SAT Reading Comprehension: Approaching Reading Passages:

A large part of success in a SAT reading passage rests on knowing what to look for. Just like you might use a map to find your way to a new place, you can also use a map to navigate a new SAT reading passage. This map is composed of four major destinations, which can be remembered as MAPS:

Main Idea
Author's Attitude
Purpose of Passage
Structure of Passage

These four ideas are often tested in the SAT reading passages, so you should go into a passage with them firmly in mind. This method will allow you to focus your understanding of the passage, as well as to exit the passage with clear answers to any tested MAPS questions.

MAIN IDEA:
Main ideas appear only in non-fiction, factual SAT reading passages. Think of main ideas as newspaper headlines. Let's say you discover a great story about a cat raised by wild monkeys. This story is going to make you rich and famous, if you make a great headline. So you wouldn't start with specific details like the cat's name (Whiskers) and the city it happened in (Seattle). Because then your headline, "Whiskers in Seattle" would be confusing. Instead, you would use the most general ideas, cat and monkeys, to attract the reader: "Cat raised by Monkeys". The main idea of an SAT reading passage is a similar broad statement.

AUTHOR'S ATTITUDE:
The author's attitude in a SAT reading passage is not how you feel about the author. (He sucks for writing this passage that is wasting my time and crushing my soul.) Instead the author's attitude is how the author feels about the main idea.

PURPOSE OF THE PASSAGE:
The purpose of a SAT reading passage is the author’s reason for writing the passage. Unacceptable answers include that she is trying to kill me or that she is, perhaps, the world's most bored person. The purpose aligns with the author's attitude. If an author hates the main idea, she is likely trying to disprove something. If she is neutral about the main idea, she is probably trying to explain it. If she loves the main idea, she is probably trying to praise it.

STRUCTURE OF THE PASSAGE:
The structure of an SAT reading passage refers to the author’s organization of the passage. How is the author trying to prove her point.
The structure of a passage is most closely linked to paragraphs. Since paragraphs are natural breaks in arguments, they often signal a change in structure.

SAT Reading: Approach to Reading Passages

Lesson Includes:

— Approaching Reading Passages

—Main Idea

—Author's Attitude

— Purpose of Passage

—Structure of Passage

—SAT Reading Practice Test

SAT Math

SAT Writing

SAT Reading

SAT Vocabulary