<p>i went from 680 to 800 in cr by doing the cr sections in the blue book like crazy and using the kaplan 500 word flip o matic or whatever its called.</p>
<p>Serendipity: I'm a 16 year old senior, so I guess age isn't really the factor here.
Right now I'm doing one CR test and one Writing test per day (usually more for the writing). But my mistakes seem to never change.
Theonly time I got an entire passage right was when it taked about something actually worth reading (Darwin).</p>
<p>i recommend a series of workbook called the "wordly wise 3000." it contains series from 1-9 (corresponding from 4th grade to 9th grade). Each book has 300 words u should know at that a particular grade level. They contain crossword puzzles and exercises that can help strengthen your understanding to SAT vocabs.</p>
<p>Don't just use those yellow barron flash cards UNLESS u know how to use them wisely. Cramming those vocabs in won't help u much when it comes to using ur vocab knowledge in real situations such as the SATs.</p>
<p>I counted theflash cards in the end of the barron's. Apparently, there are only 250 words out of the list of 3500 in the CR section of the book. I definately need another source once I'm done with them.</p>
<p>i'm an international student and attending to a German school. So I had to learn at first German, then English. When I started to study for SAT my CR score was 440. Today I made 720 in my practice and it is actually very easy to improve vocabulary.</p>
<p>I skip the things that I've done to learn the basics of English.</p>
<p>I purchased "The Marino Mission", "The Mayan Mission" , "Simon's Saga" and "Kaplan's Extreme Flıp-O-Matic" The stories improved A LOT! When I checked the Flip-O-Matic, I saw that I've already known the most of the words from these story books. With these books your vocabulary is "burgeoning." </p>
<p>Then of course practice.. Practice makes permanent. I started with Barron's practices (there are 4 or 5 in the book), then continued with McGraw. I finished both of them and now I'm making everyday one or two practices.(depends on whether it's weekend) My practice books are Kaplan's 12, Princeton's 11 and The Offical Guide... I make one day from Kaplan other day from Princeton and the other from OG. I will take the SAT on May.</p>
<p>And beyond everything, I'm very optimistic and I sleep well :) I really believe it depends on it,too. Treat your sleep time as an appointment.. I'm serious =)</p>
<p>Stuck, just wondering, did u speak English from the time u were born? Like, u've grown up in a non-English speaking country, so, it can be a gr8 factor. Now, i suggest u to search for students in YOUR school who has made a significant increase in SAT (or who already has got a gr8 SAT Score) S/he would be able to understand u r problem and can work w/ it :D
Frankly, I feel like SAT is not for u! (no offense, but it just seems so!) if u want to see ur score increasing u gotta get serious abt SAT (well, I know it's prety tough to get serious and feel worried abt SAT after taking it that many times but still u gotta do so, or nothing will change :()</p>
<p>My Life Story:
I lived in KSA for nine years. I was in an American school, so I grew up speaking English rather than my "mother tongue".</p>
<p>I don't know which I speak as a first language. But what doea it matter?</p>
<p>btw, May is my LAST time. And I'm serious this time!</p>
<p>What's KSA? (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?!) I was just wanting to see like, which language u spoke A LOT, like both at school and 'at house' (the latter one is important) and like what sorta stuffs u saw on TV, read, (i mean on the basis of language u see!) It DOES Matter! (It'll take me some times to describe how it does, now, don't think that I can't explain it! I just don't wanna whole lot of time in CC today again! Yes, I'm tryin' to restrict myself which isn't THAT easy!)</p>
<p>Cool, May is ur LAST TIME! and if u r complete serious abt it, then trust me, there's nothing that can restrict u from exceeding the highest u r making! (what's ur highest 2000ish?)</p>
<p>TWO WORDS: Mnemonic Devices.</p>
<p>Yes they do work. I have one of the best photographic memories but mnemonic devices are 10x better. Photographic memorizing (such as by flash cards or by simply staring at a list of vocabulary words 10minutes before your test) DOES NOT WORK. The only case to use photographic memorizing is if you forgot to study for a low-stakes english class vocabulary test.</p>
<p>But SAT is not the case. SATs are high-stakes and you have ages to prepare for them. If you use photographic techniques then you will panic if the words appear out of context (i.e. using third definitions of words) or if you studied the night before, you will only remember the words by the order in which you memorized them (e.g. since you know the word before was "laconic" you can 'remember' what licentious means). </p>
<p>The real trick to learning vocabulary is to memorize a crazy definition of a word. The sparknotes site has an very well thought out outline of what you SHOULD be doing to memorize words:</p>
<p>asif -
yes that's what KSA mean.
The main language in my daily life is pretty much English. Please explain.</p>
<p>how successful is the mnemonics thing? I tried making some up because I always confused depricate with deleneate (among other words) - But it didn't work.</p>
<p>Well first of all you should learn how to spell the words correctly (no offense intended). </p>
<p>"depricate" should be deprecate and "deleneate" should be delineate. </p>
<p>These are very easy ones to make mnemonic device for because the words relate closely to their meaning. Let me explain:</p>
<p>Deprecate sounds like depreciation (the opposite of appreciation), right? So you can conclude that the word relates to belittling or patronizing. Defining the word on google gives:</p>
<p>Depreciate
1. express strong disapproval of; deplore
2. belittle; "The teacher should not deprecate his student's efforts" </p>
<p>VIOLA! Its that simple.</p>
<p>Lets look at the other word. Now that we've spelled it correctly we can figure out its definition. When you read "Delineate" your first reaction should be to the word "line", so you should be thinking along the lines of tracing or showing someone the correct path. A little search again on google reveals:</p>
<p>Delineate:</p>
<ol>
<li>define: show the form or outline of; "The tree was clearly defined by the light"; "The camera could define the smallest object"</li>
<li>specify: determine the essential quality of</li>
<li>trace the shape of</li>
<li>trace: make a mark or lines on a surface; "draw a line"; "trace the outline of a figure in the sand"</li>
<li>describe in vivid detail</li>
<li>delineated: represented accurately or precisely </li>
</ol>
<p>Also if you find words that you cannot makeup mnemonic devices (the ones listed above are more along the lines of latin roots but same idea), then just use similies. For purposes of the SAT, "adumbrate" is a word that means almost the same thing as "delineate". So in you head, make a connection between the two words, so whenever you see one, you will be able to figure out its meaning.</p>
<p>Voila! Not a viola(instrument).</p>
<p>one more quick question guys.
I've noticed that I keep getting the specific detail qs and the inference qs wrong. Are there specific guidelines that I can follow to get more of these types of questions right?</p>
<p>Uh memorize vocab use the words in your sentences and your writing. Also, become a better reader :P. I know it's the hardest section to raise.</p>
<p>how will vocab help me "infer"?</p>