<p>^Op Ed is nice to read, but it’s probably not too indicative of the pieces you find on the SAT. Sort of unrelated, but I know Sparknotes has a nice set of SAT/ACT vocab stories in which they use many frequent vocab words, but I find it somewhat basic. Maybe people behind in their vocab might find it more helpful.</p>
<p>I have started to use your method and it’s effective. Right now I am scoring an average of 630s for CR( which is not that great but I’m trying). I only got 2 months before my 1st official SAT and I need to raise this CR score. Can you or anyone give advice how to quickly raise it up.</p>
<p>^Set aside blocks of time without any distractions (computer off, phone off) and try to actually enjoy it if you can. Don’t work on it if you’ve got a lot of schoolwork looming over your head.</p>
<p>Ah…I’ve done the 11 Princeton review booklet, Gruber with 3 practice tests, 12 Kaplan Tests, 5 Barrons, and currently doing the bluebook.
i make around 620. But i need to concentrate more. I think my main problem is focusing…</p>
<p>Btw,
Kaplan tends to be the easiest, then Princeton Review, then the bluebook(Standard), then barrons. Gruber is trash. I hated it.</p>
<p>Dear person who posted this, thanks so much! I was struggling with CR, i got a 610 on my last rpactice test, and would always finsih about 2 minutes late. So i went online to try to find strategies…and i found yours. I took a blue book CR test last night and used a slightly modified version of your method. Instead of my usual Kaplan “serious skimming” appraoch, in which i read over the whole thing, THEN answer the q’s, I took 30 Sec. to put dashes and brackets next to the line #'s with questions about them. So as reading the passage i would slow down and read in-depth the bracketed or dashed line, and jump to answer the question and continue this process as reading. So by the end i would have answered almost all questions. Then i would answer the “jist” questions at the end, after i had practiclly read most of the passage in-depth. So, the result? I got a 670 (my highest yet), but more importantly- with 2 minutes to spare!!! Never would i have guessed that i would have had even 20 sec. to spare. I actually had time to look over questions, and fixed one or two. I am defintely using this highly-efficient strategy from now on. Thanks for helping me out.</p>
<p>This strategy works. I personally vouch for it. Whoever posted this is a saint. This thread definitely deserves the front page recognition of the SAT Preparation Forum it’s been getting.</p>
<p>thanks for this. and it is true i do have to read the whole passage to get most questions right. I tried to follow the PR critical reading method but it didn’t work out for me. Although it saved a lot of time, it led me to more wrong answers then right</p>
<p>Great method! Just tried it today and my score went up by 40-50 points! Still, I have a question…</p>
<p>For the two long passages, when a question asks you to compare these two and asks which of the following statements the two authors do not agree with, do you read through both of the passages again? Do you, after reading a passage, quickly write the main idea of the author in 3 words or more?</p>
<p>Questions for Noitaraperp:
1)Are two volumes of Direct Hits enough to get 500-600 points?
2)Can I succeed on passage-based reading without good vocabulary?(435 from D.H)
3)What is faster to enhance? Sentence complition or Passage based reading?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What do you do when you find yourself more than half way through the passage, and suddenly it dawns upon you that you don’t know what in God’s name the passage is even about?</p></li>
<li><p>Following your strategy has been abdundantly helpful. But what do you propose I do when I am in the two-short-and-two-long-passages section, and I have 5 minutes remaining, and one full long passage in front of me?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Hey Noita, I read your approach to the critical reading section and found it very helpful, the problem is that I have the Princeton Review 2010 Edition book and the Barrons SAT 2009 book but these books seem to have lots of questions without line references and basically I cant really take your approach very well.</p>
<p>For example, questions such as: </p>
<p>" In treaty cuncils before 1870, most Indians did not ask for their own interpreters because: "
" According to Passage 2, when the gold and silver ran out, the miners switched to: "
" According to the passage, Elizabeth Bennet presently: "
" The author of Passage 2 believes that the defining even in history of the West was: " </p>
<p>Anybody else notice this? Following your approach, Im leaving this questions for the end but to answer them you dont really have to read the whole passage because most of the times the answer lies in a sentence only and the questions are mostly organized in order, I dont know if Im mistaken so youll be the judge of that :P, here I have so examples of some questions like this:</p>
<p>" According to Passage 2, when the gold and silver ran out, the miners switched to: "</p>
<p>was the first question in the section the answer would most likely be in the first paragraph and notice it DOESNT have line references at all. </p>
<p>I hope im expressing myself lucidly as I find the critical reading sections in college board practice tests to be much easier because most questions have line references which makes it a lot easier to follow in a more systematic approach.</p>
<p>I cant really order the blue book because it would take too long to arrive for the test im taking in october,</p>
<p>I just wanted to thank you for sharing this method with us. I scored a 620 on the CR section in the June SAT. Since then I started reading articles from the BBC and coupled with your advice and Direct Hits, I’m consistently scoring within the 750+ range on BB practice tests with at least 5-6 minutes to spare xD</p>
<p>hi all,
i googled as Noitaraperp suggested for the “effective CR” document - but i have a million links - and not the ONE document.
is it on about or on ehow?
any pointers appreciated.</p>
<p>I took down the eHow page due to some privacy concerns, so this is the only remaining document of my technique. I was going to get to a writing guide (half finished) but it has been too long that I’ve been away from the SAT so it looks like it probably won’t happen. Writing is mostly understanding the rules anyway, so I’m sure the popular guides will do just fine.</p>
<p>Noitaraperp, you said you improved from a 500 to an 800, but do you remember how long it took you to do that? I do understand it took great effort and motivation.</p>
<p>Thanks for this! You have a great mentality and congrats on your success. I’m gonna try your technique today when I take my practice SAT test :)</p>