The only thing that is keeping me away from getting a SAT Critical Reading score of 750+ is always choosing the wrong answer after eliminating down to 2 answer choices. It is truly frustrating for me to go review my countless number of practice tests in Critical Reading, and seeing that I always choose the wrong answer out of two. I always around the five answer choices down to two choices, and I somehow always pick the wrong one. Both answers SEEM VERY VERY VERY probable as the correct one, but it disheartens me to find out that I always choose the wrong answer. As a result of this situation, I score int he mid-600s range instead of 750+ range. Please, I would like to know any strategies to help me rectify my problem. I would also like any tips by people who excel in the Critical Reading section of SAT.
There’s a thread - how to get 800 on the critical reading (CR) portion of SAT that has really helpful suggestions. Do a search, should be easy to find.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1024138-how-i-got-an-800-on-the-sat-critical-reading-a-story-and-guide-p1.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1099193-getting-800s-in-writing-and-critical-reading-a-how-to-guide.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1173822-my-fast-sat-prep-guide-how-i-went-2080-2340-in-10-days.html
Here are a couple of potential options. The first one may be the one mamaedefamilia means? The search function on this site is honestly awful, so use Google instead – for instance, you could search “critical reading strategies site:talk.collegeconfidential.com” to find others.
@littlemonster39: You should definitely check out the guides above. And I’m not trying to be rude, but pretty much every average student struggles with what you mentioned (scoring in mid 600 range and always struggling between 2 answer choices). Just because you get the question down to 2 answer choices doesn’t mean you deserve a 750+. Some students never get to such a score, so you must be willing to change your way of thinking and develop your own methods to score high. I remember when I was scoring your range and I was frustrated by the exact same problem. I could argue for two plausible choices in many of the harder CR questions. But if you really want to score high on this section you need to stop thinking like yourself and start thinking like the CollegeBoard test makers. Read their CR solutions online (check out their website) and see how they describe why a certain answer choice is right or wrong. Remember, an answer choice MUST be wrong with enough evidence to prove so because if not, many people would sue CollegeBoard and that would be a disaster :P. Anyway, good luck with your future SAT endeavors. You sound very hard-working, which is the first step to getting a high score on the SAT.
Erica Meltzer addresses this exact situation on her website - the blog section. I suggest it.