On the SAT: Critical Reading Long Passage Terror

 

The long passage sections of critical reading in SAT tends to be my least favorite, not that any of the others are my favorites.
These passages also tend to be the ones I get some sleep during- because I always manage to fall asleep while reading the loooong passages.

The long passage sections can either be a comparison of two medium sized passages about one topic, comparing the opinions of the first author with the opinions of the second author OR they can be just one fat, ugly paragraph by itself.

Here's an example of comparison passages:

source: http://perfectscoreproject.com/2011/06/im-having-relationship-issues/

 Now let's look at the questions that follow them:

source: http://perfectscoreproject.com/2011/06/im-having-relationship-issues/

source: http://perfectscoreproject.com/2011/06/im-having-relationship-issues/

 Here's an example of a long passage:

The pioneers of the teaching of science imagined that its
    introduction into education would remove the conventionality,
    artificiality, and backward-lookingness which were characteristic;
    of classical studies, but they were gravely disappointed. So, too, in
5   their time had the humanists thought that the study of the classical
    authors in the original would banish at once the dull pedantry and
    superstition of mediaeval scholasticism. The professional
    schoolmaster was a match for both of them, and has almost
    managed to make the understanding of chemical reactions as dull
10  and as dogmatic an affair as the reading of Virgil's Aeneid.
    The chief claim for the use of science in education is that it
    teaches a child something about the actual universe in which he is
    living, in making him acquainted with the results of scientific
15  discovery, and at the same time teaches him how to think logically
    and inductively by studying scientific method. A certain limited
    success has been reached in the first of these aims, but practically
    none at all in the second. Those privileged members of the
    community who have been through a secondary or public school
20  education may be expected to know something about the
    elementary physics and chemistry of a hundred years ago, but they
    probably know hardly more than any bright boy can pick up from
    an interest in wireless or scientific hobbies out of school hours.
    As to the learning of scientific method, the whole thing is palpably
25  a farce. Actually, for the convenience of teachers and the
    requirements of the examination system, it is necessary that the
    pupils not only do not learn scientific method but learn precisely
    the reverse, that is, to believe exactly what they are told and to
    reproduce it when asked, whether it seems nonsense to them or
30  not. The way in which educated people respond to such quackeries
    as spiritualism or astrology, not to say more dangerous ones such
    as racial theories or currency myths, shows that fifty years of
    education in the method of science in Britain or Germany has
    produced no visible effect whatever. The only way of learning the
35  method of science is the long and bitter way of personal
    experience, and, until the educational or social systems are altered
    to make this possible, the best we can expect is the production of a
    minority of people who are able to acquire some of the techniques
    of science and a still smaller minority who are able to use and
40  develop them.


1. The author implies that the 'professional schoolmaster' (line 7) has
A. no interest in teaching science
B. thwarted attempts to enliven education
C. aided true learning
D. supported the humanists
E. been a pioneer in both science and humanities.
2. The author’s attitude to secondary and public school education in the sciences is
A. ambivalent
B. neutral
C. supportive
D. satirical
E. contemptuous
3. The word ‘palpably’ (line 24) most nearly means
A. empirically
B. obviously
C. tentatively
D. markedly
E. ridiculously
4. The author blames all of the following for the failure to impart scientific method through the education system except
A. poor teaching
B. examination methods
C. lack of direct experience
D. the social and education systems
E. lack of interest on the part of students
5. If the author were to study current education in science to see how things have changed since he wrote the piece, he would probably be most interested in the answer to which of the following questions?
A. Do students know more about the world about them?
B. Do students spend more time in laboratories?
C. Can students apply their knowledge logically?
D. Have textbooks improved?
E. Do they respect their teachers?
6. Astrology (line 31) is mentioned as an example of
A. a science that needs to be better understood
B. a belief which no educated people hold
C. something unsupportable to those who have absorbed the methods of science
D. the gravest danger to society
E. an acknowledged failure of science
7. All of the following can be inferred from the text except
A. at the time of writing, not all children received a secondary school education
B. the author finds chemical reactions interesting
C. science teaching has imparted some knowledge of facts to some children
D. the author believes that many teachers are authoritarian
E. it is relatively easy to learn scientific method.

 Answers:

1.		B
2.		E
3.		B
4.		E
5.		C
6.		C
7.		E

Source:  For More Practice on Critical Reading

Here's a basic list of things to do while reading the passages:

1. underline transitional words
2. Circling, Boxing, and Underlining

1. Underlining Transitional Words

Most of the SAT Passages do not openly say "Hey Guys! This is my main idea". If that were the case, we'd all be getting 2400s. Most passages go in a weird way to state their main ideas; they say, for example, "People often consider ice cream to be unhealthy because of the contents of fat it contains. However, some health experts argue agaisnt this idea."

In this example, "However" is the transitional word. It tells you that the author's main idea isn't "Ice cream is bad" but actually "Ice cream is good". Those sly authors.
Of course, the passages won't be as simple as the example I gave you but the idea is the same.

Here are some transitional words to look out for:

Opposition
Although
However
In spite of
Rather than
Nevertheless
On the other hand
But

Support
Moreover
Besides
Additionally
Furthermore
In fact

Result
Therefore
Consequently
Accordingly
Because
When
So

2. Circling, Boxing, and Underlining

 When you come across a passage do not start straight off by reading the passage. We've been told countless times by our teachers to read the questions first, SO DO IT. It helps a lot by quickly previewing the anticipated questions, underlining what the questions are asking for, such as "main idea", "tone/mood", "what author's purpose was". Then go to the passage and underline or box or circle the needed content.

When you get a question like this:

3. The word ‘equanimity’ (line 41) most nearly means
A. status
B. happiness
C. justice
D. complacency
E. composure

First of all, it's obvious the question is asking for a definition of the word. However, many people fail to understand that many, many words have many, many different meanings that we are unfamiliar with. The best way to approach these types of questions would be to cover up the answer choices (DO NOT LOOK AT THEM, go to line 41, read the sentence the word is in, then come up with a word that you think could replace the word in the sentence.

So here's the sentence "equanimity" was in:

Under such circumstances Mr. Harding could not but feel
    that he was an Englishman who did not know how to
  live. This new doctrine of Mr. Slope and the rubbish
    cart sadly disturbed his equanimity.

You can replace the word "equanimity" with
-inner peace
-calmness

The answer was E) Composure
The goal of coming up with your own synonyms is to avoid choosing answers just because you know the definition. Just because you know the definition doesn't mean it's right because the question asks for the meaning of the word the way it is used by the author.

In my experience doing SAT questions I came across many authors who used random words and made up their definitions. They used words with completely wrong defnitions to write a sentence but it works because 1) it's their book, they can do what they want
2) it gives the same idea in the context of the sentence

Same with answering SAT questions, never answer questions based on your opinion; it's always about the author's opinion.

The author could write about how slavery benefitted America, an idea that is cruel and horrible, and although you, yourself believe the author's ideas are wrong, you have to stand in the perspective of the author in order to correctly answer the questions.

If you get a question that asks specific material on a specific line:

6. The tone of the sentence 'New men....live' (lines 34-37) is
A. objective
B. ironic
C. derogatory
D. expository
E. ambivalent

1) you should already have underlined a bunch of tone words (ie: dark, grumpy, sunshine, iridescent)
2) Go to the lines the question gave you and read 2-3 sentences before it to get a background.