<p>Hi,there. I would like to hear some advices on how to answer the long passages questions, espeacially those with 2 LONG passages. I can never finish read those passages. Even when i did read most of the passage, i tend to forget what the passage says in the beginning. Any advices?</p>
<p>it just takes time to get used to. practice makes perfect. Also, judging for your post, it seems that english is not your first language. This could be what's holding you back, so just practice, practice, and practice some more, and you should be fine. Also, you might want to try the "attack questions first" method, in which you DON'T read the entire passage, but rather approach the questions first and refer back to specific lines in the passage. </p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>hehe, you are right. how did you find out? And is it common for most people to read the whole passage?</p>
<p>Hmm... my advice, is going to very different. JUST practicing does not make perfect. You can take 50 tests, not learn one thing from any of them and probably get a marginally better score than before.</p>
<p>In MY case, it was I just started to lose focus while reading. Like I would see a long passage and about half way my eyes would skip some lines, and I wouldnt really understand.
So what I began to do is just underlining, yes just go crazy with underlining, it forced my to "pay attention" to the essay. I have taken the test 3 times so far. between the 1st and 2nd i had like 3 SAT books, over 15 practice SAT tests, but my reading didnt go up a point. Once I started to underline, my score jumped up 70 points in to low 700s. </p>
<p>So sure, this advice might not get a 800,(i had terrible luck with the vocab on my 3rd test.) but it'll improve your score.</p>
<p>So do you underline the whole passage as you read?</p>
<p>And your case is exactly same as my case. :)</p>
<p>how do you attack long passages? very carefully. </p>
<p>jk ok do this</p>
<p>read first passage
go to questions and answer all questions dealing with passage 1
then do the rest. make sure u see problems like the author uses all of these except blah , so keep that in mind</p>
<p>"So do you underline the whole passage as you read?"</p>
<p>Well, I did and my score jumped 50 points. It really gets you focused.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice,11argon.</p>
<p>i find this strategy works very well:</p>
<p>bookmark lines
i <em>quickly</em> go through the questions first, BEFORE reading.
and try to find what lines each question is focused on, and then make pencil marks next to the corresponding lines in the passage, so later when i do go through and read the passage, i can read read read, and then quickly jump back to the next question when i see one of my bookmarks. [EDIT: note that except for a few overarching questions at the beginning of a group of problems, the references will all be in chronological order.] this helps with knowing where to focus my attention (and especially if the passage is narrative, in which case i can skim and skip like 30% of the words, and still preserve the general premise/mood of the article in my mind), and keep the current context fresh in mind, as CB often likes to trick the reader into choosing an answer that may be true, but corresponds with the context in a later paragraph.</p>
<p>note comparison qs
then, after placing my bookmarks, i make a note of which questions are about comparing two separate passages, because sometimes CB will place comparison of mood/really generic, overarching questions right at the beginning (after a pair of passages). i like to use '>' marks to denote 'em. also, you should be making this marks and looking for line references at the very same time, so you don't have to make two passes and waste a lot of time. helps with getting an idea of what problems you will have after reading, which to postpone until you've answered the others and finished both passages, and with time management.</p>
<p>read & underline
then, while reading, i'll underline any parts of any sentences in which i suspect there may be a question on, later. if i feel like there was a shift in focus, some metaphors/analogies, i may note them. feel free to generously circle and underline the article.</p>
<p>then again, it's not like i've ever 800'd Cr.
i did get a 750 on my first testing, though.</p>
<p>i also like this method because i get flustered easily and am pretty obsessive-compulsive. so if that sounds like you, this regimented plan of attack will keep you organized, and will let you efficiently answer questions right when your memory about the corresponding sections is clearest.</p>
<p>GL</p>
<p>The first time when I was concentrating, I didn't read the passage. For the two long passage questions, I would just read to the point I found the answer to the question and read 5 more lines. I would save the questions that involved both passages till the end, because by then, I probably had read the whole passage. For the ones with just one passage, I would read a paragraph, answer the questions about it, etc. I normally skip the tone/main topic/purpose ones. When I'm finished with all the questions about the passage, I probably figured out the tone/main topic/purpose. I got a 800 this way. </p>
<p>My second time I just read the passage once and then went paragraph by paragraph again. I was really lazy and bored this time around, which I really regret. I'm a pretty fast reader, though, so I'm not sure if this would work for you (780 but I heard the curve was supposed to be really easy). </p>
<p>About concentrating, my english teacher junior year told us to use our fingers (instead of underlining, just put your finger on the word you are reading, like in kidnergarten :)).</p>
<p>Practice isn't everything, but it REALLY does help. Take a lot of practice tests and use different methods like the ones suggested here. Find out what works best for YOU and stick with that; don't just assume everything you read here is going to work.</p>
<p>RandomStudent, I do pretty much the same thing as you and got an 800 as well. :)</p>
<p>geez, no wonder i do bad on CR. I usually read the whole passages before i answer the questions, but by then i just forget almost everyting. I ll try the paragraph by paragraph method. I ll save the underlining method suggested by karch for later use. Because after underlining, marking 10 different places, i ll just confuse the heck out of myself. But thanks for all who have posted, IT IS VERY HELPFUL TO ME! Thank you.</p>