Student’s Reference

For many students, the Critical Reading portion of the SAT is the most problematic of the three subjects tested and it often results in the lowest test score. Unlike the Mathematics and Writing sections, which have concrete solutions to their problems, the Critical Reading section relies predominantly on subjective assessment in order to come up with the proper answer. In all 3 sections of the SAT Critical reading, the bulk of the questions are passage-based questions as well. It is important to keep in mind that in order to defeat the odds, we must utilize certain strategies.
One question that always leaves students baffled on any standardized test is “Should I skip this one or should I go ahead and guess?” This quandary is complicated by myths surrounding the way the SAT is graded that make it difficult for students to have a clear idea of what to do. Let’s discuss the concept of guessing and skipping.
Popular myth seems to indicate that it is always better to guess for any question. However, in the SAT Reading section, each question that you answer incorrectly will accrue a 1/4 point penalty. This means that if you answered 14 questions correctly on a 30-question section and guessed incorrectly on 16 of them, an extra 4 points are deducted from your score. While the 1/4 point penalty may not seem like a lot at first, this can add up quickly and hurt you in the long run.
It is not good to leave a lot of blanks either. Simply leaving a question blank means that you lose the 1 point that you would have earned had you answered the question correctly.
In order to maximize your score, you must use intelligent guesswork to eliminate as many incorrect answers as possible. Be sure to physically cross out any answer choices that are clearly wrong.
As soon as you have eliminated at least one incorrect answer choice, you have made it acceptable to guess. Statistically, eliminating at least one answer choice and then guessing is better than simply leaving the question blank.
There is one benefit to skipping: it buys you time to focus on other questions. Skipping hard problems can buy you time to work on easier problems, and since earning one point from an easy problem is worth the same as one point from a hard problem, it makes no sense to waste 2-3 minutes trying to figure out a difficult problem, only to run out of time.

For this may be said of men generally: they are ungrateful, fickle, feigners, and dissemblers, avoiders of danger, eager for gain. While you benefit them they are all devoted to you; they will shed their blood for you; they offer their possessions, their lives, and their sons…when the need to do so is far off. But when you are hard pressed, they turn away. A ruler who has relied completely on their promises, and has neglected to prepare other defenses, will be ruined, because friendships that are acquired with money, and not through greatness and nobility of character, are paid for but not secured, and prove unreliable just when they are needed.

1) The author’s attitude toward “men generally” can best be described as
(A) cynical
(B) predatory
(C) ambivalent
(D) respectful
(E) amused

2) The author’s statement that bought friendships are “paid for but not secured” suggests that
(A) such friendships can be unexpectedly costly
(B) there is no true affection in friendships based on money
(C) such friendships are paid for with more than money
(D) these friendships are only useful on a personal level
(E) these friendships cannot be counted on in times of need

U.S. painting has a native and singular flavor that sets it apart. True enough, some painters like Whistler, Sargent, and Mary Cassatt belong to the English or French school, but they are the exceptions. Almost all U.S. artists have developed on their own. They have been self-taught artists who have perfected their talents to a greater or lesser degree. Those who felt the imperious need to visit Europe did so when they had already achieved maturity. For them the Old World influence served more to improve their techniques than to modify their already existing styles. For some artists, for example Grant Wood, a European tour stimulated awareness of their own national roots, and convinced them that their true place was in their own country and in their own setting.

3) As it is used in the paragraph above, the word “singular” most nearly means
(A) alone
(B) independent
(C) unique
(D) pretentious
(E) primitive

4) The author maintains that Whistler, Sargent, and Mary Cassatt are exceptions because
(A) they developed on their own in isolation
(B) their styles were influenced by their European contacts
(C) they became aware of their national roots
(D) they were self-taught originals
(E) they were immature when they visited Europe

There are some terrible robbers in the pond world, and, in our aquarium, we may witness all the cruelties of an embittered struggle for existence enacted before our very eyes. If you have introduced to your aquarium a mixed catch, you will soon see an example of such conflicts, for, amongst the new arrivals, there will probably be a larva of the water beetle Dytiscus. Considering their relative size, the voracity and cunning with which these animals destroy their prey eclipse the methods of even such notorious robbers as tigers, lions, wolves, or killer whales. These are all as lambs compared with the Dytiscus larva.

5) In referring to the “terrible robbers in the pond world,” the author uses which literary technique?
(A) personification
(B) hyperbole
(C) understatement
(D) metaphor
(E) simile

6) The author’s attitude in describing the Dytiscus larva can best be described as
(A) disinterest
(B) abhorrence
(C) grudging admiration
(D) fascination
(E) mild disapproval

The best Eskimo carvings of all ages seem to possess a powerful ability to reach across the great barriers of language and time and communicate directly with us. The more we look at these carvings, the more life we perceive hidden within them. We discover subtle living forms of the animal, human, and mystical world. These carvings are not the cold sculptures of the frozen world. Instead, they reveal to us the passionate feelings of a vital people well aware of all the joys, terrors, tranquility, and wildness of life around them. Eskimo carvers are people moved by dreams. In spite of all their new contacts with outsiders, they are still concerned with their own kind of mystical imagery.

7) The author is primarily concerned with
(A) showing how Eskimo carvings achieve their effects
(B) describing how Eskimo artists resist the influence of outsiders
(C) discussing a significant characteristic of Eskimo art
(D) explaining how Eskimo carvers depict animals and humans
(E) interpreting the symbolism of Eskimo art

8) The author’s attitude toward Eskimo art is one of
(A) condescension
(B) awe
(C) admiration
(D) regret
(E) bewilderment

That there had once been a time of heroes and heroines few Greeks early or late ever doubted. They knew all about these epic figures: their names, their genealogies, and their exploits. Homer was the most authoritative source of information about them, but by no means the only one. Unfortunately, neither Homer nor other early Greek poets had the slightest interest in history as we understand it. The poets’ concern was with certain events of the past, not with their relationship to other events, past or present, and in the case of Homer, not even with the consequences or dates of those events. The outcome of the Trojan War, the fall and destruction of Troy, and the fruits of Greek victory would have been of prime importance to a historian of the war. But Homer, the poet of the Iliad, was indifferent to all that; he gives no indication of the date of the Trojan War other than “once upon a time.”

9) According to the passage, early Greek poets were most concerned with which of the following?
(A) Portrayal of heroic virtue
(B) Proof of military exploits
(C) The dates of past events
(D) The causes of the Trojan War
(E) The connection between past and present events

10) By saying that for Homer the Trojan War began “once upon a time,” the author implies that Homer’s treatment of past events is
(A) historically imprecise
(B) morally neutral
(C) highly formulaic
(D) excessively prosaic
(E) wholly fictional

정답
1) A, 2) E, 3) C, 4) B, 5) D,
6) C, 7) C, 8) C, 9) A, 10) A

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