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SAT
Course: SAT > Unit 11
Lesson 1: Reading- Active Reading Step | Science passage | Reading test | SAT
- SAT Reading: How to approach a Science passage
- Survey step | Literature passage | Reading Test | SAT
- SAT Reading: How to approach a Literature passage
- Active reading step | History passage | Reading test | SAT
- SAT Reading: How to approach a History passage
- Survey step | Social Science passage | Reading Test | SAT
- SAT Reading: How to approach a Social Science passage
- Worked example: Science passage, part 1
- Worked example: Science passage, part 2
- Worked example: Literature passage, part 1
- Worked example: Literature passage, part 2
- Worked example: History passage, part 1
- Worked example: History passage, part 2
- Worked example: Social science passage, part 1
- Worked example: Social science passage, part 2
- Explicit information | Quick guide
- Implicit information | Quick guide
- Point of view | Quick guide
- Analyzing relationships | Quick guide
- Citing evidence | Quick guide
- Main idea | Quick guide
- Analogical reasoning | Quick guide
- Overall structure | Quick guide
- Purpose | Quick guide
- Part-whole relationships | Quick guide
- Words in context | Quick guide
- Word choice | Quick guide
- Evaluating evidence | Quick guide
- Graphs and data | Quick guide
- Paired passages | Quick guide
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SAT Reading: How to approach a Social Science passage
What's in this article?
This is a full SAT Reading Lesson with videos about a single passage, but it's also packed full of tips and strategies designed to help you with every Reading passage you might encounter on Test Day.
- One full Social Science passage with questions
- 11 videos, including "How to survey the passage", "How to read the passage actively", AND "How to do each question"
- Written explanations to every question
- Tips and strategies
Let's get started!
The passage
First off, here's the passage we're working with, for easy reference.
(You don't have to read it right now!)
Survey step
In this video, we'll show you an approach we really like for skimming the passage and the questions—before reading the passage more carefully.
Active reading step
In this video, we show you one way to read the passage carefully. We like to sum up in our own words what each paragraph is about as we go along. We also like to mark up the passage to help us keep track of the most important ideas.
The questions
Okay! Now it's time for the questions. You can do this three ways:
1) Questions first, one at a time: Try the questions on your own, one by one, and watch each video after you attempt each question. We recommend watching the video even if you got the question right!
2) One big push First, try all of the questions on your own, then, watch the videos to learn how we did them.
3) Videos first, one at a time: Watch the videos first, then try the techniques in the videos by attempting the questions and reading our explanations. If you choose this route, you'll already know the answers to the questions, but it's still good to do them and read our explanations to learn the strategies!
Question 1: Analyzing purpose
Top tip: For questions like these, we like rephrasing the question in our own words to improve our understanding of what's being asked. Then we can go back to the passage and answer our version of the question in our own words—before looking at the choices.
Video for question 1: Analyzing purpose
Questions 2 and 3: Analyzing arguments and Citing textual evidence
Top tip: For paired questions like these, we encourage you to
- Simplify the first question using your own words
- Try to find the answer to your simplified version of the question by reading around the quotations provided by the choices in the second question
Video for questions 2 and 3: Analyzing arguments and Citing textual evidence
Question 4: Words and phrases in context
Top tips
- Cover up the choices
- Go back to the passage to find the word/phrase
- Make up your own version of the word/phrase using context clues in the surrounding sentences
- Uncover the choices, and find a match to your prediction in the choices
Video for question 4: Words and phrases in context
Question 5: Analyzing purpose
Top tips
- If possible, rephrase the question using your own words
- Go back to the passage and read around the reference
- Predict what the answer might say
- Find a match in the choices using Process of Elimination
Video for question 5: Analyzing purpose
Question 6: Words and phrases in context
Top tips
- Cover up the choices
- Go back to the passage to find the word/phrase
- Make up your own version of the word/phrase using context clues in the surrounding sentences
- Uncover the choices, and find a match to your prediction in the choices
Video for question 6: Words and phrases in context
Question 7: Citing textual evidence
Top tips
- Simplify the question as much as you can, using your own words
- Then, apply that simple "test" question to the quotations in the choices
- With each choice, ask yourself: "Is this quotation doing that thing the question wants it to do?"
Video for question 7: Citing textual evidence
Question 8: Central ideas and themes
Top tips
- Rephrase the question using your own words
- Answer your version of the question using your own words
- Find a choice that matches your prediction
Video for question 8: Central Ideas and Themes
Questions 9 and 10: Analyzing quantitative information
Top tips
- Remember: the info you need is in the graphic!
- Take note of the title of the graph, as well as the labels and units on the vertical and horizontal axes
- Look for trends and patterns and try to say in your own words what they suggest
Video for questions 9 and 10: Analyzing quantitative information
Question 11: Analyzing quantitative information
Watch the video for tips on this one!
Video for question 11: Analyzing quantitative information
Welcome to the end of the article!
Great job!
The strategies in this article have the potential to truly transform your score!
They might feel strange at first, and it takes time and repetition to get used to using them consistently—make sure to try them out when you're practicing on your own!
Want to join the conversation?
This article literally helped me to boost my scores by 150+ points. Thank you so much! It would also be very perfect if you had the same series of articles on History passages because for some people, including myself, they can be the hardest challenge between all 5 passages !(95 votes)
Could a similar style of lesson be produced for going through a set of paired science passages? I find those most tricky.(22 votes)
Here is a KA article on a "how-to" for paired passages:
https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/sat/sat-reading-writing-practice/new-sat-reading/a/sat-reading--article--paired-passages--quick-guide
Also, if you want to suggest something for Khan Academy SAT, here is a survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd-IjYRRy0b1eWRMAuMiZtCjNu87tZruCXnuRfm4P13ywKasQ/viewform(5 votes)
is there a way to make social science passages more interesting because I find them very boring and I can't concentrate so I end up guessing and not doing so well(16 votes)
I honestly used to feel that way too! What I find helps is ACTIVE reading: always look for main points to underline- this usually keeps you alert and paced, instead of forcing yourself to slowly push through the passage.(6 votes)
I did all the questions with the stars(mentioned in first video)without reading the passage. With little guessing and little gut feeling, I got all those correct! Thats really helpful for me and has proven the SQ3R is truly a great way to crash the SAT reading!(9 votes)- Good job! You can get even better with more SQ3R practice! Don't forget-confidence is key. If you're not sure about your abilities, you'll waste time needlessly checking your answers during the actual test. Keep it up!(5 votes)
Sometimes, when I practiced the PSAT in 9th and 10th grade, I felt like the History Reading Sections of the test are harder than they are on the Khan Academy practice questions. Why does that happen? Is there any way you can add a history section in the tips & strategies, so I can learn how to read historical articles/speeches? In addition, I keep getting "All Level 4 Questions have previously been answered" on my reading sections. Practicing the same articles has been useful and improved my score by 100+ points. However, I beginning to remember some of my answers and I'm not sure if I'm getting better at reading or just remembering a few answers. Is it possible you could add a few more passages, like 4, from previous PSATs and other tests into each reading section? Thank you!(7 votes)- Hey, they have a video where they go through a History and social studies passage and show you how to answer the questions. I hope it helps!
https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/sat/sat-reading-writing-practice/new-sat-reading/v/reading-history-passage(6 votes)
Is it possible to apply SQ3R for every essay on the SAT?(6 votes)- I am having trouble opening the videos, they are not showing. How can I fix this?(5 votes)
- Hi! I'm Sheyda from Iran. Your strategies are greatly useful. Thank you so much. However, I read the passages for literature and history first because I can memorize them easily. So I'm wondering whether reading the questions first is the best way for social science and science passages or not. Does anyone have this experience?(3 votes)
- Hi Sheyda,
To be honest, whether reading the passage or the questions first depends entirely on what you prefer. If you find the scientific wording and structure of science and social science passages hard to get through all at once, you can either read the questions first and read the passage only when you know what you're reading for, or alternatively, you could take a break at every paragraph or so to answer the line-directed questions for that paragraph (questions that only depend on a specific line or two of text not the whole passage).
Try reading the questions first, reading a paragraph and answering its questions, and whatever other strategies you can come up with. Choose whichever feels most natural to you.(4 votes)
- Does this technique also work for other passage types in the SAT?.(4 votes)
Is there another way to view the first video? I was unable to play it and learning how to skim a section is something that I need to work on. Otherwise these articles are really great!(3 votes)