The SAT Reading and Writing section consists of two 32-minute

modules, for a total of 64 minutes. Each module contains 27

questions, for a total of 54 questions in the section. That means you’ll
have just over a minute per question.

Your section scores are the individual scores for the two main
sections of the SAT: Reading and Writing and Math. Each of these
sections is scored out of 800, and they are added together to get your
overall score.

On the PSAT/NMSQT, the highest score you can get on each section
is a 760, so the highest composite score on the PSAT/NMSQT is a
760+760, or 1520. The average PSAT/NMSQT score is about 920.

Checklist for conclusion statements:

✓ Find the point: Determine which statement seems like the main
prediction, value judgment, interpretation, or theory. What is the one
thing the arguer is trying to convince us of?

✓ Look for support indicator words: Some words indicate

that the statements they introduce are part of a support statement,
and are not the conclusion. Support indicators
like because, since and for can introduce statements that
explain why the arguer believes a claim.

✓ Double-check the claim: If the statement you chose seems to

retroactively, or continue on to, support a different claim, then you
haven’t chosen the main conclusion. In fact, it’s now more likely that
the different claim being supported is the main conclusion.
✓ Look for conclusion indicator words: Some words are
good indicators that the statements they introduce are part of a
conclusion. The most common examples are thus and therefore,
but however, yet, although and but can indicate conclusions, too.

✓ Clarify pronouns: If the main conclusion is ambiguous—for

example, “but this is a mistake”—it’s a good idea to rephrase the
main conclusion using other parts of the passage. What is “this”, and
what does it mean that it’s a “mistake”?

Explicit Meaning

Novel and Short Story

Questions that ask about the explicit meaning of paragraphs from novels and short stories require
an understanding of the literal meaning of the text. You can identify this type of question
because it uses either “according to” or “based on” in the question. Often these questions ask
about what is true for a specific character or how a character responds to a particular
situation, and the answers are directly stated in the text.

In this section, the following strategies will be discussed:

 Reading to find the question's answer

 Paraphrasing the text
 Predicting the answer
 Using the process of elimination

These strategies are meant merely as a guide; some may work better than others, so just use the
ones that help you answer the given question.

Reading to Find the Question's Answer

Even though the text comes before the question, read the question first. Doing so will help you
focus on finding the specific information you need to answer the question as you read the text.

Example

The following text is from Mark Twain's 1881 novel The Prince and the Pauper.

The tremendous news was already abroad, and the boy learned it from a thousand voices at once
—"The king is dead!" The tidings struck a chill to the heart of the poor little waif and sent a
shudder through his frame. He realized the greatness of his loss and was filled with a bitter grief;
for the grim tyrant who had been such a terror to others had always been gentle with him.

Question: Based on the text, how does the boy react to the news of the king’s death?

Given the question, you know you are reading the text to find out the feelings of the boy in
response to his hearing about the king's death. Is he happy, sad, angry, confused? Look for
specific words and phrases like “the greatness of his loss” and “filled with bitter grief” that
specifically reveal how the boy is feeling.

Paraphrasing the Text

Often the SAT chooses complex texts that can be challenging to understand. Paraphrasing
(restating in your own words) each sentence can help you better comprehend difficult texts.

Paraphrase

 S1: The boy learned the news about the king’s death by hearing many people talk about it
at once.
 S2: The news made this homeless boy physically shiver.
 S3: The boy was saddened because the king who had been mean to others had been nice
to him.

Given this paraphrase, it’s easy to see how the boy feels when he hears the news that the king is
dead.

Predicting the Answer

After you have read the question and the text, it can be helpful to come up with your own answer
to the question before looking at any of the choices. Then you can match your idea to the answer
that seems closest.
 This strategy works best when the question asks about a specific detail in the text, such as how a
character responds to a situation, rather than a general question about what is true for a character.

In The Prince and the Pauper text, it’s clear that the boy feels sad that the king is dead.
Therefore, when you look at the answers, you can choose the one with a similar meaning.

Suppose these are the answer choices provided:

A) He is surprised to hear so many strangers announcing the death.
B) He becomes fearful about being alone in the world without his father.
C) He experiences a wide range of emotions that he has trouble identifying.
D) He feels distressed over the loss of one who had treated him kindly.

Given these answers, the one that best matches the idea that the boy is sad is Choice D,
because being distressed is similar to being sad.

Using the Process of Elimination

Using the process of elimination can be helpful to get rid of incorrect answers.
Often the wrong answers will contain ideas that aren't supported by the
information in the text. Also, it is possible that some part of an incorrect
answer is accurate, but the rest of it lacks text support. If any part of the
answer cannot be found in the text, then the entire answer is wrong.
 Choice A: Although the text mentions lots of people announcing the king's
death, it doesn't indicate that the boy is surprised by this fact.
 Choice B: "Terror" is mentioned regarding how the king treats people, not
with how the boy feels. Also, the text doesn't specify that the king is the boy's
father.
 Choice C: The text identifies that the boy feels "grief," and no other emotions
are discussed regarding his reaction to the king's death.
 Choice D: The text states that the king was kind to the boy and the boy feels
grief, which is a kind of distress, when he hears about the ruler's death.

Example
The following text is from Herman Melville's 1853 short story "Bartleby, the
Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street." The narrator, who is Bartleby's employer,
has asked him to examine a paper.
Imagine my surprise, nay my consternation, when without moving from his
privacy, Bartleby in a singularly mild, firm voice, replied, "I would prefer not to."
I sat awhile in perfect silence, rallying my stunned faculties. Immediately it
occurred to me that my ears had deceived me, or Bartleby had entirely
 misunderstood my meaning. I repeated my request in the clearest tone I could
assume.
Based on the text, how does the narrator respond to Bartleby's refusal?
A) He considers Bartleby's response, contemplating whether his request is an
unreasonable demand for an employer to make.
B) He is startled, believing that either he hasn't heard Bartleby correctly or that
Bartleby has failed to comprehend the request.
C) He overlooks it and does not take immediate action in order to consider the
best discipline for Bartleby.
D) He judges Bartleby to be an unusual individual who is unfamiliar with social
conventions.
Question:
Asks how the narrator reacts when his employee prefers not to do what is
asked of him.
Text Paraphrase:
The narrator is surprised and confused when Bartleby stays put and politely
declines to do what has been requested. The narrator silently tries to gather
himself after this unexpected response and then thinks he hasn't heard
correctly or that his employee hasn't understood what he asked. Therefore,
the narrator repeats the request as clearly as possible.
Answer Prediction:
The answer will have something to do with the narrator being surprised or
confused about Bartleby's refusal.
Process of Elimination
 Choice A: The text says that the narrator sits "awhile in perfect silence," but it
doesn't give the reason for doing so as being to consider whether the demand
was reasonable.
 Choice B: The text says that the narrator experiences surprise and then
thinks that either he misheard or that Bartleby didn't understand what was
being asked. Because this answer choice accurately reflects the text's
information, it is correct.
 Choice C: Although the text indicates that the narrator paused, it says the
reason is because he is surprised, not because he is considering a way to
discipline Bartleby.
 Choice D: The word "singly" can mean strange, but this word is used to
describe Bartleby's reply, not Bartleby himself. Also, there is no mention in the
text of the narrator questioning Bartleby's familiarity with social conventions.
How should we think about textual
evidence questions?
There are two types of textual evidence questions, and we need to
think about each type a little differently.

Scientific evidence
In these textual evidence questions, a hypothesis will be presented
about a subject in science or social science, usually in the context of
new research or experimentation.

We won't need to rely on any previous science knowledge: everything

we need will be contained in the short passage. Our task is to interpret
the researchers' hypothesis, identify the research outcome that would
support that hypothesis, and then select the choice that offers that
outcome.

This task should remind you of your science classes, in which you've
likely needed to confirm or refute a hypothesis based on the outcomes
of an experiment.

Literary evidence
In these textual evidence questions, the passage will make an
argument concerning a particular literary work, like a poem or novel.
The choices will then offer a set of quotations from that literary work.
We don't need any previous knowledge of the literary work under
discussion. What we will need is the ability to evaluate whether the
content of each quotation serves as direct evidence for the argument
identified in the question.

This task should remind you of your English classes, in which you've
likely needed to pull quotations from a text to support your arguments
in an analytical essay.

While these two types of questions might seem quite

different, the skills we need to succeed on them, and
our approach to finding the answer, should be quite
similar for both.

Example:

“Mr. Cornelius Johnson, Office-Seeker” is a 1900 short story by Paul

Laurence Dunbar. In the story, the narrator describes Mr. Cornelius
Johnson’s appearance as conveying his exaggerated sense of his
importance: ______

Which quotation from “Mr. Cornelius Johnson, Office-Seeker” most

effectively illustrates the claim?
Choose 1 answer:

A“He carried himself always as if he were passing under his own

triumphal arch.”

B“The grey Prince Albert was scrupulously buttoned about his form,
and a shiny top hat replaced the felt of the afternoon.”
 C“Mr. Cornelius Johnson always spoke in a large and important tone.”

D“It was a beautiful day in balmy May and the sun shone pleasantly
on Mr. Cornelius Johnson’s very spruce Prince Albert suit of grey as
he alighted from the train in Washington.”

Answer:

First we need to focus in on the claim our evidence needs to support:

"the narrator describes Mr. Cornelius Johnson’s appearance

as conveying his exaggerated sense of his importance"

We can simplify this claim to make our lives a bit easier:

exaggerated self-importance

Let's test this phrase against each of the choices:

 Choice B shows that Cornelius Johnson is tidy and well-

dressed, but it doesn't suggest that he is arrogant, or that he
exaggerates his self-importance. We can eliminate this
choice.
 Choice D focuses more on the setting than on Cornelius. We
can eliminate this choice.

Now choices A and C are a bit trickier. C even includes the word
"important". But remember to be strict: we don't want a choice that
simply says Cornelius acted important, we need evidence
of exaggerated self-importance.

Choice C is a pretty literal description of Cornelius, telling us what his

voice sounds like. Also, the prompt focuses on
Cornelius’ appearance—what he looks like, not what he sounds like.
Choice A introduces a comical and hyperbolic description of Cornelius
walking around like a big shot.

Choice A is definitely more "exaggerated". Choice A is the

answer.

Command of quantitative evidence: top

tips

Use your finger/cursor

When you’re looking at a graph or table that contains multiple data
points, your eyes can easily drift. Placing your finger or cursor directly
on the information you’re looking for can help you avoid silly mistakes
due to looking in the wrong place.

Ignore irrelevant data

The tables and graphs in command of quantitative evidence questions
will often contain more data than you actually need to complete the
example or support the claim. Focus only on the data that is relevant.
The same goes for information in the text that is not relevant to the
question being asked. Remember, the correct answer will
always be true to the graph/table AND support the
entire claim.
General SAT Reading and Writing top
tips

Ditch the details!

Simplifying and summarizing a text down to its “bare bones” can help
you get to the correct answer on many SAT Reading and Writing
questions. Details like the title of a book or an author’s or researcher’s
name usually don’t help us arrive at the answer. By summarizing the
text in your own words and removing these unnecessary details, you
can more easily identify the key concepts and ideas.
What are "central ideas and details"
questions?
On the Reading and Writing section of your SAT, some questions will
present a short passage for you to read. The passage may be
excerpted from a work of literature or from a scholarly essay.

Once you read the passage, you'll be asked either to identify the
main idea of the text or to answer a specific question based
on the text.
What are "inferences" questions?
On the Reading and Writing section of your SAT, some questions will
provide an unfinished passage that introduces information about an
unfamiliar topic. Based on that information, you'll be asked to select
the choice that most logically completes the text.

How should we think about inferences

questions?
Inferences questions are all about how we connect information and
ideas to create arguments.

Some SAT preppers find it helpful to think about the components of

the argument. We can break arguments into two basic
parts: premises and conclusions.
Premises are the facts on which an argument is based. When
premises are connected, they should provide strong evidence for the
argument's conclusion.

The conclusion is the heart of the argument. It's the overall claim
that the argument's author is trying to support.