<p>On my CR practice tests from CB I got all of my reading comprehension questions correct, but I got 6 SC wrong and ommitted 1. That gave me a 700--what are some tips to getting better at SC's?</p>
<p>Also on my practice tests I have gotten a 700 CR, 720 Math scores--is it realistic to expect similar results on the real SAT's in June? Thanks!</p>
<p>I'm in a similar boat. I'm good at reading comprehension but manage to reduce my score significantly because of the sentence completion questions. I get like the last two or three wrong in each section. I would like tips on how to improve on those questions as well.</p>
<p>you just read man thats all you can/should do if you get killed on SC - try to figure out stuff frmo logic and surrounding material</p>
<p>for me vocab cards never helped
i still get only like 1 SC wrong per practice so i doubt that you need to memorize vocab words to do well
at least i didnt have to resort to that method</p>
<p>Study vocab and read high vocab books. It worked for me. At first I missed 6 and ommited two. On january 22, 2005, I only missed 2 and skipped none. There was a bit of vocab I studied on there too!!!</p>
<p>cool. any recommendations on how to study vocab/read high vocab books. a-z lists have never worked for me.</p>
<p>Kaplan has some good books (regular reading books like frankenstein) with words diffined right on the side of the page. The repitition of those words commits them to memory. Plus you get the added bonus of seeing them in context. Other than that, I don't know...</p>
<p>Plus you get critical reading practice. not that you need that...</p>
<p>this is the trick: make your own flashcards, and use what you learn. i'm taking the SAT1 again this october, but in the last one i did, i didn't lose any mark under SC, but critical reading was my waterloo (missed 7!). make your own flashcards. that's the key and don't just limit yourself to the vocab lists you see in Barron's or Kaplan. I went through the whole dictionary and sought out words i didn't know not for the sake of SAT but for my own enrichment, and many words come out on the actual test than what is in Barron's or others. in fact, those words have been over-killed. get new ones.</p>
<p>but long term, nothing bets an avid love of reading - everything. and if you're into debate, that'll help, too. but if there's little time, make your own cards or make up your own lists in a notebook. when you write things down, they stick. when you say them, they stick, too. because your brain will readily remember the words it produces.</p>
<p>i have been reading the newspaper alot recently but I don't feel I pick up words this way.</p>
<p>Thanks Jrock-
to help you with CR, I used to get like 7-8 wrong too. I always read the whole passage first and then went back to the questions and then refered to the passage again from the questions! This is a waste of time and it is hard to stay focused on what the question is specifically asking, such as how a particular example is relevant to 2 specific lines. This was in March when I got 8 wrong. Today on my test I got 0 wrong. it really works, I used to think it was just princeton review bull, but it makes the CR so much easier. Good luck!</p>
<p>yeah, thanks. i'm gonna try that out how and see how much i can benefit it.</p>
<p>My suggestion is to practice. A LOT. And when you practice, go slowly. Underline the word in the sentence that gives you a clue for what goes in the blank. Then circle the trigger word. Usually, these "triggers" indicate whether the word in the blank is going to be a synonym or an antonym for your underlined clue. Use process of elimination LIKE MAD for the words you do know, and take advantage of the context of the sentence. For every practice question, whether you get it right or wrong, look up all of the words in both the stem and the answer choice that you don't know. Self-created mnemonic devices can work wonders, as long as they are distinct from one another and are very vivid and bizarre. The more practice questions you do, the more you will understand what you are doing wrong and the easier it will be to correct. But the key with sentence completions is to take your time on them. If the answer is not immediately apparent to upon reading the sentence slowly digest the question into small steps. Here is a popular method for tackling troubling SCs:</p>
<p>1) Read the sentence and blanks, while keeping the answer choices covered. Reading the choices ETS gives you before having a firm idea of the answer will be your downfall.
2) Put your own word into the blank. Very often, you can use the key word in the sentence in the blank if the trigger indicates that the blank will be a synonym. If you really can't think of a word of your own to put in the blank, decide whether the blank indicates a positive or negative connotation. This is a last resort, but you can almost always tell whether something is "good" or "bad". Write down the word you have chosen.
3) Check the answer choices. See which one is the closest match to the word you picked. If you get really good, you'll end up picking the exact word in the answer choice itself, usually indicating a correct answer. But be sure never to select an answer before reading all of the choices. Sometimes another word is better. Cross off any word you know is incorrect, and make a note of choices with words you don't know, even if you are fairly certain they are incorrect. Look them up later.
4) Put the chosen word back in the original sentence and make sure it lines up with the underlined word and the trigger. Make sure that if the trigger is a word like but, however, yet, or even a semicolon (less common) your word is in contrast to the clue word.</p>
<p>I know the strategy behind sentence completion but the reason i get the hard ones wrong is purely based on lack of vocabulary.. I know what should go in the blank, i just don't know which word has taht defintion.</p>
<p>This probably isn't terribly helpful, but, personally, I took all of the words listed in my prep book and then printed out flash cards with the roots and definitions. It took me about 10 hours to enter them all in and then about 2 hours to print and cut them out (I got other people to help them out). I then committed to memory about 75 words a day for a little over a week before the test. I never really believed in flash cards before, but I had recently been using them to learn French vocabulary and I was surprised that by just going over the words 3 or 4 times, I could keep them in my head fairly well. I adapted to learning SAT words. Obviously if you're completely lost by the words and aren't familiar with roots and have never encountered them, then this method probably wouldn't help. But if you read a reasonable amount and already have a reasonable vocabulary, then you might want to look into it. For what it's worth, most of the words in each 75-word group I was at least aware of its existence and had a vague idea of its context (which is often good enough for the sentence completions) and then about 5-10 were words that I had either never heard before or had no idea how to define.</p>
<p>I think I got all the sentence completions correct during the May test except for the "redolent...waft" one.. grr.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone :)</p>