← SSAT® Elementary

Reading: 28 Questions, 7 Passages

Seven short passages in thirty minutes, prose and poetry, true and made up — and four official jobs: find it, understand it, judge it, name the theme.

14 topics · 54 questions

Each topic is a path, not a menu: work down it in order and every question builds on the one above. Click any of them to watch the answer draw itself.

The Seven Passages and How They Differ

  1. How it worksHow does a true report about penguins ask different questions from a made-up tale about a lost dog?
  2. Worked exampleShow me the first ten seconds of meeting a new passage and the four things worth noticing.
  3. Going furtherWhat changes about your plan the moment a passage turns out to be a poem and not a paragraph?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Read this passage. Emperor penguins live on the ice of Antarctica. A father penguin holds one egg on his feet for about 67 days while the mother walks to the sea to feed. He never sets the egg down. When she comes back, she carries food in her stomach for the chick. This is a true report. Which question is it most likely to ask?

Skimming to Find Where the Answer Lives

  1. How it worksHow do your eyes sweep down a page until a word from the question lights up under them?
  2. Worked exampleShow me how to hunt down what a bear eats without reading every line of a nature article.
  3. Common mistakeWhy doesn't skimming mean reading fast and hoping, rather than hunting for one exact thing?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when the word you are hunting for never appears because the writer chose another one?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Read this passage. Black bears eat far more plants than meat. In spring they dig up roots and chew new grass. In summer they strip berries from bushes, eating as many as 27 thousand in a day. In autumn they crack open logs for insects and nuts before their long winter sleep. What do black bears eat in summer?

Close Reading: Slowing Down on the Sentence That Matters

  1. How it worksHow do you zoom right in on one sentence and open it word by word until it gives up the answer?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through unpacking the old boat groaned as the waves pushed it towards the rocks.
  3. Common mistakeWhy doesn't reading a tricky sentence twice as fast ever work as well as reading it twice as slowly?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
A story about a 51 year old fishing boat has this sentence: The old boat groaned as the waves pushed it towards the rocks. What does the sentence tell you?

Finding the Detail the Question Asks For

  1. How it worksHow does a highlighter land on the one line that answers a question and skip all the rest?
  2. Worked exampleFind how many eggs a robin laid when a story says she laid four small blue eggs in a nest.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't a detail that sounds about right good enough when the words say something slightly else?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when a question asks about a detail a story mentions in two separate places?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Read this passage. High in the apple tree a robin built her nest from grass and mud. She laid 5 small blue eggs and sat on them for about two weeks. When the chicks hatched, both parents flew back and forth all day carrying worms. How many eggs did the robin lay?

Literal Comprehension: What the Words Actually Say

  1. How it worksHow do stated facts stack up like solid blocks you can point your finger at?
  2. Worked exampleShow me every solid fact hiding inside Tom ran to the shop in the rain without his coat.
  3. Common mistakeWhy doesn't a good guess count as a literal answer when nothing written backs it up?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A story says: Tom ran to the shop in the rain without his coat. On question 9 you are asked which solid fact the words give you. Which one is it?

Inference: One Careful Step Past the Words

  1. How it worksHow does an inference sit as a dotted box exactly one step beyond the solid facts?
  2. Worked exampleFind what is really going on when a cat's bowl is licked clean and the dog will not look up.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't deciding that the dog is always naughty a fair step when only one bowl was emptied?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens to an inference when a story adds one new fact that knocks the dotted box over?
  5. Common mistakeWhy doesn't an answer two whole steps past the words count, even when it might be true?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Read this passage. The boy zipped his coat right up to the chin and blew on his hands. He had been waiting 24 minutes at the gate, and the puddles by the kerb had gone hard and shiny. What can you tell about the weather?

Evaluative Comprehension: Judging What the Writer Says

  1. How it worksHow do you weigh a writer's opinion against their reason, like two blocks on a set of scales?
  2. Worked exampleShow me the opinion and the reason hiding in Dogs are the best pets because they always listen.
  3. Going furtherWhat happens to a writer's point when the reason they give has nothing to do with their claim?
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't an opinion wrong just because you happen to disagree with every word of it?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A writer says: Dogs are the best pets because they always listen. On question 9 you are asked to split that sentence up. Which split is right?

The Main Idea and How Big It Should Be

  1. How it worksHow do circles inside circles show an answer being too small, too wide, or just right?
  2. Worked exampleFind the main idea of a story where a girl plants seeds, waters them daily and finally sees flowers.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't the very first sentence of a piece of writing always the main idea?
  4. Common mistakeWhy doesn't the most exciting detail get to be the main idea just because you enjoyed it most?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Read this passage. Lena pushed 31 seeds into the soil of a long box on the balcony. She watered them every morning before school, even when nothing showed. After three weeks a row of green tips appeared, and by the end of the month the box was full of yellow flowers. What is the passage mostly about?

Key Details That Hold the Main Idea Up

  1. How it worksHow do details act like pillars under a roof, with some carrying weight and some only decorating?
  2. Worked exampleShow me which details prop up the idea that bees are busy when a text lists four of their jobs.
  3. Going furtherWhat happens to the roof when a piece of writing gives three strong pillars and one that is loose?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Read this passage. Honeybees are busy insects. A worker bee visits up to 85 flowers in one trip, feeds the young in the hive, builds wax cells and fans her wings to cool the comb. She may do all four jobs in a single day. Which detail props up the idea that bees are busy?

What a Word Means in That Sentence

  1. How it worksHow do the words around a mystery word spin a dial until one meaning is left standing?
  2. Worked exampleFind what bank means in she sat on the grassy bank and watched the ducks float past.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't the meaning you already know for a word always the one the writer reached for?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when you cover a hard word up and guess what belongs in the empty gap?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Read this passage. She sat on the grassy bank and watched 10 ducks float past. The water moved slowly here, and the reeds bent whenever a duck swam too close. What does bank mean in this sentence?

Phrases That Do Not Mean What They Say

  1. How it worksHow do you draw the silly picture first and then swap it for what the writer truly meant?
  2. Common mistakeWhy doesn't taking every word exactly as written always land you on the writer's meaning?
  3. Worked exampleShow me what her heart sank when she saw the empty cage is really telling you.
  4. Going furtherWhat changes when a writer says the wind whispered and hands the wind a person's habit?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A story on page 15 says it was raining cats and dogs all afternoon. What does the writer mean?

Finding the Theme from the Details

  1. How it worksHow do scattered details collect into the one sentence a whole story has been building towards?
  2. Worked exampleFind the theme of a tale where a slow tortoise keeps plodding and a fast hare stops for a nap.
  3. Going furtherWhat happens to a theme when the very same story is told about two friends instead of two animals?
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't the theme simply a retelling of everything that happened from start to finish?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Read this passage. The hare shot away and was soon 6 fields ahead. Halfway along he lay down in the shade for a nap. The tortoise plodded past without stopping once, and was at the finishing post before the hare woke up. What is the theme of the tale?

Reading a Poem and Finding Its Theme

  1. How it worksHow do line breaks and stanzas work like beats and blocks that tell you where to breathe?
  2. Worked exampleShow me how a poem about a kite caught in a tree can hide a feeling behind the picture.
  3. How it worksHow does a rhyme at the end of two lines glue them together inside your ear?
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't a poem about a storm always a poem about the weather?
  5. Going furtherWhat happens to a poem's meaning when the last line spins the whole thing right around?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Read this poem. My kite went up on the first warm day, / and caught in the highest bough. / I stood below for 31 minutes, / and it will not come down now. What feeling hides behind the picture of the kite?

The Answer Has to Come from the Words, Not from You

  1. How it worksHow do two buckets, one for what is written and one for what you already knew, keep you safe?
  2. Common mistakeWhy isn't an answer that is true in real life allowed to win when the writing never says it?
  3. Worked exampleFind why an answer about penguins living in Antarctica fails a story set entirely in a zoo.
  4. Ties togetherHow does proving every answer with a line you can point at tie the whole reading section together?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Read this passage. The zoo's 19 penguins live in a pool behind glass. A keeper throws them fish at eleven o'clock every morning, and the birds dive and turn until the bucket is empty. Which answer can be proved from the passage?

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