<p>Took a the official practice test for 11-12 year today, and I'm very angry. I got a 770 in math(should have gotten 800),720 in writing(12 essay and 6 wrong), but got a 590 in cr. I missed 10 sentence completion, which I'm really surprised because i usually miss around 3. So what can i do to get a 700 in cr, because thats all thats stopping me from my desired score.</p>
<p>come on guys please help me</p>
<p>Just use direct hits. That, coupled with a good amount of vocabulary words, should get you almost all the sentence completion sentences right.
I just memorized the first 100 and that’s basically all the words that have come up, say, 85%, and the rest I either already know, or can guess. I will memorize the rest and hope i will every single one right all the time.</p>
<p>Sent from my Desire HD using CC App</p>
<p>Sjsharks,</p>
<p>I think I might have told you this before; read it again.</p>
<p>Passage-Based Questions:
Let me start by telling you I have the same problem. I can’t stand my friends who tell me “it just comes to them naturally.” I’ve done a lot of improvement on CR myself. I’m in the process of going for the 800 on CR right now. The best advice I can give you is you need to do them untimed at first. You can’t expect to just rush in head strong with 25 minutes and to analyze everything - its impossible. Slowly take it at your own pace. Do about 2 to 3 sections of isolated CR per day. You must go slow. Whether its the lengthy dual comparative you’re facing or just analyzing a small article, you must go slow. Really read, and then answer the question. Plain and simple. I’ve found that underlining the groups of lines can help (lets say a question says referring to lines 5-9, go underline those and pay attention to them whilst reading). Now, lets attack the biggest problem: You’re looking at the selected amount of lines, you’re looking at the entire passage, you just can’t narrow any, or at best 2 answer choices out. Now what? Remember: the answer is staring back at you. Here is why you don’t want time pressure at first: you can calmly assess the answer choices and clear your head at this point. Cliche, but I just take a deep breath and count to 10 nice and slowly. I’ll look back at the question and attack it THEN. Don’t stress yourself with time because you just won’t improve as fast as you want, or, need. I know this sounds cheesy and you might be thinking “I’m no idiot, Aceventura74 has no idea what he’s thinking! He’s helping people who get 400s get a 500…” This method helped me go from 450 to 730. So I’m speaking to you if you’re going for 1800 or 2400 my friend. Seriously, get rid of time, do isolated sections, and don’t just brush over the answer explanation. Read EVERY WRONG EXPLANATION. Don’t be like “Oh I knew it was b or d, its no problem” and hurry up. This will take a lot of time. But soon you’ll be getting that constant 700 you want.</p>
<p>Sentence Completions:</p>
<p>Ah, another thing I hate. I’m a math man. I can learn any formula and navigate, factor, and graph in my head. Give me a _______ in a sentence and I’m a deer caught in headlights; or at least I used to be. Direct Hits is the way to go. If you have a long time (1 year or 6 months+) get a hold of Barron’s Gigantic flash card set. Not sure if its still printed, but I recall hearing about a large set; about 3000 or 5000. If you memorize those words, you won’t ever be guessing, i assure you that my friend. But, if you’re like most people, you’re pressed for time, because you’re a genius who started studying last minute =P (guilty of that myself…for multiple exams xD). Get Direct Hits. I know people “rave” about these “awesome 100 (or small #) of flash cards that are GREAT!” BS. Direct Hits has a 70% “hit rate;” meaning 70% of the words show up and most students excel. So, get the Direct Hits books and start studying. Hope I helped, best of luck my friend !</p>
<p>Start doing isolated sections. DON’T GET FRUSTRATED. You won’t go from 590 to 700 after 1 section or even one week of hard work. Only after a about one entire month of intense practice did I ever see 700s on the CR section. Keep at it. Sentence Completions will come with time; do Direct Hits. If that doesn’t work, Barron’s 3500 words is the way to go. If you memorize all 3500, you’ll never miss another sentence completion ever again. DO PRACTICE SECTIONS. Then, review them. Don’t time yourself (refer to my guide above). Review your mistakes and just keep going. I suggest you use a non-official prep book. You can probably do 3 solid CR sections a day, that’s one entire test’s worth. Perhaps get a copy of 411 SAT Critical Reading Questions. This way you’ll get some great CR practice. Keep at it, don’t give up. I did it, you can too :D!</p>
<p>~Aceventura74</p>
<p>sjsharks,
The above advice is good. In addition, I’ve found the following to help:</p>
<p>I imagine you’re using process of elimination already. If not, definitely start: sometimes it’s easier to find four wrong answers than one right one. For an answer to be correct, all of it must be correct, so make sure you’re not choosing answers that are only partway right.</p>
<p>Second, once you’ve narrowed it down to two or three answers, stop trying to prove answers right and start trying to prove answers wrong. It seems strange, but it works.</p>
<p>Lastly, study the questions you’re getting wrong and figure out why. The SAT repeats question-types. Which questions are giving you the most trouble? Is there a pattern in the wrong answers you choose? Reread the passage after you’ve checked your answers to see if the right answers are clearer. Same thing with sentence completions. What happened on the test where you missed 10? Were your wrong answers because of vocabulary or did you not understand the sentences? Find out where you’re weak and really study those types of questions. </p>
<p>Also, read more non fiction outside of school.</p>
<p>Hope this helps! Good luck!</p>
<p>I usually am able to eliminate the wrong ones and most of the time get the correct answer. For some random reason i completely failed at sentence completion on this test.</p>