Lesson 5:
Connecting the Questions to the Passage
188 MCGRAW-HILL’S SAT
Think of Your Own Answer First
After answering the three key questions for
yourself, attack the SAT questions by following
these steps:- Read each question carefully, covering up
the answer choices for now. - Translate it into a “stand-alone” question, if
possible. - Formulate your own answer to the trans-
lated question. - Choose the best match among the choices.
This strategy takes advantage of the work
you’ve done answering the key questions, and
keeps you from getting “talked into” wrong
answers that only lookgood.For instance, a question such as “The passage
suggests that most people do not notice bias in the
media because.. .” can be translated into the open-
ended question. “Why [according to this author]
don’t people notice bias in the media?” Answer this
question on your own, then find the best match
among the choices.
Know the 6 Question Types
- Purposequestions ask why the author wrote the
passage or used some particular word or lines, as
in “The reference to the ‘tragedy’ (line 16) primar-
ily serves to... .” These questions usually contain
key phrases such as “in order to” or “primarily
serves to.” To tackle these questions, first remind
yourself of the purpose of the whole passage, and
then of the paragraph, then of any line references. - Central idea questions ask you to summarize the
central idea or make an inference based on the
author’s position, as in “Which of the following is
the best title of this passage?” or “With which of the
following statements would the author most likely
agree?”To tackle these questions, remind yourself of
the central idea before checking the choices. - Secondary ideaquestions ask you to identify the
main ideas of individual paragraphs rather than
of the passage as a whole, as in “The ‘problems’
mentioned in line 56 are those of.. .” or “The third
paragraph suggests... .” To tackle these questions,
reread the specified lines—sticking to the specified
lines and perhaps the sentence before—and summa-
rize them before checking the choices.
4.Tonequestions ask you about the attitude of the au-
thor or the tone of particular characterizations. To
tackle tone questions, pay attention when the author
is being funny, critical, condescending, or objective.
5.Word or phrase in context questions ask you what
a particular word or phrase means in the context
of a sentence. To tackle these questions, reread the
specific sentence, translate the given word into your
own word, and compare this to the choices.- Structure or devicequestions ask you about the rela-
tionship between paragraphs or the author’s use of
such devices as anecdotes, authoritative references,
statistics, metaphors, counterexamples, and such. To
tackle these questions, pay particular attention to such
devices as you read analyses or arguments.
Check the Line ReferencesAlways carefully reread any words or lines the
question refers to, with the question type in
mind. For instance, if the question is a “purpose”
question—using a phrase such as “in order to”—
reread the words or lines asking, “What purpose
does this word, phrase, or reference have in this
discussion?” If it is a “secondary idea”
question—using a word such as “suggests,” “rep-
resents,” or “means”—reread the words or lines
asking, “What does the author mean by that?”Use the “Sandwich Strategy” to Find the
AnswerUnlike questions on other SAT sections, CR
questions do notgo in order of increasing diffi-
culty. Rather, they follow the order of the passage.
Generally, the first questions are about the be-
ginning of the passage, and the last questions are
about the end of the passage. Use the “sandwich
strategy” to answer questions without line refer-
ences. For instance, if question 23 does not con-
tain a line reference, but question 22 refers to
line 15 and question 24 refers to line 25, then the
answer to question 23 is probably “sandwiched”
between lines 15 and 25!