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+--- Thread: SAT help. Improving Crit Read and Grammar. (/showthread.php?tid=44989)
SAT help. Improving Crit Read and Grammar. - Kevin645 - 2011-07-26
Hey guys,
So basically I am in a class where i take 1 PSAT and 3 SAT's each week, and I have noticed improvements in my all my sections but the biggest issue of all is Grammar and Critical reading.
Critical Reading.. I have no IDEA what kind of strategy I should do and how i should analyze each passage. I don't have a good vocabulary.
Grammar is just hard for me because our school system believes grammar should not be taught from 1st grade to 12th.
So please give ways to improve each section.
I have the Princeton Review and Barrons SAT Book if there is anything useful in those.
SAT help. Improving Crit Read and Grammar. - Smooth Criminal - 2011-07-26
For Critical Reading, it helps some people to A) predict the questions and B) write the purpose of every paragraph in the reading. Because they love testing on questions about the point of the passage, the tone of the passage, comparing and contrasting two passages about a similar topic, and what a certain word might mean in the context of the passage, these are all questions you should think about and sometimes it can really benefit people to write the purpose.
As for the Writing section, it's not just a matter of grammar being right or wrong. You also have to realize if something stylistically wrong and needs improvement, so if you see no technical grammatical errors, don't be quick to assume that it means it's perfect. For an example, look for: ambiguous pronouns, where the writer messes up parallelism, and more.
Hopefully, this helped you. I'd be happy to get out my book and give you more specific pointers.
SAT help. Improving Crit Read and Grammar. - Worthyness - 2011-07-27
Practice practice practice. That's all you need to have. Find some free practice questions and tests online and just do questions over and over and over. I did this all last minute an got a decent grade on the test. It also helps if your school/outside class has a free SAT class. Helped me improve from a 1400--> 1700 in 3 weeks. Then i took it 2 more times and finished with a 1860, which isn't too shabby (low for some people, but anything about a 1600 should get you into most state colleges, though i'm not sure since applying was a hell of a lot easier back in my day).
As for writing: short and sweet and to the point. Rambling won't help you at all and lessens the impact of your argument. This applies to most college writing as well, so start practicing now. More active voicing instead of passive voicing. Grammar is easy if you don't talk in slang or colloquialisms every day. For the most part, always go with the sentence that sounds like it should- this will get you far until you hit the questions that all sound great and you can't decide, in which case you WILL need to know rules.
SAT help. Improving Crit Read and Grammar. - Kevin645 - 2011-07-31
I have been practicing in my sat class. We take Sat's every day 4 days a week. I have improved by least 500 points in the first week. I got SAT Vocab cards which i am going to memorizing 20 a day. I guess the only way to get 700's in all sections is too practice more then anything
SAT help. Improving Crit Read and Grammar. - Corn - 2011-07-31
So, for some quick dirty tips that I can teach you in 5 minutes.
a) On the SAT essay, fill up both pages (or, rather, 1 page, both sides). Try to fill it up (despite only in 20 minutes). It actually makes a difference, filling up the entire essay. Preplanning should take a minute or less (2 if you write extremely quickly). And only do 4 paragraphs: opening, argument, argument, closing. Do not attempt to do 5 paragraphs. You will not fit it in. Oh, and switch your pencil everytime you finish a paragraph. The more neater it is, the better (yes, bring 4 or more sharpened pencils).
b). Critical reading. If you're a relatively fast reader, skim over the questions first, and mark the lines on the essay where the question refers to. You know what I mean (like the question sites line 5-6, underline lines 5-6). Then go read over the passage. Read the entire passage, dammit. I know idiots who don't read over the entire passage and still think they can get an extremely good score. No. Just read the entire thing. I can't stress this enough.
You should learn more about the grammar and vocabulary via your SAT class. Your SAT class sounds like one of the ones I went to (8-10 hours of devotion to SAT each week...)
Have fun in junior year.
SAT help. Improving Crit Read and Grammar. - Worthyness - 2011-07-31
I would also like to add that a few years ago, according to a study, those who wrote in cursive generally had a better average score than those who printed :3
I've also found that by reading general books (not stephanie meyer type crap)from modern day to classics, will greatly improve your knowledge of grammar and such. I do a lot of my testing by ear (english wise) so if you have a wider field of overall readings, then you also improve your knowledge of grammar indirectly.
SAT help. Improving Crit Read and Grammar. - MrHoodBlade - 2011-07-31
read read read, SAT IS ALL ABOUT READING, the best thing you can do is just practice reading quickly and zeroing in on important points. im a fast reader, so i just skimmed passages and then went back and found the section each question referred to. Also, try to get familiar with the types of questions themselves. They tend to generally be very similar and the more familiar you are with them, the better you're able to determine which answers are definitely wrong. it sucks, but the reading and grammar sections really depend(in my opinion) on how well read you are generally. People who tend to read alot just do better.