<p>Hi:
My daughter got a 690 in CR, 760 M and 780 W. Stanford is her first choice and these scores are a little low. She would like to take it again to improve her CR. She has gone through the blue book, Gramatix and several tests from the College Board website. We have a couple of options:</p>
<li>Retake in June 06 - probably not enough time to prepare to improve CR but she can get to do it again in Oct. She is studying now for SAT IIs.</li>
<li>Retake in Oct. 07- will give her time over the summer to work on CR but this will be her last chance.She is a Jr. now</li>
</ol>
<p>We are leaning toward Option 2. Your advice?</p>
<p>Also, I know that she needs to read more (WSJ, the New Yorker, etc…) but besides that, are there other things she could do? Her weakness is in the paragraph sections. She tends to over-analyze. She has gone through most of the “real” tests available from College Board. Please advice.</p>
<p>I prepared for the GRE's by reading Stephen J. Gould books - his essays from Nature magazine books. His writing is convoluted enough that I had to concentrate to understand his points, interesting enough that it was enjoyable. I got an 800.</p>
<p>Like voting, the trick is to do it early and do it often. Take the test in June with a relaxed attitude, take it as a practice test. Maybe only reading a book or two for practice.</p>
<p>Read the same books as your D so you can discuss them with her - argue the points with her? I.e., if she needs the motivation of knowing that there is a discussion coming up.</p>
<p>People always say to read TIME magazine or something to prepare. How does that work? I mean sure, you have to focus to understand the main idea, but what aboutt he questions?? The QUESTIONS is what some of us have a hard time with and oh, you know, they usually aren't the questions asking for the main idea. What to do?</p>
<p>crazyadad, I'm going to suggest something that may be a bit atypical for College Confidential -- namely, that maybe your daughter would be better off not devoting vast amounts of time and effort to trying to improve that score.</p>
<p>The reason: the time she spends trying to bring her score up is time that she won't be spending on other, perhaps more important, things.</p>
<p>My daughter is a high school junior with SAT scores very similar to your daughter's and aspirations toward a college of similar selectivity to Stanford. When she first got her scores back, she decided to make a serious effort to bring up the low score through additional study. But as the months went on, she realized that she could only do this by neglecting her regular schoolwork or extracurricular activities or by cancelling some of her summer plans. There just wasn't enough time in the day. So now her "preparation" is just a matter of a few scattered hours here and there with a test prep book. And that's OK. A 690 is not lethal, and there are plenty of excellent schools that will seriously consider a kid with that type of score. At least that's my thinking.</p>
<p>Also, it may not be necessary to devote that much time. Practice and technique. Just a passage or two a day with questions, practicing a good technique might be very beneficial when stretched over a period of time.</p>