<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I recently got my critical reading score and boy was I disappointed! 550. I stared at my screen for a while staring at that number! I knew my cr was bad, but I didn't think it was this bad! What prep books are the best to use? Any strategies while taking the test? What's a good schedule to prepare? Any, I mean ANY advice would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>CR Barron's workbook</p>
<p>Definitely Barron's.</p>
<p>Do you know the breakdown of your score? Like, how many problems you got right/wrong in sent comp, passages, etc.? If you did extremely poorly on one of them, focus on why you did them wrong (not enough vocabulary? not good with analyzing passages?). There are a lot of strategies to fix any of those; Barron's does a good job of describing a lot of them.</p>
<p>I used Princeton Review's online course and i raised my cr score 60 points...</p>
<p>Read more.</p>
<p>Hey. HS Senior here-- believe me, I understand how frustrating the SAT process is. Although the questions aren't the same, if you really run out of practice passages, try a book for SATII Lit, or even a review book for the AP Literature test. Practice annotating passages--more specifically, look for what i learned as "SOAPS" (Subject, objective, audience, purpose, speaker). Even just a simple breakdown of a passage will help you to answer the other questions. For example, if you know who is writing, who he is writing to, and why he is writing, you'll be able to answer any "author's purpose" or "main idea" questions, and there are always a bunch of those. </p>
<p>Also, vocabulary questions are important--there can be a few of them per passage--I remember last December, there were a lot. But the best way to augment your vocabulary isn't by memorizing a list of words and their definitions. I know it's annoying, but just read! And any time you come across an unfamiliar word, add it to a list, and then look it up. But don't write down its dictionary definition--instead, make a list of its synonyms. The SAT always asks for synonyms, so the more words you can come to associate with a particular meaning, the better off you are. </p>
<p>Well I hope I was able to share some of what I've learned through experience. Just so you know, I got a 700 on my CR, and a 5 on the English Language AP test. These methods have really helped me succeed with these exams, I have faith that if you work hard, you can definitely increase that score of yours. Good luck! If you need any more help, feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>thankks for all your comments so far guys.</p>
<p>Regarding strategy, I've heard that some people advise reading the questions first while others strongly are against that. What do you guys prefer? Yeah studying vocab lists is definitely a bore! I rather learn vocabulary differently. If i could get a 700 in cr, I would be so happy!</p>
<p>Vocabulary - buy one of those boxes of vocab cards and start memorizing. At the same time, read more. People don't do well on CR because they lack stamina in reading the boring passages. Yo uhave to learn to suck it up, pay more attention, read more practice passages.</p>