Hey guys! I’m taking the SAT in January, and I was wondering how I should prep for it. I don’t understand why I do decently well in math and grammar, but abysmal in critical reading. I do fairly well in sentence completion, but I don’t do as well in long passages, especially compare and contrast. I feel like I’ve already reached my max potential, but I KNOW I can increase my critical reading score. Maybe I’m studying it the wrong way? I’ve only corrected my answers, but never analyzed why they were wrong. Any tips on how I can bring my sad score of 620 up to a 700? My math and grammar are comfortably in that range, so it’s just my reading 
Please help! Any study schedule from now until January? IS IT POSSIBLE for that big of a score increase? Thanks guys!
“I’ve only corrected my answers, but never analyzed why they were wrong.”
There’s your problem.
I literally went from a 620 to a 700 in 1 month, what a coincidence you picked those numbers.
Here’s some advice.
Since you’re scoring 620s you’ve already got thee basics down so all that’s left for you to do is to be INCREDIBLY CAREFUL and METICULOUS, make sure you read EACH sentence carefully and UNDERSTAND each sentence in the passage. This way you can accurately answer the questions especially when they ask you what the passage MEANT.
Also vocab is important make sure you get those vocab memorized.
in order to do that, you must prep and do practice problems everyday whenever you have free time, and read he answer explanations
Bump ! Specifics? 
ALL HELP IS APPRECIATED!
I have a lot of “A” students who need help with CR and they are very frustrated because they are doing what they do in class, but that’s not working on the CR. My students’ teachers reward them for “reading bet the lines”, providing subjective insights, making predictions, etc. You can do none of that on this test. The clues are literally in the reading- and you take them that way: totally literally. Read five lines above and below the lines and you’ll find it.
Any advice for general questions? Author’s tone, main idea, etc. ESPECIALLY what does author 1 think of author 2 for double passages; those seem to give me the most grief
Tone: read five lines above and below for a certain word that indicates attitude
Main idea: find a message that is repeated 2-3 times in the passage. Check the 1st/2nd pghs and the conclusion.
Dual passages: you must write the main idea under each passage before you get to the questions. Their main ideas are in the first or second paragraphs of their passages. Write author 1’s idea and then author 2’s idea. when they ask what does author 1 think… check author 1’s main idea that you wrote down. It (or some other major point s/he made) will be paraphrased in one of the answer choices. That’s the answer. Also for dual passages: when it’s “both authors agree” or “unlike passage 1, passage 2 states…” go through each answer choice and check for proof in the passages. Hope that helps!
Thank you! @RidgewoodTutor
boop
I’m in the same situation as you My reading score is a 590 though… I hope it goes up to around a 650. I think many students are better at math and writing because they are more fun to practice. Personally, I don’t mind practicing either writing or math! They are kind of fun in my opinion… But then you get to CR, which is super boring You may be like me where you can never sit through a whole reading section because it’s just too boring and confusing. I’d say the best thing you can figure out is to find the correct answer and why it is the correct answer. Many of the answers resemble each other in some way or the answers both might look like good possibilities. I would try finding the ‘best’ answer to each question, which is a problem I’ve been having.
I have the exact same problem
My math section is around 700 -750
And writing section around 650-700 but I find myself stuck with a 580 on cr
Sentence completion are also good to go
But I always score bad in passages …I’ve tried all techniques(marking the reference line ,maintaining focus…and all that)but its still stagnant
Had the opposite problem on my first SAT. 710 CR, 600 M, 630 W. I just treat Critical Reading like a puzzle I’m having a lot of fun with. I didn’t go into that SAT with any practice beforehand so it’s not like I expected 800, but as general advice for the CR I suggest you just have fun with it.
One of the most important tips that many prep companies condemn is “loving the passage.” I believe that people should make the utmost attempt of “loving” the passage. This means putting one in the the author’s shoes.
Many prep companies believe that the SAT was created solely to test your limits and performance, and nothing should be taken passionately. However, that fallible tip is very erroneous because how is one able to answer tone questions and authors purpose questions without putting themselves int eh author’s shows in envisioning their work. The SAT Critical Reading presents college-written text, texts that were written with a purpose and strong intent by authors.