Paired Passage: Complete Overview | The Complete SAT Course - Class 10 PDF Download

What can I Expect to See?

Under the new SAT® Reading Section, SAT® Paired Passages will ask students to comprehend and synthesize information and ideas from history/social studies passages, science passages, and relevant graphic tables or charts. They will be between 500 and 700 words per passage or paired set. Although these passages can be from the same discipline or a mix of different ones, they will topically relate. Each pair of passages will be accompanied by four to five questions about each passage individually, and five to six questions asking you to synthesize the information from both passages.

How Should I Read the Passages?

If you’re reading this article, you’ve probably already read about the many different approaches to tackling passages in the SAT® Reading Section. Whereas some students choose to read both passages first then answer questions, others find it advantageous to read the questions first then read the passages. Some also advise skimming a passage, reading the questions, then reading the passage again to find correct answers. While each student has a different test-taking strategy that works for them, this article will detail a strategy we believe is the most effective way to approach both SAT® Paired Passages and the SAT® Reading Section as a whole.
Strategy: Because one of the most difficult parts of SAT® Paired Passages is keeping each individual passage’s information and viewpoints separate from the other, this article recommends a reading strategy where the student actively reads and annotates the passage before looking at the questions. We find this strategy beneficial because it prevents skimming over key information, and provides you with important notes that you can quickly reference when answering questions. Although this may take students longer at first, by practicing this technique in your SAT® prep, you will quickly be able to identify important information and save yourself time in the long run. Even if you choose not to use this strategy in your SAT® review, pay close attention to the information we choose to annotate. Those details will come up in test questions!
The Most Important Details to Identify in Paired Passages: In the rush of the SAT®, it’s easy to confuse the details of one author’s passage with the details of the other. To combat this, in your SAT® review and when taking the test, you should quickly identify certain key information.

Main Idea – What is the point of the passage?

To save yourself time and precious brain space, write down the main point in one to three words at the bottom of each of the passages. It doesn’t need to be grammatically correct or even complete words at all, but you should know exactly what the author is saying. For example, if the passage is about a scientist’s research findings on polar bears and global warming, you could put an annotation like “PB No More Ice.” If the paired passage is an activist detailing his argument that global warming is a myth and that the ice isn’t melting, you could make an annotation like “GW Myth Plenty of Ice.” As you can see, these annotations are far from graceful, but by identifying and writing them down, you quickly separate each author’s point of view and ensure you don’t falsely attribute details to the wrong passage.

Tone – How does the author feel about the topic?
Are they in favor of it? Are they against it? Is it just details with no opinion? Take the time to put a +, -, or / symbol next to the article. This will save you a ton of time for questions about an author’s feelings or how they would respond to the other passage.

Paragraph Purpose – Why did the author use this paragraph?
When annotating your passages, make a quick note in the sidebar about what’s in each paragraph. For example, if you have a paragraph listing research, you can put E for evidence. By taking a second to write a quick note, you now have bookmarks to quickly look to for context when you are asked questions about specific lines. Sometimes, the purpose of a paragraph can be found immediately in the first sentence through an author’s topic sentence.
Identifying these three important details will help you immensely as you start to answer questions. As a side note, pay close attention to keywords like “however” and “but” to ensure you don’t mistake a concession for the author’s idea. By practicing these reading and annotation techniques in your SAT® review, you will set yourself up to quickly and easily answer SAT® Paired Passage questions correctly.

What Questions will I be Asked?

Citing Textual Evidence Questions

Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?
These question types are a new addition to the SAT® exam and are one of the more time-consuming questions to tackle. They will often be paired with a preceding question and will require you to find support for your previous answer choice.
While this causes many students anxiety because it opens them up to the possibility for two wrong answer choices in a row, so far SAT® test makers have not shown a proclivity to give textual evidence options that support a wrong answer choice. This means if you answered the previous question and can’t find the textual evidence that matches your answer, you need to take a second look at the preceding question.
Unfortunately, there are no secrets to answering this question type. You need to look at the lines for each possible answer choice and choose accordingly. Here’s where your annotations will come in handy. Remember, when choosing your textual evidence support, be straightforward. Don’t pick an answer choice that requires a detailed reasoning or complicated inference. The SAT® will give you an answer option choice that clearly shows its connection.

Main Purpose Questions

The main purpose of both passages is to…
Similar to purpose questions for single passages, this question type wants you to identify the main idea of each passage. After doing so, you are asked to synthesize these two main ideas into one overall general statement. If you did your annotations, this question should be rather straightforward. When reading answer choices, pay close attention to the first verb in each statement. For example, if we take our global warming passages from before:

• Passage 1: Neutral scientific research paper on the effects of global warming and polar bears
• Passage 2: Activist’s passionate argument that global warming is a myth

The main purpose of both passages is to
(a) suggest a solution to global warming
(b) disprove global warming
(c) research polar bears
(d) discuss global warming
Ans. (d)
Recall the tone that you identified for each passage. While answer choices will probably have the main idea for individual passages, we have to pick the one that best describes the two as a whole. In this case, the word “discuss” most accurately captures the purpose of both passages.

Responding Questions

How would Passage 2 most likely respond to Passage 1’s statement in line…?
Here is where it’s important that you’ve identified the main purpose of each passage. Put yourself into the shoes of the author. In our global warming example, we know that author two is of the opinion that global warming is a myth. Based off that information alone, we can accurately assume that author two would disagree with any research that proves global warming.
While this is helpful, we cannot overstate the importance of looking up the lines being referenced. Don’t just answer a certain way because you know the general idea of a passage! To catch students that don’t look up lines, SAT® Paired Passage questions will occasionally ask about a line that refers to a counter-argument referenced by the author. You should always know the full context of the reference.

Compared to and Unlike Questions

Compared to Passage 1, Passage 2’s attitude towards…. is…
Unlike Passage 1, the author of Passage 2 makes use of
These question types require you to display a high level of synthesis ability. Topics can range from general ideas about purpose and tone to more specific questions about the use of rhetorical devices and overall text structure. With our global warming example, this would look something like this:
Unlike Passage 1, the author of Passage 2 makes use of
(a) Sarcasm
(b) Personal Voice
(c) Epiphany
(d) Cliché
Ans. (b)
In your SAT® review, be sure to take some time to review common rhetorical devices. Also, be sure to pick answer choices that can tangibly be proven by pointing to a line. Although you might have interpreted a work as sarcastic or clichéd overall, make sure that the author explicitly used that device in their passage.

Relationship Questions

Which choice bests states the relationship between the two passages?
On these question types, the SAT® will ask you to demonstrate your synthesis ability by detailing the relationship between the two passages. Although you have to use your inference skills to answer these questions, remember that the SAT® will always give you sufficient textual evidence to support your answer. Answer choices for this question will read something like,

• “Passage 2 challenges the primary argument of Passage 1”
• “Passage 2 advocates an alternative solution to the question raised in Passage 1”

If you’ve taken the time to annotate your passages with the main idea, you should be able to quickly identify the key similarities and differences between the two works.

Agreement Questions

The Authors of Passage 1 and Passage 2 would most likely agree that…
Agreement questions will ask you what the two authors would likely agree about. Similar to some of the other question types, agreement questions require a fair level of inference because the exact answer can’t be pointed to in the text. As we’ve stated before however, you should be able to obtain a high level of certainty for your answer with textual evidence. In our global warming example:
The Authors of Passage 1 and Passage 2 would most likely agree that…
(a) the decline of polar bears is due, in large part, to global warming
(b) global warming should be discussed
(c) global warming is a myth
(d) global warming will kill all arctic animals
Ans. (b)
Remember that you should pick a conservative answer choice that accurately summarizes both passages. Although there will be choices that support one passage, whenever you see words like “agree” in the question, you have to pick the choice that best works for both passages.

What now?

With these reading and answer choice techniques for SAT® Paired Passages, you are on the right track to obtaining your test score goals. As you continue reviewing for the SAT®s, remember to practice these techniques to ensure you are able to do them effectively and efficiently within the time limits.