On data-heavy Science passages, skip the opening paragraph and start with the questions that point at figures. A large share of answers sit in the graphs. The intro is there for the few items that ask what was measured or how the experiment was set up. Passage types are in Science passage types.
Questions first, prose second
Work every item that names a figure. Then read the intro for leftover questions about purpose, units, or a variable that never appeared in a caption. Going to the named visual is in going to the figure.
Conflicting viewpoints is the exception. Those passages are mostly text, so you do read the student paragraphs. That type is in conflicting viewpoints. Experimental-design questions that live in the intro are in experimental design.
The bottom line
Figures first on data passages. Read the intro when a question cannot be answered from a graph.
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