Please help me out to break 700 in CR

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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<p>My scores are back from the October SAT.
CR: 670
M: 780
W: 800</p>

<p>Now what is up with that critical reading gap? Can the people who get 740+ fill me in on what they do? If you are naturally a good CR, then you probably can't help much. However, those of you who improved your critical reading, HOW DID YOU DO IT?</p>

<p>I used Barron's 2400 and The Blue Book but they didn't help my CR alot (however, math went up 30 points and writing went up 100); I only raised my score by 20 points from my June CR score of 650.</p>

<p>Seriously, help me out! I need to break that 700 barrier.</p>

2

<p>honestly, what the heck are u looking for??? it's only 30 pts more,just do practice -.-</p>

3

<p>It's very easy to jump from 670 to a 700+ - it's a matter of getting two or more questions correct. One time I went over a practice test and discovered two misbubbled answer - my 670 jumped to a 730 when I redid the raw score as those correct.</p>

<p>I found that British literature or books with a lot of Latin root words did the job for critical reading, and being extra careful with line number reading. I treat the MC as a game and aim for seeing which wrong ones I can knock down first (more difficult ones) or the one that is definitely right and supported by the concrete information in the text (train this one to be automatic).</p>

<p>All the MC can be proven by the text, it just depends on how quickly you are able to absorb the information - practice that maybe?</p>

4

<p>Want the same answer...is it effective to read as many books as you can.</p>

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<p>same here.. i got a 660 on the Oct. CR.. i know i'm capable of getting higher (i've done so at home when i am practicing), but on test days, my CR score is always lower.. as long as i break a 700 on CR, i'll be content</p>

6

<p>You just need to remember not to guess what the passage means or what the author intends. The answer is usually explicit in the the text. Not always, of course, but I usually go back to the tough questions and even reread the passage to figure out what it's talking about.</p>

<p>As for the vocab questions, those are the ones that kill me, but I still get over 700.</p>

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<p>vocab hurts me a nice bit (it along can get me down to a 720-ish range), and then i miss a couple of dumb ones in reading (which brings me down below 700)</p>

<p>i tend to second guess myself on the actual test, but at home, i just plow through it and usually average about a 710-720 on reading (even with the vocab mistakes.. i'm practicing vocab now, so hopefully that'll help)</p>

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<p>Yeah, my problem is inference. I hate that "Author A would probably tell Author B" stuff.
I am just going to buy a Critical Reading workbook.</p>

<p>Do you think colleges will care that much. For instance, will they look and say, "Hmm. 780 and 800..impressive. But wait, what is this? A 670. NEXT APPLICANT."
lol</p>

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<p>Also, will colleges care if I take the SAT for the third time?</p>

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<p>I jumped from 630 (Jan) to 760 (Oct).</p>

<p>Just READ MORE.
By reading I mean reading real literature.
If you can't stand reading those 'classics', at least read a few economist/iht articles everyday.
It will help you to read faster and also builds your word bank!</p>

11

<p>I jumped exactly the same as bv123, 630 to 760</p>

<p>all i did was do like 10 practice cr tests from CB and learn direct hits volume 1 and then it just kind of clicked</p>

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<p>do you think learning most of those Sparknotes 1000 SAT words will help me for vocab?</p>

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<p>for the MC, just take lots of practice problems and memorize the words that keep popping up or ones that have a different from normal meaning. </p>

<p>for the passages. i have realized that reading a lot and partcipating in your english + literature classes really help.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
do you think learning most of those Sparknotes 1000 SAT words will help me for vocab?

[/quote]

Buy Direct Hits. It has everything you need to know in terms of vocab.</p>

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<p>Like Serafina mentioned, 30 points is very do-able. It's probably 2-3 more questions right. But to answer your question, it depends on how much time you have. If you have months before your next SATs, like everyone mentioned, reading is always good. But personally, I don't think you have to read dense literature or anything. Read something that is well-written but engaging so you enjoy it. And if you don't have a whole lot of time, practice tests worked wonders for me and some basic tips.. like never chose the extreme answer and stuff like that. Pace yourself well too. Rushing through passages without understanding is a waste of time. Take a few more minutes to read the passage and thoroughly understand it, and the answers will come much more easily.</p>

<p>As for your second question, taking the SATs 3 times is fine =) If you're taking it like 5 times, then that might not look so great.</p>

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<p>i got a 34 on the ACT reading section, only missing 2 questions there.. i just went with my gut on some of those, and it turned out I was right on them.. but lately i've been regressing back into that "second guessing myself" stage</p>

<p>as far as vocab, i looked over all those sparknotes words today, and i did 19 vocab problems from the 3 reading sections in the book.. 18/19.. so maybe if i just look at that list every day that'll help.. and the ones in the blue book that keep recurring (like you guys said)</p>

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<p>Meadow36 is right. You will have to master Level 4 and 5 vocabulary words to raise your score above a 700. Get Direct Hits. Don't forget to do the SC exercises. They were a big help.</p>