<p>i just did practice test #4 in the BB and heres what i got </p>
<p>M: 710
CR: 580
WR: 650</p>
<p>i know the writing i made stupid mistakes and in the math i could have gotten around 750 buy the CR</p>
<p>i dont seem to be improving in the CR at all.... what am i doing wrong?
im going over all my answers for the past tests i did and its still not helping....
the last two tests i did i got over 2000.... now this just has me depressed... ****</p>
<p>hehehehe so much for MIT :(</p>
<p>What technique are you using so we can help you out</p>
<p>Do you</p>
<ul>
<li>read questions first then read passage</li>
<li>read passage then do questions</li>
<li>go to line references, and answer questions w/o reading much</li>
<li>answer questions as you read</li>
</ul>
<p>Also, can you point to which kind of questions you are getting wrong</p>
<p>global Qs, inference Qs, logic Qs</p>
<p>What I had to do to imporve was make a chart of all the Qs I got wrong per CR section and separate them by question type, tallying it all. It turned out that I was getting inference Qs wrong mostly, so I worked on them.</p>
<p>i will make the chart later tonight but my technique is to do all the questions asking what certain words mean then i read the passages then do the rest of the questions...</p>
<p>im taking the sats in october btw and i really really want 2100 at least :(</p>
<p>So obviously, you're current technique is not working for you</p>
<p>You are just going to have to try other techniques and see how they work for you. Try this technique, on a passage</p>
<p>First, quickly make a mark near the passage where there are line references in the questions, don't read the questions, just spot the line references and mark all of them on your passage. For one passage, around 10-13 Qs, this should take less than a 30 sec.</p>
<p>Then, read the blurb in the beginning to set the stage. </p>
<p>Now read the first paragraph actively, meaning get involved with what you're reading. Get interested, get into it. You have to have a mindset that is, well, critical. Ask yourself, what is he saying, why did he use that as an example, are there any turns in his thoughts, what is he trying to convey, and how. You will get faster at this with proper practice. </p>
<p>When your done with the first paragraph, look for markups to see if you have to answer a question from that paragraph, just a quick glance. If you do, go to the question, read it, and come up with your own answer. You have just read the paragraph, gleaned from it the important information, so you should be able to answer the Q. Cross of answer choices that are not supported, or are just twisted in fact, or just wrong. Pick from the remaining choices what best answers the Q, and what matches your answer, in the lines referenced.</p>
<p>Continue this until you are done reading. It seems like a time consuming process, but thats just because I have to explain it in words. Treat vocabulary questions as line reference questions as well, there is nothing special about them, so there is no point in doing them first. Usually, the answer is not the most common def of that word, usually. </p>
<p>BTW, make sure you are marking the right questions on your answer sheet, you may have noticed I totally left out the Global Q's, like main idea and purpose Q's. You should answer the line ref questions first, so you might skip over a global q, so don't make a bubbling mistake!</p>
<p>Answer the global questions last, because by the time you are done with line ref Q's, you have a good idea what the main idea or purpose is of the passage. The answer will probably not be too extreme, and it will encompass the whole passage. </p>
<p>There, so try this, and see how you do.</p>
<p>note: this is just my approach; doing this i went from a 530 -> 740, over time.</p>
<p>okay ill try it;</p>
<p>but one question, would that method work on non-CB questions? would it work on a barrons test for example?</p>
<p>I never use non-CB questions so I wouldn't know, but from what I have heard, barron's has the right question type, but the answers to their questions are non CB like, they just don't feel the same. They make it seem harder by muddling it up, so, try it on a CB passage. </p>
<p>Also, do you have trouble on the SCs?</p>
<p>Tell me when you have done it, how it went.</p>
<p>well, i use the +ve and -ve method; and im learning the barron's high frequency list.... it's going alright, i get 1 or two wrong in SC per section though :S</p>
<p>ok let me write out the examples of some of the questions im getting wrong</p>
<p>Both passages emphasize which of the following aspects of the Linnaeus' work?</p>
<p>The "fraud (line 16) that upset the citizens of Macondo was related to the</p>
<p>The citizens of Macondo were distressed by the arrival of the telephone because they</p>
<p>In lines 5-6 he statement "a straight line rarely, if ever, occurs in nature" emphasizes the author's recognition of the</p>
<p>By saying that the meeting of two forces produces ffects that have "a world of suggestibility around them" (lines 11-12) the author means that the physical event</p>
<p>The author suggests that people in a restaurant ( lines 53-54) are expressing their emotional need for</p>
<p>The author of passasge 1 uses the example in lines 42-43 ("the prospect...does") to</p>
<p>In passage 2 the phrase "rendered...success" (line 76) indicates that</p>
<p>The phrase "wickedness incarnate" (line 84) is used to </p>
<p>What would the author of passage 2 most likely say about the sort of reports mentioned in lines 17-19 of passage 1?</p>
<p>The author of Passage 1 would most likely argue that the "line of thought" (line 75) illustrated in Passage 2 was</p>
<p>In lines 49-65 the passage mainly suggests which of the following about Lucy Stone?</p>
<p>Douglass probably believed that using Stephen A. Douglas to publicixe women's rights amounted to</p>
<p>The author apparently believes which of the following about the interaction between the abolitionist and the women's rights movements?</p>
<p>oh and akmad thanks alot for everything....</p>
<p>1 other thing, if you only use CB questions, how did you not run out of cb questions yet?</p>
<p>bump``````</p>
<p>Hey vin,</p>
<p>It seems that inferences are your problem. Work on reading between the lines and getting more than just the literal meaning. Remember, everything in the passage serves a purpose, always ask why the author did what he did or used what he used. As for the CB Q's, I have a lot.</p>
<p>okay thanks; can you go any deeper into what i need to improve my inference questions? how do i practice just the inference questions </p>
<p>anyway i tried your method on a CB passage and i got 11/13.... so i guess it's working better than my other method.</p>
<p>akahmed....do you ever reuse cb questions or do you always use new ones?</p>
<p>OMG VIN:</p>
<p>You're just like me. I could not have said it any better. </p>
<p>akahahmed..could u help me on attacking those problems... if u want.. please pm me so that I can exactly tel u what is going wrong in CR for me.</p>
<p>it would be better if he just posts it in here instead of pming you so everyone can see it :)</p>
<p>You guys may have already heard this, but for inference questions, go with your gut, and avoid very "extreme" answers. I found that usually I would narrow it down to two, and then stare at them for a while, and sometimes wind up picking the wrong one. Don't overanalyze... and if you're stuck between two similar answers, e.g. a tone being "irritated" or "furious", usually it will be "irritated" (unless it is clearly "furious").</p>
<p>Another thing is, when you're practicing, force yourself to justify any answer you mark by going back to the reading and FINDING the evidence. An answer that may be true (that you know from outside knowledge) isn't necessary the correct one, and sometimes CB tries to tempt you with these, so watch out.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>