<p>Hello,
I am a sophomore and have taken the SAT once. As it turned out, the Critical Reading section is the most difficult and confusing for me. I have heard a lot of people say to memorize vocabulary words and read "good literature" but is that the only way to practice for this section? I'd really like to boost my score in this section. I think my number one weakness is understanding the passages? Any recommendations???
Thank you so much!!!!</p>
<p>O_o I don’t really think you could practice much else beyond reading and memorizing vocabulary besides practicing with actual CR sections from tests. Quite frankly, the section is called Critical Reading because it tests skills in reading and interpretation. I suppose you could find yourself a workbook if all else seriously fails. Don’t retake the actual SATs until you become a Junior.</p>
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<li><p>There’s no need to memorize vocab lists for the SAT. </p></li>
<li><p>You mentioned something about reading “good” literature…if you enjoy reading fiction, then by all means do this. However, for the purposes of any reading test (except maybe the AP Lit test), you’re better off reading quality NONfiction.</p></li>
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<ol>
<li><p>Hear, hear. Some people want that 20 point boost though, so for them it might be worth it. I personally hate memorizing vocab lists. After trying 4 of them, I got quite bored of it and decided to go back to just learning words when I came across them in books or other forms of writing.</p></li>
<li><p>I disagree with the idea of reading mostly nonfiction. As the SAT I CR section contains both genres but favors fiction, reading and analyzing mostly canonical literature would benefit a student more. However, reading nonfiction works in addition to fiction does not hurt either. For nonfiction, try reading highly regarded journals and newspapers such as Time, NYT, and Wall Street Journal.</p></li>
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<p>@languagearts, point 1
Why’s that? There’s often confusing vocab words in sentence completion.</p>
<p>Memorizing vocab lists is a good idea. Very, very boring? Yes. Time consuming? Yes. </p>
<p>But a good idea.</p>