The SAT Reading Comprehension: Basic Principles In This Article:
In the first step you identified the main idea of the passage.
This should have occurred by the end of the first paragraph, or
by first sentence of the second paragraph at the absolute
latest. In the second step you then picked up the pace, forcing
yourself to ignore the details as much as possible. The passage
might have a second major idea, but on the SAT such passages are
rare. You're underlining very little if at all, but you re
circling words like but, although, and however if you encounter
them; sentences that contain those words often come in handy
later. Now, in the third step, your goal is to see what the main
idea of each paragraph is; its function in the overall passage.
Each paragraph will develop the author's main idea in some way,
and the only thing you care about nowbefore you get to the
questionsis how each paragraph as a whole fits in to the passage
as a whole. An SAT Passage Can Unfold in Only So Many Ways Under
the previous st