SOS! My SAT Reading Score Isn’t Improving! 6 Helpful Tips To Increase Your SAT Reading Score
The good thing about wanting a higher reading score on the SAT? You’re more than welcome to retake the test to raise your score. But then, the question arises: how, exactly, do I get my score to go up? If your reading score is plateauing or trending downward, read on for six relatively simple strategies you can try to boost your score.
1. Take Practice Tests
As they say, practice makes perfect. By taking practice SAT tests, you learn through experience how the test works. If critical reading is where you find yourself struggling, focus on these sections when you’re taking a practice test and really get to know what you’re up against. The more you practice, the more confident you’ll be on test day.
2. Learn the Question Types
Even though sustained practice is important, smart practice is even more crucial if you find yourself scoring the same on every reading section you complete. The reading questions can be tricky, but there will always be only one answer.
Take the time to learn what kind of questions will be on the test—if you can spot the type of question being asked, you’ll already know what they’re looking for in the answer, and you can frame your read of the answer choices accordingly.
Watch a live lesson I gave here on the 7 different types of SAT reading questions.
Question types found on the reading section include:
Double Questions 1 of 2
Double Questions 2 of 2
Word in Context
Purpose Questions
Comprehension Questions
No Line Questions
Graphics
When going through your practice tests, challenge yourself to locate each different question type and figure out the best way to approach each one. This is part of practice, too; become familiar with the questions, and finding the right (and wrong) answers will become easier as well.
3. Learn Strategies
Over the years, we have devised strategies to help you deal with every different type of reading question. It is important to familiarize yourself with these strategies. Check out this video where I break down exactly how to approach SAT reading.
4. Adopt a New Reading Technique
If you’ve been practicing and practicing and your score hasn’t started to reflect it, the strategy you’re using to read the passages might not be working for you. If you find yourself struggling to finish this section on time, it might be a good idea to shake things up.
Reading the entire text carefully takes too long, especially when not every question will ask about detailed points in every line of the passage. Skim the reading for main ideas, underlining key words or phrases as you go to make them easier to reference later.
Before you do this, skim the questions, too—if you know what the questions are asking beforehand, you’ll already be primed to spot key information in the passage.
When you make it back to the multiple choice, carefully eliminate options that you know are incorrect. If you’ve studied the question types, the wrong answers will pop out at you quicker, leaving a clearer path to the right answer.
For more time management tricks check out our time management guide.
5. Save Complex Questions for Last
By answering questions in order of simplicity, you will drastically increase your chances of finishing the section.
If you find yourself spending too much time on a question, skip it and come back later.
Staring at the multiple choice options for too long without getting anywhere takes away the time you could be using to answer other questions that might come to you more easily.
Remember that each question is worth the same amount of points, regardless of difficulty.
If you get bogged down on one tough question, you might rush through seven easier ones you would have gotten right and make mistakes. While it might feel crucial to be thorough, the moderator will tell you to put your pencil down before you get the chance to finish if you don’t pace yourself. If you can’t find the answer in a timely manner, move on and revisit the question once you’ve completed the rest of the section.
If you’re still unsure, guess!
Your score will be negatively impacted more significantly for unanswered questions. So if you’re out of time and still can’t land on the correct choice, guessing is better than leaving it blank. If you’ve been working wrong-to-right, you’ll likely have been able to eliminate a few of the answer choices. Guessing between one of two gives you much better odds than guessing one of five!
6. Figure Out Where You Struggle
If you don’t know where you’re making mistakes, you’re going to continue making the same ones time and time again. As you’re taking your practice test, mark the questions you have difficulty with and compare them with the questions you got wrong. You will eventually discover what types of reading questions stump you, and which ones you find easy to breeze through.
Focus on getting better at answering the questions that consistently puzzle you. Understanding what still needs to be sharpened will give your preparation with your tutor more focus and meaning. When you get to the real test, all the attention you gave to your weaknesses will show you that they are weaknesses no longer, and your newfound strengths will be reflected in your score.
Want more expert guidance?
We are here to help you do your absolute best on your standardized testing this year. Reach out to Morris here to schedule a free virtual tutoring session!