<p>So guys post your ways of tackling the CR section of the SAT...</p>
<p>i went into the test with this strategy. I did not read the passage at all in the beginning. I first looked at the questions and referred to the passage to answer them. (i read the passage when looking for the answer) I scored only a 620. Don't do that.</p>
<p>This is exactly what I do:</p>
<p>1) Quickly scan every question looking ONLY for number line references (not reading anything at all except numbers).</p>
<p>2) When I come accross them, I'll refer back to the passage and make a pencil mark on that specific line.</p>
<p>3) I then begin to read the passage as deeply as I can, trying to pick up the overall tone. </p>
<p>4) When I come accross a pencil mark, I'll then go and answer the corresponding answer (since all questions are in chronicle order, I have no problem going back and forth). I answer the question using specific evidence from the passage (almost always in the lines around my corresponding pencil marks).</p>
<p>5) I continue doing this over and over until the end of the passage. </p>
<p>6) Then, go back and answer the "main idea" questions.</p>
<p>NOTE: In the actual answering of the questions, I use stratagies outlined by RocketReview and Grammatix.</p>
<p>The Underlying Problem: I don't have an 800 in CR so my advice isn't totally sound (in fact, we should only be taking advice from people who have 800's anyway).</p>
<p>Well you could trust me I guess since one more right would be 800 grr. I had a 770 btw. </p>
<p>I usually read the passage focus heavily on the first two paragraphs. After I like don't read; I just read a couple of words and sometimes even skip a few paragraphs. Then a paragraph before the last one I start to pay attention. Then I read the questions. I find the part the question refers to and answer it. I read the question and the choices again and think critically about the answer I chose. I do this like three times on the 'hard and indeterminate' ones. When I'm done with the section I do this one more time. For the main idea questions I do them last after I get the general sense of what the author is arguing.</p>
<p>Hm. I do exactly what GeorgeS does. I used it on two practice tests, and I scored 700 and 750. Then again, they were the old version. And they were from 1995. I'm still waiting for the blue book in the mail :P.</p>
<p>Just read the whole passage, don't be lazy. That's the only surefire way to nail every question down.</p>
<p>Imiracle, that's kind of what I do.</p>
<ol>
<li>Read the questions.</li>
<li>Read before and after the line references</li>
<li>Answer those questions</li>
<li>Read first part and last part of passage</li>
<li>Answer more questions</li>
<li>Read more if needed.</li>
</ol>
<p>And landshark, apparently its not a surefire way, otherwise that one kid would be getting 800s everytime, no? I like my way because it saves time and if I need to, I can go back and read whatever I skipped to answer the question because I still have a lot of time left.</p>
<p>I think skimming the questions first to get a sense of what you should be looking for is key. I tend to do that and then read the whole passage. It's kind of interesting for me. Lol.</p>
<p>For sentence completions, don't read the answer choices until you have an idea of what the word in the blank is suppose to mean. </p>
<p>The Princeton Review book does a good job of explaining and teaching these methods. I got an 800 CR using these strategies.</p>
<p>First time I've ever a high scorer compliment PR^</p>
<p>seriously. I'd say Joeydang720 got his 800 in spite of the PR book. Their math stuff is fine but their reading and essay strategies are horrible. McTestPrep.</p>
<p>I learned to do this:
Short Passages: Look at the questions and then read
Long Passages: Read first, then answer the questions</p>
<p>Also, trying underlining and jotting things down anything you think is important</p>
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<p>Makes sense to me. 800 on the old verbal section here, many years ago. The test prep industry hadn't reached my part of the country back when I took the SAT, so this was based strictly on recreational reading for fun as the only form of "practice" or "study" I had besides the one practice test booklet that every test-taker gets for registering for the test.</p>
<p>If many years ago means that your SAT was comparable to the 1995 practice tests in 10 Real's, then I'm not sure whether what you did still applies.</p>
<p>I got a 60 on the CR PSAT but a 700 and 750 on the CR + SC parts of the 1995 verbal sections. Either I improved like crazy over nine months without doing ANY preparation, or the substance has changed significantly.</p>
<p>Actually I'm hoping for the former.</p>
<p>I improved a LOT between my PSAT and my SAT--that good-old recreational reading can produce more intellectual growth per unit of time than silly school homework. </p>
<p>My (recentered) scaled score should be comparable to today's scaled scores, even though it was obtained in the 1970s, because that is the point of scaled scores, to maintain comparability over time.</p>
<p>Can anyone compare the either of the 1995 tests' verbal sections to the new CR section specifically?</p>