<p>Hello.</p>
<p>I'm going to be taking the SSATs in either November or December of this year (depending on my practice test marks). I get 100% in both math sections 99% of the time. My vocab is slowly improving, but my reading comprehension is not.</p>
<p>Any suggestions on how to improve my scores on the reading comprehension section would be appreciated.</p>
<p>And is the books Direct Hits any good for vocab?</p>
<p>I asked my son and he said, “Read! Read voraciously.”</p>
<p>The other poster is 100% right that your best preparation for the reading section is reading. Just the act of reading (and trying to read some challenging material) helps you learn to read critically, and that the whole point of that section of the test. Most of the question ask you to infer something from the passage. You answer is in the text, but it’s not going to be spelled out for you (hence reading critically!) And unfortunately, there are some questions which require you to have general outside knowledge. And those, there’s just not a good way to prep for other than just doing your own reading. During the test, just read the passage first quickly to get the basic idea. You’re going to be referring back to the passage anyway so don’t read closely the first time. An SAT strategy that might also be helpful is skimming the questions first before doing any reading. That way, you know what to look for in the passage.</p>
<p>As for vocabulary, Direct Hits is OK, but the best thing I’ve found is [Word-Nerd:</a> vocabulary test prep for the SAT and PSAT](<a href=“http://www.word-nerd.com%5DWord-Nerd:”>http://www.word-nerd.com) It’s designed for the SAT, but the vocab on the SSAT is essentially the same, and I’ve referred SSAT students to it. But more than anything, just read, read, read - that helps your vocabulary, too! </p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>