I took the January SAT and scored a 580. I did well in writing and math. I plan to only study CR these next four weeks for the March test in order to get a 700, so that my superscore can go up.
I tend to get most of the vocabulary questions correct, but I miss about 5 questions on passages each section. How can I improve on the passages?
Books I have:
-Direct Hits 1 and 2
-The Critical Reader by Erica Meltzer
-Blue Book (I plan to take the 10 CR practice tests only. I’ve already taken the M and W sections).
What can I do to get a 700? Is “The Critical Reader” a good book? Should I get a tutor?
Please give me whatever advice you can. I have 4 weeks before the March test and I need a 700 on CR.
No good advice here… CR is harder to raise than math. Students who do well on it tend to be long term voracious readers, which can’t really be a strategy when you only have 4 weeks.
Though I can’t say I’ve been able to raise my CR score by 120+ points, I did improve considerably on my CR section within the course of the summer months. The big turning point was when I figured out that the SAT is in fact a very ‘factual’ exam.
What I mean by this is that if it does not EXPLICITLY state the answer in the text, it’s not correct. To my best of my memory, there were very few questions (<2 per TEST if not 0) that required any inferences (there may have been more, but unless it specifically states to infer, DON’T). Do not overthink or use any knowledge not privy to the material before you.
Since you do seem to be acing the vocab section, it’s a matter of focusing and zoning into the passage for you. Also some tips and tricks like bracketing long passages with sections mentioned specifically in the questions helps. Read this guide (courtesy of Apoc314) through and see if any of the pointers help you during your practice runs.
CR is definitely possible to raise. Can’t promise you’ll make a 120 point jump in four weeks but you can get in the 600’s. Work on vocabulary; don’t memorize it. LEARN IT. You seem to be fine with it but you can always improve. There’s always room for improvement. With the passages, learn what works for you in the time frame. I usually read the whole passage and then go straight into the questions. I don’t read the questions first. You usually have to go back to the passage anyways from the questions depending.
Learn how to analyze what is meant and what is said. Learn how to discern the parts where something is actually explicitly said. Take this question:
"The skier was exhausted climbing the mountain because:
A. He was out of shape.
B. The oxygen level declined as the altitude increase."
Even if you know the oxygen level declines as altitude increases or if it is IMPLIED, that doesn’t matter. What matters is what is said with these types of questions. If you got to say Line 17 and the skier says “I was exhausted because I was out of shape. I didn’t train enough…”, that’s the answer.
So you just need to learn how to analyze the tone and the content and the emotion.
It is often suggested out here that student take both anyway, especially if they are not happy with their score on one of them. There is no reason (except cost, but the payoff can be big) that the OP shouldn’t also give the ACT a shot.
first practice test i did got a 600CR. on sat january got 770. i would recommend studying HOW ETS designs the questions that are incorrect to look appealing (e.g. extrapolation, exaggeration, twisting of wording to make incorrect) etc. this helped me a lot (kaplan course). besides that, practice a lot. make sure that you know why you are getting questions wrong.
Do take the ACT.
It’s possible to increase by +30, perhaps +50 in 4 weeks.
A high CR score comes from reading daily and ever since you’ve been able to, not just for school, and including fiction AND non fiction AS WELL AS magazine articles (for example, from the New Yorker, the Atlantic, Mother Jones, The National Review, The Economist, Harper’s… at least one article a week. Obviously, one a week for 3 or 4 years won’t work here, but you can try to compensate by reading one per day?)
So, focus on reading one high-level magazine article per day, alternating between the magazines above (they represent different traditions and styles, and a couple are sure to be provocative to you) from your local library. That should be 25+ articles… not perfect to build fluency and critical reading skills, but it’s hard to do more.
On my October 2014 SAT, my CR was 670. I spent the next month following that studying for US History. After I took USH, I went back to studying for SAT. One month afterwards, in a matter of 4 weeks of studying, my December CR was 800. How did I do it? I’m being serious when I say this: continue to practice the passages until you can’t keep your eyelids open.
It is possible to improve CR with a lot of practice, specially if you have not done too much practice with CR before. You might not have hit your plateau yet. At this stage only practice with CB tests, from BB or tests out internet and improve your reading speed. Its a tough ask but possible.
