Timing and Method

The arithmetic

45 questions in 60 minutes is about 80 seconds each, including reading time. With roughly five passages, budget about 3 minutes to read and 9 minutes to answer per passage.

There is no penalty for guessing. Leaving a blank is strictly worse than a guess. Never leave one.

A method that holds up under time pressure

1. Read the whole passage first, quickly, for argument — not for detail. Ask only: what is the claim, and how does it move?
2. For each question, go back to the line. Answering from memory is the single largest source of avoidable errors.
3. Predict before reading the options. Answer the question in your own words first; then find the option closest to your prediction. Reading options first invites you to be talked into a plausible wrong answer.
4. Eliminate on function, not truth.
5. If two options survive, find the word that separates them — usually a verb (illustrates vs qualifies vs refutes) or a scope word (all, primarily, merely).

Where students lose most

• Spending four minutes on one hard question and losing three easy ones at the end.
• Answering from memory instead of rereading.
• Choosing the option that sounds most sophisticated.
• Ignoring the stated goal in a revision question.