Tip #19 to Get a Top SAT Critical Reading Score

Every SAT includes at least one pair of passages and asks you to compare and contrast them. There is a superb strategy for these:

The questions usually contain trick answers from the other passage, and if you haven't even read it, then you can't be fooled by the tricks. They'll just seem irrelevant, and you'll immediately eliminate them.

After you read Passage 1, jot down or circle a phrase that identifies the main idea or the tone. Then after you answer Passage 1 questions, read Passage 2 for main idea and tone, and jot down or circle a phrase. This will help you keep the passages straight for the compare and contrast questions.

Also, generally, if the passages are about the same topic, they will have a slightly different take on it. And if they are about different topics, then they will share a common link uniting them. For example, if both passages are about MP3 players, they will have slightly different opinions or focus on different aspects of the topic, such as the benefits of portability versus the reduction in sound quality. And if they are on totally different topics, such as Shakespeare and Eminem, they will have something in common, such as praising the extraordinary poetry of each.

Example Problems

Passage 1

Medicinal systems can be examined by using the three models, biochemical, bioenergetic, and biospiritual. The biochemical model is the dominant approach used in the United States. Scientists using this approach analyze the chemical constituents of things. It views the human body as a chemical factory that can be adjusted according to the intake of the right chemicals. This model tends to employ medicinal drugs, called pharmaceuticals. These drugs are made by identifying therapeutic substances and isolating their active ingredients. These drugs often have a stronger potency and a more immediate effect on the body than nonisolated and natural remedies, but often, later, it is found that they have unanticipated side effects or that the pathogenic factors change, rendering the drug less effective.

Passage 2

Ayurveda is a 5000 year old natural healing system from India. The word "Ayurveda" translates from Sanskrit as "the science of life or longevity." It can be described as a natural holistic medical system. Dr. Andrew Weil describes natural medical systems as having a philosophy of healing based on the notion that the body has innate mechanisms of self-repair, for example, that a cut on the human body will naturally heal itself. The aim in Ayurveda is to observe and then encourage the self-repair process: to empower the body's natural healing potential. Ayurveda is also a type of holistic medicine, as it considers the effect of a whole substance on the whole of a person, rather than only a body part or system.

1. In Passage 1 the author cites which of the following as an example of a biochemical medicine?
   1. nonisolated remedies
   2. Ayurveda
   3. holistic medicine
   4. natural remedies
   5. pharmaceuticals
2. The author of Passage 1 would most likely regard the system of Auyrveda as described in lines 31 to 34 ("Aurveda . . . system.") in Passage 2 as
   1. a biochemical system
   2. inactive
   3. superior to holistic models
   4. inferior to the dominant approach
   5. either bioenergetic or biospiritual
3. Both passages serve to encourage
   1. the body's self-repair
   2. consideration of the whole effect of medicines on the body
   3. need for medical reform
   4. lack of continuity in medical systems
   5. problems with alternative medicine
4. A primary difference between the two passages is
   1. the first begins to set up a basis to analyze any medical system whereas the second begins to detail one specific system
   2. the first is specific and the second is general
   3. the first encourages holistic health and the second discourages it
   4. the first discusses one system and the second discusses several
   5. the first cites authorities
5. Unlike the author of Passage 1, the author of Passage 2 makes use of
   1. generalizations
   2. refuting a hypothesis
   3. commonly held beliefs
   4. citing an authority
   5. technical terms