<p>What strategy do you use and what is your score range using that strategy. </p>
<p>I have read tons of books on SAT CR but they arent working that well.</p>
<p>What do you use?</p>
<p>the right side of my brain ;]</p>
<p>Just try to read a ton of challenging and boring books. That way reading only a passage shouldn't be as difficult. That alone has raised my score from 580-->low 700s. Only when you reach that level will prep books really help.</p>
<p>CR doesn't have to hurt! For me, it was the most fun section of the SAT. The other two are just...crap. Anyways, </p>
<p>1) I never read the whole passage on long passage readings. If you try to do so, you will most likely run out of time. They DON'T expect you to finish on time if you read the passage, read the questions, and then go back to the passage to read the specific lines again to answer the questions. To avoid time problems, I go to the questions first, go to the mentioned lines, and skim briefly above, through, and below the mentioned lines to get the context and the answer. This is the majority of the questions. For the questions about general meaning/theme/tone, I skip it and go to it after I finish all the "lines" questions. By this time, you should have a general understanding of the passage due to all the lines you had to read.</p>
<p>^I found this method incredibly effective. I got a 780 on CR on my first SAT, then 760 on my second, but only because I was more focused on getting my Writing score up and I spaced out during one of the reading sections. :D </p>
<p>2) Princeton Review: Reading and Writing Workout, Baron's 2400, and Collegeboard's blue book. I found the blue book CR questions to be the most similar to those on the test. </p>
<p>3) Read, read, read. Not just fiction novels but hard essays, too. I recommend "The Best American Essays of the Century." You pick up a lot of vocab by reading hard books/essays.</p>
<p>Hope this helps. Just my two cents, but those are the strategies that worked the best for me.</p>
<p>"never read the whole passage on long passage readings. If you try to do so, you will most likely run out of time. They DON'T expect you to finish on time if you read the passage, read the questions, and then go back to the passage to read the specific lines again to answer the questions."</p>
<p>I strongly disagree with this statement. You should read the entire passage, this helps with the inference and global questions. Most people finish on time (I finish with 5-10 mins to spare); if time is an issue with you, you should practice speed reading.</p>
<p>I actually read the whole passages as well.... even the long ones. But I never ran out of time. So it's possible to read everything and still have time. But then again, I probably won't score a 780 either lol. I guess it's just best to try out the different strategies on practice tests and figure out which works best for you.</p>
<p>yea i read the entire passages too..but you know what..each method works differently with people..you have to experiment yourself to find out what's right for you.</p>
<p>just do a lot of practice. Do at least an hour of CR every day and analyze as to why you got those questions wrong. After a week or so, you will start to see a pattern(for me, I was getting all the inference and reasoning questions wrong). After that, you can solely focus on that, rather than trying to improve your general CR score. </p>
<p>As for the vocab, try to memorize as many words as you can. Memorizing vocabulary will not only help with you for the writing part of the SAT but for your English classes as well.</p>
<p>Good luck! :)</p>
<p>When I took the SAT in 10th grade I got an 800. Most of it came naturally to me...but I read the passages in sections. like i read the first paragraph, answered the 2 questions about it, read 2nd one, answered the question about it, and so on....when I read the long passages all at once I tend to forget the beginning by the time I finish...lol!</p>
<p>choklitrain, i like ur strategy..i might try that...need major help w/ CR...</p>
<p>It all comes down to personal preferences. When i read the passages in sections, i start to lose focus. Some questions require you to extract information from the next paragraph or line, so that can be a problem. Just try each technique offered by the other members, its like trying on briefs. One size can't fit all, but it can feel pretty damn good, same with CR strategies.</p>
<p>I always have extra time when I read the entire passage. I find it hard to put questions in context if I haven't actually read first... instead I skim the questions beforehand to underline the specific line references they mention. :) (like "'Summon' in line 34 means what?" etc.) Then when you read the questions carefully you won't have to frantically search for what they refer to.</p>
<p>Also, on passage comparison sections with two passages, this helps tremendously:</p>
<ol>
<li>Read passage 1, do passage 1 questions only</li>
<li>Read passage 2, do passage 2 questions only</li>
<li>NOW do questions that refer back to both passages.</li>
</ol>
<p>By the time you've finished reading two similar passages on physics theory you'll forget what the first (and second) was about when you go to passage-specific questions... this method really saves a headache.</p>
<p>Although it probably helps that I actually find the dry scientific passages engaging.... >_></p>