The SSAT Reading Section (40 minutes) tests students’ ability to understand short passages from a variety of different sources.  The section has 40 questions based on approximately seven or eight passages.  Genres may include informative passages, persuasive passages, short stories, and poetry.  You will be asked to locate information about the author’s main idea, specific details, and style.  You may also be asked to expand logically on the information presented in the passage and infer what may come next.  However, students will not need to rely on any of their own prior knowledge about the material; all of the information needed to answer these questions will be given directly in the passage (Ivy Global, SSAT Prep Set).

One of the more challenging sections students will come across is the Reading Section of the SSATs.  This course will help students build critical reading skills when it comes to analyzing and responding to the different types of genres they will experience during the Reading Section of the SSATs. Over the course of 16 weeks, students will be exposed to readings and SSAT practice questions relating to short stories, poetry, and persuasive and informative passages.  Furthermore, students will be able to simulate the SSAT test taking environment via online assessments.

   Students will learn specific strategies intended to help them improve their SSAT scores.  The following is a breakdown of what students can expect to learn from this course.

Exam-taking strategies

• Time Management
• Multiple Choice Strategies such as:
• When to Answer, When to Guess, When to Skip
• Answering Questions Out of Order

• Process of Elimination

Critical Reading Strategies

• Identifying main ideas, topics, and details
• Determining author’s purpose

• Becoming active readers

• Annotations  
• Key words

Analyzing Passages & Poetry

• 5 W’s for comprehension
• Fiction Components

• Setting
• Plot
• Conflict

• Characters
• Narrator
• Point-of-View

• Poetry Components

• Lines/Stanzas

• Figurative language

• imagery
• symbol
• simile
• metaphor

• personification

• Theme  

Responding to Different Types of Reading Questions

• Main Idea
• Specific Detail
• Genre or Tone
• Inference

Vocabulary Building

• Discover new vocabulary from practice readings
• Add to own repertoire of vocabulary  (to aid with Verbal Section of the SSATs)

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1.5 hour Class Breakdown:

30 minutes: Review of practice questions/tests

30 minutes: Introduction to new strategy

30 minutes: Practice with SSAT-style questions

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• A dedicated notebook for note-taking
• Email access for online assessments