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The SAT Reading Comprehension: Basic Principles

Looking to improve your SAT Critical Reading score? Learn the basic principles and tips behind the reading section of the SAT.

In this article, you will find:

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Part B: To hammer home just how important spending the time to read the choices correctly is, take a shot at the question below. This passage is the length of one of the shorter passages on an actual SAT.
    The nation's health system requires a continual
    supply of new blood from donors to replenish its
    stockpiles. Freezing blood for long-term storage is
    a delicate, expensive, and time-consuming process;
    moreover, many doctors believe that the resulting
    product is unreliable. When stored in a solution of
    plasma and nutritive dextrose (a sugar), fresh red
    blood cells can survive and remain viable for
    transfusion for only six weeks.
2. The passage above suggests which of the following?
  1. Additional facilities must be created to prepare and store blood for future transfusions.
  2. Without special storage procedures, red blood cells cannot exist for long outside the human body.
  3. The public should be reminded frequently of the need to donate blood, not merely appealed to in times of crisis.
  4. The nation's stockpile of blood is dangerously low and needs an immediate infusion of donations.
  5. The nation's stockpile of blood supplies is exhausted on average once every six weeks.
Check your answer on the next page.

Don't be discouraged if you found this drill difficult. I designed it to underscore how easy it is to be fooled by the apparent simplicity of even a few words, and to demonstrate why you have to slow down on the questions rather than the passage.

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