You’re now familiar with how SAT Reading Passages are
constructed. Items come in sets that are associated with a particular
passage or passages. You’ve learned separate step methods that govern
how to tackle:
- The passage itself.
- The set of items associated with that passage
(i.e., Bombing Runs).
- Each individual item in the set.
There’s another “level” to this passage-set-item hierarchy,
however. RPs come in test sections. In the case of
RPs, the section is called Critical Reading. Any given SAT test
will consist of at least two Critical Reading sections. These sections
may contain any of the following elements:
- Some number of Sentence Completions
- Some number of short RPs, including, possibly, a short
- One or more long RPs
- A paired RP
Furthermore, the passages mentioned may be on
any of the following topics:
- Social Science
Remember the cardinal rule of standardized test-taking:
since all items are worth the same number of points, always do
those items you find easiest first. In other words:
Always fly Bombing Runs.
We’re now extending the concept of Bombing Runs to the
section level, applying it to passages and item
types as well as to individual items within any given passage
For example, let’s assume you see a section composed of
the following items and sets in the following order:
- 10 Sentence Completions
- 2 short RPs, one on a scientific topic, and one on a topic
from the humanities
- 2 long RPs, one social science and one science
Here’s how you’d fly a Bombing Run on this section:
- Do the Sentence Completions first. They
require a far lower time investment than any reading items.
- Next, tackle the short RPs. They require less of an investment
than the long passages. If you’re into science, do that one first.
If not, do the humanities one first.
- Tackle whichever long RP you think will be easier to handle.
Length may play a role—long passages can vary from 400 to 800 or
more words. Topic may also determine your selection: science heads
will likely jump on the science passage set first.
- If you have time, work on the remaining long RP.
Within each set you attempt, you’ll decide which items
you’ll attempt first and which you’ll leave for last.
Making these types of judgments requires a bit of self-knowledge
and practice. But that investment pays off many times over. Picture
two identical test-takers. They each have exactly the same level
of knowledge and skills. They each follow all the strategies presented
in this book, with one critical exception. One flies Bombing Runs,
jumping around the section in an intelligent fashion and
racking up all the “easy” points she can as quickly as possible.
The other one just starts with the first item and works his way
through the section without skipping around. Which test-taker is going
to get a higher score? Which test-taker will be judged less able,
despite the fact that both test-takers have identical knowledge
You want to maximize your score by distributing your knowledge across
a section as efficiently as possible. Flying Bombing Runs ensures that
this distribution will happen.