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SAT Reading section techniques, strategies & approaches: Difference between revisions
SAT Reading section techniques, strategies & approaches (view source)
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** social media and other technological challenges to modern society | ** social media and other technological challenges to modern society | ||
** libraries, academics, and information technology | ** libraries, academics, and information technology | ||
== Comprehending long or complex sentences == | |||
* long and complex sentences may intimidate or confuse students | |||
* key to comprehension of difficult text is to isolate sentence parts | |||
* once the student recognizes the distinct sentence parts, the difficulty of the sentence is reduced | |||
* of course, vocabulary may still present a challenge, but we can get around unknown words, as well | |||
=== identifying & isolating sentence elements === | |||
** every sentence has a core of a subject-verb main clause (or clauses) | |||
** additional information is added to the subject-verb core with | |||
** modifying elements that add to or qualify the main clause, including: | |||
*** subordinate or dependent clauses: | |||
**** "''If I study in the library'', I can stay focused" | |||
*** relative or adjective clauses: | |||
**** "I study in the library, ''which helps me stay focused''" | |||
*** prepositional phrases: | |||
**** "I study ''in the library'', ''which helps me stay focused''" | |||
**** "I stay focused ''by studying in the library''" | |||
*** parenthetical phrases | |||
**** "I study in the library ''(the one near my house)'', so I can stay focused" | |||
* see this Video by Michael Bromley on breaking down a complex sentence from College Board | |||
=== steps for sentence comprehension === | |||
# isolate modifying elements | |||
#* especially prepositional phrases (starting w/ "in, of, about", etc.) | |||
#* and relative clauses (usually being with "that" or "which") | |||
#identify main and any dependent clauses | |||
#* clauses contain a subject and verb | |||
#* subordinate clauses begin with a subordinating conjunction such as "if," "because", "since", etc. | |||
# identify pronoun references | |||
#* replace unfamiliar words with "something" in order to get past them | |||
# re-arrange the sentence by adding the modifying elements | |||
#* and you don't have to add them back in the original order: just make sense of them | |||
* click EXPAND for an example of this technique from an actual SAT test: | |||
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> | |||
here for a complex sentence from a random College Board practice test on Khan Academy: | |||
<pre>The latter shows that while the conglomeration of “Plains culture” may have been a product of merging new ideas with old, combined with cultural interchange between groups, the details of what was accepted, rejected or elaborated in each case reflected pre- existing ideological biases.</pre> | |||
#. isolate modifying elements: | |||
#* "'''''The latter shows''' <strike>that while the conglomeration of “Plains culture” may have been a product of merging new ideas with old, combined with cultural interchange between groups,</strike> '''the details of what was accepted, rejected or elaborated''' <strike>in each case reflected pre- existing ideological biases.</strike>''" | |||
#. which helps to identify the main clause: | |||
#* "''The latter shows the details of what was accepted, rejected or elaborated''" | |||
# identify pronoun references: | |||
#* "''The latter'' = the second of two prior references | |||
#** as opposed to "the former" which is the first of two prior references | |||
#* in thise case, "''the latter''" = "moccasin decorations" | |||
#* so we have | |||
#** "''The latter [moccasin decorations] shows the details of what was accepted, rejected or elaborated''" | |||
# add back in modifying elements: | |||
#* "''while the conglomerate [something] of "Plains culture" may have been a product of new ideas with old''" | |||
#* "''combined with cultural interchange between groups''" | |||
#** and "''in each case [the details] reflected pre-existing ideological [something] biases''" | |||
#* now simplify and combine: | |||
#**# "''while the "Plains culture" may have been a product of new ideas with old''" | |||
#**# and "''combined with cultural interchange between groups''" | |||
#**# then "''The [moccasin decorations] show<strike>s</strike> the details of what was accepted, rejected or elaborated''" | |||
#**# and "''in each case [the details] reflected pre-existing ideological [something] biases''" | |||
</div> | |||
* see also: | |||
** video by Michael Bromley on simplifying a complex sentence from College Board Practice Test 10, Reading Section Question 15: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3M8G4SulCw&feature=youtu.be SAT Reading Prep breaking down a complex sentence Test 10, Q 15] | |||