<p>Over the past month, I've been really studying for the SAT and I have seen much improvement in my performance. I've managed to go from a 500 to a 700 on my writing section while attaining high 600's in Math but Critical Reading is something I continue to struggle with as I am scoring in the low 500s. </p>
<p>What is the best way to improve in CR? I've read the thread about the effective way to tackle the CR section but even that hasn't really helped me... Can someone please help me? All I'm really aiming for is to just break into the 600s since anything above that seems impossible for me.</p>
<p>Try out silverturtle’s suggestions in his guide.</p>
<p>What part of the CR section are you having the most trouble with? Or are both sections giving you the same amount of trouble?</p>
<p>Critical reading is by far the hardest section to improve. My advice for you is to start learning some vocab. Increading your lexicon should increase your scores into the 600’s.</p>
<p>@stef1a,</p>
<p>The long passages are what I struggle with the most. I get the general idea with sentence completions (I just need to sharpen up my vocabulary a bit) and short passages are relatively easy for me, but when it comes to long passages I’m just terrible.</p>
<p>silver turtles is fine, u can also see: how to attack the critical reading section effectively.</p>
<p>type it into google and click teh ehow link.</p>
<p>As others have suggested, try using silverturtle’s guide. I would also suggest taking practice tests frequently, specifically focusing on the passages (although I assume you’ve already done so). </p>
<p>For me, reading a fiction book* for a couple of hours a day is enough to get me into a “literary analysis”/focused state of mind, if you know what I mean. I was just on vacation for three days and I read two (short) books during the entire trip. When I came back and did 31 passage/paragraph questions, I only got 2 of them wrong. Normally, I make tons of mistakes on the CR section (I got a 540 back in March), but reading a lot before practicing seems to really stimulate my brain. Also, if you’re going to try it, make sure you really enjoy the book(s) :)</p>
<p>*Don’t just read fiction, though; try finding a newspaper that you really like and read a couple of articles every morning or whenever you have some free time. I’m a science guy, so I enjoy reading MIT’s technology magazine and their online articles.</p>