<p>Hi there- we are back for round 2- Our second daughter is looking at schools and she has a week left of preparing for an SSAT test. She has been testing well in the math and vocabulary sections but really struggles with reading comprehension. We have helped her when she has asked and do not push her. She has worked at her own pace. She has come to realize that she needs more practice so this is us supporting her for a final push. She sees that its not that she can't get it- it's that she needs to practice more. We have gone over tools and strategies and taken the practice tests in the books and she wants to give a big push this week before the test. She has asked for our help. We have run out of practice tests and I did a few searches online to come up with other tests but they weren't particularly reflective of the actual SSAT's.
2 Questions:
1: Her struggle seems to be that the details are very dense in these paragraphs and she can't seem to pull them out very well- what would be some things she could do? She has been labeling sections and doing all the things she is supposed to do. Has anyone found good support for specifically this issue?
2: Where specifically can I find good tests if we have exhausted the tests in the books?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Hi,
I am in the same boat as you daughter. I am also taking the SSATs next week. To answer you first question all I can say is that the standardized test coach who came to my school said that the thing to do was after you have read the story try and turn it into a 1 sentence summary and try and use that to answer the questions. To answer the second question they have a good free practice test on <a href=“Free SSAT Practice Tests — Ivy Global”>http://ssatprep.com/free-practice</a> and you can also buy more there. Good luck to your daughter.</p>
<p>There generally tends to be 2 types of questions for the passages: either specific or general. Your daughter should focus on specific questions first as they tend to be easier to find in the passage. General questions can be tricky since they may not be clearly identified within the passage. Sometimes it’s easier to answer the general questions after you’ve already answered the specific ones because you’ll have a greater idea of what the passage is about by that point.</p>
<p>Another strategy would be to eliminate the answers she knows are wrong. By narrowing it down, it may be easier for her to zero in on the correct answer.</p>
<p>Hope this is helpful. Best of luck to your daughter. </p>
<p>Thank you both! That feedback was great- really just confirming what we are already doing and also reminding us that it is mainly about practice. It has incited many great discussions, actually. At the end of the day, this process has really taught us about who our daughter is as a student and how her mind works- pretty cool. </p>