How do you ace the SAT Critical Reading section?

The most important thing is to learn to read actively. Learn how to extract the meaning and intention from the passages.

Practice critical reading not just with SAT prep books, but with anything and everything you’re reading, from novels to textbooks to magazine ads.

One idea is to read the newspaper every day (off-line) and try to understand what the tone and intention of each article is. Mark any words you don’t understand, and look them up in a dictionary. Highlight the key sentences and phrases that telegraph the author’s meaning.

Things to look for:

• Is the author biased about the subject?
• What does the author imply without stating it directly?
• What are the author’s assumptions?
• What is the tone of the article – informative? persuasive? entertaining?