The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
The correct answer is A. plan to spend most of your time reading the passage.
This is the correct answer because it describes an inefficient and risky test taking strategy. While thoroughly understanding the passage is important, the PSAT Reading Test is strictly timed. Your goal is to score points, which are earned by answering questions correctly, not just by reading. Spending the majority of your allotted time solely on an initial, deep reading of the passage leaves very little time to carefully analyze each question, locate the supporting evidence in the text, evaluate the answer choices, and select the best one. A more effective strategy involves balancing your time. Many successful test takers skim the passage first to grasp the main idea, topic, and tone. Then, they read the questions and return to the passage to find the specific information needed to answer them. This targeted approach is far more time efficient and focuses your attention on the parts of the text that are most relevant for scoring points.
Conversely, the other options represent excellent advice for tackling passage based questions.
B, making sure you read each question thoroughly, is crucial. Misreading a question, perhaps by missing a key word like “not” or “except,” is a common and easily avoidable error.
C, ensuring your answer is the most correct one, is the fundamental challenge of the test. Often, more than one choice may seem plausible, but only one is directly and fully supported by the evidence in the passage. You must learn to distinguish the best answer from tempting distractors.
D, trying to answer the question before looking at the choices, is a powerful technique. By predicting an answer in your own words based on the text, you can avoid being swayed by cleverly worded but incorrect options. You then look for the choice that best matches your own, text based conclusion.
