<p>Hey all,
I know I posted a different question but also on CR a few days ago... I've been practicing CR, and then briefly stopped to memorize vocabs first, and got on the track again. And I found I take time miserably a lot on CR. And I found out today, even if I solve all of them, my score isn't that good. My score's going down, actually. I take more time than before and I get more things wrong.. (Maybe it's because I'm really ready to go and take a nap at this moment, but still worked on CR...) This makes me really miserable.. I have a habit reading the same sentence again and again, not because my reading ability isn't good enough, but I just cannot concentrate. I have a same problem when I read literature. I comprehend very well, but I often find myself losing the focus and reading the same sentence over and over again. What should I do with this habit? And do you guys think it's possible to raise 100 on CR in a month? (I'm currently getting around 650...) I wish I go to a freer school, I go to a boarding school and my schedule is packed afternoon and evening with activities, then I need to work on assignment.. I literally have no time to work on SAT except for Wednesday and weekends. So yeah, my question is, how do you guys refocus yourself? Also, is there anyone who raised CR score more than 100 in a month? Thanks.</p>
<p>This is literally a parallel of my life. I am interested to see the replies.</p>
<p>You just got to get used to reading and have the right attitude, you can’t just accept the fact that literature will torment you for the rest of your life. Just calm down, slow yourself when you read and try to put yourself in the mind of the passage’s author. Perhaps looking at the questions first can help, it reduces anxiety for me, just ask yourself “why did they ask me this?”. Point being, start over and just relax. Whenever you can, read an article and practice asking yourself, what is it trying to say, the main point. If you don’t have enough time to practice, just look for a review book and read it whenever you possibly can.</p>
<p>Thanks AznDragon. I need to calm down and start over again… Actually, when I just started to practice, I only got only one or two wrong for the long passages throughout the whole practice test… I gets more and more nervous as the test date is coming closer… And one thing, literature does not torment me. I read modern classics (especially American and Russian) on my own, because I just love masterpieces. But SAT reading does torment me.</p>
<p>Bump bump I want more answers…</p>
<p>It’s definitely possible to raise your score 100 points in that time span. I brought my CR from 700 to 800 in a month. I just did lots of drills from the BB, and then made sure to understand why I missed any questions I got wrong. I also learned about 500 words for the vocab section, which was ultimately really helpful.</p>
<p>When I’m unable to concentrate on reading passages on the SAT, I start underlining the passage to help me focus a bit. For me, it works.</p>
<p>Sometimes I find myself zoning out during CR… Like, I’ll read something, but not really absorb it. Whenever I catch myself doing that, I kind shake my fatigue off, pinch myself, and focus.
I find that CR is mostly about focus and speed.</p>
<p>I brought my CR score from a 530 (yuck) to a 710 in one month.</p>
<p>I have the exact same problem but I also tend to run out of time a lot. A good strategy i use is to answer the fill-in-the-blank vocabulary first, skip the next short passage(s) and go directly to the last long passage. For this passage, i skim the questions looking only for sentence #s, paragraph #s, and key words and I underline/bracket where they are in the passage. Then I start reading. Every time i read a marked part, I automatically go answer the question. It’s a time saver and also keeps you focused/energized because you are switching back and forth between reading and answering. After i’m done with the huge passage, I go back to the middle short passage(s) and finish just in time :)</p>
<p>@hiddenmelody, thanks a lot! Did you mean Blue Book by “BB”? And did you have any regimen you used more in specific, like working on one section a day, every the other day? </p>
<p>@marshmallowpop Yeah, it certainly is about focus and speed, which I don’t have especially when I’m working on SAT…</p>
<p>@Knockaround Wow, that makes me feel better. What did you do specifically to raise the score?</p>
<p>@Orangeclarinet Yeah, I recently started doing that… Gotta get a better score anytime soon…</p>
<p>Just take a LOT of practice tests specifically for critical reading. It’s not so much the time span in which you have to raise your score by, but rather how much practice you put in. Good luck!</p>
<p>@flyingpanguins Yeah, I totally gotta practice more than I do now, although it’s really hard to find time. Thanks!!</p>