Geat For Verbal(CR)- best strategies from an expet, 800 in Verbal

Test Preparation
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<p>oke guys. i needed help for verbal really bad, so i PMed a person who, in one of the threads, said that she got a 800 in Verbal. I needed help badly, so she said she would help me. her CC username is shjanama77. She PMed me bak and wrote these great tips for CR:</p>

<p>i'll tell you what i did to prepare...i was decent at sentence completions...those are the easiest things on the test i think...so i didn't really need help with that...my prob was analogies and critical reading...for analogies...there's no substitute for vocab and it's good that you're memorizing the word lists...i personally did princeton review's word smart books because i love their sentences...they're witty and help you remember words...i also studied a little bit from the GRE word smart because i felt that some words i was encountering in my prac tests were never on any SAT lists..i think that def. helped me...also if you have trouble with analogies...there are some good strategies about building bridges and so forth...let me know if you need help with those...for CR...ok...i'll tell you how i approach it...i always skim the first para to get a general idea....sometimes it doesn't help but sometimes it does...you're probably aware that the questions are usually in terms of the progression of the passage...so as you read...look at the questions so that you know what to look for...UNDERLINE...circle key words like although, because, but, however etc. that...if missed..might completely change the meaning of the sentence...the best thing to improve your reading ofcourse is to read regularly...newspapers...magazines...anything...do esn't have to be extremely sophisticated literature but should allow you to develop an ability to read faster w/out losing the meaning...oh btw...one of my friends also got a pretty high score on the verbal...780 i think...and she told me that she always looks at all the questions first before she even reads the passage...try that and see if you like that approach better...this might sound a bit weird but frankly...i think i only got better at CR because after taking a ton of practice tests i got a sense of the "type" of answers that are usually right for CR questions...avoid extremes in answer choices most of the time...usually the choices that are worded more mildly are right as opposed to ones that almost sound bitter or angry...for getting better at pacing...try to set goals for yourself as you take tests...if you don't want to waste time taking the whole test...take only verbal sections...or only cr parts...and divide your 30 mins into slots...try to answer so many questions in a particular slot...your best bet is to just practice from as many sources you can...the more number of times you expose yourself to the questions...the faster you'll find yourself go...i am not a native english speaker either...so that just goes to show that it's not impossible for you to ace that test...just don't be scared of it...i enjoyed taking the SAT every time I did...and that def. helped...i don't know if i have been of much help...do you have more specific questions?...for right now...do vocab...that will help you on CR as well...look at questions as you read the passage or look at questions first...divide your time up and try to achieve your realistic goals in a limited time...PRACTICE..!!...</p>

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<p>Nitinrao, thank you very much for that post.</p>

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<p>Good tip she mentioned that I got from PR:
CB never picks extreme or politically incorrect answers. The answer will never be something advocating discrimination, racism, or et cetera. There usually isnt any of that to begin with but there are occasional extreme answer choices.</p>

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<p>amazing post.....thanks</p>

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<p>Straight out of Rocketreview:
"Whenever a sentence discusses a woman or a member of a minority group- and especially his or her achievements-the main idea is invariably positive. The test writers go out of their way not to offend anyone, so the tone of sentence completions or reading passages that discuss members of a minority is always upbeat and laudatory.
(This political correctness extends-I kid you not- to the SAT's math problems. If there's an SAT word problem involving boys and girls, I promise you that a girl or girls will win the race or have the highest grade point average or whatever. It never fails.)"
The parentheses part is part of the excerpt.
It is so ironic about the 2nd part especially when theres a problem about the avg grade of boys and girls on a (math) test problems. Boys tend to do better on math, yet the liberals feel that saying the exact opposite will somehow fix the situation. Uh huh. PC sickens me.</p>

<p>BTW the rocket review has really good strategies for the verbal.
I am a little skeptical of using their math strategies as I can get the same answer as fast or faster using what it calls the risky classroom method. Sometimes though that requires better math knowledge. </p>

<p>Also for the math it left out lots of formulas that would have been helpful. It doesnt have the formula for the degrees of a polygon 180(n-2), n=# of sides. When I studied for the PSAT, none of the prep books gave you an equation for arithmetic and geometric sequences. The IIC books did. Same for those venn diagrams. You dont need venn diagrams, you can use this simple equation Total= Group1 +Group2 +neither - both. This is for those questions where like there are 20 bio students, 40 chem students, 10 in both etc. I think all the prep book writers try to get you to think instead of using formulas.</p>

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<p>thank shjanama77. lol this is really great stuff. i tried her ways and yea it works great. and getting "used to" the SAT type question is the best thing.</p>

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<p>ashernm
Barrons has everything A-Z</p>