<p>How can i ensure a 800 on the critical reading portion? </p>
<p>I have until October to get a really good score. I took the JUne one and thought I did well in Math and Writing but not so good in critical reading. </p>
<p>Whats the best way to prepare for this. Im dedicating my entire summer for Vocabulary Words and preparing for the critical reading portion of the SAT. </p>
<p>Anyone have any ideas on what books other than like PRACTICE TEST Books that could help me tackle the questions on there ... like a strategy book. Ive seen lots of them and they dont help.. whats a good book from the start and then i can work my way up.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Apparently the 2400 books are good. Honestly, stratagies aren't going to get you very far at all. Buy all the CR workbooks that you can and just get to practicing. Make sure you review your wrong answers. Over time, it will get easier until one day you hit 800. Then it'll start being consistant. It just takes time and practice (and by the end, you feel like an idiot that you ever scored lower, because wrong answers are so obviously wrong).</p>
<p>I have the following CR Workbooks:</p>
<p>Kaplans
Barrons</p>
<p>Anyone have any other suggestions because the Kaplans are confusing and Barrons is way too hard and I need good explanations. </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>DO BOTH OF THOSE. Seriously... The Kaplan actually helped me. While the questions are not completley realistic, the explinations are amazing. The best thing about that book is they teach you to spot distortions. Some of their passages have a shocking number of questions that appear to have multiple right answers, but after reviewing the explinations, they convinved me why one was right and the others were wrong (it was usually subtle, but they were right). After going through some of that, when I took a real test I could eliminate wrong answer more quickly and accurately (in fact, I can get about a 600 without even reading the passages!) You get good at it.</p>
<p>sparknotes 10 sats? the new one? hows that? thanks</p>
<p>Hmm... I havn't tried it but from past Sparknotes experience, I wouldn't use it. They ask some strange questions, some pointless questions, some questions that don't appear on the sat, some questions with incorrect line references, and some questions that are just plain wrong. If you get my drift...</p>
<p>Thanks Stix2400. I havent used the Kaplans because I thought it was useless since many have told me its bad. </p>
<p>Hows the Barrons Book itself not the Workbook. Is that good to ensure me a good score. My GPA is average, and I really want to work and get like a 2300+.. </p>
<p>THanks</p>
<p>The Barrons book I have found to be pretty good. There are a few strange aspects to it but it is certainly good practice and there is A LOT of it. I would use Kaplan too, by the way. Mix it up, do a little of both. I'm interested in seeing how this works.</p>
<p>Great! Me too. Im interested because I havent tried it out. For math and writing, i only need practice.</p>
<p>Im just gonna Use:</p>
<p>Kaplan's Primier/Comprehensive Program
Kaplan CR workbook
Barrons CR workbook..
Barrons
and of course last but not least the official SAT study guide. </p>
<p>Thanks for helping!</p>
<p>Anymore suggestions if anyone has.. will be valuable..</p>
<p>You've certainly have a lot to work though but I'm sure it will help. If you run out of tests (haha, but seriously) get the 11 Princeton tests (I havn't used them, but they seem the be the consensus for "I ran out of tests" syndrome).</p>
<p>I haven't used any prep books, but what i do is just see if it makes sense (i know it sounds silly, but it works for me). the answer is suppose to be supported by the passage. If the passage supports it, and in a arguement you could back your answer up, pick it. That's what i do anyways, and its doing well for me</p>
<p>Why are you determined to get an 800 on the CR?</p>
<p>I mean, besides the fact that SATs are extremely important, etc. etc. I have read those threads and agree with them. Why have you decided that it's extremely important for you to get a perfect score (not a 780, for example) on the toughest section of the test? If you can do this at all, it will take you a massive amount of time which might be better spent on other things.</p>
<p>I would recommend that you purchase the tenth edition of the Norton Reader, used, on half.com (to save money), and master every essay in it. These essays are extremely similar to SAT CR passages (many of the authors in this book have appeared on past SATs), and if you can read these essays actively and critically, you will be in pretty good shape. This will be a much better use of your time than, say, the Barrons 3500 Word list.</p>
<p>Well, Sorry if I mightve been like an overacheiver or something. But, I mean that if i set my goal high, if i get lower like above 750 or something.. Im fine with it. I dont want to set a low goal and get lower than what I want.</p>
<p>My GPA isnt that good and I need to get into University of Michigan Ann Arbor and Im not sure I can get in because I have pretty good EXTRACURRICULARS and Umich doesnt consider them a lot. So if I can master this section and get above like 2300.. Im good and then hopefully I'll be safe. </p>
<p>Any other suggestions to improve on passages (Long and Short) would be helpful.</p>
<p>thanks for everyone's help so far.</p>
<p>I think trying to get a score above 750 is an excellent goal. I think that it does make sense to be an "overachiever" on your SAT if you haven't been overachieving as much when it comes to your GPA. ;) I bet that if you did a bit of research you would find that a 750 would put you in excellent stead for U Mich Ann Arbor. </p>
<p>To get an 800, you would probably need to spend at least an hour and a half studying for every point you currently lack. If you have a 700 right now, you would need to study at least 150 hours, at a minimum, on that section of the test alone. You would do it primarily by reading, first the Norton Reader I mentioned, and then as many 19th century novels as you could get your hands on, and by doing all of the CR sections you could find. . . everything in the blue book, everything in the old red book, and probably a large number of GREs. You would also need to memorize about 1500 words, using flash cards. The difference between a 750 and an 800 might be 75 hours, while those 50 points would probably make only a slight difference in your chances at U Mich.</p>
<p>If you are spending your whole summer on this, though, maybe you have decided that it's worth it to you. You will certainly be better prepared for college level reading. I would follow the plan I mentioned above: one hour of college-level reading for every point you need on the test, plus the words and the practice exams. (I'm speaking as a successful tutor, a Harvard grad, and a former 800 scorer myself.)</p>
<p>That's the most ignorant thing I've ever heard lotf. 150 hours for 100 points, NONSENSE! Just take some practice tests (which take 1 hour for CR) a lot and review answers. If it takes 100 hours, you're doing something wrong. You're saying it takes 15 hours of studying to get one more question right? I hope not! It doesn't</p>
<p>From 500 to 600? You're right, it would be absolutely ignorant of me to claim that that would take 150 hours. You can make that jump in two days of solid studying if you're lucky. 600-700 is also not nearly so much of a reach. But from 700 to 800? I stand by my original figure. </p>
<p>As Michele Hernandez, currently one of the most sought-after college admissions advisors in the U.S. and a former adcom at Dartmouth, has written, virtually every student who gets a perfect score on the SAT CR section is a lifelong reader, one with a passion for books that shows up throughout the application. Reproducing the effects of this kind of lifelong immersion in reading requires drastic measures.</p>
<p>I don't think you hit an 800 by studying alone unless you're already in the mid-700s. You have to make yourself into a reader, and the only way to do that is to read. </p>
<p>The more expert advice you read, the more people you will find who agree with me.</p>
<p>Umm... how about the fact that I studied myself all the way from 590 to 800. After I hit 700, I'd say it took a two weeks of a lot of practice tests and review (maybe 20 hours) and I had 800. I didn't read at all, all I did was practice, and not all that much.</p>
<p>Seriously, I havn't read a novel for pleasure in years (NOT a hyperbole). It's sad I guess but I still have an 800. From my own experience, you don't have to be a lifelong reader to get 800. It's not about reading, so much, but reasoning skills and just plain intelligence. If you have reasoning skills (which you can pretty easily get) then you can get the questions right. It's that simple.</p>
<p>Read Your Butt Off</p>
<p>Stix2400, did you really? I'll eat my words, then. You're the first I've known to have gotten to an 800 without a significant amount of reading practice. Maybe other people on this forum have done the same thing and will post about it; I'd like to hear if I'm more wrong than I thought.</p>
<p>You're a major exception in my experience, and in the experience of a lot of other people I know. I bet if most people with a 700 studied for 20 hours, they wouldn't have an 800. What kind of reasoning skills do you think helped you make the jump?</p>