<p>hi guys, I'm an average student with a 490 critical reading, 610 math, and 550 reading. I am extremely desperate about improving my critical reading score because it's really embarrassing, and i don't have any good college options. My goal is to improve at least 100 points on CR by september. If you have any tips, suggestions, advice on how to improve CR, then please let me know</p>
<p>-thanks a-lot guys</p>
<p>Learn some vocab. Sparknotes 1000 is a good start.</p>
<p>I agree with RahoulVA about the Sparknotes 1000 list. I made sure I knew all those words, and I can confidently say that I think I got every vocab question right. Either I knew every word, or I knew enough words to be able to eliminate the choices down to one. Here's the list:</p>
<p>You can also get a very similar list of pre-made vocab flashcards by Sparknotes at Barnes and Nobles. A lot of the words are the same, but I noticed a few are different. </p>
<p>The list helped me get a 790 in CR.</p>
<p>^ Is the sparknotes list the best one out there or are there other one's (Like the PR one) that I should consider buying?</p>
<p>Get as much practice as you can with CR.</p>
<p>The most important thing is to learn to read ACTIVELY. Learn how to extract the meaning and intention from the passages.</p>
<p>Practice critical reading not just with SAT prep books, but with anything you're reading.</p>
<p>One idea is to read the newspaper every day (off-line) and try to understand what the tone and intention of each article is. Mark any words you don't understand, and look them up in a dictionary. Highlight the key sentences and phrases that telegraph the author's message. Is the author biased about the subject? What does the author imply without saying directly? What at the assumptions? What is the tone of the article? Informative, persuasive, entertaining?</p>
<p>You can do this with magazines and books, too, but I prefer newspapers because most articles are short, timely, and written at a level similar to what you'll encounter on the SAT.</p>
<p>Also, pick a news article on something you know nothing about. Maybe something about credit default swaps in the business section. Or rice riots in the international section. Or urban planning in the metro section.</p>
<p>The less you know about the subject going in, the more you need to rely on the article itself for meaning.</p>
<p>One of the big traps with critical reading is that people make assumptions that aren't supported in the passage itself. If you bring prior knowledge with you to the CR passage, that can be a big, big trap. You must rely on the text, and nothing but the text.</p>
<p>Critical reading takes lots of practice. But you can do a little each day, every day, even without an SAT prep book.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>bump, there must be more ways to get higher scores!</p>
<p>GrammarGuy summed it up perfectly; I don't think there is any better advice to give for the CR section</p>
<p>thanks alot guys sorry i didnt reply to you guys</p>