<p>I usually got like 650-700 on practice tests, but I got a 560 on the January one! I learned about 700 words and finished the entire blue book full of practice tests, using a strategy that I need to throw out the window now. I mark all the line references and follow the passage with the questions. So if the first question is for lines 15-20, I would read till about line 25.</p>
<p>I save the main idea questions for the end. I always thought that reading the passage first and then re-reading all the line references was worse than just reading all the line references, saves time right? So should I just be spending 1-2 minutes QUICKLY skimming the passage, and then closely do the line references? I answered all but one on CR, so with a 560, that's like 20 questions missed! Yeah I definitely need to redo my thinking, so I'm open to any strategies.</p>
<p>What worked for me was looking at the questions first and pintpoint that area in the passage, start a few lines before the question area and then read just what you need to. Skip the questions that ask "what the meaning of the passage is" until you finish the other question that are more specific to certain lines. By the time you do finish those specific questions, you will have read about 90% of the passage without even realizing it. Worked for me</p>
<p>So you were doing basically what I was doing. Really though I was truly shocked. I mean the average kid at my school would easily get above a 600. With Math, I got a 680, which is not bad at all because that means that I can get the 700 if I don't succumb to the careless mistakes. Reading on the other hand is now just a huge ladder to climb. I'm a little worried though because I was not expecting anything like that. I do always narrow it down to 2-3 choices, but maybe I just got really unlucky with the guessing.</p>
<p>I would focus more on the technical side of answering questions. Evaluate the following:
1. The difficulty level of the questions you're missing
2. Why you're picking certain answers (the more critical you are, the more you will learn)</p>
<p>If you're scoring in the 500s, you're missing more than just hard questions. Spend a long time looking at every single word in every single answer choice of missed questions (you can even do this with correct answers). Really slow down and try to focus on each word. You'll find that ONE word or a GROUP of words will act as the pivot point. The pivotal words will either make the answer right or wrong. Eventually, you will begin to understand what is a GOOD SAT answer and what is a BAD SAT answer.</p>
<p>Most tutors and prep companies tell students to eliminate extreme answers, which makes sense. However, most students fall short because of a lack of vocabulary. In short, the students cannot decide HOW extreme a word is and therefore cannot use such a method.</p>
<p>One more thing: evaluate your accuracy on sentence completions. This may be an easier area to grab 20 to 50 points by learning vocabulary. However, this is a very "hit and mostly miss" approach.</p>
<p>Man, I still don't know what to do. I've read Princeton Review, Barron's 2400, Barron's 2007-2008, Kaplan, RocketReview, and took all 8 practice tests in the blue book. I mean I was using strategies and never ever even went close to a low 600. I did get a feel for what type of answers CB wanted, the extreme answers, got the feel of getting rid of choices that weren't supported by evidence, and it all adds up to a 560. WHAT'S LEFT?!? I have some Princeton Review tests left, but passages from other books aren't the same. Practically everyone I know is shocked and disappointed, and I have a little less than 2 weeks to completely change my strategy(which originally kept me well above 640). I'm fine on sentence completions though because I have learned over 700 words, and I'm continuing to learn more. I need more tips though because getting over 600 was something I never thought would be a goal of mine(700 was my goal, which I got on 2/8 practice tests in the blue book).</p>