all couldn't solve information technology the first time, so why could yous solve it the second time around?

Only this fourth dimension, with less time pressure, you might spot a new reason to eliminate the wrong respond option, or something else will pop upward. Something will just "click" for you.

When this happens, what you learned will stick with y'all for 20 times longer than if y'all just read an answer caption. I know this from personal experience. Because you've struggled with it and reached a breakthrough, you retain that information far improve than if you just passively absorbed the information.

This is perfect for Sabbatum Reading considering you'll often miss a question considering of an incorrect interpretation of the text. By forcing yourself to get the correct answer, you'll practise getting the correct estimation of the text. Even meliorate, you'll be scrounging the passage for clues equally to why the right answer is right, which is exactly what you need in your passage strategy to begin with.

It'due south also easy to simply read an reply explanation and have information technology go in one ear and out the other. You won't actually larn from your mistake, and y'all'll make that mistake over and over once more.

Treat each wrong question like a puzzle. Struggle with each wrong answer for upwards to 10 minutes. Only and then if you don't go it should you read the answer explanation.

Strategy 6: Find Your Reading Skill Weaknesses and Drill Them

Reading passage questions might wait similar, just they actually test very different skills. At PrepScholar nosotros believe the major passage skills to be:

1. Big Moving-picture show/Main Point
2. Little Flick/Detail
3. Inference
4. Words and Phrases in Context
5. Citing Textual Evidence
6. Perspective
7. Analyzing Discussion Choice
8. Analyzing Text Structure
9. Analyzing Multiple Texts
10. Analyzing Quantitative Info

Whew—that's a lot of skills. That's a much more than detailed breakdown than what appears at first glance, and what most books and courses offer.

Each of these question types uses different skills in how you read and clarify a passage. They each require a different method of prep and focused practice.

The SAT requires a lot of skills. Make sure you know which ones are your weaknesses.

If you're like most students, you're meliorate at some areas in Reading than others. Y'all might be better at getting the Big Moving-picture show of a passage, compared to the Inference. Or yous might exist really strong in vocabulary, merely weak in understanding the role of sentences in a passage.

If yous're like virtually students, yous also don't have an unlimited amount of time to study. This means for every hr you lot report for the SAT, it needs to exist the most effective hour possible.

In concrete terms, you demand to find your greatest areas of improvement and work on those.

Too many students written report the 'dumb' way. They only buy a volume and read information technology embrace to cover. When they don't improve, they're shocked.

I'm non.

Studying effectively for the Sabbatum isn't similar painting a house. You're not trying to comprehend all your bases with a very sparse layer of agreement.

What these students did wrong was they wasted time on subjects they already knew, and they didn't spend enough fourth dimension on their weaknesses.

Instead, studying effectively for the Sabbatum is like plugging upwardly the holes of a leaky boat. You need to find the biggest hole, and fill information technology. Then you observe the adjacent biggest pigsty, and you fix that. Soon you lot'll find that your gunkhole isn't sinking at all.

How does this chronicle to SAT Reading? Yous need to find the sub-skills that y'all're weakest in, and then drill those until you're no longer weak in them. Fix up the biggest holes.

Within reading, y'all need to figure out whether you have patterns to your mistakes. Is it that you don't get Inference questions? Or maybe you're really weak at interpreting details? Or from strategy one: is it that you're running out of time in reading passages?

For every question that you lot miss, y'all demand to identify the blazon of question it is. When you discover patterns to the questions you lot miss, you and then need to find extra practice for this subskill.

Say you lot miss a lot of inference questions (this is typically the hardest type of question for students to get). You demand to observe a way to get focused practise questions for this skill then y'all can drill your mistakes.

Bonus: If all of this is making sense to yous, you'd love our Sat prep program, PrepScholar.

We designed our programme effectually the concepts in this article, because they actually work. When y'all offset with PrepScholar, yous'll take a diagnostic that volition determine your weaknesses in over xl SAT skills. PrepScholar so creates a report program specifically customized for you.

To ameliorate each skill, you'll have focused lessons defended to each skill, with over xx practice questions per skill. This volition train you for your specific area weaknesses, so your time is always spent most effectively to raise your score.

We also force y'all to focus on agreement your mistakes and learning from them. If you make the same mistake over and over over again, nosotros'll telephone call you out on it.

There's no other prep system out at that place that does it this fashion, which is why we become ameliorate score results than whatsoever other program on the market.

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Strategy seven: Read the Italicized Passage Introduction

This is a quick tip that many students ignore. Each passage comes with an italicized introduction, like this for the passage shown above:

This is a freebie. It gives you context for the entire passage. By knowing that the passage is about "the state of affairs of women in English order," you lot striking the basis running when you read the very offset sentence. This helps a lot.

Sometimes, the introduction alone can give yous the reply for the "Big Picture show" question about what the main bespeak of the passage is.

E'er always make sure that y'all read this introduction, no thing what passage method y'all apply from Strategy 4.

Strategy 8: Be Interested in the Passage Bailiwick Thing

The Sat has passages about a lot of weird topics. Victorian novels, underwater basket-weaving, and the development of gerbils are all fair game.

Information technology's unlikely that you lot're naturally thrilled near all the subjects yous'll read about.

This makes it easy to tune out when y'all're reading the passage. This makes it harder to reply the questions, which volition brand you more frustrated.

Instead, adopt this mindset: For the next ten minutes, I am the world's most passionate person most whatever field of study this passage is about. This passage is the most frickin' exciting thing I could be reading right at present.

For every single passage, be as excited equally she is.

Forcefulness yourself to care about what the passage is telling y'all. Pretend that your life depends on understanding this passage. Maybe you're well-nigh to requite a lecture on this subject field. Or someone'south belongings a puppy earnest if you don't reply enough questions correctly.

Or your crush turns out to exist a huge mid-18th century English language literature fan, then you pay rapt attending to every single word.

When I was preparing for the Sat in high school, I took this and then far to the extreme that I concluded up genuinely fascinated by whatsoever the passage was telling me about. I think reading a passage about volcanic action and thinking, "Wow, I'm really glad I just learned this." (I know this sounds crazy.)

If yous stay engaged while reading, y'all'll understand the passage and so much better, and you lot'll reply questions with way more than accuracy.

Strategy 9: Don't Spend Time on Vocab

Vocab typically gets style too much attending from students. It feels proficient to study vocab flashcards, because information technology seems like you're making progress. "I studied 1,000 vocab words—this must mean I improved my score!"

This is why other exam prep programs honey teaching you vocab—it feels like they're pedagogy you something useful worth your money, simply information technology's not obvious that vocab actually isn't helping your score.

Fortunately, vocab doesn't play a large part in your SAT Reading score anymore. This is especially true in the current Saturday. They've completely taken out Sentence Completion questions, and the words that yous have to analyze in context are normally pretty common.

Here are examples of words that you need to sympathise in context in the current SAT:

• clashing
• clashes
• convey
• plastic
• postulate

These are somewhat advanced words, simply they're nowhere near the level of the words you lot used to have to know, like "baroque," "diatribes," "platitudes," and "progenitor."

Higher Board lowered the accent on vocab because of complaints that memorizing esoteric vocab was useless in higher success and career success. Instead, information technology'south now asking you to figure out the pregnant of more mutual words the way the author intended.

For example, "plastic" can hateful "malleable," "artificial," or "sculptural." Merely i of these is correct in the context of the passage.

This doesn't mean that vocab is totally useless. For ane, Saturday Writing however has a few vocab questions (read more almost this in my Perfect Sabbatum Writing guide). Furthermore, sometimes knowing the definition of the words in context is helpful.

Hither are a few tips on what to learn, and how to learn vocab effectively.

First, I've written a super detailed guide on the best way to study SAT vocabulary. This method makes your studying much more efficient and so y'all retain words longer and engage with the most difficult vocab most frequently.

2d, you need to accept notes on vocab words that you don't know that yous come across in your practice questions. Don't just focus on the right answers—understand the definition of wrong answers as well.

Simply take notes from official SAT tests. Information technology'due south hard to predict what words the SAT will use, and the Sabbatum doesn't often repeat words from previous tests. Just the official costless practise tests from the Official Study Guide that we integrate in our PrepScholar program are the all-time sources.

Strategy 9B: Don't Spend Time Reading Books or Magazines

Over the many years I've studied for tests or run a test prep company, I've heard this communication for SAT Reading: "Read nifty novels and well-written magazines, like in the New York Times or the Atlantic. This will assist with reading comprehension."

I hate this advice.

A test similar SAT Reading is very specific. It tests reading comprehension in very specific and formulaic means, every bit I showed with all the question types in Strategy iii.

Reading for general leisure does NOT railroad train you effectively for the examination. Yous're not exercising the same skills you demand on the test, nor is it goal-driven enough to aid you brand progress.

This terrible advice is like saying you can railroad train for a swim meet past standing in the shower for longer. Yeah, by being in the shower, you'll be in water, just like you volition in the swimming pool. But you're not using the same skills.

Yep, if y'all have a lifetime of strong reading, with thousands of hours of leisure reading experience, you will exercise better on Sabbatum Reading. But right now, reading general material won't help you efficiently.

Accept your extra time and do SAT Reading practice questions instead.

Strategy ten: Cease With Extra Time and Double Check

Your goal at the end of all this work is to get so expert at Sabbatum Reading that you solve every question and have extra time left over at the cease of the section to recheck your piece of work.

In high school, I was able to finish a Reading section in nigh 60% of the time allotted. For SAT Reading, this means finishing all passages and 52 questions in 40 minutes.

This means I have a whopping 25 minutes left over to recheck my answers two times over.

How did I get and so fast?

#i: I accept an efficient reading strategy that works best for me. Namely, I skim the passage and work through the questions afterwards.

#2: Through a lot of difficult work, I have a strong instinct for the test. I understand the test so well that when I read a question, I can predict the reply within a few seconds. I can dominion out wrong answers instantly because they simply feel incorrect. I've surveyed thousands of questions and understood every single Sat skill deeply to blueprint PrepScholar, so I can typically empathise exactly what the College Board is asking.

Kind of like Neo seeing code in The Matrix.

Here are some time benchmarks that might help:

• You should finish skimming a long passage within iii minutes.
• Each passage question should take yous no more than than 30 seconds.

If you tin can do this well, yous'll stop the entire department in 40 minutes, leaving a lot of time to double cheque.

What's the best way to double check your piece of work? I have a reliable method that I follow:

• Double check any questions you marked that you're unsure of. Try hard to eliminate answer choices. If it'southward a reading passage question, make sure that the passage supports your reply.

• If I'm 100% sure I'm right on a question, I mark it as such and never expect at it once again. If I'm not certain, I'll come back to it on the third pass.

• At least ii minutes before time'due south upward, I apace double cheque that I bubbled the answers correctly. I try to practice this all at one time so as not to waste time looking dorsum and along betwixt the test book and the answer canvas. Go five at a fourth dimension ("A D B C B") for more speed.

If you notice yourself spending more 30 seconds on a problem and aren't clear how you lot'll get to the answer, skip and go to the next question. Even though you demand a near perfect raw score for an 800, don't exist afraid to skip. You can come dorsum to information technology afterward, and for now it's more important to get as many points as possible.

Quick Tip: Bubbling Answers

Here's a bubbling tip that volition salvage yous two minutes per section.

When I starting time started exam taking in loftier schoolhouse, I did what many students practice: after I finished one question, I went to the chimera canvass and filled it in. And so I solved the next question. Finish question 1, bubble in reply i. Cease question two, bubble in answer 2. Then forth.

This actually wastes a lot of time. You lot're distracting yourself betwixt two distinct tasks—solving questions, and bubbling in answers. This costs you fourth dimension in both mental switching costs and in physically moving your hand and eyes to different areas of the test.

Here'south a better method: solve all your questions outset in the book, and then bubble all of them in at once.

This has several huge advantages: y'all focus on each task one at a time, rather than switching between two different tasks. Y'all also eliminate careless entry errors, like if you skip question seven and bubble in question eight's answer into question 7'south slot.

By saving merely ten seconds per question, y'all get back 200 seconds on a department that has 20 questions. This is huge.

Note: If you use this strategy, you should already be finishing the section with ample extra time to spare. Otherwise, yous might run out of time before you have the chance to bubble in the respond choices all at once.

Strategy 11: Exist Set up for Turbulence in Scores

Now you lot know what it takes to achieve perfection in SAT Reading.

Yous know the best strategies to use for tackling the passage. You know how to place your weaknesses and larn from them. You know how to save time, and you know to stay engaged while reading a passage.

Even despite all this, sometimes a passage just won't click with you.

Of all SAT sections, I discover that Reading has the about volatile score. How you vibe with a passage has a large bear on on your score. Yous might go a cord of questions incorrect just because you couldn't really empathize what the passage was really about. This doesn't happen on Math or Writing.

No matter what happens, you demand to keep calm and keep working.

Y'all might swing from an 800 on one practice test to a 710 on another. Don't let that faze you. Don't kickoff doubting all the hard work you lot've put in.

Go on a calm head, and, like always, work difficult on reviewing your mistakes.

This might even happen on the real Sat. Yous might get beneath your target score and be brokenhearted.

Option yourself upwardly. This happens. If yous've consistently been getting 800's on practise tests, you should take the test again and try to score higher. Very likely, you volition. And because well-nigh schools nowadays superscore the SAT, you can combine that new 800 with your other sections for an crawly SAT score.

In Overview

Those are the primary strategies I have for you to meliorate your Sat Reading score to an 800. If you're scoring above a 600 right now, with difficult work and smart studying, you can enhance it to a perfect Sat Reading score.

Even though nosotros covered a lot of strategies, the main point is still this: you demand to empathize where y'all're falling short, and drill those weaknesses continuously. You need to exist thoughtful virtually your mistakes and go out no mistake ignored.

Here's a epitomize of all the strategies, in example you desire to get back and review any:

Strategy 1: Understand Your Loftier Level Weakness: Time Management or Passage Strategy
Strategy 2: Learn to Eliminate 3 Wrong Answers
Strategy iii: Predict the Answer Before Reading the Answer Choices
Strategy 4: Experiment with Passage Reading Strategies and Find the Best for You
Strategy five: Understand Every Single Mistake You Make
Strategy vi: Find Your Reading Skill Weaknesses and Drill Them
Strategy 7: Read the Italicized Passage Introduction
Strategy viii: Be Interested in the Passage Discipline Matter
Strategy 9: DON'T Spend Time on Vocab
Strategy 10: End With Extra Time and Double Check
Strategy eleven: Be Ready for Turbulence in Scores

Keep reading for more resources on how to boost your SAT score.

What's Adjacent?

We accept a lot more than useful guides to raise your SAT score.

Read our complete guide to a perfect 1600, written by me, a perfect scorer.

Read our accompanying guide to a 800 on SAT Math.

Learn how to write a perfect-scoring 12 Sat essay, step by step.

Desire to improve your Sat score past 160 points? We have the industry's leading Saturday prep plan. Built by Harvard grads and SAT full scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, and so customizes your prep program to yous so you lot become the most effective prep possible.

I built the PrepScholar program based on the principles in this article—the principles that worked for me and thousands of our students. I'm confident they'll as well work with yous.

Check out our 5-twenty-four hours free trial today:

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Virtually the Author

As co-founder and head of product blueprint at PrepScholar, Allen has guided thousands of students to success in SAT/ACT prep and college admissions. He's committed to providing the highest quality resources to assistance you succeed. Allen graduated from Harvard University summa cum laude and earned ii perfect scores on the Saturday (1600 in 2004, and 2400 in 2014) and a perfect score on the ACT. You can besides discover Allen on his personal website, Shortform, or the Shortform blog.

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Source: https://blog.prepscholar.com/how-to-get-800-on-sat-reading-10-strategies-by-a-perfect-scorer

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