<p>Hi, Im a senior now and soon, Ill be applying to colleges in less than 2 months.</p>
<p>Well, I wrote october sat last weekend and I lost all the hope by comparing my answers for CR in official thread forums.</p>
<p>I took SAT last June and I got 500/800/620. (for subjects, I already have 800 math 2c, 800 chemistry, 780 physics)</p>
<p>This time, I think I got 800 for math (Im naturally good at math), and around 700 for writing but for CR, I think I did worse, already spotting like 17 wrong out of 40 questions mentioned in the forums.</p>
<p>During summer, I did intense studying for SAT for full 2 months and memorized so much vocabs. and I continued studying for SAT until October.</p>
<p>But I feel really bad because my CR score never ever improves. I see my classmate not studying at all and going out every single week and getting 750+ on CR and that makes me feel so dejected. Although Im applying to science major, 500 on CR is extremely low for the schools I want to apply. (CMU, JHU, NW...) </p>
<p>I only have November or December left since that would reach my 3 times of SAT. But I dont think my reading will never be higher than 600. </p>
<p>Should I just give up sat? Im really sorry for whining but I just feel so dejected right now.</p>
<p>I think you should try one more time. You have awesome subject test scores, and you know they say third time’s the charm. I’m actually debating about this too, I got a 1930 in my first SAT, and I really wanna get past the 2100’s to go Ivy League, so I do need to try one more time. You should really consider it! I think you can always do better.</p>
<p>Your lower scores don’t necessarily mean that you’re a bad critical reader because people have different ways of exhibiting their comprehension abilities.
For CR section, the best thing to do is practice, practice, and more practice. There are no ways to just “study,” rather, you should just apply yourself to the test. You will be able to familiarize yourself with the structure of the questions and notice the general flow to how the passages relate to the questions.<br>
I went from a 590 to 700-780s on my CollegeBoard practice tests and a 720 on the actual test.
Also, I did lots of practice for the CR on the ACT test (Got 33 on the section) it helped me manage my time better.<br>
I hope this was somewhat helpful and best of luck!</p>
<p>take it a third time. for critical reading, there is a two step approach i took. i got a 750, 740, i know its not perfect, but its something. so i basically thought from the perspective of the test makers. they do not want people to think too much, or to extrapolate drastically for questions. if you are thinking too much per question, stop that, trust me! Second thing, actually practice. vocab is great and im glad u spent a lot of time on that, that was really smart! Keep doing that, but at the same time, you gotta do lots of passages. Gl dude, u seem like an extremely intelligent person, you can do it!</p>
<p>Third time is really the charm I went from a 560 to a 670 in practice tests. I know its not so awesome but I did it with practicing as the CCers told me to do. Really CR is frustrating to me as well, it was the only one in the 600s but at least I improved. Vocab definitely counts there’s no two ways about it. :)</p>
<p>Nirvanva, work hard, dream big, and pray a lot. You can get there because I did. </p>
<p>Tips:
-read the Economist and Wall Street Journal daily
-go to questions before passage, saving the big idea questions until you’ve answered all the others (that way, you have a good idea of what’s going on)
-take the online SAT course for a ton of practice tests
-take 1 reading section each day for a month
-recognize the types of questions you’re prone to have trouble with (could be vocab, big idea, inference questions) and push yourself to perfect those skills needed to answer the problems you have trouble with
-be interested in the story you’re reading; it will make you catch the details and pay more attention
-EAT CHOCOLATE. Not even kidding, dark chocolate is proven to increase attention span and function (helped me!)
-BE POSITIVE. Negativity will kill your confidence. You can do this if I did.</p>
<p>Practice!! Practice tests are an invaluable tool when you’re preparing for the SAT. They saved my score! I started with an SAT score of ~1600 and after 5 months of nonstop practice (especially in my trouble area - math, which for you would be critical reading) I got it up to a 2100+. I would seriously suggest getting review books specifically tailored towards the CR section or writing section as your math score is really good anyway. Never give up and good luck!</p>
<p>how much and how fast you extract information from reading determines how good a reader you. when it comes to critical reading of the SAT, read passages in chunks, for each chunk write your main idea in your own words(be concise), and then answer line reference questions, draw some ugly marks and locate that chunk of info(doesn’t have to be accurate ) and then you should able to narrow down to 2 answers for each question, if you know the answer, circle it, if you don’t, immediately go back and reread it. and most important of all, you must what the author is talking about, because that’s what critical reading is all about.(since you have studied boat load of vocab, you should have no trouble getting the main idea.) and one last thing, while taking the test, don’t let your mind wander(that’s why people practice meditation to raise their attention and awareness.), feel positive and allow yourself to be as tranquil as possible.</p>