<p>i really need help to raise my scores on these sections
i've been taking timed practice test for the PSAT and I want to score enough to atleast become a semifinalist for NMS
i'm doing well on math scoring 70+ on most tests
what i'm really worried about is critical reading and writing
i am getting messed up so bad in these sections
im getting scores in the mid 50s and it is killing me
i know i can do a lot better
i wanna raise both of them to 70+ also
can someone please recommend the best workbooks for me to utilize on these sections or strategies i can use to drastically improve my scores
which test prep company provides the best critical reading and writing workbooks: princeton review, kaplan, or barron's
thanks in advance</p>
<p>Use the CB's Red Book and Blue Book. They'll help you prepare for the PSAT while preparing for the SAT at the same time.</p>
<p>Writing for me seems very easy to raise. You need to constantly be practicing. The more I practice, the more obvious the mistakes are. If you are brought up or schooled in a somewhat well spoken place, then you have an easier time, as well. </p>
<p>CR is where I make careless mistakes. I got into the mentality that "all the answers are in the passage" and that's helped me. When they give eyou a section to refer to, You only need to read a little before and after at most to get the correct answer.</p>
<p>If you're scoring mid 50's right now, keep in mind that you'll need lots of practice to raise it up to the 70+ level. </p>
<p>You can read the Sparknotes New SAT book online on the sparknotes website. Just go to:
<a href="http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/newsat/%5B/url%5D">http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/newsat/</a></p>
<p>They have a good writing review. If you read it, try to absorb everything. After awhile, it becomes second nature to you. You'll notice improvement almost immediately after you review a couple of grammar rules. I have no doubt that you'll reach your desired score in writing. </p>
<p>Critical Reading is a bit harder to raise. If vocabulary is not your forte, then unfortunately, you may want to memorize about 500 words or so. For passages, the only way to raise your score is to analyze everything and see where you went wrong in your logic. This will take a lot of practice.</p>
<p>im pretty good at sentence comp in CR and the improving paragraphs
and usually im not bad at improving sentences but i can do really bad too
i've noticed that i miss most of the questions on the comparing the huge passages on CR
can anyone recommend the best Critical reading workbook out of barron's, kaplan, and princeton review
i know barron's and princeton have combined the writing in their workbooks too but if anyone strongly feels that the kaplan writing workbook is the best practice for writing then please tell me
also is kaplan or princeton review practice tests closer to the real thing because my scores on the princeton review test is much higher than the kaplan tests:
PR= CR:57 M:70 W:66 Total:193
Kaplan= 1. CR:56 M:64 W:59 Total:179
2. CR:54 M:72 W:55 Total:181
The tests were taken in this order and as you can see my math has been saving my butt
i still have 1 kaplan and 1 princeton review test to go
but can you guys please help me find the best workbooks so i can get the best practice to raise my score alot</p>
<p>I very much agree with quitejaded. Im not sure where your mistakes are occuring but, for me, it helped a lot to realize that one of the worst things you can do is overanalyze a question. In my case, I usually get almost all of the hard questions right and then make very careless mistakes on the easy ones. I usually overanalyze the easy questions to death, thinking to myself "it cant be that easy." But they usually are.</p>
<p>I dont know if this will help you but thats my experience.</p>
<p>bump
can someone who has used any of the princeton review, kaplan, and barron's reading and writing workbooks recommend the best one</p>