Natural Science Passages · Strategy summary

Natural Science Passages: strategy summary

1. Read for the process. Note each paragraph’s step in a few words and read past unfamiliar terms; the passage usually defines the ones you need.
2. When the stem asks about a defined term, answer from that term’s definition, not the neighboring one.
3. Attach every number to its thing. Read the whole sentence a number comes from before you choose it.
4. For order questions, find each event and use the signal words: after, then, as it grows, one last time.
5. Evidence for a hypothesis is an observation that favors it over the others, not just a true fact nearby.
6. Keep the passage’s confidence: suggested, proposed and not confirmed never become proved.
7. With a graphic, name the variable on each axis and check that it is the one the question asks about.
8. At pace: about three minutes to read and map, then about 45 seconds a question, starting at the paragraph the stem names.