<p>I'm just curious.. Is there anyone who scored low on the CR section of the SAT (or even CC "low") after memorizing a lot of vocabulary words? If so, what do you think was the problem?</p>
<p>I'm sure it's very common. I know many juniors(of course, they're "normal," "typical" juniors, not the CC stock) who in their initial stage of SAT prep, took one glance at the CR section and said, "Oh crap. I don't even know a third of these words." Then, they spent weeks memorizing words for the expressed purpose of gaining a higher score on the CR section. There were significant increases but I think after such a tiring, long process, memorizing bulky lists of words is simply not helpful. You never know which words appear on the SAT and while the effort is certainly not fruitless, trying to memorize 1000 words in the span of two weeks can be overly stressful.</p>
<p>Memorizing vocabulary can only help you out on the Sentence Completion questions. There's still another set of passage-based questions. Personally, I find these questions more challenging and I think it would be more productive to practice these types of questions. For example, on current practice tests, I'm scoring in the mid-700's and the only thing obstructing me from getting higher are the passage-based questions. I seem to get questions which I feel are ambiguous wrong and I'm always caught between two answer choices. I'm not really worried about sentence completions and I'm not going through the effort to learn any new vocabulary for the SAT's. I'd rather put effort into where I can see a tangible difference. </p>
<p>I think the SAT vocabulary isn't as difficult as most people say it is, if you're well-read and take time to look up words you don't know. For me, SAT Vocab prep has been a culmination of years of edifying my own personal vocabulary. I started dictionary.com's Word a Day in 7th grade and read literature that was beyond my age group early on.</p>
<p>Let me tell you, I studied maybe 50 words for the SAT and I felt SO much more confident in those flii-in-the-blanks. I would have had to guess or just left some blank had I not studied. So, I know they say don't, but please do. But I learned the word in context. I don't know if rote memorization helps as much. I'm planning on learning more this summer and the next summer. </p>
<p>Vocabulary is slightly important for the passages, as well.</p>
<p>vocab is almost not required a tall (sorry for enlgish) for passages. The vocab in context can be figued out even if you dont know the meaning</p>
<p>That's true kramer, but sometimes the answers use really big words (when they talk about tone).</p>
<p>ME:
280 old sat verbal;
memorization and reading and practice combination- get "tooth and nail" or "test of time"</p>
<p>730 new sat verbal
HUGE JUMP...IT WORKS!!!</p>
<p>holy *****!.. 280-->730
amazing!</p>
<p>btw, don't you get a 200 for writing your name?</p>
<p>i have never heard of such an increase. in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if those folks at ETS or wherever suspected cheating. </p>
<p>It's not a typo, right? 280?</p>
<p>Nope- 280 was in GRADE 7!!!! (TOO BAD FOR ETS THEY DELETE MIDDLE SCHOOL SCORES)
730 on June 4 05 in GRADE 11!!!! I was slightly feverish that day too
See the SAT is a beatable test</p>
<p>AND I'M RETAKING FOR A 750+ FOR THE IVIES
AS WELL AS FOR A 750+ In MATH.</p>
<p>ADVICE: read editorials- 1 hour each day:
(NOTE: I am nonpolitical, the following is just for good reading)
<a href="http://www.mises.org/misesreview.asp%5B/url%5D">http://www.mises.org/misesreview.asp</a></p>
<p>practice for 2-3 hrs daily on weekends during school year or 1/2 hour daily on summer days...</p>
<p>Yes you get 200 for writing your name :D Jolly good I just got 8 right in 7th grade...oh those were crazy days...</p>