If you plan on taking the Middle Level SSAT, you may be particularly worried about the Reading section, especially if English courses aren’t your favorite, or you don’t do a lot of reading in your spare time. Even if this is the case, you can adequately prepare yourself to do well on the Middle Level SSAT’s Reading section by familiarizing yourself with the way in which the section is organized, the content that it tests, and some great free resources. This guide will help you accomplish each of these things so that you will have everything you need to study effectively and feel confident when taking the Middle Level SSAT’s Reading Comprehension section.

The Middle Level SSAT’s Reading section tests your ability to understand what you read. It is the third section on the Middle Level SSAT, being given after the Writing Sample and the first Quantitative section. The Reading section contains 40 multiple-choice questions, which students are given 40 minutes to answer. Reading passages are between 250 and 350 words apiece; that’s a little more than the number of words on a single page in a paperback book of average size. Middle Level SSAT Reading passages consist of one of two types of writing: narrative writing, which is writing that is part of a story, and argumentative writing, which conveys the writer’s point of view about a particular subject and attempts to convince the reader that it is the correct point of view. Middle Level SSAT Reading passages can be drawn from sources from a variety of subjects, including Social Studies, Science, and the Humanities, as well as Literary Fiction. Poetry passages may also appear on the SSAT. All of the questions asked on the Middle Level SSAT’s Reading section are multiple-choice, and they may ask you to identify the main idea of a passage, locate details, make inferences, figure out the meaning of a specified word based on its “context,” or the way in which it is used in the passage. SSAT Reading questions may also ask you about the author’s purpose, tone, or attitude towards his or her subject matter. They may ask you to analyze the opinions or arguments presented in a passage in particular ways, or make predictions based on the information presented in a passage.

Many students find the most difficult part of the Middle Level SSAT to be time management, even though getting forty minutes to answer forty questions sounds pretty reasonable, that calculation doesn’t take into account the time it takes you to read the passage. If you need to figure out whether you need to read more quickly or have plenty of time to spare, you should check out Varsity Tutors’ free Middle Level SSAT resources, especially the free Middle Level SSAT Reading Practice Tests. Each Middle Level SSAT Reading Practice Test is made up of ten to twelve questions about a given passage or passages. You can choose to answer questions drawn from a comprehensive selection of possible question types, or choose to concentrate on one particular question type, like “analyzing the author’s tone or style”—it’s up to you. After you complete an SSAT Middle Level Reading Practice Test, you get to see detailed results, including analysis of how you did in comparison to other test takers and data about how long you took to answer each question.

You may also want to complete a Full-Length Middle Level SSAT Reading Practice Test to get a better idea of your overall understanding of the subject. The extended format can help you as you work on increasing your test-taking pace and comprehension of essential concepts. The results pages for the comprehensive tests offer all of the useful review materials provided by the concept-specific practice tests, including your scoring percentile, detailed explanations, and additional review materials for vital concepts. These complete practice tests can help you formulate a custom SSAT study plan by showing you the topics you should spend more time reviewing. After you’ve had the opportunity to brush up on your skills, you can gauge your progress by taking another Full-Length Middle Level SSAT Reading Practice Test to track your development.

So, if you’re worried about battling the clock on the Middle Level SSAT’s Reading section, use Varsity Tutors’ free SSAT resources to develop your time management skills while you study. This way, you can feel completely prepared to take on the Middle Level SSAT’s Reading section on test day!