PSAT/NMSQT Prep with Practice Tests - Princeton Review 2021

Reading comprehension
PSAT/NMSQT prep

Half of your Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score comes from the Reading Test, a 60-minute test that requires you to answer 47 questions spread out over five passages. The questions will ask you to do everything from determining the meaning of words in context, to deciding an author’s purpose for providing a detail, to finding the main idea of an entire passage, to pinpointing information on a graph. Each passage ranges from 500 to 750 words and has 9 or 10 questions. Time will be tight on this test. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce you to a basic approach that will streamline how you take the test and allow you to focus on only what you need to get your points.

PSAT READING: CRACKING THE PASSAGES

Answering passage-based reading questions is exactly like taking an open-book test: all of the information that you could be asked about is right in front of you, so you never have to worry about any history, literature, or chemistry that you may (or may not) have learned in school. Of course, you will use the passage to answer the questions, but you will not need to read the passage from beginning to end, master all its details, and then carefully select the one choice that answers the question perfectly. What you need is a way to get in and get out of this section with as little stress and as many points as possible.

If someone asked you in what year Louis Pasteur invented pasteurization, would you read the Wikipedia entry on Pasteur from the beginning until you found the answer? Or would you quickly scan through it looking for words like “invented” and “pasteurization”—or better yet, look for the numbers that represent a year, which are easy to spot? We’re sure his childhood was fascinating, but your job is to answer a specific question, not read an entire text. This is exactly how to approach passage-based reading questions on the PSAT.

Your Mission:

Process five passages and answer 9 or 10 questions for each passage (or pair of passages). Get as many points as you can.

Okay…so how do you get those points? Let’s start with the instructions for the Reading Test.

DIRECTIONS

Each passage or pair of passages below is followed by a number of questions. After reading each passage or pair, choose the best answer to each question based on what is stated or implied in the passage or passages and in any accompanying graphics (such as a table or graph).

Notice that the directions clearly state the correct answer is based on “what is stated or implied in the passage.” This is great news! You do not have to rely on your outside knowledge here. All the College Board cares about is whether you can read a text and understand it well enough to answer some questions about it. Unlike in the Math or the Writing and Language Tests, there are no formulas to memorize, no comma rules to learn. You just need to know how to efficiently process the text, the questions, and the answer choices in order to maximize your score. A mantra you can use here: Don’t think! Just read!

Another benefit of this open-book test format: you can (and should!) flip back and forth between the passage and the questions so that you are reading only what you need in order to answer a given question.

Your POOD and Your Reading Test

You will get all five of the Reading passages at the same time, so use that to your advantage. Take a quick look through the entire section and figure out the best order for you to do the passages. Depending on your target score, you may be able to temporarily skip (don’t forget LOTD!) an entire passage or two, so figure out which passages are hardest, and save them for last (or for never).

How do you decide which ones to do and which ones to skip? Consider these concepts:

· Type of passage: You’ll have one literature passage, two science passages, and two history/social studies passages. If you like to read fiction, the literature passage may be a good place for you to start. If you like to read nonfiction, one of the science or history/social studies passages might be a better starting place for you.

· Topic and date of passage: The blurb will give you some basic information about the passage that can help you decide whether to do the passage or skip it.

· Types of questions: Do the questions have a good number of Line References and Lead Words? Will you be able to find what you’re looking for relatively quickly, or will you have to spend more time wading through the passage to find what you need?

Don’t forget: On any questions or passages that you skip, always fill in your LOTD!

Basic Approach for the Reading Test

Follow these steps for every Reading passage. We’ll go over these in greater detail in the next few pages.

1.Read the Blurb. The little blurb at the beginning of each passage may not contain a lot of information, but it can be helpful for identifying the type of passage.

2.Select and Understand a Question. For the most part, do the questions in order, saving the general questions for last and using your LOTD on any questions or passages you want to skip.

3.Read What You Need. Don’t read the whole passage! Use Line References and Lead Words to find the reference for the question, and then carefully read a window of about 10—12 lines (usually about 5 or 6 lines above and below the Line Reference/Lead Word) to find the answer to the question.

4.Predict the Correct Answer. Your prediction should come straight from the text. Don’t analyze or paraphrase. Often, you’ll be able to find something in the text that you can actually highlight to predict the answer.

5.POE. Eliminate anything that isn’t consistent with your prediction. Don’t necessarily try to find the right answer immediately, because there is a good chance you won’t see anything that you like. If you can eliminate answers that you know are wrong, though, you’ll be closer to the right answer. If you can’t eliminate three answers with your prediction, use the POE criteria (which we’ll talk about in a few pages).

Where the Money Is

A reporter once asked notorious thief Willie Sutton why he robbed banks. Legend has it that his answer was, “Because that’s where the money is.” While reading comprehension is safer and slightly more productive than larceny, the same principle applies. Concentrate on the questions and answer choices because that’s where the points are. The passage is just a place for the College Board to stash facts and details. You’ll find them when you need to. What’s the point of memorizing all 67 pesky details about plankton if the College Board asks you about only 10?

Let’s see these steps in action!

A sample passage and questions appear on the next few pages. Don’t start working the passage right away. In fact…you can’t! The answer choices are missing. Just go ahead to this page, where we will begin going through the steps of the Basic Approach, using the upcoming passage and questions.

SAMPLE PASSAGE AND QUESTIONS

Here is an example of what a reading comprehension passage and questions look like. We will use this passage to illustrate the reading Basic Approach throughout this chapter. You don’t need to do the questions now, but you might want to paperclip this page so it’s easy to flip back to later.

Questions 21—29 are based on the following passage.

The passage below is adapted from an article discussing minor Elizabethan dramatists. It focuses on the works of Thomas Heywood and Thomas Middleton, two influential playwrights of the early seventeenth century.

These are the questions for the passage. We’ve removed the answer choices because, for now, we just want you to see the different question types the PSAT will ask. Don’t worry about answering these here. Not all of these questions will have answers. This is just to demonstrate how to read questions in the Reading Comprehension section.

21.The primary purpose of the passage is to

22.According to the information in the passage, the author most likely would agree that Heywood

23.Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

24.As used in line 9, “represents” most nearly means

25.The author’s reaction to Middleton is best described as a mix of

26.According to the information in the passage, one primary difference between Heywood and Middleton is that Heywood

27.Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

28.As used in line 28, “design” most nearly means

29.The information in lines 58—62 serves primarily to

Step 1: Read the Blurb

You should always begin by reading the blurb (the introductory material above the passage). The blurb gives you the title of the piece, as well as the author and the publication date. Typically the blurb won’t have much more information than that, but it’ll be enough to let you know whether the passage is literature, history/social studies, or science. It will also give you a sense of what the passage will be about and can help you make a POOD decision about when to do the passage.

The Strategy

1. Read the Blurb

Read the blurb at the beginning of the passage on this page. Based on the blurb, is the passage literature, history/social studies, or science? What will the passage be about?

Step 2: Select and Understand a Question

Select…

Notice that the steps of the Basic Approach have you jumping straight from the blurb to the questions. There is no “Read the Passage” step. You get points for answering questions, not for reading the passage, so we’re going to go straight to the questions.

The Strategy

1. Read the Blurb

2. Select and Understand a Question

On a test you take in school, you probably do the questions in order. That seems logical and straightforward. However, doing the questions in order on a Reading passage can set you up for a serious time issue. The College Board says the order of the questions “is also as natural as possible, with general questions about central ideas, themes, point of view, overall text structure, and the like coming early in the sequence, followed by more localized questions about details, words in context, evidence, and the like.” So to sum it up, the general questions come first, followed by the specific questions.

That question structure works great in an English class, when you have plenty of time to read and digest the text on your own. When you’re trying to get through five passages in only an hour, you don’t have time for that. Instead of starting with the general questions and then answering the specific questions, we’re going to flip that and do the specific questions first.

Look back at the questions on this page.

What does the first question ask you about?

In order to answer that question, you’d have to read what part of the passage?

And what we don’t want to do is read the whole passage! So skip that first question. You’ll come back to it, but not until you’ve done the specific questions. Once you go through and answer all (or most) of the specific questions, you’ll have a really good idea what the test-writers think is important. You’ll also have read most of the passage, so answering the general questions at the end will be easier than it would be if you had started with them.

Remember we mentioned earlier that the questions are in “natural” order? Look at the Line References in the specific questions. What do you notice about them?

Yep! They’re in order through the passage! So work through them as they’re given, and you’ll work through the passage from beginning to end. Do not get stuck on a hard question, though. If you find yourself stumped, use your LOTD and move on to the next question. You can always come back if you have time.

Based on that logic, let’s skip the first question and move on to the second question.

…and Understand

Once you’ve selected a question, you need to make sure you understand what it’s asking. Reading questions are often not in question format. Instead, they will make statements such as, “The author’s primary reason for mentioning the gadfly is to,” and then the answer choices will follow. Make sure that you understand the question by turning it into a question—that is, back into a sentence that ends with a question mark and begins with What/Why/How.

22.According to the information in the passage, the author most likely would agree that Heywood

What is this question asking?

Rephrase the Question…

…so that it asks:

What?

Why?

How?

Notice the phrase most likely would agree that. This phrase lets you know that the question can be rephrased as a “what” question. So for this particular question, you want to figure out “What does the author most likely think about Heywood?” Notice also the phrase according to the information in the passage at the start of the question. This phrase lets you know that you don’t have to be psychic! You just need to find something the author actually said about Heywood, and use that information to answer the question.

Step 3: Read What You Need

Line References and Lead Words

Many questions will refer you to a specific set of lines or to a particular paragraph, so you won’t need to read the entire passage to answer those questions. Those are Line References. Other questions may not give you a Line Reference, but may ask about specific names, quotes, or phrases that are easy to spot in the text. We’ll call those Lead Words. It’s important to remember that the Line Reference or Lead Word shows you where the question is in the passage, but you’ll have to read more than that single line in order to find the answer in the passage.

The Strategy

1. Read the Blurb

2. Select and Understand a Question

3. Read What You Need

If you read a window of about five lines above and five lines below each Line Reference or Lead Word, you should find the information you need. It’s important to note that while you do not need to read more than these 10—12 lines of text, you usually cannot get away with reading less. If you read only the lines from the Line Reference, you will very likely not find the information you need to answer the question. Read carefully! You should be able to put your finger on the particular phrase, sentence, or set of lines that answers your question.

Read a window of about 5 lines above and 5 lines below the Line Reference to get the context for the question.

5 Above, 5 Below

5 is the magic number when it comes to Line Reference questions. Read about 5 lines above the Line Reference and then about 5 lines below it to get all of the information you need in order to answer the question correctly.

25.The author’s reaction to Middleton is best described as a mix of

What is the Lead Word in this question?

What lines will you need to read to find the answer?

Once you use the Lead Words to find your window, draw a bracket around the window so that you can find it easily. The more you can get out of your brain and onto the page, the better off you’ll be. Because the Lead Word is Middleton, skip to line 48 and start reading there. In this case, the first half of the third paragraph would be a good window.

Now it’s time to read. Even though you’re reading only a chunk of the text, make sure you read it carefully.

Step 4: Predict the Answer

The College Board does its best to distract you by creating tempting—but wrong—answers. However, if you know what you’re looking for in advance, you will be less likely to fall for a trap answer. Before you even glance at the answer choices, take the time to think about what specific, stated information in your window supplies the answer to the question. Be careful not to paraphrase too far from the text or try to analyze what you’re reading. Remember that what might be a good “English class” answer may lead you in the wrong direction on the PSAT! Stick with the text.

The Strategy

1. Read the Blurb

2. Select and Understand a Question

3. Read What You Need

4. Predict the Answer

As you read the window, look for specific lines or phrases that answer the question. Often what you’re looking for will be in a sentence before or after the Line Reference or Lead Word, so it’s crucial that you read the full window.

Once you’ve found text to answer the question, highlight it if you can! Otherwise, jot down a prediction for the answer, sticking as close to the text as possible.

Let’s keep looking at question 25, this time with the window.

25.The author’s reaction to Middleton is best described as a mix of

Here’s your window from the passage. Read it and see if you can find something that answers the question. Highlight your prediction if you can.

Did you highlight some negative terms as well as some positive ones? The passage gives you clear evidence that the author’s reaction to Middleton involves both a positive and a negative judgment. The sentence His observation, though sharp, close, and vigilant, is somewhat ironic and unfeeling shows this ambivalence.

Step 5: Use Process of Elimination

A multiple-choice test is a cool thing because you have all the right answers on the page in front of you. All you have to do is eliminate anything that isn’t correct. Sometimes, especially on Reading, it’s easier to find wrong answers that aren’t supported by the passage rather than trying to find the right answer that might not look the way you think it should.

The Strategy

1. Read the Blurb

2. Select and Understand a Question

3. Read What You Need

4. Produit the Answer

5. Use Process of Elimination

Process of Elimination, or POE, involves two steps. The first step will be the question, “What can I eliminate that doesn’t match—or is inconsistent with—my prediction?” For many of the easy and medium questions, this step will be enough to get down to the right answer.

25.The author’s reaction to Middleton is best described as a mix of

Remember, on the previous page, you used the text to predict that the author reacted to Middleton with a mix of positive and negative judgment. Start by eliminating anything that does not fit that prediction.

Did you eliminate (C) and (D) right away? Neither choice involves a mix of positive and negative. That was fast! Now that you’re down to two answer choices that fit your prediction, use the text to get the right one. On the negative side, what’s the author’s criticism? Middleton depresses us because he is unfeeling. Does that better match (A), criticism, or (B), disgust? Disgust seems too extreme. If you’re not sure yet, look at the positive side: What does the author like about Middleton? The force of imagination, depth of passion, and fullness of matter. Does that match (A), admiration, for his ingenuity? Maybe. Does that match (B), appreciation, for his displays of tenderness? Not at all. Either way you slice it, (A) is better than (B). Pick (A).

POE Criteria

On most of the easy and medium questions, you’ll be able to eliminate three of the four answers simply by using your prediction. On other questions, usually the Harder questions, your prediction will help you get rid of one or two answers, and then you’ll need to consider the remaining answers a little more carefully. If you’re down to two answers, and they both seem to make sense, you’re probably down to the right answer and the trap answer. Luckily, there are some common traps that the College Board will set for you, and knowing them can help you figure out which is the trap answer and which is the right answer. Here are a few of those traps:

· Mostly Right, Slightly Wrong: These answers look just about perfect except for a word or two that doesn’t match what’s in the text.

· Could Be True: These answers might initially look good because they make sense or seem logical. You might be able to support these answers in an English class, but they lack the concrete support from the text to make them correct PSAT answers.

· Right Answer, Wrong Question: These answer choices are true based on the passage, but they don’t answer the question asked.

· Right Words, Wrong Meaning: These answer choices say what the passage says, but they don’t mean the same thing. These answers are traps for test-takers who are simply matching words from the passage and not looking at the meaning.

Predictions and POE

Use these criteria after you have eliminated anything that doesn’t match your prediction.

QUESTION TYPES AND FORMATS

Now that you know the steps of the Basic Approach, let’s consider the different types of questions you’ll be answering. It’s not important that you can identify the question types by the names we give them. But it is extremely important that you can read a question and know how to respond. Is the question asking you WHAT the author says, WHAT the author means, WHAT a particular word means, WHAT evidence supports a point, etc.? The next section of this chapter will help you decode those question types and formats. The final section will help you make sense of WHY or HOW an author does something, as well as the General WHAT questions. Your score will depend on your ability to figure out if a question is asking you WHAT, WHY, or HOW.

Question Types and Formats:

· Detail

· Vocabulary in Context

· Infer/Imply/Suggest

· Paired Questions

· General

DETAIL (What?)

When you see a question that contains the phrase according to the passage or according to the author, your job is fairly simple. Get to that part of the text, find the detail that tells you WHAT the passage or the author is saying, and then use POE to get rid of wrong answers. Carefully read the window and do not simply rely on your memory. The question writers are really good at tricking people who use their memories rather than their eyes.

26.According to the information in the passage, one primary difference between Heywood and Middleton is that Heywood

A)displayed a more cynical attitude toward humanity.

B)had fewer of his works published.

C)was a more disciplined writer.

D)showed less powerful creativity in his writing.

Here’s How To Crack It

First, you need to go back to the text and find a primary difference between the two writers. Since paragraphs 1 and 2 are about Heywood only, and paragraph 4 is about Middleton only, focus on paragraph 3. Since the second half of paragraph 3 is about only Middleton, focus on the first half, which contrasts both writers. As you read that window, highlight whatever is true about Heywood but not Middleton. You should notice that, compared to Middleton, Heywood has more fluency of diction and skill in fastening the reader’s interest to his fable, better versification and construction, but has less force of imagination, depth of passion, and fullness of matter. Once you have this prediction—based completely on the text, not on your opinion and not on your memory—use POE to work through the answer choices. Choice (A) doesn’t match the prediction (and actually fits Middleton, rather than Heywood), so eliminate it. Choice (B) might seem logical, but it’s not in the text and does not match the prediction. Eliminate it. Choice (C) could be true because the text says he had more fluency and skill and better construction. If he’s better at the technical parts of writing, it might make sense that he’s a more disciplined writer. However, nothing in the text actually supports that. Watch out for answers that you might be able to justify in an essay. There has to be support in the text! Choice (C) does not have that support, and it does not match the prediction. Eliminate it. Choice (D) totally matches the prediction. Remember: don’t think—read! Put another way: don’t remember—underline!

VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT (What?)

Another way that the College Board will test your reading comprehension is with Vocabulary-in-Context (VIC) questions. The most important thing to remember is that these are IN CONTEXT! Gone are the days of “SAT Vocabulary” when you had to memorize lists of obscure words like impecunious and perspicacious. Now the test-writers want to see that you can understand what a word means based on context. You’ll see words that look familiar but may be used in ways that are a little less familiar. Do not try to answer these questions simply by defining the word in your head and looking for that definition. You have to go back to the text and look at the context for the word.

28.As used in line 28, “design” most nearly means

A)draft.

B)pattern.

C)biography.

D)intention.

Here’s How To Crack It

With VIC questions, you don’t need to read a full 10—12-line window. Typically a few lines before and a few lines after will give you what you need. Go to line 28 and find the word design. Highlight it. When you read a bit before and after the word, say lines 25 through 29, the text says: Besides his labors as a playwright, he worked as translator, versifier, and general maker of books. Late in life he conceived the design of writing the lives of all the poets of the world, including his contemporaries. Now read the sentence and put in a different word than “design” that means the same thing. Did you use a word like “plan”? Compare your prediction to the four answer choices, and you can quickly eliminate (A), (B), and (C).

Do not give in to the temptation to simply answer the question without looking at the text. Did you notice that at least two of the wrong answer choices do legitimately mean design? If you don’t go back to the text, you can easily fall for such a wrong answer. But if you make a prediction based on the text, you will avoid these tricky answers. Don’t think—just read!

Now try this one.

24.As used in line 9, “represents” most nearly means

A)supports.

B)portrays.

C)elects.

D)acts.

Here’s How To Crack It

Here are lines 8—12: As early as 1633 he represents himself as having had an “entire hand, or at least a main finger,” in two hundred and twenty plays, of which only twenty-three were printed.

The sentence discusses how Heywood described his accomplishments, so you could replace the word represents with “describes.” Does the word supports have the same meaning as “describes?” No. Does portrays? Yes—to portray something in a certain way means to describe it that way. What about elects or acts? No, and no. Using your prediction based on the meaning of represents in context, (A), (C), and (D) are out. You may have noticed that some of the wrong answers are related to other definitions of the word represents, but none of them fit your prediction nor the way the word is used in the passage. The correct answer is (B).

INFER/IMPLY/SUGGEST (What?)

When you see a question that contains the word infer, imply, or suggest, be extra careful. In real life, those words often signify a question asking your interpretation. You may think that the test-writers want you to do some English-class-level reading between the lines. In actuality, though, they don’t. It’s still just a straight reading comprehension question. There may be a tiny bit of reading between the lines, because the answer may not be as directly stated in the text as it will with a detail question, but there will still be plenty of evidence in the text to support the correct answer.

A few pages ago, we discussed this question:

25.The author’s reaction to Middleton is best described as a mix of

A)admiration for his ingenuity but criticism for his absence of warmth.

B)disgust for his style but appreciation for his displays of tenderness.

C)confusion about his use of diction but curiosity about his sentiments.

D)apathy toward his ability to dishearten readers but dislike of his coldness.

Recall how we solved it by going back to the text, finding relevant evidence, predicting an answer, and then using POE to eliminate answer choices that didn’t fit the prediction. If you rely on this procedure, you will improve your performance with these sorts of questions.

Whereas Detail questions ask WHAT the author says, Inference questions ask WHAT the author really means. The correct answer will have the same meaning as the text, even though the words may be different.

BEST EVIDENCE QUESTIONS (What?)

Remember the full name of this section of the test? It’s the PSAT Evidence-Based Reading Test. Throughout this chapter, you’ve been using evidence to answer all of these questions, so this next step won’t come as a complete surprise. In fact, once you get a hold of the best way to manage evidence questions, you’ll be glad. You can do the work for one question and get points for two.

Best Evidence: Easy-to-Find Paired Questions

We discussed question 26 earlier. Here it is:

26.According to the information in the passage, one primary difference between Heywood and Middleton is that Heywood

The correct answer was (D): showed less powerful creativity in his writing. Recall that we based this answer on the part of the text that said Heywood had less force of imagination, depth of passion, and fullness of matter.

So now you encounter the following question:

27.Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

A)Lines 8—12 (“As early…printed”)

B)Lines 20—25 (“It was…mean”)

C)Lines 45—51 (“With…matter”)

D)Lines 54—56 (“The eye…cynic”)

Here’s How To Crack It

What to do? Since the text you already used to answer question 26 (force of imagination, depth of passion, and fullness of matter) was in lines 49—51, simply pick (C) and move on! Buy one, get one free.

We’re not kidding: Easy-to-Find best evidence questions are like free points. Get them all!

Best Evidence: Harder-to-Find Paired Questions

Sometimes, though, the best evidence question follows a question that is harder to find in the passage. The first question may have no Line References or Lead Words, and the order of the questions might leave you with a long section of the passage to search. You might think that you have to answer the first question by reading a long section of the passage and then answer the evidence question based on that exhaustive research. But luckily, there’s a time-saving and accuracy-improving alternative: a strategy that we call Parallel POE.

Best Evidence

Not sure where to find the answer? Let the “best evidence” lines help!

Using Parallel POE, you’ll be able to work through the questions at the same time! When you find yourself faced with a set of paired questions, you can start with the second question (the “best evidence” question) if (1) you aren’t sure where to look for the answer, or (2) the first question is a general question about the whole passage. Because the second question in the pair asks which lines provide the best evidence for the previous question, you can use those lines to help work through the answers for the previous question. Let’s take a look.

22.According to the information in the passage, the author most likely would agree that Heywood

A)could have contributed more to our knowledge of influential seventeenth-century writers than he actually did.

B)was more involved in professions other than playwriting than many authorities today believe.

C)was an actor in more than two hundred plays, although only slightly more than twenty became popular productions.

D)would have been the most talented playwright of his day had he possessed more imagination and passion.

23.Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

A)Lines 3—12 (“In 1598…printed”)

B)Lines 20—27 (“It was…books”)

C)Lines 27—34 (“Late…know”)

D)Lines 37—44 (“His style…contemporaries”)

Here’s How To Crack It

Heywood is discussed throughout most of the passage. That’s a pretty big window! What to do? That’s where Parallel POE comes in. Notice that question 23 gives you the only possible lines for your evidence. Choice (23A) references 10 lines, (23B) references 8 lines, (23C) references 8 lines, and (23D) references 8 lines. So what would you rather do: read the entire passage hoping you might find an answer somewhere or read these tiny chunks one at a time to see if they answer the question? We hope you answered the latter!

What’s great about Parallel POE is that, in the first instance, the original question does not even matter. Think for a moment about how paired questions operate. The correct answer to the first question must be supported by an answer to the best evidence question, and the correct answer to the best evidence question must support an answer to the first question. In other words, if there is a best evidence answer that doesn’t support an answer to the first question, it is wrong. Period. Likewise, if there is an answer to the first question that isn’t supported by a best evidence answer, it too is wrong. Period.

Let’s use this to our advantage! Rather than worry about what the first question is asking and what the answer might be, just start making connections between the two answer sets. If a best evidence answer supports a first question answer, physically draw a line connecting them. You should not expect to have four connections. If you are lucky, you will have only one connection, and you will have your answer pair. Otherwise, you might have two or three connections and will then (and only then) worry about the first question. The important thing to remember is that any answer choice in the first question that isn’t physically connected to a best evidence answer—and any best evidence answer that isn’t connected to an answer in the first question—must be eliminated.

Let’s take a look at how this first Parallel POE pass would look. (The paired questions have been arranged in two columns for your convenience. This does not represent what you will see on the official test.)

Don’t worry about the question itself yet. Go straight to the best evidence lines.

· Choice (23A) says In 1598 he became an actor, or, as Henslowe, who employed him, phrases it, “came and hired himself to me as a covenanted servant for two years.” The date of his first published drama is 1601; that of his last published work, a “General History of Women,” is 1657. As early as 1633 he represents himself as having had an “entire hand, or at least a main finger,” in two hundred and twenty plays, of which only twenty-three were printed. Does this evidence support any of the answer choices for question 22? Nope. So eliminate (23A) and move on.

· Choice (23B) says It was said of him, by a contemporary, that he “not only acted every day, but also obliged himself to write a sheet every day for several years; but many of his plays being composed loosely in taverns, occasions them to be so mean.” Besides his labors as a playwright, he worked as translator, versifier, and general maker of books. Does this evidence support any of the answer choices for question 22? Choice (22B) looks possible, so draw a line physically connecting (23B) with (22B).

· Choice (23C) says Late in life he conceived the design of writing the lives of all the poets of the world, including his contemporaries. Had this project been carried out, we should have known something about the external life of Shakespeare; for Heywood must have carried in his brain many of those facts which we of this age are most curious to know. Does this evidence support any of the answer choices for question 22? Yes, it very strongly supports (22A), so draw a line physically connecting (23C) with (22A).

· Choice (23D) says His style, indeed, is singularly simple, pure, clear, and straightforward; but it conveys the impression of a mind so diffused as almost to be characterless, and incapable of flashing its thoughts through the images of imaginative passion. He is more prosaic, closer to ordinary life and character, than his contemporaries. Does this evidence support any of the answer choices for question 22? Nope. So eliminate (23D) and move on.

Look at your progress so far: (22C) and (22D) have no support from question 23, so go ahead and eliminate (22C) and (22D). No matter how good they may sound, they CANNOT be right if there is no evidence supporting them from the best evidence question.

Your work should look something like this at this point:

Now you’re down to a very nice 50/50 split. Go back to the question. Of the two pairs, which one best describes Heywood in a way that the author would most likely agree with? Your sense that (23C) strongly matched (22A) is a clue that this is what the author would most likely agree with, since it’s something the author actually did say. The other pair was a weaker match, with a feeling of Could Be True. Eliminate (23B), eliminate (22B), choose the remaining answers (22A) and (23C), and get two points.

On the actual test, it would be too complicated for you to draw a full table like the one above, but all you need to do is create a column to the left of the best evidence answer choices for the answers to the previous question. Basically, it should look something like this:

Parallel POE

Since you can’t draw a full table on the actual exam, try making notations as shown in question 22; that is, create a column to the left of the best evidence answer choices listing out the choices to the previous question.

Best Evidence: Single Questions

You will also see some Best Evidence questions that are not paired with another question. When you see a single Best Evidence question, look at the lines given in each answer choice, and eliminate answers that don’t provide evidence for the claim in the question. You will see an example of a single Best Evidence question in the next section.

There is a list of common question wording in the Chapter Summary on this page. Use this list as you practice to help you identify the question types.

SAMPLE PASSAGE AND QUESTIONS

Here is another example of a Reading passage and questions. We will use this passage to let you independently practice the Basic Approach on the WHAT questions you already know how to do (Detail, Infer, Vocabulary-in-Context, Best Evidence) and to model for you how to manage the WHY and HOW questions, as well as the Charts and Graphs questions and General questions.

Questions 19—28 are based on the following passage and supplementary material.

This passage is adapted from “Jumping Spiders Can Think Ahead, Plan Detours” by Michael Greshko, NG Image Collection. Published in 2016.

Figure 1

19.Over the course of the passage, the focus shifts from

A)a general discussion of animal behavior to specifics about a certain species.

B)an introduction of an unexpected characteristic to a discussion of an experiment testing that characteristic.

C)contradictory hypotheses to a discovery which resolved the conflict.

D)an overview of a certain animal to the specifics of that animal’s eating habits.

20.Which choice best supports the claim that jumping spiders are more intelligent than their size would suggest?

A)Lines 1—6 (“With…creatures”)

B)Lines 6—9 (“The…space”)

C)Lines 15—17 (“Jumping…spiders”)

D)Lines 35—37 (“Demonstrating…challenging”)

21.As used in line 4, “intricate” most nearly means

A)complicated.

B)obscure.

C)unfathomable.

D)confused.

22.The primary purpose of the second paragraph (lines 15—27) is to

A)refute a controversial claim.

B)describe a complicated experiment.

C)provide a specific example.

D)prove a long-disputed hypothesis.

23.It can reasonably be inferred that, compared to other jumping spiders, the Portia spiders

A)don’t mind getting wet.

B)are more aggressive.

C)have very small brains.

D)are more thoroughly researched.

24.Which choice is an underlying assumption of the experiment described in the passage?

A)If a jumping spider can simply see food, it will recognize it as food.

B)If a path is close to water, a jumping spider will avoid the path entirely.

C)If a jumping spider uses a walkway, then it must be in the Portia family.

D)If a jumping spider can’t see its food, it will become confused.

25.Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

A)Lines 37—38 (“Other…used”)

B)Lines 42—46 (“From…leaves”)

C)Lines 50—54 (“But once…location”)

D)Lines 67—68 (“What’s…confused”)

26.As used in line 49, “suspended” most nearly means

A)hanging.

B)delayed.

C)discontinued.

D)attached.

27.Figure 2 best supports which claim from the passage?

A)Other spiders did not pay attention to the same walkways that Portia spiders used.

B)The Portia spider had a more accurate plan to get food than other species of jumping spider.

C)Each species of jumping spider was able to find its way to the box containing the food.

D)The spiders were distracted by the researchers’ blinking.

28.Based on figure 1, the greatest number of spiders

A)made an incorrect choice with an indirect approach.

B)made an incorrect choice with a direct approach.

C)made a correct choice with an indirect approach.

D)made a correct choice with a direct approach.

Do you recognize the formats of questions 20, 21, 23, and 26? Question 20 is a single Best Evidence question. Question 21 and question 26 are Vocabulary-in-Context questions. Question 23 is an Inference question. Try answering those four questions on your own, using the strategies we’ve discussed. The answers can be found in Part IV.

That leaves us with a few other mysterious question types. In the following pages, we will demystify them for you.

PURPOSE QUESTIONS (Why?)

Take a look at this question, and think about how it’s different from the WHAT questions we’ve been talking about.

22.The primary purpose of the second paragraph (lines 15—27) is to

Notice that it’s not asking you WHAT the second paragraph says. It is asking about the purpose. The purpose for something is the reason it is there. How would you talk about that? You would explain WHY it is there, right? Yes! So when you see questions with phrases like “what is the purpose” or “the author says/does X/Y/Z in order to,” just translate them into questions starting with WHY.

So question 22 is really asking WHY the author included the second paragraph. Doesn’t that feel easier to deal with than the way it was originally worded? We think so too.

Begin by carefully reading the second paragraph. It begins with a statement that jumping spiders of the subfamily Spartaeinae are particularly ambitious because they eat other spiders. The paragraph then goes on to explain that in order to do this, they must have extra intelligence and, in fact, researchers have done studies which show the spiders can find hidden prey. In this paragraph, the author tells the reader that this spider is unique and demonstrably intelligent. But remember, the question is asking WHY the author includes that information. If you look at the previous paragraph, you’ll see that the author was discussing the unusual abilities of jumping spiders. The first paragraph discusses jumping spiders in general, and the second paragraph discusses one family of jumping spiders in particular. Let’s compare that prediction with the answer choices.

A)refute a controversial claim.

B)describe a complicated experiment.

C)provide a specific example.

D)prove a long-disputed hypothesis.

The author did not include the second paragraph in order to refute or prove anything, nor to describe a complicated experiment, so eliminate (A), (B), and (D). Choice (C) is consistent with the prediction, so choose (C)!

STRUCTURE AND ARGUMENT QUESTIONS (How?)

The last time someone asked you about a film you just saw, did you answer “A character was introduced, a problem emerged, possible solutions were explored and rejected, and a resolution emerged from an unexpected alliance with a former antagonist”? Doubtful. But if so, the test-writers might have a job for you!

Take a look at this question, and think about how it’s different from the WHAT and WHY questions we’ve been discussing.

24.Which choice is an underlying assumption of the experiment described in the passage?

Notice that this question is not asking WHAT the author says, nor is it asking WHY the author says something. Instead, it asks something about HOW an argument is constructed. Specifically, this question asks about an assumption in an experiment. By definition, an assumption is something that an author or researcher did not explicitly state.

As you can see in this example, the answers for some HOW questions may not come directly from the text, so you may not be able to predict exactly what the correct answer will say. However, the correct answer will still be supported by the text, and you can predict what the correct answer needs to do. The answer for question 24 needs to be an assumption of the experiment—in other words, the answer needs to state a belief the researchers held that affected the way they designed their experiment. Use Process of Elimination to eliminate answers that don’t meet these criteria.

Notice that this is also the first question in a paired set, so you can use Parallel POE to answer questions 24 and 25.

Here are the answers to question 24.

A)If a spider can simply see food, it will recognize it as food.

B)If a path is close to water, a jumping spider will avoid the path entirely.

C)If a jumping spider uses a walkway, then it must be in the Portia family.

D)If a jumping spider can’t see its food, it will become confused.

And here are the answers to question 25.

A)Lines 37—38 (“Other…used”)

B)Lines 42—46 (“From…leaves”)

C)Lines 50—54 (“But once…location”)

D)Lines 67—68 (“What’s…confused”)

The lines for (25A) say that other spiders ignored the walkways Portia used. These lines might initially seem to support (24C), so draw a line connecting those two answers.

The lines for (25B) say that from the tower, a famished jumping spider could see two boxes, one containing juicy spider fragments and the other containing unappetizing leaves. These lines support (24A); although the passage does not directly state that the spider will see food and recognize it as such, the passage gives specific examples that still support that claim. Draw a line connecting these two answers.

The lines for (25C) state that once the spiders headed down the tower, the researchers emptied out the boxes. Although these lines might initially seem to support (24D), make sure you read carefully. While the spider certainly can’t see the food, there is no evidence that it will become confused. Eliminate (25C).

The lines for (25D) say that spiders are seemingly confused when they chose the wrong path. Although we now have confused spiders, which goes with (24D), there’s no indication that they can’t see their food. Eliminate (25D).

Without support from Q25, (24B) and (24D) can both be eliminated. Now look back at your remaining two answer pairs. Choices (24A) and (25B) are solidly connected and supported by the passage. Choices (24C) and (25A) aren’t so strongly connected. While the text says that other spiders ignored the walkways, the text doesn’t support the idea that the researchers assumed that only Portia spiders use walkways. In fact, their subsequent experiment was designed to encourage other spider species to use the walkways. Eliminate (24C) and (25A).

The correct answers are (24A) and (25B).

CHARTS AND GRAPHS

Charts, graphs, and diagrams are no longer limited to the Math Test! You will now see a variety of graphics in the Reading Test and even in the Writing and Language Test! (More on the Writing and Language Test later.) The good news is that the graphics you’ll be dealing with in the Reading Test are very straightforward and do not require any computations. All you need to do is make sure you can put your pencil on the place on the graphic that supports the correct answer. Let’s take a look at an example.

Step 1: Read the graphic.

Carefully look the titles, labels, and units. In this figure, we have a list of spider species and which walkway each species chose when the prey were in either Box A or Box B.

Step 2: Read the question.

27.Figure 2 best supports which claim from the passage?

Since the question asks you which claim from the passage is best supported by the graph, your job will be to compare all four answer choices with information from the passage and information in the graph. It’s often simplest to start by comparing the answers to the graph. Make sure you can put your pencil on the data point you’re using to keep or eliminate certain answers.

Step 3: Read the answers.

A)Other spiders did not pay attention to the same walkways that Portia spiders used.

B)The Portia spider had a more accurate plan to get food than other species of jumping spider.

C)Each species of jumping spider was able to find its way to the box containing the food.

D)The spiders were distracted by the researchers’ blinking.

Choice (A) says that other spiders did not pay attention to the same walkways that the Portia spiders used, but the table shows very clearly that they did use the same walkways. Eliminate (A).

Choice (B) says that the Portia spider had a more accurate plan to get to the food. There is nothing in the table that indicates whether one plan is more accurate than another, so eliminate (B).

Choice (C) is supported by the table: each species completed the walkway that corresponded with the box containing the prey multiple times. Keep (C).

Choice (D), while supported by the text of the passage, is irrelevant to the figure, so (D) can be eliminated.

The correct answer is (C).

Now, try question 28 on your own. The answer can be found in Part IV.

GENERAL QUESTIONS

For many of the Reading passages, the very first question will ask a general question about the passage as a whole. It might ask about the main idea or primary purpose of the passage, the narrative point of view, or the structure of the passage. In other words, General questions can be WHAT, WHY, or HOW questions.

Remember the Select a Question step? General questions are not good to do first because you haven’t read the passage yet, but once you’ve answered most of the other questions, you have a good idea of the overall themes of the text.

Let’s take a look at question 19.

19.Over the course of the passage, the focus shifts from

Because this question asks how the focus shifts over the course of the passage, there’s no one place you can look. General questions don’t have line references or lead words, so there’s no way to use the text to predict an answer. It’s okay, though: you’ve answered almost all of the questions about the passage, so you know what the main idea of the passage is. Not only that, but you also have a good sense of what the test-writers found most interesting about the passage. While having this knowledge does not always help, it sure can sometimes. If there are answer choices that have nothing to do with either the questions or the answers you’ve seen repeatedly, you can eliminate them and instead choose the one that is consistent with those questions and answers. For this question, consider what the passage begins with (how surprisingly awesome the jumping spiders are) and then how it shifts (to experiments about the jumping spiders). Eliminate anything that’s inconsistent with that shift.

Let’s take a look at the answer choices:

A)a general discussion of animal behavior to specifics about a certain species.

B)an introduction of an unexpected characteristic to a discussion of an experiment testing that characteristic.

C)contradictory hypotheses to a discovery which resolved the conflict.

D)an overview of a certain animal to the specifics of that animal’s eating habits.

What can you eliminate?

The first half of (A) is immediately a problem. The passage begins with a discussion of the jumping spiders, not a general discussion of animal behavior, so eliminate (A).

The first half of (B) is consistent with the idea that the spiders are remarkable and the second half is consistent with the experiments described in the passage. Keep (B).

Choice (C) mentions contradictory hypotheses. Can you find any evidence in the text of hypotheses that contradict each other? No. Eliminate (C).

The first half of (D) is consistent with the beginning of the passage describing the spider. However, the passage goes on to describe experiments about the spiders’ planning abilities, not their eating habits. Eliminate (D).

Since (B) is the only answer supported by the passage, that’s the correct answer.

DUAL PASSAGES

One of your Science or History/Social Studies passages will be a set of dual passages. There will be two shorter passages about one topic. Although the two passages will be about the same topic, there will also be differences that you’ll need to pay attention to. Rather than attempting to read and understand both passages at the same time, just follow the Basic Approach and focus on one passage at a time.

The questions for Passage 1 will come before the questions for Passage 2. The questions about both passages will follow the questions for Passage 2.

Two-Passage Questions

For questions that ask you to compare or contrast both passages, it’s helpful to consider one passage at a time rather than trying to juggle both passages at the same time. First, find the answer for the first passage (or the second passage if that one is easier) and use POE to narrow down the answer choices. Then find the answer in the other passage and use POE to arrive at the correct answer. This will save time and keep you from confusing the two passages when you’re evaluating the answer choices. Always keep in mind that the same POE criteria apply, no matter how two-passage questions are presented.

· If a question is about what is supported by both passages, make sure that you find specific support in both passages, and be wary of all the usual trap answers.

· If a question is about an issue on which the authors of the two passages disagree or on how the passages relate to one another, make sure you find support in each passage for the author’s particular opinion.

· If the question asks how one author would respond to the other passage, find out what was said in that other passage, and then find out exactly what the author you are asked about said on that exact topic.

The bottom line is that if you are organized and remember your basic reading comprehension strategy, you’ll see that two-passage questions are no harder than single-passage questions! In the following drill, you’ll have a chance to try a set of dual passages. Answers and explanations can be found in Part IV.

Dual Passage Drill

Click here to download a PDF of Chapter 6 Dual Passage Drill.

Answers can be found in Part IV.

Questions 38—47 are based on the following passages.

The following are modified passages that explore the design and construction of drug delivery vehicles for biomedical applications.

Passage 1

Passage 2

38.The author mentions infections and cancers (lines 8—9) in order to

A)provide an example of the types of diseases that electrospun scaffolds have cured.

B)point out illnesses that still do not have effective treatments.

C)illustrate types of medical conditions that are more effectively treated by precisely controlled internal drug delivery.

D)demonstrate the kind of vaccines electrospinning technology will help to develop.

39.In Passage 1, the reference to “nanometers to micrometers” (lines 13—14) serves to

A)give a precise measurement of fibers used in electrospinning.

B)further elaborate on the minuteness of electrospun fibers.

C)relate the size of the fibers in electrospun scaffolds to that of the cells of the human body.

D)inform the reader of one of the qualities of electrospun fibers absent in other similar technological approaches.

40.As used in line 30, “residual” most nearly means

A)durable.

B)remaining.

C)steadfast.

D)inhabiting.

41.In discussing the nature of natural polymers, the author of Passage 1 suggests that

A)they are more effective as an electrospun scaffold base as they may be less harmful to people than synthetic polymers.

B)they are not as effective as when blended with synthetic polymers such as poly(glycolide) and poly(lactide).

C)because they are natural materials that exist in the human body, the body is unable to reject them.

D)collagen and elastin are effective polymer bases only when blended together.

42.In Passage 2, the connection between natural and synthetic polymers is best described in which of the following ways?

A)Researchers are increasingly using synthetic polymers more than the historically preferred natural polymers, while more attention is being paid to electrospun fiber research that combines the two types of polymers.

B)Because synthetic polymers can be created in laboratories, they are easier to work with than natural polymers.

C)Because of the importance of a purist approach, it is important to separate research conducted on differing types of base polymers.

D)Synthetic polymers are more hydrophobic when compared to natural polymers.

43.The second paragraph of Passage 2 primarily serves to

A)confirm the author’s assertion that synthetic polymers are the most effective polymers for electrospinning.

B)support the purist approach to polymer research in order to preserve the impeccable methods of scientific and medical study.

C)assert that it is because there has been a huge spike in research on polymers that scientists have learned how flexible polymers are.

D)acknowledge that both types of polymers have positive attributes that, when combined, may lead to even more effective electrospun scaffolds.

44.From the information presented in Passage 2, it can be inferred that

A)history favors natural rather than synthetic designs.

B)it is the man-made nature of synthetic polymers that accounts for their flexibility.

C)the solubility of an electrospun scaffold depends more on its hydrophilicity than its hydrophobicity.

D)synthetic polymers degrade more quickly over time than natural polymers.

45.The authors of both passages would most likely agree with which of the following?

A)Hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity are important factors to consider when selecting a base polymer material.

B)Differing electric charges and viscosity will result in differing constructions of electrospun scaffolding.

C)The more exact the system of drug delivery is, the more beneficial it is likely to be.

D)A blended polymer base will be more effective than a non-blended one.

46.The passages differ in that Passage 1

A)does not discuss the possibility of using multiple materials for base polymers, while Passage 2 does.

B)provides information on electrospun scaffolding construction, while Passage 2 looks to the future of electrospun scaffolding research.

C)is concerned only with drug delivery systems to address cancers, while Passage 2 aims to treat all diseases.

D)advocates that the type of polymer base used for electrospun scaffolds is unimportant, while Passage 2 advocates that the type of polymer base is important.

47.What is the primary difference in the tones of Passages 1 and 2 with respect to their arguments regarding natural versus synthetic polymer bases?

A)Passage 1 is belligerent, while Passage 2 is enthusiastic.

B)Passage 1 biased, while Passage 2 is subjective.

C)Passage 1 is unequivocal, while Passage 2 is conciliatory.

D)Passage 1 is pessimistic, while Passage 2 is optimistic.

Summary

o The Reading Test on the PSAT makes up 50 percent of your Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score.

o Reading questions are not presented in order of difficulty, but they are in chronological order. Don’t be afraid to skip a hard question, and don’t worry if you can’t answer every question.

o Use your POOD to pick up the points you can get, and don’t forget LOTD on the rest!

o Reading is an open-book test! Use that to your advantage by focusing only on the text you need to get each point.

o Translate each question into a WHAT, WHY, or HOW question before you start reading the window.

o Use Line References, Lead Words, and the chronological order of the specific questions to help you find the answer in the passage. Always start reading a few lines above the Line Reference or the Lead Word(s) and read until you have the answer.

o Use the text to predict the answer to the question before you look at the answer choices.

o Use POE to eliminate answers that don’t match your prediction.

o If you have more than one answer left after you eliminate the ones that don’t match the prediction, compare the remaining answers to see if any of them:

· are mostly right, slightly wrong

· could be true

· have the right answer to the wrong question

· have the right words but the wrong meaning

o For Paired Sets, make sure you’re following the right strategy.

· Easy-to-Find Paired Questions simply require you to follow the Basic Approach, making sure you’ve underlined the evidence for your prediction in the text.

· Harder-to-Find Paired Questions will be much more straightforward if you use Parallel POE to consider the “best evidence” in tandem with the previous question.

o For Dual Passages, focus on one passage at a time. For questions that ask about both passages, be sure to find evidence in each passage.

o Save Main Idea or General Questions until the end of the passage. POE will be much more efficient once you’ve completed all the other questions.

o Don’t get bogged down by hard or time-consuming questions! If you find yourself stuck or running short on time, use LOTD and move on!