"Flying over the passage: You should read it very quickly for a high-level overview.
Creating a tentative summary: Try to sort out the details you picked up on and arrange them into a loose organizational pattern that describes the passage.
Openings and endings: Main focus on the opening and ending in each paragraph.
Extraneous information: ALways try to go back and find the support for the answer choice in the passage. Unless you are behind on time.
Using kitchen logic: Identify the main idea (...) first focus on the opening and ending sentences of the passage. If you can't find the main idea, ask yourself how would you describe the passage to someone who had never read it - while sitting at your kitchen table.
Getting into the author's mind: Put yourself in the shoes of the author and imagine that you write the passage.
Emotional words: Questions about the author's emotions - adjectives describing emotions - circle all the adjectives in a passage.
Finding keywords: Nouns or verbs in the questions or answer choices - their synonyms to appear in the passage - Always try to connect the questions to the right words in the passage that will allow you to save time in finding the right part of the passage to look in for the answer and will give you the key to the correct answer choice.
Using context clues: If you already know the definition of the word, a common mistake is to go with your first impulse and choose the answer that you immediately recognize. Make sure that you understand how it is being used in the passage - mentally replace the answer choice you've chosen for the word being asked about.
Breaking down passage organization: How the passage is organized.
A. He provides an example
B. He makes a comparison.
C. He makes an acknowledgment.
D. He discusses a theory.
E. He praises the research
(...)
First word analysis: Main ideas that best summarize the passage, an easy strategy is to look at the first words in each answer choice and without looking at the rest of the answer choice, see if you could make a decision based on those first words alone.
Understanding the intimidation: Just remember that the passages will contain all the information necessary to answer the questions.
Don't be a perfectionist: You can't afford to spend too much time on any one question.
Factually correct, but actually wrong: Before you mark an answer, confirm that the answer choice answers the question being asked.
Different viewpoints: You have to discern who is expressing their opinion in the passage."
