<p>Lol. I always ask this to the people who score 700+ on their CR score..</p>
<p>What goes through your mind everytime you read a passage?</p>
<p>The vast majority of the time I genuinely enjoy the passage and comprehension comes naturally from that <em>shrug</em></p>
<p>I annotate as I go along. But just short notes. Usually what I write or circle shows up in a question.</p>
<p>I tried annotating. And I failed completely ^^ D:</p>
<p>You have to get serious and actually understand what you are reading. Although I score 700+, I really stress out on the CR sections. One time, I finished reading the first two paragraphs of a passage, but I realized that I knew absolutely nothing at that point, so I went back to read the passage again. Comprehension is key. You have to be in the zone.</p>
<p>^So, when you breezed through two paragraphs without comprehending any of it, would you say that you ‘lost yourself’? Ha. Ha…ha.</p>
<p>More seriously, I sometimes do that as well. But when I get into a good rhythm, I can comprehend quite well, and I tend to get all of the questions right.</p>
<p>I’m taking the SAT one last time in November and am particularly hammering out and digging deep on both the CR and Math sections…I’m working mainly on CR atm and one thing I found was that the best tip is to play devil’s advocate on each and every problem. Before, I would miss 2 or 3 problems because I would look through the questions too quickly. These past two days I sat down, read through each question eliminating every answer choice using logic and info from the passage and I only made 1 mistake today because I overanalyzed (didn’t quite agree with the answer, but I understood my fault). As for the vocab, I’ve used this site: [The</a> Free & Smart Way to Learn SAT Test Vocabulary Words](<a href=“Satvocab - The Free and Smart Way to Learn SAT Test Vocabulary Words”>Satvocab - The Free and Smart Way to Learn SAT Test Vocabulary Words) and this site: [PrepMe</a> Online SAT, Online ACT, Online PSAT prep courses](<a href=“http://www.sat-preparation.co.il/quiz/index.php?]PrepMe”>http://www.sat-preparation.co.il/quiz/index.php?) for practice. The first site is especially helpful to people like me who use mnemonics to help in vocab memorization…I scored a 700 on CR when I first took it…hoping for a 750+ this time aroound. Good luck!</p>
<p>I constantly get 500s-600s range (depending on my mood really -__-).
ut I think I have time? Practice makes perfect (So cliche)</p>
<p>I read it once. I read the first couple of paragraphs very slowly, and once I get the jist, I rush through to the end. I go back to the passage for every question.</p>
<p>I look at the questions first, searching for things like, “In Lines 23-25…”. I then mark these lines in the passage very quickly (less than a minute for all of them). Finally, I read the passage and answer the questions when I get to the marked portions. It takes some practice, but it’s a really good strategy.</p>
<p>I do that too ^ but my scores still remain in the mid to high 500s. The sentence completion isn’t challenging, i somehow get nearly all of them correct. My problem is the long passages…ive gotten like 20 of them wrong -__- (in total)…its seriously crushing my score. Anyway to do better?</p>
<p>would anyone recommend any workbooks that is good to practice?</p>
<p>Same problem.
It also depends on how interesting the passage is…</p>
<p>I have to get inside the “zone” or “mentality” which makes me more prone to actually understanding what I read.</p>
<p>I CANNOT think about other things when reading the passage other then the passage itself.</p>
<p>^^ I completely understand the “zone” thing. There’s a point where I get into my test-taking mood and I just kinda breeze through it. That works for homework too. It’s subconscious, I can’t tell you HOW it happens but it does. :P</p>
<p>But sometimes I can’t get in my “zone”, and in that case I find that just focusing on the passage itself and reading to understand it is best. Feigning interest, even if it’s something you don’t care about at all, helps too. You comprehend more if you care about what you’re reading. Another thing that helps, especially on extremely hard passages, is making it a challenge. Pretend the passage is a puzzle or a riddle, and you have to solve the puzzle. Motivate yourself in any way you can.</p>
<p>Dorkyelmo,</p>
<p>Passage-Based Questions:
Let me start by telling you I have the same problem. I can’t stand my friends who tell me “it just comes to them naturally.” I’ve done a lot of improvement on CR myself. I’m in the process of going for the 800 on CR right now. The best advice I can give you is you need to do them untimed at first. You can’t expect to just rush in head strong with 25 minutes and to analyze everything - its impossible. Slowly take it at your own pace. Do about 2 to 3 sections of isolated CR per day. You must go slow. Whether its the lengthy dual comparative you’re facing or just analyzing a small article, you must go slow. Really read, and then answer the question. Plain and simple. I’ve found that underlining the groups of lines can help (lets say a question says referring to lines 5-9, go underline those and pay attention to them whilst reading). Now, lets attack the biggest problem: You’re looking at the selected amount of lines, you’re looking at the entire passage, you just can’t narrow any, or at best 2 answer choices out. Now what? Remember: the answer is staring back at you. Here is why you don’t want time pressure at first: you can calmly assess the answer choices and clear your head at this point. Cliche, but I just take a deep breath and count to 10 nice and slowly. I’ll look back at the question and attack it THEN. Don’t stress yourself with time because you just won’t improve as fast as you want, or, need. I know this sounds cheesy and you might be thinking “I’m no idiot, Aceventura74 has no idea what he’s thinking! He’s helping people who get 400s get a 500…” This method helped me go from 450 to 730. So I’m speaking to you if you’re going for 1800 or 2400 my friend. Seriously, get rid of time, do isolated sections, and don’t just brush over the answer explanation. Read EVERY WRONG EXPLANATION. Don’t be like “Oh I knew it was b or d, its no problem” and hurry up. This will take a lot of time. But soon you’ll be getting that constant 700 you want. </p>
<p>Sentence Completions:</p>
<p>Ah, another thing I hate. I’m a math man. I can learn any formula and navigate, factor, and graph in my head. Give me a _______ in a sentence and I’m a deer caught in headlights; or at least I used to be. Direct Hits is the way to go. If you have a long time (1 year or 6 months+) get a hold of Barron’s Gigantic flash card set. Not sure if its still printed, but I recall hearing about a large set; about 3000 or 5000. If you memorize those words, you won’t ever be guessing, i assure you that my friend. But, if you’re like most people, you’re pressed for time, because you’re a genius who started studying last minute =P (guilty of that myself…for multiple exams xD). Get Direct Hits. I know people “rave” about these “awesome 100 (or small #) of flash cards that are GREAT!” BS. Direct Hits has a 70% “hit rate;” meaning 70% of the words show up and most students excel. So, get the Direct Hits books and start studying. Hope I helped, best of luck my friend :)!</p>
<p>~Aceventura74</p>
<p>Omg thank you for the in-depth review ^^
and I’m thinking yeah… That might work. My score improved about 100 points (but I had distractions…) </p>
<p>I’m thinking of doing more today! Thanks for the advice :)</p>
<p>I don’t actually read the passage unless I don’t get it at all. I just read the citations mentioned in the questions because those generally contain the main ideas, reading all the extraneous material distracts you from the main purpose of the passage.</p>
<p>Dorkyelmo,</p>
<p>Always happy to help ^_^.</p>
<p>~Aceventura74</p>
<p>Usually I read it through, quickly, one time to get a general understanding of the passage, and then I look back for reference for each question.</p>