<p>You might also consider the Christian Science Monitor-- which is neither particularly Christian nor scientific, of course, merely an excellent source of quality journalism with perhaps more of a cultural slant than the Wall Street Journal would have and yet is still a daily. As far as newsmagazines go, I swear by the Economist-- US News, Newsweek, and etc all really rather suck in my personal opinion (too fluffy and sales-driven); the Economist avoids both that and offers a more worldy perspective, along with what I personally regard as much better, more sophisticated writing.
If you're looking to improve your critical reading, though, have you thought about subscribing to a literary journal? Granta offers a nice quarterly that mixes fiction, nonfiction, and other forms and is, again, of high quality in terms of its writing. It typically focuses on more cultural or societal topics, and is ~300 pages in length. There are many other journals that offer purely fiction (Paris Review, McSweeney's, etc), but given the CR section of the SAT is a mix of fiction and nonfiction, I think Granta would be your best bet. This is the same reason why a journal might be better anyway: it does have that mix.
Really, though, I sort of have to agree with the others-- unless you seriously do this and seriously read for understanding and enjoyment, I'm not sure how much subscribing to a magazine or newspaper or journal is going to help you. Read voraciously and with purpose; that's what will that you farthest in terms of skill level and life, and that's what really matters.</p>
<p>I think it's great for you to try to expand your reading habits, but I don't think selecting things specifically for their relevance to the SAT is the right way to go about it. I know it's trite, but if you want to improve your reading skills, especially if you have a good amount of time to do it, you should really pick things that you enjoy reading, that make you want to pick up a book or magazine and sit down for a few hours, because those are what you'll really gain the most from.</p>
<p>Personally, I do read the Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, etc. when I have time, but that is not the reason I got a high score on the SAT Verbal. The real reason I got an 800 is that I read a lot that interested me when I was young and that I still do read what interests me when I'm not so young. You don't have to read the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times to score well on the SAT; Harry Potter or Stephen King are just as good. Similarly, The New York Times may not be at quite the same level as the Wall Street Journal, but if you enjoy it more and understand it better, that is what you should be reading. I've seen friends kill their abilities to sound intelligent by overstudying vocab for the SAT and beginning to talk about "curvaceous paths" and so on, and I really hate to see it happen to people.</p>
<p>So there's my advice. I hope it helps. If you're looking for anything to try, all of ther publications listed above by others are excellent, and if you're more of a science person I would whole-heartedly reccomend Scientific American. Or, if that's not quite your cup of tea, George Orwell's Animal Farm and Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game are my two favorite books ever. Good luck.</p>
<p>i read wsj, and i think its good.
our school libarian actually recommended the people magazine.
ha</p>