<p>i got a 710 and didnt study vocab. i have a strong vocab, but i dont know every word.</p>
<p>Sentence completition is usually hit or miss for me. But, you definitely don't need a super-extensive vocabulary to get them right.</p>
<p>Passages are where I fail. If I don't enjoy the passage, I usually end up doing horrible. However, if I find the passage interesting, it is pretty easy to do the corresponding questions...</p>
<p>Sometimes I'll completely miss certain concepts in passages.</p>
<p>Who reads on parts of each passage?</p>
<p>Who reads the entire passage?</p>
<p>For both methods, what do you do exactly? Have you ever come to a situation where you just don't understand the question or answers? What do you do then?</p>
<p>b u m p</p>
<p>b u m p</p>
<p>b u m p</p>
<p>b u m p</p>
<p>You said you have a problem with tone?</p>
<p>Look at key words like adjectives that are used..</p>
<p>"I was deeply moved..."</p>
<p>"The pain seemed to crush my insides."</p>
<p>"The exploration was a miraculous rejuvination like no other."</p>
<p>Those aren't great examples, but look at ADJECTIVES.... See if that helps</p>
<p>Also, I say you should study vocab. Do study it and study it well. get a high frequency word list and memorize if you don't read that much. You have to get the score and if that means memorizing 1000 words (if you need to), then do it.</p>
<p>What's a good word list besides Barron's 3500?</p>
<p>I got a 760 the time I didn't prepare at all (quite literally) and a 750 the time I studied for about 10 minutes the night before.</p>
<p>hey im not an avid reader, actually I dont even read (well some). I came to the USA 6 years ago but my verbal is only 550:(. Will Rocketreview helP?</p>
<p>Are the flashcards in the back of the PR critical reading study book good vocab words?
yeah, and of those high scorers...do you read the entire passage? i get incredibly distracted and start yawning adn it just doesn't work out, but I went to a SAT prep class and the teacher said that reading the entire passage was a MUST...But in Grammatix the book tells you that you shouldn't read the entire passage and that skimming is your best bet.....but how do you answer the general passage questions?</p>
<p>urrrg i just got 11 wrongs on my CB practice test. lol. probably sleeping thru it</p>
<p>YOu can use the 1000 sparknotes word list</p>
<p>For 'author's tone' questions, my problem isn't determining the difference between "mildly indignant" and "enthusiastically optimistic". I am unsure of the difference between tones that are similar.</p>
<p>Anyhow, I've been approaching long passages by actually reading the entire thing. Unfortunately, I'll have to read certain lines multiple times, because it just doesn't make sense the first time.
I agree with Grammatix's method on some questions (reading only the cited lines), but it certainly doesn't seem to be working with all of them. Am I approaching this method the wrong way? For any else that uses this method, can you explain what you do and maybe show us how to approach a hard problem from the blue book?</p>
<p>Thanks so much, and I'll hopefully make progress!</p>
<p>Hey I got a 770 the first time I took it, literally without knowing the test format.
I did minimal preparation (IE: took one practice test) the second time and got an 800.
It's obviously hard to categorize exactly how one gets a certain score and curves can be a ***** and vary greatly (IE my 800 was 1 wrong, 1 omit: on math May i got 2 wrong, 1 omit got a 740.. so).
But here are some things that made a difference for me (not in terms of actual preparation in my case but things I had 'under my belt').
1. If you do not have the requisite vocabulary then get it up. I hate flashcards/etc. I simply am a voracious reader so this was never a problem for me- my tip is to know the words used in context, not just their definitions. Also, know secondary meanings, that is big.
2. The test is 99% logic, even moreso than math IMO. IE if you know the basic vernacular (vocab) and format it comes down to whether you can pick out the most rational answer to EVERY question. Don't overanaylze: use what you are given and logically extrapolate, eliminate easily wrong answers; extreme, one-sided, and protracted natures are generally wrong.
3. The best way to get conversant is to read: yeah its cliche, but it works. The best way to get familiar with logic/comprehension is real life. For me, involvement in debate allowed me to really deconstruct arguments and understand their nuances. Besides this which i really recommend, try to make sure you understand what you read, all the time, and are not just scanning. You can also get pratice arguing with your friends (in a friendly way obviously).
Hopefully this helps some of you. I am unfamiliar with any actual 'study guides', those might help. But what guided me is simply that the more rational and calm you are, the better you will score on the CR section.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply, icefalcon7.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I don't have much time to read in addition to other things I need to finish (college apps, homework, SAT prep and tests).</p>
<p>Vocabulary doesn't seem to be too much of an issue for me, because I can normally pick out the answers that cannot possible be right, which eventually leads me to the right answer.</p>
<p>I think I've pinpointed a big problem of mine: author's intent.</p>
<p>I just finished a practice reading-passage quiz on the SAT Online Course, and I literally got half of the questions for one long passage incorrect. I had almost no idea of what the author was saying (except for the main idea and the tone of the passage), but I was feeling certain I could get the right answer by eliminating wrong ones. Unfortunately, this did not work out and I literally got half of them wrong (very disappointing since prior practice indicated that I would do better). I desperately need help here.</p>
<p>I don't know whether I should 'skim' the passage and go straight for citations or just read the entire passage as a whole. I have a real problem with mulling over questions and wasting time, so reading the entire passage may not work as effectively. On the other hand, whenever I skim the passage and go for citation questions, I end up reading the entire passage anyway (but not necessarily in order. It's hard to explain, but if you're interested in what I do exactly, I can elaborate more). I can pick up on the author's tone fairly well, but like I said, there are just some questions that really get under my skin :( </p>
<p>Help!!</p>
<p>b u m p</p>
<p>Ok, the only SAT I took was in March, and I only got a 630 in CR...but I realized that my problem was that I always went straight to the questions. I really suck at skimming, I just can't do it...the only way for me to GET what the author is saying is for me to just read the whole passage first (albeit at a quick pace.) I'd also underline any key/noteworthy parts of the passage. Anyway, I realized this while I was prepping for AP English Lang, and fortunately got a 4 on that test.<br>
It really just depends on what you're most comfortable with personally...you're probably already doing this but just try all the different strategies and see which ones you like and which ones you hate. That's all I did, and I'm aiming for at least 700 CR in the Oct. test.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply, TwylaBloo</p>
<p>Do you have the SAT Online Course? I got really frustrated with the last long passage from the first 'reading passages' quiz. I just don't understand how some of those answers were derived. When I look back at the correct answers, it kind of makes sense, but I don't see how I could have possibly gotten it right when I was actually taking the quiz.</p>
<p>I'll try to do more practice quizzes, but I think the thing that's really getting to me is finding the author's intent. I just don't see it :( and I'm feeling pretty hopeless..</p>
<p>P.S.- To be more specific, I got 2 right out of 7 questions. As you can see, that is not a very encouraging score :(</p>