I started sat prep when i was 11 years old, and for over 4 years now i’ve been trying to improve my critical reading score. I have done about 60 practice tests, and in the last year, it just keeps staying around 700. This is my only section dragging me down, and I’ve tried to use every piece of advice and strategy, but nothing works for me. I’ve bought tons of books, read all of them, took note of every mistake i made, stayed up until 3-4 am to completely find out why i got certain questions wrong, but my score never improved. Why is life so unfair?
You need a level head when you’re taking the CR portion of the SAT. You are turning CR into something that is way more stressful than it actually is. When you are reading the explanation there is always that one part of it that stands out as the most simple and essential reason why it was correct. That is what you need to look for. Keep it simple. The SAT is a timed test and there is always a simple, singular reason why each answer is correct.
I’m sorry you’re not getting the results you want. A breakthrough will occur all of a sudden, at least in my case. Besides, 700 is still a good score, definitely something to be proud of. And there’s not much any of us can tell you that you haven’t heard already from CC guides and prep books. Maybe try reading excessively during winter break and see if that’ll make the difference for January. Good luck.
P.S.: 11 years old?! That is ridiculous even for these forums, and that’s saying something. People think I’m a nerd to start prep summer before junior year lol.
My kids have prepped for CR since they were about four. By reading. A lot. The key to success in CR is a great vocabulary, fairly fast reading skills, and the ability to understand and analyze what you are reading. Taking a ton of practice tests isn’t the best route to success for CR.
@intparent: "My kids have prepped for CR since they were about four: "
Umm, you do see that this kid is probably developing ulcers, right? So while I get that your message was ‘the key to success’ part, and I concur wholeheartedly, I’m not sure this kid can take that nuanced nudging as it is meant. It’s likely to make OP think they just didn’t start early enough. Just a thought.
I don’t think you understand my post. My kids love to read. They are book junkies, bibliophiles, literature lovers. They have been that way since they learned to read, and really before, since being read to was pretty much at the top of their activity list before they could do it for themselves. I don’t think either took more than one CR SAT prep test (they did study for Math, though). Don’t recall D1’s exact scores, but they were high. D2 had 800 CR, 800 WR, and 800 Lit subject test scores with pretty much no official prep. Lifelong readers have a huge edge on those tests – they find them easy. Taking lots of tests isn’t the path to success. Reading is.
Come on, intparent. Clearly I understood your post. I think you didn’t get my level of concern for the OP, considering OP’s persistent efforts which have not yielded desired results, and the attendant anxiety. Our kids have walked parallel paths, and I think the OP could have benefitted from the bulk of your advice, and may still, just not the whole of it.
This is why you are not performing as you want.
Starting SAT testing at age 11 is really unnecessary. Knowing that your parents have and are condoning this behavior is really sad.
@intparent explained that the cr score is based on your history of exposure to reading. Either having been read to or just consuming vast amounts of reading materials over your youth and lifetime. You can’t improve because you didn’t have that pleasure of reading for fun.
You won’t be successful in college if you can’t read well. Taking practice tests does not prove that you can read well.
lol you guys say starting at 11 is deplorable----I feel that starting later would reap an even lower score…
When I was 11 and took my first test, all the sections felt pretty hard, but I knew cr would be the one that screwed me over. And it did.
I took an official sat when I was 13. I scored 760wr, 740m, 560cr. (it’s also sad to note I got only 750 wr this time as well- 2 extremely stupid mistakes combined with 4 hours of sleep)
I have been reading for fun for a long time----so I’m even more confused…
I guess I’ve been able to bring both my math and writing up to 800 because they are sections that require only logic and constant practicing, but critical reading is abstract and a totally different beast.
I went to several prep courses, and most of the kids there improved in CR except for me. 3 of my 10th grade friends who started off later than I did and had initially had lower scores took the same prep class. They scored 800 in October, while I got a 700. I know 700 is considered good, but for the effort I’ve put in, it feels like an underachievement.
Any similar experiences/advice?
Well, I started “studying” in 8th grade because my parents made me. Went through the blue book, mostly just copying the answers from the back so they would think I was making progress. Scored like a 540 cr on the real one back then. Finished the blue book that summer and didn’t touch sat stuff until this last summer. Honestly that time spent studying was purely a waste of time and actually negatively affected my preparation this summer because I kind of remembered the blue book.
Any parents out there - 3 months (summer for example) is the maximum time you need prepare. If you work hard during those 3 months, you will probably hit your score cap. Studying past that point is counterproductive, because chances are you won’t improve much.
I feel like you are just plain burnt out. You’ve overworked yourself. Maybe you need a change in mindset. Attack critical reading as you would on the math section. There’s always a way to “solve the question” with direct evidence from the text. Like @Darknesz215 said, you seem to put too much emotion (anger?) into your practice. This might be what’s holding you back. People in states of emotional distress tend not to think clearly or make good decisions. This kind of reminds me of what my mom said I was doing during the summer. She saw me just doing practice problems for hours without any deep reflection on what I was doing wrong. You said you go over for hours why an answer is right or wrong, but you don’t see and real improvement. I don’t think you are practicing efficiently or effectively.
What I would recommend is take a few minutes to meditate or something (calm yourself somehow), then spending an hour or two on one critical reading section. Write down justifications for why each and every answer choice is either right or wrong. Then look back at CB’s/CC’s explanation and see how they are different or similar.
Lastly, I know that the SAT’s pretty important and all but try not to let your stress influence how you do.
Take a break from SAT prep, read for fun, do well in your classes, relax with friends and family, stop over thinking it.
Okay, I was like you. I figured that reading the passage as soon as I see it without even taking a peek at the questions helped A LOT more than I expected. Try that.
Understand what the passage is saying, and how its trying to say it. Write a <5 word summary next to every paragraph, then tackle the questions. Helps a bunch.
I never really read that much, using cliff notes for the majority of my in-class readings, and yet I still scored an 800 in CR with no wrong answers. I’ve noticed that a lot of the kids who are able to make intelligent, subjective points in English, somewhat surprisingly, don’t score that well on the SAT. The CR section is about being an objective, analytical thinker, in addition to being a good reader. Although I’ll concede that there’s a correlation between reading a lot and scoring well, it really doesn’t matter if you read more, especially in the relatively short time period you have to prepare for this test, if you’re still not likely to read effectively. The CR section tests how you think about what you’re reading, how analytical you are when reading, etc. Although these skills often develop the more you read, I know some kids who read all the time, all their lives, and still don’t score well in this test, and it’s because they’re poor thinkers. Reading more in the short-term might make you a marginally faster reader, perhaps, but it will not make you into the kind of reader you need to be to score well.
Those are my $0.02.