Hi Cc,
Iam an international taking the sat this Oct, aiming for a 2300+(i know it sounds quite unrealistic given my current score)
I aim for a 750 in CR and currently score 650+
My main problems are:
I do not know which is the best way to read the passages, many websites say that you just read the way you like, but I am confused…
I think there are some problems with my mindset or something, I don’t understand why I got a question wrong, and thus, I am bad at answering questions, especially those regarding attitude of certain ppl mentioned and the purpose qs.
I ALWAYS RUN OUT OF TIME.
I currently memorize the famed direct hits and some other wordlist, however, IS THERE A WORDLIST THAT HELP ME KNOW most of the words in the sentence completions? How many words should I study?
5)How to improve your critical reading score FASTEST and Most EFFECTIVELY?
I want a 750 CR so badly, it is a proof to me that after all iam not so stupid.
I can study days and nights if that’s what it takes,literally.
Please share your experience and advice, to all who is, or used to be in the same situation
:)))
Critical reading is by far the hardest section to teach (that’s why you see so many applicants with low CR scores and near perfect math and writing). What sections of the CR do you have trouble with? Long passages? Short passages? Comparing passages?
Of course I could be the annoying, self-righteous person that tells you “just read more,” but while that will help your score, there are certainly techniques that help. On any test, always remember that nothing is inferred ever–yes even the inferences; all information will be given to you right in the passage. What worked for me best was the Barrron’s method: since the questions will be presented to you in order of line numbers, break the passage into 2-3 chunks. Read each chunk, then complete the questions that deal with that chunk, referring back to the passage to re-read and skipping questions that refer to the passage overall (i.e., tone, mood, main idea questions). Finish these questions once you’ve read all the chunks and completed all the other questions.
What also worked for me (also taken from Barron’s, whoops) was marking in the lines they ask you about before reading the passage at all. Skim the questions first and mark in the line numbers they tell you; draw in sidebars and underline words in context. You’ll know which parts of the text are most important, and it’ll be easier to refer back to the text if the line references are already marked in.
How are you reading the passages right now? If you are not marking anything and you’re still running out of time, then you’re going to need to put in a lot of effort to speed up that comprehension ability. If you’re reading the passages quickly, but end up pondering each question for ~2 minutes, then try to ACTIVELY read. By this I mean underlining things, writing on the sidelines, etc. There are so many strategies you can use in the CR section… you just have to find one that fits best with you. Just keep practicing and working through more of those passages. You will improve.
Here are some strategies. You can only use one, or you can use them all. Find whatever you think helps you the most. As with every piece of advice, some of these may not work for you, and others may help you immensely. @gonfaloniere already mentioned some of these.
-After each paragraph of the long passage, write a few words that summarize the main idea of the paragraph.
-Mark any phrase that stands out to you, there is a strong chance that there will be a question related to it.
-Look through the questions and find ones that specifically mention line #'s or paragraphs, then go back to the paragraph and mark those lines before starting to read.
-READ BRIEFLY THE ITALICIZED BLURB OF BACKGROUND INFO ABOVE EACH PASSAGE
-For the short passages, I’d advise you to look at the questions BEFORE you read the passage.
@whateverhahah 10-20 words a day should be enough (there’s a limit as to how much information you can soak up in a given time frame. Don’t overdo it, or you’ll forget a lot of the words as you study). Don’t neglect other parts of the critical reading though. Practice passages too! The vocab you learn will also help you improve your passage scores.
Read it. If you’re a slow reader and worried about time, then try to practice skimming technique. The only way to know what’s in the passage is to read it. Skimming will work- if you practice. But there’s no substitute for actually reading and then referring back to the passage.
You need a certain mindset when it comes to SAT CR. It doesn’t work by the normal rules of logic. Sit down with an old SAT for practice (you can find them at http://magoosh.com/sat/2013/where-to-find-full-length-sat-practice-tests/) and see what you get. Then look over the answers. Was the moral what you expected? Maybe not- but reason out why the answer is what it is, even if the reason seems weak. That reasoning will work next time too. You need to think like a person taking a CR SAT, not like an ordinary person.
If you’re always running out of time, the best thing is practice. Also, try reading some books. They’ll help your reading comprehension immensely, and you’ll intuitively understand a lot of things (but it’s not a substitute for practice- see #2.) Try a few different ways of reading the passage (all the way through, in chunks, with underlining) and see if any of them help. Do you think you run out of time because it takes you a long time to read the passage, or because the questions are too hard?
Wordlists aren’t very useful. No matter how many you memorize, different ones will be on the test. Enlarge your vocabulary by reading higher-level materials. This will not only improve your vocabulary, but improve your reading comprehension. Also, look up the words you don’t understand on old SATs. These are much more likely to be on your SAT than the words on a word list made up by someone who has no idea. But really, reading and looking up words are the best way to practice for the CR section.
Practice. You can’t focus on speed- just move as fast as you can. You can’t be sloppy, or skip things. That’ll bring down your score even more. Your best bet is to practice reading, especially things with words you might not know. The only way to practice CR is to do it.
The SAT is not an intelligence test. I got below a 600 on my math SAT. Does that mean I was stupid? Or even bad at math? The A in the online (without instructional materials) geometry course I started (and finished 7 days later) would beg to differ. So don’t think you’re stupid just because you happen not to perform perfectly on one test.
I disagree. It’s a knowledge and reasoning test. It tests what you know and your current level of ability to comprehend reading passages. Doing badly does not necessarily indicate a lack of intelligence, and believing that is very bad for high school student’s morale.
To at least some degree, you must admit, the SAT measures how good you are at taking tests. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it entirely non-intelligence based, but it is not a big promoter of out-of-the-box thinking.
I used to get low 600’s in CR section (sometimes even low 500’s) and it’s because I didn’t put any heart or mind into reading the passage. I was sort of skimming through, not trying to understand what the passage was about, and once it got to answering the questions, I had no idea what the correct answer was.
So in my opinion, concentration and actively using your brain is the key.
Good luck :>
And it was proven to be very, very bad at that. Even the College Board now admits that prep is helpful–after all, the CB has partnered with Khan Academy to provide test prep. “Intelligence” shouldn’t be dramatically improvable by memorizing vocab and essay formulae, and yet the SAT absolutely is (in its current incarnation).
(A side note: even IQ tests don’t measure intelligence.)
I believe that smarter people will have to work less to achieve high scores- therefore, assuming a group of people put in a similar amount of work, the smartest ones will still receive the highest score. Not to say that you have to be smart to do well- you don’t, you just need to work more than smart people.
Yep, it’s been under attack by people who hate the notion of intelligence tests and by people who make money in test preparation, but the fact remains, hundreds of studies shows it correlates highly with general measures of intelligence.
It’s not just under attack by partisans–the CB itself has abandoned its long-time claims that it was an “aptitude” test. It’s eminently prep-able (as, by the way, are IQ tests)…
Thanks to all you guys I have been able to break a 700, but my scores vary greatly,sometimes 660… I can not even tell where I score now, what is the problem with me? :))