How to Improve Your SAT Reading Score

How To Start Improve SAT Reading Score

Improving your Reading score on the SAT can seem like a daunting task for many students, but it honestly doesn’t have to be. That is because with a little help from the time-tested SAT Master Strategies program offered by Benthall Test Prep, you’ll have access to a proven program that can make a drastic change to not only your Reading score, but to your overall test score, in as little as six weeks. Our lessons are laid out in a meaningful manner and presented in a way that allows you the greatest chance of success in achieving your target score. Our students typically see an average increase of 217 points on the SAT, and these results speak for themselves. Take a closer look at a few of the ways in which you can improve your Reading score, and trust the team at Benthall Test Prep to help you achieve your dream on the SAT.

What The SAT Reading Test Is Evaluating

Understanding what the SAT Reading test is designed to assess is paramount to achieving a good score. In this, the reading portion of the SAT exam is designed in a way meant to accurately measure and assess your abilities in the areas of critical reading, use of context clues to determine meaning, and analysis of a text. The previously included stand-alone vocabulary section of the test has been eliminated. However, you will still be asked about the meaning of words as determined by their context on a portion of the reading test. During the reading portion of the test, you will have 65 minutes to answer 52 multiple-choice questions based on five written passages. Each individual passage is somewhere between 500-750 words in length or a set of paired passages with a total of 500-750 words between the two passages.

Avoid The Common Mistakes Of The Reading Test

While understanding what is to be assessed is important in improving your reading SAT score, it is equally important to know how to avoid common mistakes that many people make on this section. In the span of 65 minutes, you will be presented approximately 3000 words and be required to answer 52 questions related to them. Broken down further, each individual passage is paired with 10-12 questions and can be broken down into an average of 12 minutes per passage or set of paired passages. If you are able to maintain this pace throughout, or make up time elsewhere, you will be left with five minutes remaining at the end of the test to check or review your answers. The common pitfalls of the reading test are:

• Not leaving yourself enough time to complete all of the questions.
• Ignoring the context of the passage being presented and by missing what the question is asking in regards to that passage.
• Using knowledge that is not pertinent to the question from outside sources not contained within the SAT test.
• How to interpret informational graphics contained within the test and how to draw information from them.
• Not properly using the process of elimination on multiple-choice questions to eliminate obvious wrong answers from the start.

Utilize Practice Tests To Identify and Improve On Your Weak Points

One of the best ways to improve your overall score in reading is to get the practice that you need to succeed. This can be done easily in the form of taking SAT relevant practice tests and answering questions that are actually relevant to the test at hand instead of wasting your time wandering aimlessly. With lesson-focused training and test delivery like that which you will find at Benthall Test Prep, you can get the practice that you need, in a format that you can understand. Having access to reading resources like those that you will find either in our easy to use online lessons or at one of our lectures focused on helping you improve your overall SAT score, you can get the results that you need with a little practice and some help from us.

Take Notes As You Read To Be More Effective

A great way to help you understand passages in the reading portion of the SAT test is to take notes on what you read. This can be done on scratch paper that is given to you and allows you to identify areas that pertain to the question being asked. It is important to note that one should read the question first, otherwise, you won’t know what to take notes on. If you are a slow reader, this may not be a viable option for you, as it can increase the amount of time spent on a single question unless you are able to break it down into smaller portions that can be processed at a faster pace.

Know Your Weaknesses, and Make Them Strengths By Test Time

If you have taken the test before, you already know from looking at your results that there are certain areas that you could use some improvement in. Whether this is based on practice test scores or the actual SAT itself, rectifying those weaknesses now can help ensure an improved score in your future. Focus on the areas that you need the most work in and seek to turn them into strengths through practice, repetition, and focus. Areas that you are already strong in should be focused more on a maintenance standpoint so that they don’t diminish when taking the test once again.

Learn Great Study and Testing Skills With Our Online Program

Knowing when and where to get help when you need it is important to achieve a great score on the reading portion of the SATs. For many people that take the test as a junior as a benchmark to see where they are currently at, this can mean backward planning so that they know when they will need to take it again to apply for college. With six-week courses focused on helping you achieve your goal score in all areas of the SAT test, including reading, Benthall Test Prep is here to help. Take our online course at your leisure to improve your testing skills, and improve your SAT Reading score.