How To Master SAT Citation Pairs
Citation Pair Questions are among the most challenging on SAT Reading. Here's a sure-fire, step-by-step method for drastically increasing your speed and accuracy.
Understanding SAT Citation Pairs
Most SAT Reading passages have two sets of "Citation Pair" questions. This question type, as the name suggests, is composed of two questions and is easy to recognize: the first question (the "Base Question") usually appears to be a Non-Citation Question, while the second question (the "Citation Question") asks you to choose the "best" evidence for the answer to the Base Question, providing four citations from which to choose.
On the surface, SAT Citation Pairs seem straightforward: just choose one of the four citations to support your previous answer. How hard can it be, right?
The Good News and Bad News About Citation Pairs
Well, I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is that Citation Pairs are often more complex than they appear.
The College Board has very specific, rigorous standards for what constitutes the "best evidence". More on that below.
The SAT Reading Test loves nitpicking and hair-splitting, and this is especially true on Citation Pairs. Finding the correct answer often requires subtle analysis of technical, and sometimes seemingly petty, nuances in the language of the question, base answers, and citations.
The good news is that I have developed a step-by-step process for quickly and accurately finding correct answers on even the most challenging Citation Pairs.
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