<p>How does one avoid running out of time in this section? And how does one learn all the “hard vocabulary” words quickly? I read a lot, but will going through lists of common SAT words help any?</p>
<p>Reading is the best long-term way to learn vocabulary words (and to increase your reading speed, which will help you with your time). However this can take months or years to make a difference.</p>
<p>If you want to learn “quickly,” the vocabulary lists will certainly be more beneficial. Also, try and learn some word parts and roots that can help you figure out words that you’ve never seen before. For time, obviously you want to try and learn to read faster. Try practicing reading faster and faster while still getting all the information you need from the passage, and eventually you’ll find that you can almost skim the passage and still know what it’s saying. Also, if you’re having to constantly reread parts while answering a question, try to get all the information you need first time so you don’t have to waste time going back.</p>
<p>I try to get through the SC very quickly so I can spend a lot of time on the passages. The first few SC are always the easiest and are not designed to be difficult or to trick you, so you should be able to go through them fairly quickly (I usually finish the first three or four within one minute). Spend a little bit more time on the next few, but aim to finish the SC within three or four minutes. This should leave you some extra time to burn on ambiguous or difficult passage questions.</p>