HANNAH BOSNIAN TUTORING
SAT Reading
The SAT Reading section is split up into four subjects: Craft and Structure, Information and Ideas, Standard English Conventions, and Expression of Ideas. I tackle each of these with students individually, starting with whichever subject a student requests help in or, barring any preference from the student, starting with whichever they scored the lowest in on their recent SATs or diagnostic.
We will begin by working through questions in each section with as much time for the question as the student needs and then, when I’m confident they understand the material, work on the same questions but timed. You may think the Reading section is all intuition, but there is a surprising amount of cheats and rules specific to the SAT that, once learned, can boost students’ scores considerably.
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The Reading section puts its questions in order of subject, as listed above, with easy and difficult questions mixed in at every point in the test.
Craft and Structure, coming first, consists of vocab questions as well as questions on the structure and meaning of texts. I will review some SAT vocab words that show up most frequently with students, and teach them how to identify the main idea or claim of a passage, which will be essential for every type of question in the Reading section. As students improve, we will move on to studying more difficult vocab words.
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As the Information and Ideas section is pretty much reading comprehension, students will typically vary greatly in their ability to understand what passages and answers are saying. SAT passages tend to be very dense, and even the most skilled students need a bit of help understanding more complex passages and answers.
I specialize in teaching students reading comprehension: I work with them to paraphrase complex sentences into simpler concepts they understand, then attack the answers with those simplified concepts in mind, allowing them to eliminate answers with topics unrelated to the passages and choose answers that reflect the information and claim of the passage.
I’ve helped students who struggle greatly with understanding confusing passages, who get fatigued partway through questions, and who often get stuck between two answer options, as well as dyslexic students. Improving in Information and Ideas helps students improve in every other aspect of the Reading section, so I’m excited to help your student become a reading pro!
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Standard English Conventions is the Grammar section, and consists of grammar questions that follow a handful of set rules. These questions are by far the most rigid in terms of the approach needed to tackle them: they are very structured and, once the rules behind them are learned, can be handled with ease. In my opinion, Standards and Conventions is the most learnable: any student can learn these grammar rules and boost their score! I’ll teach students all of the rules the SAT expects them to know, and they’ll do countless practice questions so they can recognize what rule a question is testing them on. With just a couple sessions, students can improve considerably on the Standard English Conventions section, and any student at any skill level has the ability to greatly increase their score here.
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The Expression of Ideas section has two main parts: Transition Words and Rhetorical Synthesis, or notes questions. Transition Words questions are like a mix of grammar and vocab. They test on a set list of, well, transition words, and their uses to connect one sentence to another. Often, students already have an intuition for how these words work in sentences, but the SAT has very precise expectations for when and how to use each word.
I’ll teach your student the whole list and help them recognize when to use each. The Rhetorical Synthesis questions typically require a quick overview on what constitutes a correct answer. However, as these are at the end of the test, students are frequently fatigued and may make careless mistakes. I’ll help them breeze through these to guarantee that they have no worries when they reach the end of their reading section.
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Although students come in with varied abilities in the Reading section, they’ll be able to face the test with nothing but confidence after just a few sessions. I pride myself in explaining these topics clearly and with patience and understanding. I allow students to make mistakes in my company, and I’ll guide them to understand their mistakes and the concepts behind them. I’d love to help your student do great on their Reading section!
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If you’d like to learn more about my approach, and see if I’d be a good fit for your student, I offer free 20 minute consultations. Please reach out to me below if you’d like to schedule a meeting with me.