<p>In all of the practice tests that I have done, I get nearly all (if not all) of the passage based questions right. </p>
<p>As you know there are 2 kinds of passages that will be given to you–either a pair of passages or a single passage. I find the pair of passages always easier to complete so I’ll deal with that one first. The two passages will either be contrasting or complementary. If you read the first sentence or two of each passage FIRST before doing anything else, you can usually tell whether they support or refute the other. Read the first passage and quickly move on to the second. Now that you have already decided the stand point on the second passage, you can read through it and look for points that stand out. For questions such as “the author of passage 1 would most likely agree that…” it is crucial that you know where each author stands on that particular topic. </p>
<p>Also, there is almost always going to be a super difficult, long passage to read on the SAT. If you are successful on the sentence completion questions then work through those quickly and effectively so you can maximize time on the passage. Read the passage thoroughly but only ONCE then continue on to the questions. When a question says “On line 15 the author…” refer back to the passage and read the first couple of lines before and after to get a better feel for the context of the sentence. Don’t be afraid to read SECTIONS of the passage while completing the questions. </p>
<p>And most importantly… know the types of questions that you will be asked for the passage based section. They are always in the same format! When you read the passage and you know what kinds of questions you will be asked later on, it is much easier to pinpoint what you need to focus on and what are simply just words in between. I read the first few lines and then I am already beginning to formulate possible questions that I may see later on. </p>
<p>Do not get discouraged if you are faced with an unfamiliar topic! Focus on the introduction of the passage because those points will continue to pop up later on in the reading. The intro is typically filled with background info that is necessary to understand the rest of the passage. </p>
<p>I hope that helped!</p>