10 Tips to Improve Your Critical Reading

hollow · October 25, 2008, 4:09am

Here are some strategies that I’ve found helpful for scoring better on CR’s.

<li>Find what works for you, practice these methods, but if you find that they aren’t as useful as what you’ve been doing stick with your previous regime</li>
<li>Read the italics, 10 seconds to get you into the mood of CR. It’ll give you an idea of what you should be looking for.</li>
<li>Write “Topic, Thesis, and Tone” on the side of your page, these will be the three things you need to look for. Always keep these in mind while you read</li>
<li>Skim through the questions. Take note of specific lines you need to pay attention to. I generally draw stars on the left of the line. Whatever works for you</li>
<li>Circle any words that provide a general idea of tone. For example, what do you think “undeniable triumph” tells about the author’s opinion on the subject?</li>
<li>Underline the thesis. The main idea is the focus of the paragraph, and it will be your reference point whenever a question acts “Passage I’s main idea is _” or “Author 1 would most likely say _” You will want to draw an arrow to where you wrote your “Topic, Thesis Tone” on your page. It is extremely important to identify this (except in narrative passages, where a thesis will likely not exist). Keep in mind theses do not always appear in the first paragraph, so keep an eye out for it.</li>
<li>Note any counter-examples or examples the author uses to support his claim. Ask yourself, “Why would the author include this?” or “What would the opposing side argue?” This is especially important on double passages, where they are often supporting opposite sides to the same issue.</li>
<li>Watch the time carefully while you read, estimate how much time you will need to answer each question. Rushing has always been my greatest source of error. Sometimes, due to lack of time, you may have to skip reading each line, however always, always, always know your three T’s.</li>
<li>When answering questions, eliminate the ones that are obviously wrong first. Stuff that is off topic and too extreme should be your first victims. Be sure to note, answers that are too extreme in tone are relative to the tone of the passage. Meaning, if the tone of your passage is angry, fanatical, or overwhelmingly emotional (unlikely, but you get what I mean), then an answer that seems logical but differs greatly from the tone of your passage is likely to be incorrect. </li>
<li>Know your passage types, Narratives, Cultural, Scientifics. Tones for these are often quite similar. Narratives are generally Nostalgic. Scientifics are generally neutral. Cultural can be anything basically.</li>
<li>Get used to reading difficult, dry, and dull literature. Sharpen your mind to stay alert and attentitive at all times. Don’t let a previous section distract you. CRs are as much a test of concentration as a test of reading abilities.</li>
</ol>

So this is just what I have so far, if you have your own strategies, please, please, post below. You may disagree with my method, and I won’t be angry at you, at all, but this is what I have found to be helpful for me.

tristam · October 25, 2008, 5:59am

Thanks for this.

I_dont_know · October 25, 2008, 7:21am

Tolerate my stupidity, but what’s the diff between thesis and topic???

icandoit · October 25, 2008, 9:39am

thanks. I think i should try your method because i usually skim and then jump to the questions. I don’t map and note the lines the questions refer >.< .
More, when i skim, understanding the lines and finding the relation between lines and questions are such things i can do my best >.< . I don’t have time and pace to ask myself the questions you suggests. Haiz. Dilemma !

hollow · October 25, 2008, 12:17pm

Identifying the topic, I have found, is a method to indentifying the thesis of a passage. Sometimes the author will start off with all sorts of weird examples or counter-examples, but is hinting at something deeper. Thesis is more of what the author thinks about the topic.

Ryan1119 · October 25, 2008, 1:45pm

Idontknow,
thesis is the opinion presented in the passage.
topic is the subject what the passage is talking about.

pls correct me if i’m wrong.

hplssrmantcxox · October 25, 2008, 1:53pm

As someone who raised her critical reading score 170 points (from 560 in may to 730 in oct), after wasting a ton of money on classes and tutoring, I found it really helpful to just honestly ignore all the strategies people tell you and just read the passages through- you don’t have to FINISH reading through but it’s so much more comprehensive (for me at least) to just read; you get a better sense of the passage than you would if you skimmed. You can actually read like 2/3 of the passage, answer a few questions and then once you start hitting the questions on later part of passage, you can finish reading the rest of the passage.

Also, practicing a ton is the only way to raise your CR score; i did 2-4 CR and W sections every weekday a month or so before the test day. I managed to start reading fast enough through the practice sections that I didn’t need to use all the strategies of skimming, etc. (Oh and I used only college board tests because everything else sucked; I managed to do like 70 points higher on the Oct. SAT than I normally did on my practice tests…)

By doing the practice sections really often, I changed my timing problem on CR (used to not be able to answer 3-4 questions at the end) and ended up finishing 5-7 minutes early on each section.

10 Tips to Improve Your Critical Reading

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