<p>I am stressed out about the Nov. SAT right now. I got a 1750 in May and I want to score a 1900+ on the November SAT. I practiced about 1-2 sections a day and review grammar + vocabulary rules and a little bit of math through summer and september+october but I am not sure if I could increase my CR scoring because I haven't been able to break 600 and that is the only section standing in the way of my 1900+. Does anybody have any tips on CR reading and how to deal with the stress of SAT I, SAT IIs, and College Applications? I know how to read the CR sections and how to underline the line references but the problem is sometimes even when I know the passage well enough I still get questions wrong. I tried using rocket reviews method and analyzing the questions more carefully and it helped but the few questions I get wrong here and there will lower my score significantly. Any tips and comments/suggestions would be great. Thanks CCers.</p>
<p>Answer the line citations questions first. In a passage of say 9 qs, at least 5 are usually citations, and they’re in order, so a qs on line no. 6 will be first, then say line 23, then lines 45-48, etc. Skip the general questions until after you’ve answered these. Then read the relevant parts of the passage for these general questions. By then you’ll already be familiar enough with what the passage concerns, and it’ll be a cake.</p>
<p>You can try this with a few passages to see if it works for you. Works wonders for me, I guess cuz CB tries to confuse you in the questions with options that relate to some part of the passage, but not with the part asked in the question.</p>
<p>CR has always been a horrible section for me. I can relate bro, all the way. You understand every part of the passage, yet you get the questions wrong. It’s one of two errors here.</p>
<p>Either you’re understanding the question/answer choices incorrectly, in which case, you should view each word as a key in the answer choice, and that each and every word counts.</p>
<p>Or you’re not understanding the passage correctly, in which case, you have to focus more, and train yourself to read faster with more retention.</p>
<p>Either way, CR is a very challenging portion of the exam, and improvement is going to be arduous.</p>
<p>CR can be incredibly frustrating and honestly just really really boring. The “a-ha!” moment for me was when I realized there was no reason for me to get frustrated with answering questions about the passages because the answers are ALL THERE. The beauty of CR is that there is incontrovertible proof in every passage that will show you the correct answer to any given question, and all you have to do is find it. It’s not like you have to remember grammar rules, or definitions of weird words, or math strategies that you may or may not have memorized properly-- it’s literally just a test of focus, which is both liberating and frightening, I guess. </p>
<p>Try not to stress out too much, and keep in mind that the answer is there to be found. College Board has to write each question so that if any student comes back to them and says, “this ‘correct answer’ is wrong”, they have to be able to point to a sentence in the passage that provides definitive evidence for their correct answer. </p>
<p>I’d also keep going with the underlining sentences! It was an approach that I was skeptical of at first, but it really kept me focused and worked like a charm after I got the hang of it. CR used to be my worst section, and I had zero motivation to try to improve because the passages were just so hard to slog through, but I changed my outlook (“finding” the answer seemed so much more doable than “figuring it out”) and got an 800, so it can be done! </p>
<p>I didn’t mean to ramble on for so long…TL;DR? I completely understand where you’re coming from, and there is hope :)</p>
<p>Wow, you guys on CC are really motivating and awesome thanks for all the tips. I will definitely take everyones comments and suggestions to great consideration.</p>