SAT Reading/Writing Guide

Likey

Before we enter into the actual study strategy I utilized to raise my english score
from a 600 to a 770, we should address some things you must know before you use
these strategies.
1. I did NOT use the traditional Asian parent way of studying where I do 8 hours of
SAT work a day. A lot of my friends did, and I outperformed them using these
strategies. While my parents were doubtful, they eventually came to see the
value of studying smart, not hard.
2. You will absolutely require a hard copy of the test for these strategies. While it’s
nice to have all these resources online, the ability to WRITE on the test is one of
your biggest assets during the actual exam. Wasting that asset on your practice
tests is throwing away a huge tool that is available to you, and you should learn
how to use that tool.

Now that those disclaimers are out of the way, let us get into HOW to actually
take the test, as well as how to prepare properly.

READING:
There are three steps you can follow on reading passages and questions which
can heavily increase your consistency (to the point of missing none). An important thing
to consider is that this test assesses your focus more than anything else. Whatever you
can do to maintain focus will help quite a bit.
1. First things first, ANNOTATE the passages. Annotations are different to
everyone, but for me they are a way to maintain my focus during the exam. My
annotations consist of simple underlining of things that seem important. That’s it.
While it doesn’t add any information, it maintains my focus on the passage
throughout the entire duration, while not using too much additional time. The
worst thing that can happen is you zone out.
2. When you’re reading these passages in your head, you NEED to read them in an
enthusiastic way. Simply changing the way I read passages in my head from a
boring monotonous tone to a dramatic theatrical voice allowed me to pull a lot
more from these passages. If you pretend the passage is interesting, you will
definitely get more information out.
3. Now that you’ve enthusiastically read and annotated your passages, it’s time to
look at the questions. Here is how you approach each one:
 a. Read an answer choice, and do NOT try to think about whether it is right
or correct. This test is subjective and there will never be an exact right
answer. There will, however, be three wrong answers. Read the question,
and look for one or more words which make that answer wrong. If you find
it, underline that phrase and cross out that choice.
b. If you have not been able to eliminate three choices in this way (in most
difficult problems you’ll be down to the last two), you must try to see what
makes the two answer choices different. Really separate them in your
mind and see what they are each trying to say. Oftentimes, you will be
able to pinpoint the one which doesn’t accurately describe the passage
and eliminate it.
4. DO NOT WORRY about time when you first start doing this. Most students don’t
use any of these three steps yet, and are not used to how much longer it seems
to take. I assure you, do not even think about time until you are able to attain
your target score with no time limit. Once you are as consistent as you would like
to be, work on slowly reducing the time it takes you into about 12-13 minutes per
passage. You can do things such as work on reading and annotating faster, as
well as skipping time consuming questions on the first pass so time is not wasted
on them before you’ve gotten the easy questions out of the way.
5. That is it! All I did for the SAT Reading! I never had to use more material than the
8 official tests provided by Collegeboard, and my practice would involve mostly
single passages and the occasional full test. You do not need to devote
countless hours to SAT reading, and you will find yourself improving every single
time you take the test, given that you are seeing the correct answers to missed
questions and most importantly, why the wrong answer choices are wrong.

GRAMMAR:
I won’t have the same 5 step format for grammar, since many of the steps are
the same as reading, I will just reiterate them in paragraph form. Unlike the reading, I
certainly don’t recommend reading the entire passages. A lot of times, all you need to
answer the grammar questions are the sentences themselves, or the sentence before
or after them. Reading the entire passage can kill useful time for sure. For grammar it is
important to use the same underlining and crossing out for answer choices, as it is just
as consistent. Unlike reading though, there is quite a bit to learn about grammar if you
don’t know it. You can use khan academy as a good resource simply to learn about
what semicolons or commas do, etc. Concise answers are better, if you have two viable
answer choices and one is shorter, that’s the answer. I also simply recommend reading
a lot, even if for pleasure. Frequent readers can often go through the grammar section
based on what sounds or looks right, so I highly recommend reading as a hobby for
those who aren’t already readers. Other than that, same time strategy applies, and you
should be able to do very well!

If anyone has any questions, shoot me a DM on discord at Likey#6689, I’ll

probably be able to answer it. Happy studying, hope you are as successful as I was!