Critical Reading (CR)

<p>share the CR strategies that worked for you & helped you achieve a 700+ on the actual sat test</p>

<p>Honestly, reading. My first SAT, with no prep, was 730 CR, and my last SAT, with tons of prep, was 730 CR!! If you have time, preferably one year plus, read some hard books. Two years after the SAT I was curious and took a CR practice test and got every question right. I think that happened because I got into reading much tougher books in college. I had been an avid reader throughout grade school but the books I read were usually pretty average as far as difficulty back then.</p>

<p>^ Randwulf is right. However, I believe that CR can be improved in much lesser time. 4 months of work took my score from 620 to 800. But I prepared a lot for both the tests. Randwulf missed out the importance of vocabulary. Vocabulary = success. Do the words lists and they will definitely lift your scores.</p>

<p>Check the meaning of each and every word you don’t know. Use Google/paper dictionaries/dictionary.com/whatever. I have an android phone so I use the dictionary.com app. This is something I did/do anyway and that it helped me with the SAT is just an added advantage.</p>

<p>Funny thing is, when I took the SAT last year, before I had even downloaded the app, I made no SC errors. Yet I made one silly SC error each in the Nov and Dec 2013 administrations. However, the benefit is in no way limited to SC. The technique also helps you comprehend passages better, aside from granting the obvious benefit of helping with word meaning based passage questions.</p>

<p>Another reason I advocate this method is because it promotes precision. Often you think you know what a word means, or just have a general gist of it and are unable to differentiate between two words that are related but not interchangeable. Checking the dictionary meaning helps avert such situations. You see, half-knowledge is often deadly because then you feel like you know the word and are unable to exercise elimination strategies.</p>

<p>I got a 730 last year, a 750 in November and will hopefully receive a 750+ score tomorrow.</p>

<p>…this goes to all of you guys; is it really important to do at least 5-10 practice tests before the actual sat test and does it make a very big increase in your sat scores?</p>

<p>…wow! you must have practiced very very very much to improve your scores from 620 to 800</p>

<p>I have an issue with reading too, I have been getting 800s on math and 750s on writing which i can improve with practice but reading is so annoying I can’t seem to even touch the 700s. I don’t know about half of the vocab ones though so I figured that ought to raise my score massively but how do I study the words most likely to be on the test? Does anyone who studied for the sat reading and improved their score by 100 or so have any suggestions?</p>

<p>The funny thing is that most people expect to score highly on the SAT reading without actually reading. Practice tests are fine and are expected. My best advice (the advice that took me from a 660 to an 800 within four months) is to pick up a good old fashion book and read. Look up any word you don’t know. Find quizzes online to make sure you understand. </p>

<p>I took the SAT twice. The first time was in June 2013. Score of 1970. No test prep, practice tests, or workbooks. Second time in October. Score of 2120. Just by reading and making sure I understood every word on every page.</p>

<p>I know that doesn’t sound like much help, but it’s the best I’ve got for the CR section.</p>

<p>May I ask you what kind of books you read and how many??:)</p>