<p>In most tests I take, these two sections seem to give me the most trouble. Can someone who has success in these areas tell me what they do to improve their score?! I'm shooting for a NMF, and I always do well on the math sections, its just the writing and reading sections which give me the most difficulty! I'm trying to increase both scores by 20 points. Is that possible lol?</p>
<p>20 points is not a lot…what are your current scores like? Depending on where you are, then we can give tailored advice.</p>
<p>Firstly, 20 SAT points, or 20 PSAT points? That could make a huge difference. Where are you at right now?</p>
<p>20 PSAT points! On Critical Reading, i always get in the mid 50’s, and on writing, i get high 50’s, low 60’s. On math I usually get in the 75-80 range, and the cutoff in my state is 212, so I need to get my CR+W scores up.</p>
<p>Writing is more coachable, so to speak. I am a paradigm. Freshman Writing PSAT score: 58 Sophomore Writing PSAT 79. I got a McGrawhill book and memorized the hell out of their writing section. haha and then I practiced a good week (Probably 10 hours of problems) Safe to say, I was familiar to the problems, and now I consistently get 790+ on Blue Book problems. </p>
<p>Critical Reading…not so much. Freshman: 69 Sophomore 68…didn’t budge (but I did get a 223 rather than a 187 :D) I’ve been prepping. Been working b/c I’m going for NMF this year haha. Been getting up to 730+ but I’m still working. My advice. Read the passage first. Concentrate. Then answer questions, while looking back at passage. For vocab, I can’t really give you advice. I usually do well on them. I’ve heard Direct Hits is good! a little expensive for me but it works 
Good luck man and i wish you the best! I’m hoping the same for me!</p>
<p>I’m having the same exact problem. With just skimming through the PR book (skipped the Writing section though… BORING), I got a 66M 61CR 57W on my first practice test. Any advice/Guides?</p>
<p>BTW I’m gonna be a freshman when school starts. I found the math to be really easy. I need a good score because my school uses the psat for placement in to honors and ap sophomore classes.</p>
<p>@norvasc6, I have the McGraw Hill Book, but everyone says that the writing questions are not like the official PSAT questions. Do you mean that you memorized the lessons, because I’ve skimmed through some of them, and they seem helpful. </p>
<p>As for vocab, I just memorized the 250 Hit Parade by The Princeton Review, and I always see at least 2-3 words in every test, is that good enough? Or should I memorize more words?</p>