The SAT short passages section should be completed in under three minutes - more quickly than the longer passage section. If over five minutes is spent on this section, there is a huge disadvantage on later, longer passages. Working quickly on the first two sections then moving to the more difficult sections is the best way to go.
For longer passes, there may be a super long single passage, a double passage, or two short individual passages. Having as much time left over as possible from the earlier section is the key to having enough time to handle any type of larger passage given. Most of the time should be spent on the longer, more difficult passages.
SAT Question Sequencing
While the easiest questions may come first, the last question will not necessarily be the most difficult question. A lot of the times, the most difficult question will be just after the five minute warning given. This is because students become more nervous with the verbal announcement that time is running out and there is a higher chance to get bogged down on a difficult question.
By finding questions that are easiest and doing those first, it can leave a test taker with more time to answer other sections that may be more difficult. The compare and contrast questions are usually the biggest time killers and should be saved for later if they might cause problems for a test taker.
Overall, having a game plan and knowing which types of questions a test taker is good and not good at can go a long way in improving the overall SAT score, especially on the critical reading section.
