<p>I took my SATs for the first time in January (I am a junior in high school). My score was a 1630 (Critical Reading: 440, Math: 660, Writing: 530). I really expected to do better. My GPA is a 3.7 and I want to get a high SAT score to get into a really good college/school.</p>
<p>I need to higher my Critical Reading majorly and also my Writing. I am retaking the SAT for the 2nd time in May. What can I do to increase my Critical Reading and Writing score? For example, what books realllllllly help? or courses (online/classroom)?</p>
<p>I really want to do good (2000-2200) on my 2nd try so I do not have to take it my senior year.</p>
<p>For CR, is it the vocab or the reading comprehension that trips you up the most? If it's vocab, just study up on word lists (freerice.com is a fun tool) and know different prefixes/suffixes to help you figure out words you don't know. For reading comprehension, just practice, practice, practice. The only thing you really can do for that is develop your analytical skills.</p>
<p>For writing, I use "universal" examples that work in nearly every situation the test can throw at you. I have about six historical examples, and I have them all memorized along with various facts about them. Once I read the question, I pull out the two that I think work best and get down to it. It's been my strategy from the beginning, and I've gotten 12's on every essay I've ever written.</p>
<p>When I first took the SAT in November, I got a 590 CR and a 780 W. I hadn't studied at all, but planned to study after I had realized what I tripped up on. I got the Princeton Review and used it for CR strategies and for vocab words. They have a "hit list" that gives the vocab words that most commonly appear on the SAT (and, let me tell you, a lot of those did appear on the SAT when I retook in January).</p>
<p>So, I retook the test in January, only focusing on the CR section, and I improved my score by 50 points. I know, a 640 is not that great at all, but at least I knew that studying could help me out. Now, I'm going to repeat the same thing and hope that I can get up to a 680-700.</p>
<p>Sometimes, you get lucky with a test whether it be with vocab words or easy reading passages. But, I think that that PR is the best study tool because it really does prepare you for any test almost.</p>
<p>the best book to practice with is the blue book - the Official Sat Guide - why? Because the questions are real college board questions - the questions in all the other books are not quite right. For advice on how to solve problems, use Princeton Review or the Rocket Review Guide.</p>