<p>I took five practice tests this week..... I got 610. five times.
my critical reading score is the same even after all the summer reading and practicing...
I feel so dumb right now.really. i want to cry</p>
<p>PLEASE please please please
tell me how you raised your score from 600 or 500, even 700 to 800.
(ESP your strategies !!)
Thank you SO MUCH!</p>
<p>I feel you broh. Bump, anyone?</p>
<p>I’ll bump this thread again. I just reach the 60s mark on my PSAT and got the same 2 times. Now I want to bump it to a 70. Any tips anyone?</p>
<p>Anyone please???</p>
<p>Is vocab a large chunk of your points missed? There is only one way to help that - memorize wordz…yay.</p>
<p>If not, the only way that helped me was practice. Make sure you understand why you missed each and every question. And practice. Repeat. If you are missing a certain type of problem, go back to the prep section and do the drills.</p>
<p>Read a lot and go over strategies, I got a 30 on my first two ACT readings but a 36 on my last practice test.</p>
<p>Did you read Noitaraperp’s guide? It’s good.</p>
<p>1) Five tests in one week? I wish I had your determination. I was supposed to take one today, but alas, I woke up too late and decided not to do anything.</p>
<p>2) I know a lot of people say this, but the answer is IN THE PASSAGE. There’s always something you can point to and be able to say, “There, that’s it!” My problem is that I skim over passages a lot, so I don’t really understand what I’m reading. I answer questions like this:</p>
<ul>
<li>Read the blurb.</li>
<li>Do the questions in order if they reference lines (like “lines 11-13”). If the question references main idea or comparison, I leave it off until later.</li>
<li>Do tone/strengthen questions.</li>
<li>Do main idea/comparison questions.</li>
</ul>
<p>Basically, I do the easy ones first.</p>
<p>Other tips: be wary of “Unlike Passage 1, Passage 2 …” questions. I tend to miss those because I end up looking for things in Passage 1 instead of 2 or vice versa. These things are “checklist questions” that should be easy but I miss them because I don’t look for the right things.</p>
<p>Also, for line questions, don’t just read that line (let’s say, line 2). Read above it and below it, but ALWAYS REFER BACK TO THE LINE IN QUESTION. Sometimes, you’ll be given an option that refers to line 4 or line 1, but it sounds right. Make sure the answer you select fits the context of the question. I missed a lot of these.</p>
<p>I’m in the 700-750 range for CR, so take that as you will.</p>
<p>Um I scored a 580 on my first sat cr and I took it again 4 months later and my got a 720. No real strategic technique. Literally all I did was bout one of the direct hits things and did one or two sections of critical reading everynight for like a month. It takes some time but gradually you’ll be able to read and comprehend the passages like the sat wants you to. Im taking it again in october to try and hit that 800.
To be honest, all there is to critical reading is practice, no techniques involved just lots and lots of practice. Do that and get ONE direct hits thing and you will be good. My only problem is a lot of times when there are long boring passages I get sleepy and it kinda ruins me. Not too much there is to do about that…</p>
<p>Another thing: I don’t have that “I HATE THE SAT SO I’M GOING TO KILL IT!” attitude. I don’t want to hate College Board. I just kind of go into the test feeling positive, and that usually works. Just think, “No pressure, man.” I tend to do better when I’m feeling slightly lax than when I’m pressuring myself to do better.</p>
<p>@Mascara, How about the inference questions? Those ALWAYS stump me. And the tone questions!</p>
<p>Tone: Watch for words that mean the same thing! If you see (A) ambivalent and then (C) indifferent, then it’s likely that neither is the answer. Also, watch out for answers that are way too extreme. This is a general rule, but words like: absolute, every, completely, only, unwavering are probably not correct. “Almost”, “mostly” are more reliable words.</p>
<p>I tend to ask myself, “Where does the author express this?” I know that’s vague, but there’s a difference between “irritated disapproval” and “harsh criticism.” </p>
<p>Inference: those get me, too! The trick is to not go too extreme-- it’s funny because it’s an inference question, but you can’t infer too much. Use the extreme words trick to spot incorrect options (but don’t cross them out, just point them out). If you think you have the right answer, find it in the passage. I cannot stress this enough. Remember, “Where does it say this?” CR is not a good place to think, “Welllllllll… this could happen.”</p>
<p>Inference questions usually consist of the word, “suggests”, “indicates”, “implies”, etc.</p>
<p>Also, inference is supposed to be hard if you have an analytic mind, or that’s what I was told. Apparently, analytic people tend to think, “Yeah, but THIS could happen too!” Eh, I don’t get it.</p>
<p>Mascara, thanks so much!!!</p>
<p>lol mascara. Based off what you said, I’m basically going to fail all of my inference questions 
. I can come up any situation that may seem true. XD</p>
<p>I speak of my own experience. There is only one thing that will yield satisfactory results, and that is perfect practice, not just practice. You know what perfect practice is? That is, when you solve a section with the utmost concentration and focus you can gather, as if you were doing the real thing. View the answer key, and understand why you made mistakes. And I mean -REALLY- understand them, contemplate, and obsess over them. One thing I have noticed throughout the tests I’ve solved, is that the style of questions is repetitive. If you solve 30 SAT exams -and not just solve, I mean solve and understand your mistakes thoroughly and vow not to make them again- then I guarantee that you will score no less than 700 on each section of the real exam when you take it. That is the difference between practice, and perfect practice.</p>
<p>“Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” - Vince Lombardi.</p>
<p>omg… I better start studying D:</p>
<p>When are you all planning to take the tests? Im taking mine on January 28</p>
<p>It’s for the PSAT ^
Well at least for me it is. I believe there is a SAT that is in october…</p>
<p>I’m taking mine in October.
@Dorkyelmo - I do that all the time, though. There was this one question I missed and the explanation I got was, “It’s the most extreme of the options.” Haha. I’m just stubborn when it comes to explanations.</p>
<p>Guys, thank you for all the tips!
Im gonna do a practice test right now</p>