SAT考試中閱讀文章取材廣泛，出題形式各異，SAT考試分析性SAT閱讀部分的題目全部是選擇題。其考題按照從易到難主要分為三個層次：第一個層次是細節性題目。第二個層次為小范圍內的推斷性題目。第三個層次則是關于文章的主旨性題目。這些不同的層次里分別會考察不同的問題。

A 主旨題：

問你這篇文章的主旨是什么，常見形式有：

The passage serves mainly to __________

The passage primarily focuses on __________

The passage is primarily concerned with _______

The main idea/ point/purpose of the passage is __________

The passage as a whole is best described as _____________

在雙篇文章組合的段落閱讀里出題人經常會拿兩篇文章的主旨作比對，所以我們還會看到：

B 求同題：

要求考生說出兩篇文章相同的地方，常見形式有：

P1 is similar/ analogous/ parallel /akin to P2 in that_______________

X in P1 is most like ________ in P2?

What do P1& P2 have in common?

Both passages__________

Which of the following statement is shared by P1 & P2?

與求同題相對，要求考生說出兩篇文章不同的地方，常見形式有：

The contrast/difference between P1& P2 is that _____

X in P1& P2 respectively ________________

Compared to P1, P2____________________

_____________________is in P1, but not in P2?

Unlike P1, P2_________________________

P1 differs from P2 in that________________

C作用題：

超越對文本內容的考察的還有作用題，其主要考查內容為所選部分有什么作用，一般形式為The words/sentences/paragraph in line X serves mainly to _____________________

D 互聯題：

既不考相同也不考對立，出題人要求考生說出兩篇文章的關系。常見形式有：

① Which best describes the relationship between the two passages?

② ____ in one passage would most likely + VERB +___ in another passage?

“得閱讀者得天下”，此言并不夸張。SAT閱讀部分作為一個得分大項，卻向來是中國學生的軟肋，你的總分是不是提得上去在很大程度上取決于你對閱讀部分的掌控。