<p>Hi
I usually don't understand the passages of critical reading and usually loss concentration in the middle of the passage.I also need help in th development of essay bec. i usually end with 7 as score. please help me.</p>
<p>on the subject of CR, i think you should skim the questions first to see line number references, bracket the lines, then go back to read the passages. when bracketed lines are encountered, read as slowly as you can, make sure you “comprehend” them, and answer the correlative questions. also, you may find this helpful:
[SAT</a> Critical Reading: If you don’t get it, you don’t get it](<a href=“http://newyorksbestsattutor.com/SAT-blog/bid/24770/SAT-Critical-Reading-If-you-don-t-get-it-you-don-t-get-it]SAT”>http://newyorksbestsattutor.com/SAT-blog/bid/24770/SAT-Critical-Reading-If-you-don-t-get-it-you-don-t-get-it)</p>
<p>^
I don’t find any point in reading such a big article which obviously doesn’t give you some magical skills for the CR. All that dull thing can be written in 3 sentences:
- Memorize vocabulary
- Answer line reference questions first
- Practice and review</p>
<p>yoramohamed1,</p>
<p>I highly suggest that you refrain yourself from doing any practice tests until you memorize about 1000 SAT words. I made the same mistake you are going to make. I was taking dozens of practice tests; however, my ranges (not scores, mind you) were the same. Then, I finally understood that the vocabulary is an attitude to the SAT preparation. I have memorized 5 lists: Direct Hits 2011, Barron’s HF 365, Barron’s HP 175, The Rocket Review 323, PR’s Hit Parade 250. Then, I made a practice test–my CR jumped from a 400s to high-500s and low 600s. I started answering almost all sentence completion questions correctly; and my writing skills improved too. The hardest part was starting it; so once I memorized Barron’s HF, other lists were much easier to memorize.
And don’t listen to people who say that “vocabulary is a waste”. They do that because learning vocabulary requires hard work and determinance. So that’s why they start saying that vocabulary is useless. The vocabulary is the key part of the CR; however, it does require a lot of work. No other “magical” powers or “eliksir” drinks can help on the CR.</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me in case of having other questions.</p>
<p>^ that article did help me realize something important. i found it… enlightening.</p>
<p>Mirage is right about vocab. </p>
<p>Also don’t worry about the essay too much, it really BARELY affects your score. You could get mid 700s with a 7 on your essay, it’s weird.</p>
<p>yaramohamed1, im technically in the same boat as you. it was only yesterday that i realized how much vocab could boost my score since i was only setting my goals to getting all of the passage questions right but of course thats not possible without memorizing vocab. basically what i do is go to the questions, underline or whatever the lines and stuff in the passage and read. and also, pretend your REALLY interested in the passage. this really helps out alot and if you cant then try to find a way or motivation to help you interested in it. once you set yourself in the author of the passages shoes get an idea of his tone and attitude, everything clears up. </p>
<p>the essay…ehhh i consistently get 8s which is pretty bogus but i believe that writing a full 2 pages will determine if your in the double digit scores or not on average. some people can pull off 12s without writing 2 pages but unfortunately, thats their talent lol. and ive noticed that using examples that are not so dull and common usually gets higher scores as well. like instead of using hitler, use a book about nazism. basically something thats not too oftenly used because remember, how will the graders feel about people who use similar examples as you do. that gets boring so it doesnt impress them. this is what i think is key to scoring in the double digits because so far i havnt been doing what i said and have scored 8 both times</p>
<p>
Like what?</p>
<p>this may be bad advice… but i always read only the first paragraph or first two paragraphs (i read two if i feel like one was too short). Btw, you should always read the section above the passage like “this passage is about …'s novel based on …” Then for the questions, i read the paragraph before and after to get some context. this way, you’re not re-reading and wasting time.</p>
<p>
It will determine nothing. I personally wrote 1.5 pages in the December SAT and scored a 9. A month later, in January, I wrote 2 pages and got a 9 again.</p>
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This might not work for our OP who is not a native; and therefore, can’t comprehend everything from the first or second paragraphs–no matter big or small–of the particular passage.</p>