Overview: Critical Reading and Standardized Testing
The communication skills of critical reading are tested by standardized tests like the ACT and SAT. Those skills are essential to college success, as students are expected to read critically in every class they take. Analysis of reading passages depends upon use of strategy, organization, and style.
What Is the Context of the Passage?
Typically, reading portions are presented in paragraphs of numbered sentences. Readers are asked questions that go beyond simple recall of facts to analyzing how sentences fit together in context, and what would be the best revision or addition to the passage. After the short passage is presented, readers are given a number of alternative sentences, and asked to choose the best one for the context.
How Is the Passage Organized?
Readers are presented brief passages and asked to choose the best way that ideas are presented within them. For example, some questions refer to the order sentences are arranged within a paragraph, and if any of those sentences are out of place. Sometimes the reader is asked to identify the sentence that does not contribute to the flow of the passage, or to suggest another one from a variety of other sentences. One of the sequences presented or sentences suggested will be the correct answer and the others are there to distract the student taking the test.
What Is the Purpose of the Passage?
Questions about the purpose, the audience, or the author’s point of view refer to the style of the passage. For example, the author’s purpose might be to persuade, to inform, to entertain, or to criticize. Readers might be asked to choose particular words to slant to an audience. In addition, some questions might summarize what the author’s point of view is on the issue.
Practice in Critical Reading Gets Results
Reading passages found on the SAT and ACT are similar to those students will encounter in college. Many of them do not require much prior knowledge about the topic, but will demand reading beyond simple recall. Reading comprehension involves engagement with the ideas presented, as well as the purpose behind them. Discerning the author’s strategy, organization, and style can be keys to understanding what is read.
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