Last newsletter we covered how to tackle [blog:'5-tips-for-answering-main-idea-questions' main idea] questions from the [info:'sat-critical-reading' critical reading] section of the SAT, and now we’re moving onto cheats for answering tone and attitude questions. Just as their name suggests, these questions ask you to figure out the authour’s view towards the subject through their use of tone and attitude of the reading passage. Here are 3 tips to help you breeze through this section.
- Always be skeptical of answers with an excess of strong emotion. This is a time honored strategy for all SAT questions. Passages are generally filled with more academic language with only slight positive or negative tones; so before you pick ‘amazed’ as your answer, consider that the author is much more likely to simply be ‘admiring’.
- Figure out the author’s overall attitude toward the subject. Check out the descriptive words used in the passage; are they words like superficial, dull, and disappointing; or pithy, imaginative, and witty? You may even want to underline these words as you read so that you can easily refer back to them. If there is a lack of descriptive words, this can be a clue that the author’s tone is neutral.
- Eliminate answers that disagree with your basic evaluation of the tone. If you’ve decided that the author’s tone is netural to positive, go ahead a eliminate all options that provide negative emotions.
Read the full article: 3 Cheats for Tone and Answer Questions