Keeping Track of Your Place on Reading (ACT/SAT)

Practice strategies to optimize your efficiency while reading, particularly if you tend to lose your place.

Track Your Place

If you have difficulty focusing your eyes or mind when reading, cover part of the page with your answer booklet as you are reading. Limiting the amount of words you are seeing at once can help focus. Alternatively, you can use your finger or pencil to track while you read.
Jotting notes and/or underlining and circling key words and phrases in the passage as you read can also help you more efficiently answer the questions, so you do not have to sift through and pinpoint what you need when you refer back to the passage.

Marking up or annotating the passages while you read can help you find information you need to come back to much more easily.
If you skim the questions before reading, use your knowledge of specific questions to mark up the passage as you read.
Even if you do not skim, keep in mind the most common types of questions. Having a clear purpose while annotating is key to making your notes useful.
Your annotations should include the main idea of each paragraph as well as the overall main idea of the passage. You know you will need to answer main idea questions. Jotting down the main idea of each paragraph will help you identify you have a main idea that encompasses the full passage. Also, it will make it easier to know which paragraph to find details.
Create your own clear annotation scheme to use repeatedly. For example, box the thesis or main idea. Underline key phrases and words that are key supporting details. Circle adjectives that support the tone. Write notes in the margins if you make an inference. Your note should be just enough words to remind yourself why you want to remember the line.
If a word or phrase seems out of place to you while reading, jot a note. Chances are this will be the key to a tricky question, and you will know where to re-read. Do not try to figure it out right away, but expect that you will need to understand it better when you start answering questions.