<p>I've taken the SAT's twice. I got a 640 on CR the first time and 650 the second time. I'm aiming for a 670 or 680, and I didn't think it would be this hard to get a high score. Any advice? HELP!</p>
<p>Well, I haven't taken the SAT yet, but here's my advice.</p>
<p>When I do the CR, I underline everything that's important when I read the paragraphs. By the time I'm done with the two, I have the gist of both of them, and I can answer 1/2 the questions without even referring to the paragraph. Also, if the paragraph is lengthy, write a little note (2-3 words) about the paragraph so you won't need to search when you're done.</p>
<p>P.S. Sometimes I go underline happy and underline half the paragraph. Think about it. You only want to underline what's important. To know if it's important, you have to understand the gist of the paragraph. So, after about the first couple sentences, your understanding grows and grows. If you choose to follow my advice, I hope it helps you.</p>
<p>On the sentence completions (esp the hard ones) if you know the definition of one of the answer choices and think it may possibly work, pick this over other words you dont know... in my experience, it is usually the right answer.</p>
<p>On the passage based questions- try to stay interested in the passage (I know its hard haha) and while answering the questions dont overthink them. Most importantly- budget your time... dont waste time on a hard question and end up leaving a few easy ones blank at the end. Good luck!</p>
<p>well hookstra might you have any relation to ms.cleo, because i was about to say the same thing. Underlining is your best friend in the CR section,if you have enough time take a peek at the questions before reading the passage and then underline the important stuff.</p>
<p>If I was related to Ms. Cleo, I'd have taken the SAT freshman year and gotten 1600.</p>
<p>*I don't read any more than what I'm required to in school, and a few books for leisure.</p>
<p>1) Go straight to the line reference questions.
2) Read a bit before and after the referred line
3) Answer the line-reference question, and all otheres with this method
4) By this time I've read about 75% of the passage and can answer 75% of the 'main idea' questions
5) Answer everything by picking the answer supported by the text
6) Practice a lot</p>
<p>For vocab . . . . whenever there's a bunch of words I don't know, I look for connotation, eliminate what I can, and guess the word that sounds closest. I miss 2 in the vocab of any given section about 5% of the time, I miss 1 about 45% of the time, and miss none about 55% of the time.</p>
<p>My CR score: 770 It works for me, but maybe not everyone.</p>
<p>Yes. Take Murasaki's advice. The way I approach the CR questions is very similar to his. </p>
<p>For vocab, you have to read VERY VERY carefully and eat those context clues up. There will be some words that you won't know. Just hope that you can eliminate 3 answer choices and follow your gut instinct in guessing between the remaining two. On the May SAT I, I guessed on 5 vocab questions and got 4 right.</p>
<p>I raised my CR score by 70 points this way from 680 => 750.</p>
<p>whats the line reference for (the thing on the side of the passages that says "Line")?</p>
<p>On complete the sentence, I mark blanks that replace what I think are negative words with a minus sign, and the blanks that replace what I think are positive words with a +. When I look at my choices I look for the choice that fits those - and + signs. For example, on p. 390 #6 on blue book:</p>
<p>"The guest speaker on Oprah Winfrey's talk show offended the audience by first ____ them and then refusing to moderate these ____ remarks."</p>
<p>I marked both blanks with a - sign because they both look like they cover negative words. I would expect the choices to be something along the lines of "ridiculing.. rude"</p>
<p>The only choice that has two negative words is choice B - haranguing and intemperate. I wasn't sure what haranguing meant, but the other choices all had positive words in it, so I was able to eliminate it.</p>
<p>For Critical Reading, I would follow Murasaki's strat. I recognized some things (Quick note: I'm not saying these are strats are always right - I strongly reccommend you test these patterns out yourself before using them):</p>
<p>These examples are from the blue book:
Questions that end with "suggest the" and "emphasizes his" might require you to think a little bit outside of what you read. For example:</p>
<p>On p. 554 #8:</p>
<p>" references to "fuorescent light" and "sunlight" on lines 9 and 11 suggest the"</p>
<p>I eliminated everything except choices C and E. Its very easy to pick E over C because a good deal of the paragraph talks about his skin looks "on the surface" (superficial). The answer turns out to be choice C - something the paragraph hints at but doesn't mention outright.</p>
<p>On p. 554 #14</p>
<p>"In line 46 of the passage, Clayton's statement emphasizes his"</p>
<p>I eliminated everything except choices B and C. The passage mentions routines early on, but makes little or no mention of Clayton's interest in music. Its easier to pick choice B or C, but C turns out to be correct.</p>
<p>These "trap choices" tend to appear more as you go deeper into the passage questions. When I get to this point, I narrow down my choices down the 2 hard choices, and think about them for a bit.</p>
<p>Dont fall asleep.</p>
<p>I'm serious. lol</p>
<p>Read the passages and answer the questions. ;) After taking the lit SAT II, the CR on this seems so easy. I would recommend prepping for the LIT SAT II if you want a good CR score.</p>
<p>Spend the summer reading. It doesn't have to be high-faluting stuff - sci-fi and fantasy are fine. It will expand your vocabulary and help you read faster.</p>
<p>I got a 740 on the CR by doing the following (try it on a practice test and see if it works for you):</p>
<p>1st read the questions about the paragraphs (so you know what you are looking for, probably the most important step)
2nd skim the paragraphs for key words that could be answers
3rd, 1st answer the topical questions that are just about a single thing and not about the entire paragraph, by the time you get to the questions dealing with the entire thing you will have a general understanding of what it is about
4th choose the BEST answer, not one that is extreme (very mean, politically incorrect etc...)
5th skim through all your answers and make changes if necessary</p>
<p>to do the definition questions, cover the word and think of a word that could take it's place....</p>
<p>for the sentence completions COVER the ANSWER CHOICES! while you read the sentence and think of the first words that come to mind when you read it, then pick an answer that is closest to the word you thought of, if there aren't any words like that, try each answer in the blank space and see if it makes logical sense and use the process of elimination and then come back to it later</p>
<p>DO NOT trust your gut on the reading part, there are answers put in there specifically to DISTRACT you because at FIRST glance they look correct... </p>
<p>The SAT is about REASONING, once I realized that I did so much better on it! It's not about how much vocab you know or how fast you can read, it's about how well you can reason and eliminate incorrect answer choices to lead to the correct one...</p>
<p>Thanks everyone!</p>