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Read for
Meaning.

Find the point. Beat the traps.
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The answer is in the passage, not the choices.

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The reading section, honestly

Three of the four choices
were built to fool you.

A
True, but not the point
×
B
Too broad
×
C
Sounds reasonable
×
D
Matches your prediction
✓

So decide what you need before you look.

One habit. Two question types.

THE HABIT
Predict, then match.
Decide the answer before you look. One move neutralizes every trap.
APPLIED TO
Main-idea questions
Predict the point.
San Diego just opened a new library downtown. It stays open late, offers free tutoring, and has quiet rooms for studying. Families say it has quickly become their favorite place to spend an afternoon.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
AThe library offers free tutoring.
BThe new library has become a beloved spot in town.
CThe library is located downtown.
DReading is a valuable lifelong habit.
APPLIED TO
Inference questions
Predict what finishes the sentence.
By noon, every umbrella in the shop had sold out. Outside, people hurried down the sidewalk in raincoats. Dark clouds hung low over the city. This suggests that ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Ait had started to rain.
Bthe umbrellas were on sale.
Cthe city was unusually crowded.
Dpeople were leaving work early.
01
The Master Habit

Answer before
you look.

The single most powerful habit on Reading & Writing. One move, roughly half the section.

Read. Predict. Match.

The answer is already in the passage. Decide it before you look.

STEP 1 · READ
The passage and the question.
STEP 2 · PREDICT
The answer in your own words.
STEP 3 · MATCH
The choice that says the same.
Passage
A local museum started offering free admission on Friday evenings. Soon, the Friday crowds grew so large that visitors sometimes had to wait in line to get in. This suggests that the free evenings ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Predict in your own words
"The free evenings encourage a lot more people to visit the museum."
Adrew many more visitors to the museum.✓ matches
Bmade the museum less popular.
Cwere hard for the staff to manage.
Dguaranteed the museum's long-term success.

The wrong answers aren't random.

They follow just 4 repeatable recipes. Learn the pattern, spot the bait.

Word-Echo
Repeats exact words from the passage.
Familiar isn't necessarily correct.
Opposite-Direction
Uses the passage's words, but flips the meaning.
Right words, wrong direction.
Too-Extreme
Turns a cautious claim into a certainty.
"May" becomes "must."
True-but-Irrelevant
May be true, but doesn't answer this question.
True isn't relevant.

Word-Echo

It just repeats the passage.

Word-Echo
Repeats exact words from the passage.
Familiar isn't necessarily correct.
Passage
Every day after school, Leo practiced skateboarding at the park. After a few months, he could land tricks that once seemed impossible.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
ALeo practiced skateboarding at the park.word-echo
BDaily practice made Leo much better at skateboarding.✓ the point
CThe park is a good place to skateboard.
DSkateboarding tricks are hard to learn.
A just repeats words from the passage ("skateboarding," "park"). True, but it's only a detail. The point is that practice made him better.

Opposite-Direction

It says the reverse.

Opposite-Direction
Uses the passage's words, but flips the meaning.
Right words, wrong direction.
Passage
People used to think that reading in dim light ruins your eyesight. But recent studies found that dim light does not actually harm your eyes. This suggests that reading in dim light ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Aseriously damages your eyesight over timeopposite
Bprobably won't hurt your eyes✓ matches
Cis more popular than it used to be
Dmakes reading less enjoyable
A is about eyesight, like the passage, but says the opposite of what the studies found.

Too-Extreme

It inflates a real claim.

Too-Extreme
Turns a cautious claim into a certainty.
"May" becomes "must."
Passage
A study found that students who slept at least eight hours before a test scored a little higher, on average, than students who slept less. This suggests that a full night's sleep ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Aguarantees a higher test score.too extreme
Bmay slightly raise a student's test score.✓ completes
Chas no effect on test scores.
Densures that every student does well.too extreme
A and D both overreach the modest finding ("a little higher, on average"), which B keeps. A jumps to "guarantees," D to "every student." Watch for guarantees, ensures, every, all.

True-but-Irrelevant

Right fact, wrong question.

True-but-Irrelevant
May be true, but doesn't answer this question.
True isn't relevant.
Passage
A city added hundreds of shared bikes to its downtown streets. Within a few months, car traffic on those streets had clearly dropped. This suggests that the bike-share program ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Agives people a healthy way to exercise.true, irrelevant
Bled some people to drive less downtown.✓ completes
Cmade downtown traffic worse.
Dwas popular with local businesses.
A is true, biking is good exercise, but it has nothing to do with the drop in traffic. The passage points to people driving less, not fitness.

Predict it, before you look.

All four traps in one question. A prediction beats them at once.

Passage
City planners often assume that adding highway lanes reduces congestion. Yet studies of several highway expansions found that within a few years, traffic grew to fill the new capacity, leaving average commute times roughly unchanged. Some researchers therefore argue that expansion projects ______
Predict in your own words
"Adding more lanes probably won't fix congestion for long."
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Areduce congestion most effectively in large citiesopposite
Bmay fail to deliver the improvements used to justify them✓ matches
Care the main cause of rising traffic in every citytoo extreme
Dcost more than other transportation projectsirrelevant

A vague prediction still beats none.

It doesn't have to be perfect. Any one of these still filters the choices before they can sell to you.

Exact Answer
"The point is that the projects don't deliver."
Paraphrase
"Something like: it doesn't really help."
Direction Only
"I just need a negative conclusion."
02
Main Ideas & Central Claims

What's the point?

Every reading passage is really asking one question. Answer it in a single sentence.

The point, not a footnote.

×
Topic
What it's about, in a word or two. Tempting, but often wrong.
✓
Central Claim
The point the whole passage makes. This is the answer.
×
Detail
A specific fact inside the passage. True, but not necessarily the point.
What was the point of that?

A Demonstrative Example

Biography
LeBron James
His Life and Career
What was the point of this book?
ATo describe the game of basketballa detail
BTo talk about LeBron James's childhooda detail
CTo discuss the history of the United Statesoff-topic
DTo discuss the life of LeBron James✓ the whole book
A and B are real details from the book, and C is off-topic. Only D covers the whole book. The main idea is the whole story, not one chapter.

Say the point in one sentence.

Passage
Honeybees do more than make honey. As they move from flower to flower, they spread pollen that lets plants grow fruits and seeds. Without them, many of the foods we eat would be far harder to grow.
Predict in your own words
"Bees matter because they help grow a lot of the food we eat."
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
AHoneybees make honey.too narrow
BBees help grow much of the food we eat.✓ the point
CBees move from flower to flower.a detail
DInsects are important to nature.too broad
03
Inferences & Implications

Let the passage
finish your sentence.

The biggest comprehension skill on the test. The facts are given. You supply the conclusion they force.

Must be true, not could be true.

The Facts
1.Everyone who passed the test had gone to the tutoring center.
2.Jordan passed the test.
✓ MUST BE TRUE
Jordan went to the tutoring center.
The two facts force it. Nothing added.
× ONLY COULD BE TRUE
The tutoring center is why Jordan passed.
Sounds reasonable, but the facts never say it caused anything.

Predict the forced conclusion.

Passage
The bakery baked twice as many loaves as usual, and still sold out by 10 a.m. This suggests that ______
The forced conclusion, in my words
"So many more people wanted bread than usual."
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Ademand for its bread was unusually high.✓ forced
Bits bread is the best in the city.overreach
Cit baked fewer loaves than usual.backwards
Dit will sell out again tomorrow.unsupported

Another Example

Passage
Biologists found that a certain frog develops a toxin on its skin only after it eats a specific kind of beetle. When those frogs were raised in captivity without that beetle in their diet, they produced no toxin at all. This suggests that the frogs ______
The forced conclusion, in my words
"They must get the toxin from the beetles, not make it themselves."
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Aget the toxin from the beetles they eat.✓ forced
Bare the most dangerous frogs on Earth.overreach
Cpass their toxin on to the beetles.backwards
Duse the toxin to defend against predators.not forced
The whole hour in one line

Answer the question before
the SAT offers you answers.

STEP 1 · READ
The passage and the question.
STEP 2 · PREDICT
The answer in your own words.
STEP 3 · MATCH
The choice that says the same.

Your reading checklist.

✓Strategy = predict the answer before you peek at the choices
✓Main idea = the point of the passage, not the topic or details
✓Inference = what must be true, not what sounds true
✓Common traps = echo, opposite, too-extreme, irrelevant
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Further practice and resources.

PRACTICE
Targeted practice problems on today's reading skills.
REVIEW
This slide deck, to revisit anytime you want.
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GREAT WORK TODAY

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NEXT WEEK
Words in Context + Command of Evidence
Thursday, Sept 10  ·  5:00 PM PT
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