<p>hello people, i got 550 CR on the test this Jan. CR's always been the biggest problem i have to face. i seem to do pretty well on sentence completion questions, but when it comes to passage reading, i always mess up no matter the passage is long or short. it'd not be fair to say that it is because i lack vocab, as there's rarely a single word in reading passages that i don't know. as a result, i'm supposed to understand everything, but in reality i don't understand a single thing. okay maybe i've exaggerated a little bit, but i am truly bad in passage reading. i often can't seem to get the "big picture", as everything is so hard to understand... i've read a lot of strategies available on the internet as well as in books and therefore know about active reading and line highlighting and such, but nothing seems to have worked. i always find myself out of time when there're still about 4-5 questions left. i need some help from the experienced :(</p>
<p>Alright, there are a few methods that aren’t very common, but do work.</p>
<p>Take a practice passage, read it. As you’re reading it, pay attention to nothing else, think about nothing else. Repeat the words in your head, while still reading fairly quickly (the first or second practices don’t have to be quick). Underline key sentences, main ideas, examples that stand out. When you’re done reading, turn to a piece of paper and write (within 60 seconds) a summary of what you just read, including all the main ideas, important people and examples, and the order of things in the passage. Then, go back and read the passage again to see if there’s anything you missed in your summary. Next time, make sure to get everything important down. Try to get this summary time down to 30-45 seconds. Look at the questions following the passage; other than vocabulary (“this word in line 32 means ______”), can you answer the questions using the summary you wrote? If not, what kind of information do they ask you for? Make sure to include that next time.</p>
<p>After you’ve gotten this down, stop writing the summaries. You’ll have trained yourself to pick the information up in your head as you read. Still read without thinking of anything else and underline anything that would have gone in your summary. Constant practice will make you quicker and better.</p>
<p>I approached the CR section with the mentality this exercise should train in you, and I got an 800. If you can pick up all the key details of the passages, you’ll be able to answer the questions better. It may get to the point that they’re even easier for you than sentence completion.</p>
<p>I think that the passage-based reading is easier than sentence completion. I started with very low CR scores (below average); however, with my hard work I currently omit 5-6 passage questions like 40/48. However, I confuse S.C and thus, get 10/19 (max) correct from 19 attempted. For S.C vocabulary is the key.</p>
<p>take it untimed. make sure you UNDERSTAND why every answers is right/wrong…why every single option is either right or wrong. Try to disprove rather than prove an answer; play Devil’s Advocate. Slowly cut down time with each practice test. </p>
<p>This strategy helped me go from a 670 in CR to 740 (I thought I should’ve gotten even higher, but I was on the wrong end of the 2-3 controversial October 2010 SAT passage-based q., ■■■. I was scoring 760-780 on practice tests right near the test date.)</p>
<p>personally i think i seem to suffer from some kind of syndrome that doesn’t allow me to concentrate. every time i try to focus on my practice test, a piece of music involuntarily pops up on my mind, which causes me to understand nothing at all. i’m retaking the SAT this June, but i haven’t found an effective way to deal with this. anyway, thank you all for your advice and experience. i think they’ll be useful.</p>
<p>I am in the same situation as you! I get around 700’s in Math and Writing…But CR is always in the 500’s. I’m horrible at motivating myself so I have to take an SAT Prep class. But like ViggyRam said, you have to understand why you got something wrong. I used to get around 500 for writing, and as i reviewed my wrong answers, and read over the correct ones, my score has improved since then.</p>
<p>sadly, critical reading is way harder to improve :(</p>
<p>Do not be discouraged. Not every student admitted to a top school is a speed reader. A CR score of 550 means you are above average. College success has more to do with motivation and determination than speed reading. There are plenty of slackers who can speed read but accomplish very little since they have no drive. It’s who you are that is important, not your score.</p>
<p>Also, admissions means more than SAT scores. It’s you application, essays which are critical, accomplishments and teacher recommendations plus grades and scores. Not one thing can make or break the acceptance unless there are glaring discipline issues or red flags that the person is not a good person to accept.</p>
<p>You can do several things. One is to apply to some test optional schools, there are great schools in the top 50 that don’t even want to see your scores if you select that option. You can find these on [The</a> National Center for Fair & Open Testing | FairTest](<a href=“http://www.fairtest.org%5DThe”>http://www.fairtest.org) . The other is to take an SAT prep course, and raise your score by 50 points or so. It will help a little in CR and may make the other scores even more competitive. The other is to apply to schools which accept your range of scores so they are probable/possible, and to a few that are reach schools, where the SAT scores are out of range, but a reach for everyone. Who knows, something else on your application may balance out the points to gain admission.</p>
<p>Above all, never think that SAT scores alone will hold you back. We had two solid SAT takers and one CR lowish scorer in our family. The two solid test takers gained admisisons to great schools, but one did not get admitted to the school she had her heart set on. The lowish SAT test taker was admitted to her dream school even after she discounted it as never happening, and it was her essays and accomplishments that we believe resulted in admission.</p>
<p>Our family knows firsthand that SAT scores are just a game to play. Play the game, take the tests as many times as you can including 2 subject tests, send in your highest scores in each subset, and try to perfect your essays. Start early in junior year. Do not be discouraged. You are above average, and with good grades and activities you can accomplish whatever you want. Do not let the 700CR folks psych you out, in many cases these kids are super test takers, but not necessarily going to be the best kids when it comes to succeeding in college or life.</p>
<p>a zillion of thanks to CTMOM56. it’s really inspiring, i must say.</p>
<p>I have the same problem; my critical reading is the lowest out of the 3 categories…I am currently studying for the SAT in March, and a strategy that I find successful is passage mapping, where after you read each paragraph, write down the topic and purpose next to it, circle 4-6 keywords, and underline “switch words” like “although, however, instead”…</p>
<p>Thank for everyone’s advice though :]</p>
<p>The March SAT in our experience has been historically the best test to do well on in all categories. Less students take this test, and it is offered in less centers. Our three students signed up and took this test and scored better than any other time in at least two categories. even though we had to travel more than 30 minutes to get to the center. We would recommend March SAT testing to anyone.</p>
<p>To prepare: yes, you can look at prep books. But don’t obsess about preparing. You do have other homework and your GPA is more important than SAT Scores. For CR, the night before is critical. Eat a good dinner, pasta or other carbohydrates with a full meal, and get a good night’s rest. Try to get to bed by 10:30 p.m. Get your supplies ready early in the week, your ticket, ID, pencils, calculator in a separate bag. If your schedule means you stay up late into the wee hours of the morning usually, start the week ahead going to bed a little sooner.</p>
<p>Bring snacks. I can’t emphasize this enough. Get them ahead of time. Our kids brought nutter butter cookies and bagels with cream cheese along with Snapple iced tea for some caffeine to the test. It is long and you need to eat. Eat, even if you are not hungry at EVERY break. Force yourself to eat something. Drink something caffeinated at each break. Our students went to the rest room and then quickly ate their snack and drink at breaks. It helped quite a bit since they could focus on their work even after 4-5 hours. The SAT reasoning now is grueling and a measure of endurance.</p>
<p>Above all, don’t give up. Take and retake. Next semester your math knowledge will be more, you will probably go up in Math. The CR score plods along and may go down, but the other scores may go up. So every time you take it is is like a game to see which subscore may improve. The March test is a great way to raise scores. I am hoping that this works for you!</p>
<p>Practice like crazy and really try to understand. Understanding is so important and I realized that once I started getting into the CR-mindset of looking for proof against instead of proof for. </p>
<p>I am a very slow reader, so CR was very hard for me, but practice will help. I got a 52 I think on my PSAT for CR and eventually got 740 on CR. Many people will say that improving 220 in CR is very hard, but it can be done! Never underestimate yourself. You are smarter than this test. Just devote everything to it.</p>
<p>I always chanted “never assume” to my D. Her problem was that she assumed certain answers to the passages based on the context and on common sense. But, the SAT tries to deliberately trick you, so unless it is expressly written in the passages, do not assume that a statement or premise is true. Just that tip alone helped her improve her score a full 100 points.</p>