My recent SAT grades have been high 600s-low 700s (on the actual exam). On my last score report, it said I answered 3 questions incorrectly, while all the other 6 were omitted.
I know I omitted those 6 questions due to lack of time, not because I don’t know how to solve them. When I take my time at home, which ranges from 1 to 9 extra mins, I manage to get high 700s and even 800 quite frequently. I’d love just a 750 on January but I don’t know what to do about time…
My time issue is really related to whether or not I’m familiar with the passage topics. For example, when I had a physics passage on time reversal, I answered all the questions correctly and finished, in fact, 5-7 mins before time was called. However, when I had a passage about authors and writing and philosophy, I needed more time and did poorly. So for topics I’m not familiar with, I take more time to comprehend the article well enough to answer the questions accurately.
MEDIUM QUESTIONS 2 | 0 | 1
DIFFICULT QUESTIONS 5 | 0 | 0
TOTAL 18 | 0 | 1
PASSAGE-BASED READING
EASY QUESTIONS 6 | 0 | 1
MEDIUM QUESTIONS 22 | 2 | 3
DIFFICULT QUESTIONS 13 | 1 | 0
TOTAL 41 | 3 | 4
I also have Erica’s the critical reader. What would you advise me to do for the next fortnight to reach my goal? I’d also be OK with a 730 - I want at least a 730 to reach my goal superscore, but I’d certainly like a higher grade.
As described in The Critical Reader, every sentence in a passage does not have the same importance. If you can learn to read the important info carefully and skim the rest you could do these sections much faster. The key is to try to identify the main point and transitions and read those carefully while skimming the supporting examples. Its all laid out very clearly by Ms. Meltzer. I would suggest reading the chapters about the Main Point and Reading for Function very carefully and then trying to incorporate the techniques described in those chapters. I think there is still enough time to do that before the next SAT.
That sounds good! So I came up with this according to what you said + some ideas I have + some ideas I read about here:
I’d revise four chapters: main idea (this one was very important for reaching the 700 level, so I will certainly devote time to practicing it again), function questions, vocab in context questions, and inference questions. (the last two are questions I tend to struggle with)
To practice the first two chapters I mentioned, I’ll use Erica’s list of “Topics of the SAT articles” to identify the topics I struggle with. I’ll search for articles on those topics on The Economist and apply to them the strategies of the chapters. I’ll also just read more on those topics to familiarize myself with them. And once I finish the chapter, I’ll solve the blue book questions listed at the end and see how well I do. (I forgot the tests’ answers so it’ll work hopefully)
I also need to stop thinking “what the heck am I reading” when I read boring articles. This thought was a major distraction on my last SAT.
And of course, I’ll revise my Direct Hits vocab and practice with full sections occasionally. But for now I’ll focus on my weaknesses.
I have learned to just read with fluency without doubting what I have read. Just keep reading and don’t read anything twice. I am scoring about 730-750 on reading. Do you think I should order the critical reading book now? I see its 380 pages which is quite lengthy. Is all 380 pages of the critcal reader content (like Erica’s grammar book) or are there practice tests at the end?
@alwaysrunning the issue is, I’m not having the ideas sink in easily in the first place when the passage topic is strange to me. And yes, there are practice questions at the end of each chapter, ranging from 10 to 20-ish questions. In your score range, I’d say it’s not worth buying - try to have someone you know scan those two chapters (question types) you struggle with because you probably won’t need the 380 pages.
@BethanyD Thanks for the response! I have found a lot of my reading comprehension errors in the past were caused when I started to assume about the answer choices. Now, when I look at answer choices, I try to identify a key word and see if the passage supports that key word. When attempting to eliminate an answer choice, I try to see if the passage refutes that key word. On another note, how does Erica teach reading comprehension? I think its really hard for someone to write on this topic. What types of strategies does Erica offer? Are they very useful?
I think that’s an excellent way to approach the answer choices.
I believe she teaches it an a unique way - on a level a serious hardworking student aiming for a perfect score would like to be taught. Even though it’s just a book, I feel like Erica knows how I think and corrects my thinking through this book. She, somehow, “breaks” down the SAT for you and tells you what you need to actually do to get the questions right in a way that would help you even later on in life. I really appreciate how many of her strategies relate to the passage structure. CR is really her thing IMO!
I have a vacation at the moment and a week of school (we don’t do anything important during the first week), so thankfully I have the days before the SAT for myself.
I was going over about 20 sections now, and I noticed a pattern in my mistakes:
(occasional) sentcoms
Inference
Function
“best characterized as”, “conveys”, “What is emphasized about (an aspect)” (@marvin100 Not sure what category do these fall under - details interpretation?)
I’ve confirmed I need to revise function and inference - but I think I’ll add details interpretation too.
These are the mistakes I make. I found in the 20 sections 1 tone question mistake, but I won’t focus on that for now.
I also listed the topics I’m uncomfortable reading about: minority experience, arts (sometimes, depends on how that is discussed), cultural passages (specially those about food), and career experience. (be it an author, pianist, any career, except, of course, a scientist.)
I’ll definitely start with the function chapter and I’m now looking for super boring articles about what I don’t like to read… to apply the function techniques too. I’ll use them along with the main idea strategies to break down the passage to something I hope will be simpler.
@BethanyD
You’ve got a motherload of good advices here (on top of your well developed plan).
You can’t, unfortunately, get a hold of your December SAT booklet, but analyzing your detailed score report might help. Let’s take a look.
I left out your SC results - they are awesome. Well, except for this: why skip a medium level question? I have a hunch you don’t risk guessing after having eliminated three answers.
Is that how you ended up with four skipped (none difficult! one easy!!) questions in the PBR part?
Try not skipping any questions in your practice (except when you happen to eliminate all five answer choices) and see if that helps.
(Fine print: not all test prep people subscribe to this approach.)
@gcf101 Yes, to be honest, I don’t guess even if I have two answer choices left.
What makes me too scared to guess is that I might have one mistake that would be the reason why I get 720 instead of 730. (but most of my skips are because of time, except for the sentcom question of course) I’ll try this and let you know what happens. Thank you.
@BethanyD You are welcome.
Let’s do a short primitive stat analysis of your score report.
Altogether you skipped 5 questions in CR. Let’s assume that you eliminated three definitely wrong answer choices in each of those questions.
The probability of picking the wrong answer choice for one question now is about .5 (another assumption is that there are approximately as many A’s as B’s as C’s as D’s as E’s among 67 CR answers, even though that’s usually not exactly the case - the CB is not playing a fair game).
The probability of randomly answering all five questions wrong - and being penalized by -1 point - is (.5)^5, a VERY small number .
The probability of guessing at least one answer right is (1- (.5)^5) - almost 1.
If you guessed only one answer correctly, you would lose 1 point for four wrong answers and gain 1 point for one correct answer - you break even.
It’s getting better from then on: you could gain from 1 to 4 points.
I wonder what statistics experts have to say about this logic. To me It seems it’s worth it to gamble.
@BethanyD Since your main concern is running out of time, here’re a few things to try.
But before I get to them, I have another question for you. Besides reading dry and boring articles - are you doing full CR sections under the time limit and filling in the answer sheets? It’s a critical element of prepping for Critical Reading. lame pun intended
So, to make sure you have your time under control, on 25 min sections do the least enjoyable passages first; you should try making yourself interested in every passage - look at them as an opportunity to expand your horizons.
Then do the SC or short passages. Then - another long passage (could be paired). Then - whatever is left. There is a certain rational behind that.
The only downside of this approach is the risk of messing up the answer sheet; the remedy - laser sharp focus and plenty of practice.
See if that works for you. There is no one strategy that fits all.
Another time saving tip - copy your answer choices into the bubble sheet in blocks; I would do a large block when I am ready to turn the page. An obvious exception - the last 5 minutes.
