2.3 SAT Critical Reading - Read for the Main Idea

Read for the main idea, not for every detail: When reading through the longer SAT passages, it is not necessary to read for every detail; instead, perform a cursory reading to comprehend the main idea.  For pacing purposes, this tactic makes a lot of sense.  Imagine if you did read for every detail.  Chances are you might find yourself in replay mode on a confusing section.  If you stay in this area, rereading until you comprehend it, you are taking a big gamble since there is a possibility that there are NO questions related to this confusing area.  And, if there is a question related to the area you stumbled on, then use that time to return to the selection; it makes no sense to spend too much time on any one area on the selection since there may not be any connected questions. 

Recording Ideas in Reading Based Passages

It is also important to record the main idea in a terse statement, e.g., is the writer for or against some issue; to what extent is he for or against some issue?  Whatever you record should summarize the entire essence of the passage in a few words.  Following this, there is much debate between which reading method is better: reading the passage first and then answering the questions or reading the questions first and then reading the selection.  There is certainly evidence to support both, but there is one major point that solidifies my conclusion, namely, summarization questions.  There are many summarization questions that assess your ability to interpret an author's tone or main idea.  I really don't know how it's possible to answer summarization questions if you haven't read the passage first- not to mention that this is a frequent type of question.  Do yourself a favor and train yourself to read for the main idea, but read for the main idea quickly.  Do not get stuck on any one area, observing that there may not be a question connected to this idea.