<p>Hello,
My sat is on 1st oct(first time doing it).
I just did a practice CR section and got around 550 on it. Usually i've been getting between 500-650 on my CR. It's not the vocab which causes me to mess up but just the way i read the sentence. For example, the 1st question on this paper(section 8)- Barron's</a> SAT - Google Books</p>
<p>I thought the answer was resilient since it said 'only a few still stand today'.
Its mistakes like these plus some other stupid/non focusing ones which make me lose about 4-8 marks each CR section.</p>
<p>It seems like one of your problems is with context clues. A lot of the time you can answer a CR question correctly even without knowing 100% what the vocab word means. In that sentence the clue was FEW, not still. In reading it quickly you might have skipped ‘few’ and rushed to the wrong answer choice.</p>
<p>With the sentence questions, make sure you don’t read too fast. First, read the sentence quickly. In your mind think about what sort of word should fill in the blank… Is it positive or negative? then go back and reread the question more slowly, making sure you understand the context clues correctly, and try each answer choice that might work in the blank. If you read the context clues properly, you should be able to eliminate 1/2 of the answer choices without even trying them in the sentence.</p>
<p>Another important thing is to be able to read QUICKLY and SCAN efficiently. Some of the long reading questions are too long to read word for word. Instead you have to be able to read words in groups at a glance, and scan the passage. The best way to improve this skill is by reading. You don’t have a lot of time, but try reading at least one literature book before the test. Pick an interesting shorter one like The Time Machine or Around the World in 80 Days. Focus on understanding each paragraph while reading at a steady pace.
Try and Figure out what longer words mean through the context clues.
You can also read magazines like National Geographic or Smithsonian and do the same things that I mentioned above if you don’t have time to read a literature book.
What textbook are you taking tests from? I found the Barrons books are WAYYY harder than the real SAT. The CR section in their book gave me a headache. instead I used a combo of Kaplan’s and Princeton Review to study. Kaplan’s tests are a bit easier than the actual test but I think they explain answers well and have a lot of strategy tips. Princeton Review books are at or a little harder than the actual test. So I took tests out of Princetons books and reviewed problem types in Kaplan’s books.</p>
<p>Well… This is way longer than I intended, but I hope it helped! Good luck on the test and if you have anymore CR questions, ask away! :D</p>
<p>Thanks alot for that. I’m using the barrons guide. The questions which compares 2 passages and asks what would the author of para 1 say about the para 2, which of the following best describe what is mentioned in the 2 passages, 90% of the times, i get these wrong. I dont know why. I also mess up on the ones which ask about inference. etc. As for sentence completion, if i dont know couple of words, i just use POE to eliminate other choices. </p>
<p>The good SAT books tell you to underline the important words in passages or write in a couple words after each paragraph (I don’t think fast enough to pull this off) and read actively. For me, the problem was that I underline too many words per paragraph and the ones I do end up underlining turns insignificant due to the sheer amount of words that I underline. I miss on average about 3 questions per practice test, which brings me to around 720-800 according to the blue book. By the way, I didn’t read your post. I’m typing what really helped me sorry :D.</p>
<p>I can do about 90% of the sentence completion. I just don’t get the passages. First of all, they are not the most interesting. Secondly, all the answers look the same or are possible.
So, im really confused</p>