My CR score is plateauing and refusing to cooperate....

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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I’ve taken the SAT two times. Both times, my CR score was dismal and actually DROPPED the second time. The first time I got a 690 in CR, I omitted 2 and got 6 wrong. Apparently there was just a brutal curve that month, and the chances of me getting a 690 with my raw score was around 10%, highest chances were to get a 700 or 710. Over winter break (I took the January SAT), my parents wasted my winter break by sending me to a boot camp (I’ve been to three of these. It’s insane.) exclusively for my reading and writing (I got a 650 in writing, which was a fluke, and an 800 in math which was expected). Despite my insistence that I had done everything to improve my CR score that would rarely budge above 700, my parents still put me through the same stuff that I had heard time and time again. I took the SAT again in January, and although my composite score was 70 points higher (2210) and with another 800 in math and a 730 in writing (with 10 essay. this score is my expected/average score. idk why I did so bad my first time) my CR score, embarrassingly, dropped 10 points to a 680 (2 omit, 8 wrong).

My problem isn’t my vocabulary (the only vocab I missed in January was when I mixed up astute and asinine in a rushed decision), my problem is passage reading. I wouldn’t call myself a creative thinker, but I often have different ways of interpreting things. A lot of passages are really ambiguous, and I may not always agree with the author’s viewpoint (not on purpose, just the vibe I get from the passage), which is why I get a lot of those questions wrong. What should I do? I took my first ACT practice test and I got a 31 (27E/33M/31R/33S/9 essay). Is it time to move on?

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This is where you’re going wrong. The passages may strike you as ambiguous, but the questions and answers most definitely are NOT–are you verifying your answers in the passages? Students in the 660-740 range can almost always narrow hard questions down to two answer choices, but the next step is to verify your answer so you know it’s right.

As for whether or not you “agree with the author’s viewpoint,” well, that’s a borderline insane expectation. This isn’t a debate, it’s a test. Treat the passages as truth (it’s not really “critical” reading–it’s gullible reading haha), and use them as GOSPEL to answer the questions. Check your own “opinions” at the door–subjective interpretation and inference are absolutely pitfalls on this exam.

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@marvin100 Yeah I always get stuck between 2-3 answers, and of course, I guess wrong. Sometimes I eliminate the right answer right off the bat LOLLL. I’m currently trying not to infer anything and just look at what’s in the passage, but my old habits are hard to break, but I’ll try. Thanks for your response!