<p>I brought my verbal up from 440 (26%) to 700 (95%) in about 6 months. I basically memorized the barrons word list of 3500 words to help me get all sentence comp and analogies correctly. So I say if you had a score as low as mine I suggest going over word lists as they prove to be veru useful.</p>
<p>I'm also an 800 scorer and I've been studying English since I was seven. My mother tongue is Romanian. I hope that you would find my advice helpful, but please keep in mind this was a personal strategy which is by no means sure-fire:
As a long term strategy - if you have an year or more - learn a foreign language - French, Italian, Spanish, German or, why not - Portuguese or Romanian. If you already speak one of these languages, try to improve it. Be very attentive to connections between words in these languages and words in English - there are lots of them. You may wonder why don't I instruct you to simply learn more words in English in the first place. Well, that is because all those words sound like Martian anyway.
Medium term - Get a subscription to an international magazine - I personally think The Economist is the best, but Time should work out just as fine. Read as much as you can from the magazine every week.
Parallel to this, use word cards - I used batches of 50, which I would replace at different intervals, depending on how intensive I was studying them. Focus on words from Word Smart - there will be some novelty on the SAT, undoubtebly, but you have something to start with. As you do your reading, be on the lookout for words you don't know and note them down and make new cards. Also look out for words you have just learned. It will be an interesting discovery to find out you actually learned some new words - besides, it will help you to understand the definition better, because you would see them used.
As a study guide - the tips from Princeton Review help, though I would agree that not on CR. The tests are a little bit too easy, though. Do not use Barrons, unless you want to get depressed. If you do use Barrons, keep in mind that a 1400 score on their tests is fantastic and you'll probably score over 1500 on the real thing.
Short term - get your hands on 10 Real SATs; do them all, but only one per day, the most. Simulate testing accomodations; don't allow yourself extra time or pee breaks. Make SAT's part of your daily routine. Take one even on the Friday before the test, but DO NOT study anymore on that day. Calm yourself, don't think about the test. Think about the score - that perfect 800 you're gonna earn and show the world your worth. Think about college, think about future. Be positive and calm. You're gonna do it!</p>
<p>Hello, where did you get analogy and sentence completion vocabulary?
can you send me one copy?
thanks so much
I'm very very very poor in vocabulary</p>
<p>I did the Barron's flash cards</p>
<p>Do you mean the 600 word flash cards? with 6 words in each card?</p>
<p>i did TONS of vocab...memorize words, it really really helps, i went up 80 points by just memorizing more words (these words are now helping my writing a lot too, its worth it, not just for the SAT, but for life)</p>
<p>What do you guys think of the Barrons book, 1100 Words You Need To Know? Should I use this as an aid, or shall I use Word Smart? Perhaps both? Thanks.</p>
<p>The best way to prepare is to spend 20-30 mins a day reading the newspaper, whether it be paper or online. In particular, the op/ed section. Those editorials contain lots of "SAT-friendly" words, and when you read them in context, you are more likely to remember their definitions and usage. Better than just trying to cram a bunch of definitions into your brain...too much work, tedious, and boring. The NY Times usually has a good daily selection to choose from.
And whoever recommended The Economist, yes, that is definitely suggested.</p>
<p>I have a question for all of the people that memorize a TON of vocab. What is the maximum amount of words that you can memorize in ONE day, and retain about 90% of them the next day? And how many hrs a day do you spend memorizing the vocab?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I would say the maximum is 100. But that means spending 3-4 hours only browsing through your cards. 50 is a feasible goal.</p>
<p>Memorizing 3500 words is not that tedious. I crammed for them in 2 months; 15 words every morning, afternoon and evening, for a total of 45 words. </p>
<p>I missed a lot of CR questions, I tend to drift through the passage. Sometimes I understand nothing at all !!! I can't even restate one sentence because my tendency to drift.</p>
<p>Anyway, I got 570, didn't receive score report by mail yet but I think I missed only 1 analogy and 1 sent. completion.</p>
<p>To hoanginc: U memorized every 45 words everyday and still got only 570? Poor ur reading skill :)) I guess (un-educated) 10 analogies, and omitted about 8 other analogies ones :)) but I get 570 too :D. I think I did pretty well in SCs and CRs.</p>
<p>I think a better way to prepare for SAT in a very short time with less effort :P is reading. I didn't read much (mainly classics novels) but i think it'll help.</p>
<p>Anyway, use some of ur reasoning skill in CR sections as SAT is a REASONING test, and we Vietnameses are never bad at reasoning: look at our 800 Math scores :lol:.</p>
<p><em>sigh</em> I guess I suck at reasoning and I'm Vietnamese.... Math score is 660</p>
<p>this is like all the stuff they tell you at prep classes minus the $900.</p>
<p>I need help in Verbal. can u give me CR tips?</p>
<p>the bigger the word list the more likely u will know all the words on the test. heh</p>
<p>Strat - Memorize Big word list
Then
5 mins on SCs
5 mins on anal
20 mins on CR</p>
<p>By knowing all the words, your CR score goes up because you can spend more time on the passages.</p>
<p>Are any of these online or something? Or should you buy a wordlist at a bookstore?</p>
<p>I thought I would bump this up too.</p>
<p>Take it from me- 800W/800CR (sorry had to brag, I just got my scores and am so happy)</p>
<p>I've always loved to read and write, I read voraciously whenever I have the time. The single most important thing to do is establish a habit of reading, whatever you like, whenever you can. What you read doesn't really matter so much. I've learned words from Stephen King novels just as well as from George Orwell's 1984. Just keep reading.</p>
<p>Also, realize that the SAT does not care about your ability to "read critically"! LOL. If anything the CR section is more a psychological guessing game. There are answers that are "sorta right" and then there is the answer that is "the best". Person A who can read and understand what they read might easily eliminate the answer choices that were not mentioned at all in the passage, but pick the 'distracting' choice that is 'almost the best choice but not quite'. Then they will say "What! But that was right there in the passage, how is it wrong?!" It's not "wrong", merely "less right" than the correct choice! Person B who also pays attention when reading, but in addition can get into the head of the person who wrote the question, will immediately recognize that what ETS wants is for Person B to follow the train of logic of the person writing the question, and pick the answer that they designed to be 'the best', rather than one of the distracting wrong answers that, while supported by the passage, is not 'as supported' or 'as lucid' as the 'best choice'. In other words, the choice that cannot be argued as being totally supported by the passage is correct, the one that could be supported but only weakly or loosely is wrong. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish: it's supposed to be!!</p>
<p>And finally, vocab is the key. If you don't know the vocab, you're screwed. Learn roots of words and word groups, it is much easier and just as helpful as actually memorizing words.</p>
<p>I think that the key to my success on the verbal/writing was a lucky bit of fate on my part...I was practically born reading and it just so happens that a measure of the one thing I love above all else matters to college admissions.
At least, that's how I feel about it. My scores are a tribute to that passion more than to my academic determination in general.</p>
<p>I've seen this post somewhere...kateschmiddy did you post this on another thread?</p>