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Have you ever wondered where the expert exam question-setters source their passages from, or at least tried to search for an identifiable pattern? While preparing for the SAT, reading comprehension can be an arduous task, and to develop speed along with precise comprehension takes time. As a student, you should always ‘work smart’. The first step to this ladder is to understand ‘where to read from’ and ‘what to read’. Let us try and break down SAT Reading Comprehension for you:

A SAT test-taker must keep in mind that passages for the exam are selected from reliable and high-quality sources, and are mostly not created by the test-setters. Test-setters have the complex task of selecting these previously published sources and creating quality questions for the SAT reading comprehension.

Following is where most SAT reading passages come from:

  • The Arts

    Firstly, one must note that a majority of the passages in the SAT comes from history, literature, science, and social sciences. A student will quickly realize that there has been a keen interest shown by the test-setters to align the content of the SAT Reading comprehension to match that of the high school syllabus of schools in the United States. Therefore, the passages contain elements that are closely linked to those of American history, the founding of economics in America etc.

  • Civil Rights & the US

    Secondly, and to continue from the first point, the SAT focuses on the ‘Founding Documents’, ‘Civil Rights’ and the ‘Great Global conversations’. Founding Documents, as you might have already guessed, are those documents (manuscripts) that consisted of literature about the Independence, the Constitution, Federalist papers, the Bill of Rights etc. A few of the eminent personalities, who are considered the Founding fathers, are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. Civil Rights focuses on those texts that pertain to the rights of citizens. My Bondage, My Freedom by Frederick Douglass is an example of a Civil Rights text. The Great Global Conversations are, simply, “conversations” that happened between nations upon topics that led to ultimate policies, and the role of the United States in the same. The texts also focus on the relationship between the US and the rest of the world. Leaders, such as Ronald Regan, Henry Truman etc voiced their opinion about the freedom struggle and justice; and these were converted to published texts.

  • The Sciences

    Thirdly, passages might also come from the field of Science; these passages are from published journals. Students tend to get intimidated with the jargon they find in these passages. Extracts from the theories by a few scientists form the crux of these passages. Reading excerpts from the National Geographic, Animal planet etc will give you an idea of the vocabulary and help you get adjusted to the jargon as well.

Passages can also be from a range of subjects such as journalism, art, sustainability, economics etc. Be prepared with your comprehension speed, and you can tackle passages from any subject area. All the best!

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