<p>Hello. My little sister just took a practice PSAT and she got a nice score of 177. She's a sophomore this year and I've been helping her increase her score (since my scores aren't looking so hot, my parents are trying to get my little sister ivy-bound).
Her scores are this:</p>
<p>CR: 50
M: 68
W: 59</p>
<p>My parents brought books (as well as my old books) for her and I don't know how to start teaching her! She's not motivated at all. I know she could have gotten a 76+ on the math. But the CR and writing is the hard part? How can you make learning grammar fun? I read silverturtle's and taught her, but it didn't really help?</p>
<p>And CR? Her reading comprehension is really bad. Every CR section she usually gets 12 wrong. Is there anyway to increase? I told her to mark the lines and write little notes, but it didn't do much with her scores.</p>
<p>Please help. My parents really want her to get a 200+ on her sophomore PSAT, a 225+ Junior Year PSAT & 2200+ SAT. By senior year, they expect her to get a 2300 SAT score. </p>
<p>I'm not doing it for my parents all that much, I just want to see my sister succeed because she has the potential.</p>
<p>Really no one can help me?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You have to make her motivated, and soon you will see improvements. If your sister doesn’t really want to study, there isn’t much you can help her with.</p>
<p>How can I motivate her? Or actually re-motivate her since she had this whole crappy social issue which caused her to be like this</p>
<p>Well, I am sorry to say this: People who arent motivated like your sister need 1 of two things:</p>
<p>1) Get a shotgun pointed at their head
2) Suffer the consequences.</p>
<p>Btw What SOCIAL ISSUE. Family death or an unimportant social issue?</p>
<p>No motivation = no success!</p>
<p>@realityisadream:
She broke up with this guy about 5 months ago even though she still likes him, some crap happened (I think it’s along the lines of his friends hating her and yadda yadda). And now he has a new girlfriend who is a senior. </p>
<p>BASICALLLLLY, she’s heartbroken :'(. I kinda feel bad for her, but that shouldn’t go in the way of her future success! Like 5 months passed!</p>
<p>I really need to get her out of the dumps mood…!!</p>
<p>LOOOOOOOOOOL
That is why I hate those (stupid) emotions: they always get in the way of success.</p>
<p>No offense, but so what that her BOYfriend left her that is not something as important as your mother dying.</p>
<p>Slap her on her face and tell her that the world wont stop because her boyfriend left her, and that if she doesnt work hard she will probably end up as an unemployed couch bag in home. You prove yourself in this world not sit and cry.</p>
<p>I dont mean to be harsh but I really get annoyed people who dont appreciate what they have.</p>
<p>LOOOOOL.</p>
<p>realityisadream, I told her (minus the slap) already and she’s still kinda moody. </p>
<p>Any more good advice? (;</p>
<p>Ask her when she isn’t as moody: “[Sister’s name], do you REALLY want to get into an Ivy League, and be successful in life?”
If she says “yes, of course,” then say, “Well, at this rate you have no chance of that. None.” Or maybe less harsh, whatever you think will work.
If she says “no, I don’t care,” then she’s doomed for a life “as an unemployed couch bag,” as realityisadream said. 
Good luck.</p>
<p>LMAO ^
Good I like it. I’m pretty sure she will say yes. Since she’s self studying World History, Euro History, and Stats.</p>
<p>And she has leadership positions in 2 clubs.</p>
<p>So now, how can I improve her CR skill?</p>
<p>Remember, the CR questions are based directly off the passage. Getting 12 wrong suggests that she is depending on a) her recollection of the passage and/or b) her outside knowledge. </p>
<p>If she can’t support her answer choice with a quote from the passage, then her answer choice is incorrect. </p>
<p>Follow this simple tip and she’ll get the majority of CR questions correct. The remaining handful of questions ask for a basic interpretation of the passage or the definition of a word in-context.</p>
<p>As for grammar, try finding a book titled Nitty-Gritty Grammar. It even has cartoons to make grammar fun. I used it - to great effect - I now get most/all of the grammar questions right :).</p>
<p>I don’t know if I’m the best source for CR, but I have improved from a 530-690 this summer. Anyway, here is my advice:</p>
<p>Sentence Completions: Memorize all of the Direct Hits vocabulary (about 400ish words). Do Barrons 3500 if she is more ambitious. But remember to review. I’m doing Barrons right now and for every list I do each day, I forget about half of it the following day. Making flashcards is a great way to study, or if you’re more of a technology person, Quizlet.</p>
<p>Passage reading: Read the news (New York Times) and do at least one 25 min section of CR a day. </p>
<p>When you are teaching her, make sure you go through everything. Teach her untimed, going very, very slowly. </p>
<p>First, let her mark up the passage really quickly beforehand with line references from the questions. </p>
<p>Then, read the passage with her, making sure she understands every sentence and looking up words she doesn’t know in the passage. </p>
<p>When you get to a question, ask her what she thinks the answer is and how sure she is. </p>
<p>If she gets it right and her confidence level is high, then go on. If she gets it right and her confidence level is low, ask her why she wasn’t sure of the answer and eliminate any doubt. If she gets it wrong and her confidence level is high, make sure you figure out what she missed. Maybe she missed a “not” while reading the question. If so, remind her that reading slowly and comprehending everything is very important. If she gets it wrong and her confidence level is low, spend time on that question, because it is probably the kind of question she has the most trouble with. Make a note of that type of question and be sure to test her more on it.</p>
<p>Hope I helped :)</p>
<p>Dear Sister of OP,
put aside emotions until you take the SAT and get your scores, then you’ll see real emotions. when you get scores that you didnt expect (bad or good) your emotional state will change for sure. If its a bad score, im positive you’ll be motivated to do better and if its a good score, you might just be apathetic towards motivation. All in all, you have a bright future if you study hard using Dr. Chungs Math Workbook + silverturtle’s grammar rules + Barron’s 2400 for CR + W and + BB for practice tests. Your ex-bf doesnt…and neither does his callgirl.</p>
<p>@IceQube </p>
<p>What is the ISBN of nitty gritty grammar?</p>
<p>Plus, why are you tutoring your sister ? She is supposingly preparing for college. Will somebody tutor her in college also ???</p>
<p>Caring about an ended relationship for that long is unhealthy…</p>
<p>^ Unhealthy is not the correct word, but totally foolish or extremely stupid is.(no offense)</p>
<p>I find that caring for somebody who doesnt care about me foolish.</p>
<p>LOL.
@realityisadream, I’m tutoring her because she’s my sister. And she’s like my best friend. And well, idk, I don’t want to see my little sister not make it into a great school. She’s brilliant. She has potential to save lives (she wants to become a biomedical engineer). So yes, sister’s help each other.</p>
<p>But the whole boyfriend crap, it’s just foolish. 5 months she could have went up to him and say, “Dude, I like you. Okay?” But she didn’t.</p>
<p>@herozero1234
Amazing. Brilliant, gonna show it to her (:</p>
<p>^ Good luck tutoring her…(wishing you best luck)</p>
<p>Sorry for being harsh. It is just that I am used to do everything myself with no help;thus, seeing somebody who is not appreciating makes me sick.</p>
<p>A good way for motivation:</p>
<p>Take her to a walk with you and show her a hobo(ones sitting besides garbage bins) then tell her,‘’ If you dont study well, you better reserve a bin for you too and guess what no one is going to help you then not even your boyfriend’'.</p>
<p>She will study 24/7 for the rest of her life.</p>
<p>lol. It worked kinda. She’s finishing her World History Chapter notes (AP).
But it’s also the Hurricane Irene. It’s driving her nuts. Most of our relatives live there. </p>
<p>BEST OF LUCK EVERYONE ON THE EAST COAST!!!</p>