<p>How did you do it? Did you learn techniques? A voracious reader?
Any tips are welcome.</p>
<p>The best way is careful analysis of practice sections combined with memorization of vocab. A love of reading helps, but you don’t have to be a voracious reader [I wasn’t].</p>
<p>Practice and study vocab!
Just make sure that as you read the passages you also understand the material. Vocabulary is easy if you know the words.</p>
<p>I’ll add my vote for lots of practice. As you work through practice questions, analyze your mistakes and try to see if there’s any patterns to what you’re missing, then come back to us for specific help!</p>
<p>And definitely study vocabulary. My feeling is that it’s been really de-emphasized because the number of sentence completions is low relative to reading passages. So, that’s your chance to get some points that a lot of people aren’t adequately preparing themselves for. My favorite vocab resource is [Word-Nerd:</a> vocabulary test prep for the SAT, PSAT and ACT](<a href=“http://www.word-nerd.com%5DWord-Nerd:”>http://www.word-nerd.com) - I send all my students there!</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Don’t read too much into things. If you’re in either English AP, this gets harder, but really, the SAT doesn’t expect you (in my experience) to read between the lines, make real inferences, etc. Everything is concretely stated. If you’re debating between two answers, choose the one that most directly corresponds with the text.</p>
<p>A good vocabulary helps. Know your basic prefixes and suffixes and you should be fine. (Miriam-Webster makes a Vocabulary Builder that has the main ones, which is a great resource, rather than studying lists.)</p>
<p>You definitely don’t have to be a book nerd. I was a reader as a child, but once I hit my teen years I rarely cracked a book (or magazine or newspaper) unless it was a textbook for school. I still pulled out an 800. The important thing is knowing what you’re doing. If for you that means practice, then practice! Good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks, guys. I love reading, but it’s just that I get down to 2 answers and always choose the wrong one. Vocab is a piece of a cake for me.
I do reading tests everyday. I just want an 800.</p>
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<p>Analyze the answer choices on a word-by-word basis. Usually, there will be a word or two in one of the choices that doesn’t quite align with the passage.</p>
<p>My reading scores are 79 PSAT 10th, 80 PSAT 11th, 780 SAT 11th, and 800 SAT 11th.</p>
<p>It’s lame to miss vocab (I missed 2 vocab on the 780 score), but I would focus on reading and gamble that you know the few strange vocab words that end up on your test. </p>
<p>I always read the passage with an eye for overall tone, style, and structure, and then refer back to the passage after each question. I also like to formulate my answer to the question BEFORE I read answer choices. That forces you to think analytically. I’ve never felt time-pressured on reading sections… just hurry through those vocab questions and save your deliberation for difficult reading questions.</p>
<p>So, my advice is that your frame of mind affects your reading score more than preparation, and the frame of mind I suggested above works for me at least.</p>
<p>I hope this helps =)</p>
<p>Edit: Indeed, learn from your mistakes on practice tests. If you tend to bite on exaggerated answer choices or logical stretches, be aware of that. Also, yes, I am a voracious reader (Winter Nights is my favorite Dostoevsky short story =/). Above all, remember to be logical.</p>
<p>I have a CR question: the wrong answers that I always choose are “too extreme” or “out of scope”. Any tips???</p>