<p>I'm new to CC and I apologize if this question was handled before. I'm preparing for my PSAT and I'm kinda getting decent scores on the MATH part, however, not that great on CR, and by far WRITING is my worst nightmare. I'd greatly appreciate if you would share a tried method or suggestions to improve on my WRITING and/or CR scores.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Hanky</p>
<p>READ, READ, READ READ, READ, READ…Books, newspapers.
Get off the compute go to the library, check out books on subjects that interest you and READ as much as you can.</p>
<p>I’ve been doing lots of reading on my own, however, I was hoping to maybe find a book or so or a method that has been tried and proved successful to help boost my WRITING score in particular.</p>
<p>Hanky</p>
<p>for writing its best to do practice problems learn the patterns and then own the test. use the collegeboard’s official sat study guide for this. for critical reading i have no idea really.</p>
<p>well now that your during school writing should not be that difficult because you should go over grammar in school.</p>
<p>My child is prepping now and also does better on math and reading. Doing lots of problems and reading the explanations has helped - in just a week his score went up by about 90 points. PSAT has very particular things it looks for. For example, it prefers the active to the passive. So, get some PSAT and/or SAT books and try that. I don’t think you need the newest ones either.</p>
<p>Having been through this twice (two in college, one a NMF and $2500 recipient), and with my third child taking the PSAT next week, here are my thoughts:</p>
<ol>
<li>The BEST way to prepare is to be a reader for years, before now! This was already stated, but can’t be emphasized enough. Read anything, including newspapers; look up words you don’t know, at least one a day, and start to use the word in writing and conversation. Learn its synonyms and then antonyms. “Frankenstein” is a book rumored to contain more SAT-type words than most, and it’s a great read.</li>
<li>Sign up for dictionary.com’s “Word of the Day” and College Board’s “SAT Question of the Day.”
3.By all means, review practice books and take as many practice tests as you want or can.
4.Don’t view the PSAT as the end; it is also prep for the SAT, so starting the above now is not too late. Even if one isn’t a NMS, you will improve your SAT score.</li>
</ol>
<p>Do the practice tests. Mark the questions that you got incorrect. Then after a week or so, just do the questions you got incorrect over and over and over again.
This will enable you to recognize the types of questions that are hard for you (so you won’t waste too much time on them) and you will simply remember what the answer is even if you don’t fully understand why the SAT folks believe that is the “best” answer.</p>
<p>Also, READ, READ, READ – it helps with speed.</p>
<p>I really appreciate you all taking the time to read my post and respond to my questions.</p>
<p>Hanky</p>