Hello CC,
So throughout this winter break I gained a spark of motivation to study for the SAT's. The thing is, that I really need some good critical reading practice questions. I currently have a book of 12 practice tests by Kaplan (this is the most colossal SAT prep book I've ever seen), and another book by Princeton review (which contains strategies and 5 practice tests). I have the first edition of the SAT blue book, but here's the problem. I took all of the reading portions of the practice tests a long time ago (I had the SAT blue book years before, and I kind of wasted the tests in it; I say this because I never found how to approach the reading test, and I ended up blindly taking those tests in the book without improvement).
Now, I've heard that third party exams made by Princeton review and Kaplan are not very good. But they are the best resources I have when it comes to critical reading and writing, that contain explanations (which I REALLY need on critical reading questions to find my mistake). Will taking these practice tests throw me off guard for the real tests?
Additionally, I'd like to know some good online resources for critical reading practice, with explanations and things. I've done the collegeboard practice questions, and I want to save the free online practice test for later. Most other online resources for practice tests kind of suck. Can anyone help here?
Thanks!
From,
AtharvaLarva (a.k.a Lord of the Larva)
Don’t use those other practice tests. See noitaraprep’s guide for an optimal strategy for CR devised by Noitaraprep and other members of the forums.
You have a couple options here. You can go back to the blue book and go through the questions by following the strategy above. It won’t matter that you’ve seen them before if it was sufficiently long ago. Remember, the goal isn’t to use the practice tests to simulate a real exam - the goal is to learn how to answer the questions. Once you know how to do that, then you just need to work on pacing and you’ll be set.
Once you have the fundamentals, feel free to take the online sample exam. You can also sign up for the SAT online course to get a bunch of tests + explanations.
Hi! Thanks for the quick reply. I have been looking through the blue book for my previous errors (and I was able to catch a lot of dumb answers I made, and seen where I went wrong).
But I’ll follow your advice. I’ll print out the free SAT test online once I feel like I’ve got the pacing and strategy down. For now, I’ll work on the practice tests in Princeton review.
Thanks again!
You literally ignored my advice. I didn’t say go through the blue book to find your previous errors. The link I posted describes how to prep for the reading sections. You go through and understand why the right answer is right and the wrong answers MUST be wrong. Your personal answer is irrelevant. You repeat this until you fundamentally understand what is right and wrong on the SAT and then the CR section becomes much easier.
I’m telling you, working through the PR tests is unnecessary. If you want to follow the approach that’s worked for hundreds of kids on here, go for it. If you want to deviate and confirm your own beliefs, that’s fine too, but it’s suboptimal.
I’m sorry, I didn’t really make myself clear. When I said I looked at my previous errors, I made sure why the wrong answer was wrong and vice versa. When I said “but I’ll follow your advice”, I never meant that I was going to take my personal approach to this.
I’ve actually read Noitarperp’s method before and used it, and I immediately improved my CR score on a practice exam to a 660. However, I still felt that I had not truly mastered the fundamentals and I was just saying in my previous post that I’ve kinda run out of material to use and was not sure what to do. You said that the goal of a practice test was to master the fundamentals and pacing, and I feel like I still need some work on the fundamentals, I was just worried that the PR test would not be close enough to CB’s questions. I’ll reiterate, I’ll take your advice and not work through the PR tests.