Using SAT® Skills Insight™

Using SAT® Skills Insight™

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SAT Skills Insight is only a general guide. Its goal is to help you determine and improve your current skill levels in the areas tested on the SAT.

Review Your Options: Begin by determining the level your skills are at right now. Look at each score band to see what types of skills it requires. Decide how comfortable you feel with the skills described. Don’t worry if you’re not an exact match for any one score band; it’s normal to have some of the skills in the next higher or lower band.

Make Your Selection: Start by looking at the scores you earned on the PSAT/NMSQT®, SAT, and any practice tests you have taken. Then choose a separate score band for each section of the SAT—for example, 300–390 for math, 400–490 for critical reading, and 500–590 for writing.

Once you’ve chosen your bands, you can look at the areas that need improvement to help you achieve more.

Critical Reading Skill Groups: 1 2 3 4 5 6

1. Determining the Meaning of Words

Academic Skills

A typical student in this score band can do the following:

  • SKILL 1: Use the context of a sentence or larger section of text to determine the meaning of unknown words or to differentiate among multiple possible meanings of words
  • SKILL 2: Understand how syntax (the arrangement of words and phrases in a sentence) influences the relationship among words and ideas within a sentence
  • SKILL 3: Demonstrate increased comprehension of specialized vocabulary

Suggestions for Improvement

To prepare for the next score band, try the following:

  • As you read a text about a topic with which you are unfamiliar, look for words that you know to help you determine what any unknown words might mean.
  • When you come across an unknown word or difficult word in your reading, look it up in a dictionary that provides information on the word’s origins and history.
  • When you come across a difficult section of text in your reading, break down the ideas in it sentence by sentence and even within sentences. Think about how the ideas work together.

Skill Examples

The example questions below demonstrate the Academic Skills found in this score band. Without looking at the answers, try out the questions to see how comfortable you feel with the skills they test.

Skill 1—Example

Use the context of a sentence or larger section of text to determine the meaning of unknown words or to differentiate among multiple possible meanings of words

  

The following paragraph is part of a longer excerpt from a 1909 novel. Georgia, the main character, is a reporter in an otherwise all-male newsroom.

      Yesterday had been her last day on the paper. She had
  felt queer about that thing of taking her last assignment,
Line though it was hard to reach just the proper state, for the
20 last story related to pork-packers, and pork-packing is
  not a setting favorable to sentimental regrets. It was just
  like the newspaper business not even to allow one a little
  sentimental harrowing over one’s exodus from it. But the
Line time for gentle melancholy came later on when she was
25 sorting her things at her desk just before leaving, and
  was wondering what girl would have that old desk—if
  they cared to risk another girl, and whether the other poor
  girl would slave through the years she should have been
Line frivolous, only to have some man step in at the end and
30 induce her to surrender the things she had gained through
  sacrifice and toil.

In line 27, “poor” most nearly means

  • pitiable
  • indigent
  • inferior
  • humble
  • petty
Answer: A
Skill 2—Example

Understand how syntax (the arrangement of words and phrases in a sentence) influences the relationship among words and ideas within a sentence

Contemporary Inuit sculpture merges traditional carving techniques with current subject matter; thus, it ------- an Inuit practice while ------- a modern cultural identity.

  • invalidates . . manifesting
  • disregards . . invigorating
  • reappraises . . dissolving
  • supercedes . . negating
  • reaffirms . . fashioning
Answer: E
Skill 3—Example

Demonstrate increased comprehension of specialized vocabulary

“Hawaii” refers both to the group of islands known as the Hawaiian Islands and to the largest island in that -------.

  • flora
  • sierra
  • archipelago
  • flotilla
  • savanna
Answer: C