On the SAT i scored a 560 in CR. I have been taking several practice test out of a Barrons SAT Prep book and keep recieving in the 550 range; however, when i took their diagnostic CR i scored a 610. I don't get how my score could drop so much from the diagnostic, and i just can't seem to improve. Does anyone have any CR pointers?
Don't use Barron's to practice use the blue book. You'll be surprised how different it is from the real thing. I'm talking from experience. BTW Barron's is harder.
Ive heard some people say to practice WITH Barrons because it makes the actual test seem like a breeze, but I dont know if its actually preparing me for what I need to know.
Don't listen to them, my friend and I have used Barron's before and we were shocked how different it was from the real thing. The more you practice Barron's, the easier it gets and trust me the real thing will become harder. Princeton Review is even closer to the real thing. DON'T PRACTICE WITH BARRON's except you are using it with other books including the blue book.
Even better is this years' practice SAT (the one from college board). Its the closest you can get to the real thing.
Thats not to say the others are worthless. They just arent as useful for calcualting your score. Most of the questions are pretty much the same across all publishers.
I did find some some free online tests that were pretty bad though. Id stay clear of those (except for CB).
Personally, I went through 5-6 book's critical reading sections (Kaplan, BB,PR,McgrawHill, Silverturtle and one or two more)...I started as a 590 and now im scoring around 730. You must know vocab (try getting PR flashcards) and direct hits. I just kept studying..improved to a 670ish by the book knowledge....then suddenly I just hit a breakthrough and started getting 700-730s nonstop
