This student shares insights into how he scored 800 on the SAT’s Reading section: https://www.collegeconfidential.com/articles/student-achieved-perfect-sat-score-critical-reading/
As a test prep tutor, this is very interesting. My thoughts about reading questions first are mixed. This is a method that can work great for some students, primarily those who are fast readers. It’s also a method that tends to work best on science passages, where there are lots of distinctive key words that stand out when skimming. However, I consistently find that for students who read more slowly, it is not a great method. It is more time-consuming to read the questions first, and though it is pretty accurate, that’s not super helpful to a slow reader who might run out of time to answer questions.
For homework, I usually ask my students to try at least one science passage with the question first method. Then they can see if they find it helpful. FWIW, I have to say that generally, if a student is a slow reader, using question first doesn’t seem to help their score a lot. I do have students who will use that method just for science. The key to doing well on the reading section is doing a lot of practice before, ideally around 2 months before test date.
Get the College Board book with 8 tests, and try doing various sections untimed well before the test. About a month out from test date, a student should try to do a timed practice test each week. Break it up into verbal one day and math the next. The tests are also free on the CB website, but you have to print them, which is a lot of paper and costly ink.
Not if you have a laser printer 