<p>I just took a practice test from RR and got a terrible score for CR. The score-range is only 380-440. Can you guys give me an advice ?? I studied hard for a month but don't see any improvement. I got 15 raw score, the last time I got before reviewing is 13.
From this test, I realize that I'm slow at CR, and when I answer the question, I look at the answers and choose the one that fit my thinking about the passage. But because I read fast as recommended, I get the wrong understanding for the whole passage. I cannot apply what the RR and Grammatix say in the book.
Looking for advice.</p>
<p>i suck at CR too.my score in last june 7 is 490... :(</p>
<p>The grammatix method does not work for some, so why not try another way? Have you tried reading the whole passage thoroughly, and then moving on to the questions?</p>
<p>If you did the test untimed, what would your score be like?</p>
<p>Though I spend lots of time on passage, I still have many wrong answers.
I notice there are more than 1 choice that "looks" or "sounds" good to me. That's why I cannot determine which is the ONLY right answer.
I think I need to know how high scorers study. The way they study is much more important than the score they get.
From now I will read more articles in Economist, New Yorker, Discovery, Time ...
But when I read (I will print out the source), what should I do ?</p>
<p>Moreover, Grammatix suggests not guessing. If I go that way, I think there will be bunch of blanks on my answer sheets.
I think I will follow Barron's Guide: read each paragraph and answer questions related to it.</p>
<p>I'm old; I took the SAT back when it was just Math and Verbal.</p>
<p>But I think that if I were in your position I would probably do several things.</p>
<p>First, I would try to find a tutor who had done well. I would do practice problems on my own, and I would collect the ones I'd gotten wrong and ask the tutor to do them in front of me, out loud. Read the passage, read the question, explain her reasoning as she figured out what the answer was. Then I'd go back and try to do some more. I wouldn't worry about doing things fast: your problem doesn't appear to be speed right now, and although you may find you need to consciously speed up later on, right now I think the focus should be on learning how to approach them.</p>
<p>Second, I would work on reading as a general skill. I would get a dictionary to carry around with me all the time. I would choose things to read that interested me and that were well written. When I hit a word and wasn't certain of the meaning, I would look it up. In general, I would practice stopping and imagining the scene in as much detail as possible. Who was in the room? How was the room decorated? Who did what? Why? And so on. There will be some details not available to you -- books don't have as much detail as movies, for instance -- but a lot will be given.</p>
<p>If you're reading a Stephen King novel or story, you'd be imagining scenes. You might know what a character looks like or how he is dressed. You will be imagining how he feels and what he looks like. Is he angry at one point? How do you know? What is he angry about? Is someone else trying to calm him down? Is the other character successful? Why or why not?</p>
<p>If you're reading a history book, you'll probably have less in the way of specific scenes, but you still ought to have a sense of what the leaders wanted, what they did, whether anyone betrayed anyone else, and so on. If you're reading science emotions may not figure in at all, but you should be able to visualize experiments and figure out what the data should have been like in order to get one conclusion or another.</p>
<p>When I was doing this, I might want to use a tutor again: someone who's very good at reading. Maybe someone who works in a theater, an actor, a set-painter, or someone. These people are skilled at figuring out to translate what's on the page to somthing that can at least be seen. That tutor could talk to me about how he knows what's happening.</p>
<p>I would definitely try a bunch of different genres, including both fiction and nonfiction (bigraphy/memoir, history, psychology, journalism, ...). I might even do it with TV: a lot is given without words on TV, but there are times when someone says something that changes your whole understanding of what's happening: if you watch "Lost," how much do you think changed at the start of season 4 when Hugo yelled "I'm one of the Oceanic 6!"</p>
<p>Eventually, I would want to pull these two things together. I'd want to be able to read a passage and have someone ask me a number of questions about it, and see how well I understood them.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, of course, I would be keeping score. I would be recording how many problems I did each day, and how many I got right. I mmight also be recording how closely I'd narrowed things down: if I were sure that it was either (b) or (c) and it was (c) I'd be doing better than if I couldn't eliminate any answers at all.</p>
<p>dear dracula,i can suggest u a site where a read an article on how to answer critical reading questions more comfortably....try it:</p>
<p>SAT</a> Ninja: SAT Strategy Expert and Harvard Graduate</p>
<p>Dracula, i used to be in your situation all the time... here is what you should do when you see more than one answer choice that seems right. Okay, if you have more than one answer choice not eliminated, then try to is if one of them say something more than that is needed. Unneeded information is or rather extra information that is thrown into that choice. And sometimes, there's too little info. Try it, there's only one choice that gives exact info.. there are other choices that might give the info you want, but they throw in extra stuff too.</p>
<p>Dracula, Im an international student. I have done the passage based section of the grammatix guide and have ended up with great scores in the college board exercise questions. Well, the key is elemination. Try to think as much as you can about eliminating choices. With sufficient practice trust me, you end up with one correct answer! I would advise you not to attempt any questions other than CB's questions.</p>
<p>As for the study plan, we're internationals, and we're obviously not natural with the SATs. You should devote a lot of time, perhaps 1.5 hours of reviewing each day and attempting at least 2 test sections for practice. Strat with Grammatix and CB, and you end up with atleast a 600+. For more, do RR or PR, and loads of practice!</p>
<p>hey i applied as an international student last year, and scored 670 on critical reading. I was horrible at first. You want to READ READ READ! that is the best way, and try not being bias cuz that leads to incorrect answere related to tone of passage, etc. Also, read Economist, New Yorker, or any literary-merit book. That means not reading Harry Potter. You've to read something a bit more complex, and try asking questions to yourselves while reading. For instance, ask what is the tone?
But here comes the trick, you will have no idea what the tone is if you have no vocabulary. You have to know/cram/memorize some important words. BY some i mean at least 100 or so. and PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!!</p>
<p>you HAVE to read alot. i'm international but consider english my first language and scored a 730 for CR. if you have time, read.</p>
<p>Gluttony: btw that website is really helpful. I tried his strategy for the CR section. I only missed 3 on a section, and considering I didn't read the passage at all, I found his strategy quite effective. </p>
<p>Dracula: I suck at CR section too. Its my weakest section. I use to score around 500 but after a lot of practice I'm getting high 600's. You really have to practice. Try various strategies and stick to the one u're comfortable with. Don't over-analyze or think too much into it. You have to be objective.And most of the answer choice u can eliminate b/c it does not pertain to the passage at all. You can definitely improve by practicing a lot! So don't give up & good luck :)</p>
<p>Thank you for all your advice.
For about 1 month studying, I realize I have to read more-the most important.
But HOW to read is more essential. I think I have to slow down to absorb the meaning of the passage and try to get the main idea of each paragraph, as you all suggest. This must be applied to all reading materials for sure. After I'm used to it, I will speed up until I feel overwhelmed. The problem I face in CR is I tend to rely on my hunch. Sometimes the answers are far off from my expectation. So I will try to fix the trouble in my thinking.
The approach to reading the passages is crucial too. The best working for me is reading each paragraph and answers all questions related to that paragraph/</p>
<p>i still dont understand the SAT ninja concept of skipping the passage. I know that skipping the passage can work but you generally gain some insight by reading parts of the passage for stuff.. etc etc.. but that is just crazy.</p>
<p>I know after I read I may feel more confident when answering the questions.
but when I do, I still get them wrong :(
so, I think overall I just need to get the main idea and the organization of the passage so that I can come back to it if necessary.</p>