SAT Reading Tips

Tip 1: Pay Attention to Connotation and Context

Look for words that indicate positive or negative connotation in the part of the passage that the question refers to. This will help you to eliminate at least a couple of choices even if you are not sure about the remaining answer choices. Context is also very important! Don’t just analyze the referred sentence in the question — look at the sentences above and below it too. Watch out for the contrast words! You should also pay attention to strong adjectives that might help you to determine connotation.

Tip 2: Use Find the Evidence Questions to Your Advantage

These new questions can help you tremendously in identifying mistakes and clearing up ambiguities. For example, say you’ve picked out two answers that you think could be correct for a reading question. If the next question asks you to identify the best evidence for your answer, you can read through all the options the find-the-evidence question and see which choice most directly connects to one of your two potential responses for the previous question. That is, looking at both the questions combined will help you get the right answer for both the questions.

SAT Math Tips

Tip 3: Underline Key Parts of the Question

Underline what you need to find in the question so you don’t get confused during the calculation process. Many students accidentally pick the trick answer choice because they lose track of the value that they were originally supposed to find. You can avoid this by underlining relevant parts of the question to maintain your focus.

Tip 4: Memorize Formulas

Although the SAT math section does provide you with a list of formulas, you’ll lose time and flow by constantly turning back to reference them. It’s best to have all the formulas memorized beforehand. This is a good reference from Khan Academy for some of the important formulas covered on the SAT.!

SAT Writing and Language Tips

Tip 5: Memorize Grammar Rules

The SAT Writing section has a specific standardized approach to grammar so it’s useful to memorize the rules to reduce confusion. It’s always safer to know the exact rules than to just go by what “looks right” or “sounds right” to you. If you’re not used to some of the more archaic grammar rules tested on the SAT, you should memorize them. This will prevent you from accidentally choosing NO CHANGE for questions where the grammar is actually incorrect. At prepmedians.com, we have a Need-to-Knows list of grammar rules with all of the grammar content you need to know to ace the section!

Tip 6: Skim the Paragraph Before Answering Rhetorical Questions

Rhetoric questions ask you to examine entire paragraphs or the passage as a whole to find the right answer. The SAT mostly sticks to asking Writing questions chronologically, so you’ll likely find yourself answering several grammar questions about specific sentences, followed by a couple of rhetoric questions that relate to the paragraph as a whole. Don’t be lulled into complacency and think you can answer rhetoric questions just by reading through the specific sentence the question asks about and using vague memories of the content of the other sentences you just answered grammar questions on. Instead, skim through the paragraph as a whole and then attempt the rhetoric question. Since you went through the paragraph as you answered grammar questions, you would not be wasting time by skimming through it again for the rhetoric questions.

These tips are just to get your feet wet, but there are many more strategies that you can find at prepmedians.com where all the content and strategies are baked into our HD entertaining videos featuring Broadway singer-actors and sketch comedians.

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