Reading Comprehension

The Importance of Identifying Passages

SAT Breakdown

● The Reading Test – 65 minutes, 52 questions

● The Writing and Language Test – 35 minutes, 44 questions
● Math Test, No Calculator Portion – 25 minutes, 20 questions
● Math Test, Calculator Portion – 55 minutes, 38 questions
The Basics
You are tested on your ability to differentiate between various
types of passages:

● Narrative
● History/Historical Documents *Double Passage (any type
● Natural Science but the narrative)
● Social Science

54 questions → 65 minutes
Narrative
● Excerpts from short stories,
novellas, and novels
● Identify, analyze and
understand the function of
figurative language (metaphor,
simile, personification, etc.),
figures of speech (irony)
● Point of View (POV)
○ First person POV (character in
story, uses personal pronouns
I, me, us).
○ Third person (outside narrator)
● Your Job: Identify the conflict
Types of Conflict:
Character vs self; character vs.
character; character vs. society;
character vs. nature; character vs.
supernatural
Characterization:
● What they look like (clothing,
physical appearance)
● What they do (actions)
● How they talk (speech/diction)
● What they believe in (thoughts)
● What others think of them (external
perceptions)
TYPE: Social Science Passage
This type of passage analyzes the
the scientific study of human
society and social relationships.
Your Job: identify thesis (1)
closely analyze how people
interact with their surroundings—be
it other people, money, technology,
or environments (2).
Question Types: main idea, in-text
vocabulary, inference, organization
● Topics range from economics to
psychology.
● Usually modern texts
● Students typically enjoy these
passages more (do well on them)
because they are interesting,
relatable, and, most importantly,
written in a modern tongue.
● Prior SAT social science passages:
Why the happiest people are from
third-world countries (1). An
analysis of the four zones of
society in terms of capital and
natural resources: industrial,
urban, suburban, rural.
Type: Historical
Excerpts from history: American and
World (mostly European).
This type of passage analyzes how
a person (dictator), event (WWII),
thing/phenomenon (oil
fracking)impacted people/society.
Your job: Identify the person,
event, thing and evaluate if
he/she/it has benefited (+) society
or not (-).
Question Types: main idea, in-text
vocabulary, inference, organization
Topics include:
● Women’s suffrage
● Emancipation Proclamation
● Democracy versus other types of
government
**Historical document is another
type of passage you will get. It is
slightly different than this type.
In those historical documents, you
focus more on rhetoric (AP English
Language territory).
Type: Natural Science Passage
Non-fiction excerpts from newspapers,
medical journals, science textbooks
This type of passage analyzes and dissects
scientific hypotheses, theories, and
experiments.
Your Job: Identity whether the study is
conclusive or not.
→ Pay close attention to conditional verb
tenses (could, should, perhaps, must,
maybe, sometimes, etc.).
→ Pay close attention to lengthy, complex
sentence structures; when the writer says
“in other words”; when the writer
describes a process
Topics include:
● What makes soap sud
● Habitable versus inhabitable planets
● Extinction in animals
● The chemistry of cooking
● Venus Fly Traps and what triggers their
behavior
This type of passage is very big on logical
reasoning, and writers develop that through
transitional words and phrases. You must
circle all transitions and underline the
information that is being highlighted.

Type: Double Passage
Excerpts range in the following subjects:
social science, natural science, historical,
historical document (never a double
narrative).
You will get one double passage on the
full-length exam.
Your Job: depending on the nature of the
passage, follow the same job (i.e.: identify
thesis in a social science and identify how
people interact with their surroundings).
Additional Job: compare and contrast both
passages.
Types of questions: in-text vocabulary,
detail, content/organization, inference (“What
would the author of Passage #2 say to lines
17-23 in Passage 1?”), comparison (“According
to both authors…”)
There is a very specific order to follow:
Step #1: read the italicized portion and
identify what kind of passage it is. Label
it.
Step #2: Write down your job in the margin.
Be on the lookout for it.
Step #3: glance at the questions and make
annotations across both passages.
Step #4: read passage #1 and immediately
answer the questions that only to pertain to
passage #1.
****As soon as you begin reading Passage #2,
you need to be quick to find the ways in
which this author agrees and disagrees with
the author of Passage #1.
Step #4: read passage #2 and immediately
answer the questions that pertain to passage
#2 as well as the “both passages” questions.