SAT I Critical Reading « Application Boot Camp – College Admissions, Admissions Counseling, College Acceptance Help

SAT I Critical Reading

Many students in the competitive college pool have high
math scores on the SAT, but way fewer have high CR
scores, so that’s one way a student can stand out. We
adore Mike as he is not only brilliant at teaching kids
strategy, but he is also a great guy who loves helping
students beat the SAT. Mike also tutors for the SSAT,
LSAT, GRE and Subject Tests. We urge all of our clients
to spend at least five hours tutoring with Mike via phone.
Scores DO go up.

1. Skim the passages as quickly and superficially as you can.
It may sound strange, but the best way to address SAT Critical
Reading is to read each passage as little as possible the first
time around. (In fact, when possible, you should do your best to
skip the reading the entire passage altogether.)

There are two main reasons for this strategy: First, reading the passage
too closely is either going to bore you to sleep or distract you from
your main focus, which should be attacking the SAT in a
systematic way. Second, reading the passage is mostly a waste of
time anyway, because many SAT questions will refer you to
specific parts of the passage (often identified by line numbers)
that you will have to read again later.

Your only goal at this point is to get a rough idea of some of the
concepts that appear in the passage. That’s all. Once you’ve done
that, you move on to the first question.

2. Make sure you read questions and citations COMPLETELY.
If you miss a word like not or because, you won’t be able to answer
the question correctly.

3. Make sure you read the key parts of the passage.
Even if the question doesn’t ask you to, it’s usually a good idea to read
these key parts of the passage:
            the italicized introduction to the passage
             the opening sentence of the passage
            the closing sentence of the passage

These parts of the passage will often contain key information that gives
you an idea of the passage, and it only takes a few seconds to read them!

THE ULTIMATE SAT GUIDE
While nothing is a complete substitute for the skills students
can gain working with Mike in his five hour tutoring package,
he has written The Ultimate SAT Manual to help students with
their self-guided learning. Whether you’re struggling to break
500 points on a section or closing in on that elusive 800,
Mike’s advice can get you where you want to go.

Posted in Uncategorized No Comments »

Comments

Got something to say?

Congratulations Everyone!

Michele and Mimi’s students had record breaking acceptances in the early round of college admissions results for the Class of 2015.
Learn More...

Ivy League Admissions Statistics

Our exclusive data on the Class of 2015 Ivy League Admissions statistics, now updated for Early Action and Early Admissions for the class entering 2011. See exactly how many students applied and how many were accepted to different schools.
Learn More...

Blog Topics

Find college application and testing help by browsing our stories by topic:

Academic Index Calculator

Since the 1950's, Ivy League schools have used the Academic Index, a ranking formula, to evaluate students. Find out how you rank according to the Academic Index.
Learn More...

Become an Affiliate

You can become an affiliate and sell our Application Boot Camp® products and services.
Learn More...

Application Bootcamp College Admissions Blog