Critical Reading--PLEASE HELP!

<p>I have been practicing for the SAT for a VERY long time and I don't see any improvement in my critical reading score. I am a very hardworking student and I hate how this CR score makes me look like bad. </p>

<p>This is what I have done so far:
DH Vocab (Both volumes)
About 60% of Barron's 3500 List
I practice the method in Noitaraperp's guide and I still fall short.</p>

<p>I have issues with some of the passages and just need a quick way to get my score up....I am not even asking 800, a 600-670 will be good enough for now.</p>

<p>PLEASE, PLEASE HELP ME! I am willing to try anything!</p>

<p>Last 3 Practice SAT CR scores: 490, 630, 500 <---(today)</p>

<p>What is the issue? Passages or vocabulary?</p>

<p>Passages. There are just some questions I cannot tackle because I sometimes fail to understand what they are asking or what the passage is saying.</p>

<p>It is hard for me because the time kills me.</p>

<p>(I have been working at 70% of normal time lately)</p>

<p>Why don’t you slow down a little and try to solve it as best as possible without timing it? You should time yourself after you have more insights.</p>

<p>^^^^
I just went through some of my mistakes and noticed how they were all due to careless errors of not understanding the passages at the time I took the test.</p>

<p>I reread the passages and BAM!..the questions were simply mix and match.</p>

<p>It seems slowing down is a good move, thank you!</p>

<p>EDIT: By the way, what vocabulary lists do you guys use? I always miss a couple of vocab regardless of how comprehensive my vocab is.</p>

<p>1.Direct Hits
2.Hit Parade
3.Rocket Review</p>

<p>Make sure never to select an answer if you can in any way prove it wrong with information from the passage. You’d be surprised how much this helped me. As for vocab, its very hard to not miss any which is why you have a curve so don’t be discouraged.</p>

<p>Time management is crucial on the SAT.</p>

<p>I would advise you slowly read the passage first to get an overall feel for it. Then for each question, read the entire paragraph (or at least a good 5-6 sentence chunk) that pertains to it. I think that’ll decrease the careless errors. And don’t overanalyze, the answers should all be pretty obvious.</p>

<p>How would you choose between 2 answers? That you think is correct</p>

<p>Every answer is in the text, You just have to find the answer.</p>