Critical Reading

Question 1

Opinionated answer choices

Answer 1

the right answers are always objective, never subjective

Question 2

opinionated words to avoid

Answer 2

• exactly
• always
• all
• every
• must
• no
• none
• never

Question 3

objective words to look for

Answer 3

• often
• if
• mostly
• usually
• may
• can
• almost
• sometimes
• some

Question 4

group of people, ethnicity, world region

Answer 4

The college board will never express a negative opinion about a certain people group, ethnicity or world region. Any answer choice that puts a general population in a negative light will be incorrect

Question 5

answers with the same meaning

Answer 5

if two answers have the same meaning, they are both wrong

Question 6

opposite meanings

Answer 6

if two answer choices have opposite meaning, one will usually be right

Question 7

read or skim?

Answer 7

read line citation first, by the end, you will probably have the general idea

Question 8

what to look for in line citation

Answer 8

circle the nouns and verbs in the citation, then circle the nouns and verb in the answer choices, the one that has the most matching is usually the correct answer.
- carefully look at/circle first word

Question 9

how to identify wrong answers

Answer 9

• COAT
• completely irrelevant
• obscure information
• additional information
• totally contradictory information

Question 10

big words

Answer 10

simplify them and see if they still make sense

Question 11

appositives

Answer 11

• renaming the noun
• will say something then say it again in a different way
• look for the answer choice that restates the first way
• “she made a mistake, a slip of the tongue, when it was her turn”
• look for the answer choice that restates “made a mistake”

Question 12

common definition is usually

Answer 12

wrong

Question 13

how to find right vocab answer

Answer 13

• USE
• unquestionably
• substitute
• each answer

Question 14

overall passage questions

Answer 14

• tone
• main idea
• inference
• details
• comparison
• skip them and come back, may not be necessary to read the whole passage if you’ve done the other questions first
• do essential reading
• avoid SON

Question 15

essential reading

Answer 15

• read the italicized introduction
• opening sentence of each paragraph
• closing sentence of each paragraph

Question 16

if two passages are speaking about different subject matters

Answer 16

they probably agree on a unifying theme

Question 17

if two passages are speaking on the same subject

Answer 17

they probably disagree

Question 18

answering questions on dual passage

Answer 18

read and answer passage one and its questions separately before moving onto passage 2

Question 19

both passage traps

Answer 19

• answers that sidetrack or confuse you
• answers that neglect one passage all together
• answer choices that swap passages

Question 20

the positive/negative test

Answer 20

for sentence completion questions, deterring if it positive or negative to help eliminate answer choices

Question 21

predicting words

Answer 21

write in simple words that would work

Question 22

prefixes and roots

Answer 22

help you predict the meaning of the word

Question 23

SCOPE words

Answer 23

change the flow of the sentence on the connotation of words

Question 24

cause and effect words

Answer 24

• found in sentences with the same flow

Question 25

two-blank sentence completion tips

Answer 25

- both words must fit exactly | - if one word is PERFECT, its usually the most common, and the second is usually wrong

Question 26

imposter words

Answer 26

look very similar to the perfect answer but have completely different meanings

Question 27

same subject area

Answer 27

if a word has the same subject as the sentence (like partisanship and political) it will usually seem right but its a trap and is usually wrong.

Question 28

contradictory words

Answer 28

very often one of the answer choices will be the exact opposite of the correct answer choice.

Question 29

passage based reading acronyms

Answer 29

- CITATION - USE - PASSAGE - COAT

Question 30

CITATION

Answer 30

citation questions - circle the citation in the passage - identify nouns/verbs- circle them - terminate hidden patterns in sentence - additional information - totally contradictory information - irrelevant information - obscure information - note the one that restates

Question 31

USE

Answer 31

vocab questions - unquestionably - substitute - each answer choice

Question 32

PASSAGE

Answer 32

main theme questions - PASS these questions up until the end - add the essential reading - go over the circled portions/answers - every answer should be politically correct

Question 33

COAT

Answer 33

to identify wrong answer choices - completely irrelevant information - obscure information - additional information - totally contradictory information

Question 34

DUAL

Answer 34

use for dual passages - do each passage/its questions one at a time - underline main themes in each passage - answer must match correct passages - leave both passage questions until the end

Question 35

COMPLETION

Answer 35

use for sentence completion - classify unknown words - operate the positive/negative test - magnify key elements (scope words, adj, etc) - predict the blank - look at the answer choices - eliminate wrong flow answer choices - try second blank first - identify the correct answer - only one restates - now it is an exact fit