Critical Reading Strategies

Critical Reading Strategies

• Critical Reading involves in-depth analysis of texts, understanding directions before tests, and avoiding time-wasting habits.
• The "Time Vampire" is a metaphor for how directions and test-taking materials can consume time. Reading instructions thoroughly is key to effective test-taking.
• Accuracy in test-taking is preferable to guesswork.
• Critical Reading questions are drawn from humanities, social studies, natural sciences, and literature.
• Common question types include 13 sentence completions and 35 passage-based reading comprehension questions, ranging from 100 to 800 words.
• Critical Reading sections are structured into different types of questions, varying in length and number.

Sentence Completions

• Sentence completions require selecting missing words to complete a sentence.
• Directions include selecting the best word or phrase from choices provided.
• Strategy 1: Read the sentence and determine the missing word's type (positive, negative, etc).
• Strategy 2: Predict the word you should put in.
• Strategy 3: Choose the best answer, considering context and synonyms.
• Strategy 4: Cover up the answer choices; determine the missing word's type, predict the word needed, match your prediction, and plug the choice into the sentence to see if it works.
• Alternative strategy: Cover the choices, predict the word needed, and chose the correct answer from the available choices, considering context, synonyms and if the sentence makes logical sense.

Sentence Completion Types

• Definition: More than half of sentence completion questions fall under this category, and the rest of the sentence defines the missing word.
• Contrast: About a quarter of questions involve opposite ideas in the sentence.
• Cause-and-Effect: The least common type of question where one part of the sentence has a predictable result in the other.

Reading Comprehension

• Reading comprehension questions follow passages and assess understanding.
• Questions evaluate information explicitly stated, implied, or found within introductory materials.
• Passage types include humanities, social studies, natural sciences, and literature.
• Questions are not based on outside knowledge; all needed information is provided within the passage.
• Some vocabulary questions may require understanding a word's meaning within its context.

General Strategies

• Use positive/negative signs with choices to help narrow down the correct answers.
• Read the entire sentence first before determining the type of the missing word.
• Identify specific words that indicate contrast or support to understand the relationship between concepts.
• Test passages based on increasing difficulty. Focus on passages that are readily answerable and work up to more difficult ones.
• Familiarize yourself with various critical-reading comprehension skills.
• Use different strategies and different question types for each practice.
• Different online resources are available in order to prepare for such exams.

Explore critical reading strategies. Understand test directions, avoid time-wasting, and aim for accuracy. Learn about sentence completions and passage-based questions in humanities, social studies, sciences, and literature.