<p>Please I need some advice on CR and W from 700+ers. What the best prep book is, the best way to manage time, etc. I need to get 700+ on both of them. So please fill me in with some advice.</p>
<p>Critical Reading
Sentence Completions: however you best learn vocab. If you’re good at rote memorization, make flash cards for yourself (paper or [Flashcard</a> Machine - Create, Study and Share Online Flash Cards](<a href=“http://www.flashcardmachine.com%5DFlashcard”>http://www.flashcardmachine.com)). If you learn better with interaction, [Memrise</a> - the fun way to learn anything](<a href=“http://www.memrise.com%5DMemrise”>http://www.memrise.com) is a great interactive site that allows you to “grow” your vocabulary, and you can create your own “garden” of words you don’t know. For lists of words to study, look on memrise for SAT-prep “gardens,” or look in prep books. Barron’s “SAT 2400” prep book has a great list, for example.</p>
<p>Reading Comprehension: unfortunately this is, in my opinion, the hardest part of the SAT to study for. Either you get it or you don’t. However, I’ve definitely improved in it a lot over the years, and I mainly attribute that improvement to *lots *of practice. Practice, practice, practice. The more you see the questions and their answers, the more easily you’ll just be able to distinguish between the right answer and the runner-up instinctively. Remember that even if two answers are truthful or seem to be equally correct, the correct answer is the one supported by the passage. Imagine yourself defending your answer to your teacher … if you’re deliberating between A and C and end up choosing the wrong one, which choice would you feel you could more confidently justify to your teacher? Do lots of practice problems, and review the answer explanation for every question, even the ones you got right. You may not have gotten it right for the right reason. 
By doing this you’ll learn to recognize the right answer.</p>
<p>Writing
Essay: there are plenty of very detailed CC threads on the essay, so I’ll be brief. If your handwriting is small, force yourself to write with bigger print so that you fill every line. Review lots of literary and historical examples (Sparknotes helps if you want to brush up on a book you read freshman year, for example). Grow comfortable with not only recognizing big words (see “Sentence Completions” above) but also using them, because a more impressive vocabulary improves your essay score. i.e. If you use flash cards, this means going through the stack backwards as well as forwards, seeing the definition and naming the term. And practice writing a bunch of essays!</p>
<p>Multiple Choice: Know your grammar rules cold. Know idioms (i.e. “excel in,” not “excel with”; “worry about,” not “worry over”; “different from,” not “different than”). Know verb tense errors, pronoun errors, parallelism (important!!), misplaced modifiers, comma splices, redundancy/wordiness (important, especially for the first type of question, “Improving Sentences”; often the right answer is just less wordy than the grammatically-correct-but-not-best answer). And once you know the rules, incorporate them into your daily speech. Don’t annoy everyone around you by correcting them out loud, but DO mentally pay attention and catch errors. Writing M/C is easiest if you speak correctly and if the errors truly do sound wrong to you. You won’t even have to think about it; you just immediately select the answer. Start building correct grammar habits as early as possible. :)</p>
<p>Prep book … I liked Barron’s “SAT 2400” a lot; it’s thin (350 pages) and doesn’t waste time on piddling advice such as “Focus on what you’re reading.” Straight strategies and advice, and a review of grammar rules, too. And as I noted before, a great vocab list. I don’t know; that’s the only book I used besides BB, so I can’t compare it to other books … but it earned me a 2300+! Best way to manage time … just do everything I said above. The easier and the more familiar the questions are, the more quickly you’ll breeze through them. Ability and speed go hand-in-hand on the SAT.</p>
<p>This is just what I needed Thanks MandieJ</p>
<p>glad I could help! :)</p>
<p>Thanks a lot I’ll heed to your advice</p>
<p>^ while you’re at it, “heed to” is an incorrect idiom. I felt compelled to correct that after giving you grammar advice … haha.</p>
<p>“I’ll heed your advice.” :)</p>
<p>Ok i think we got it</p>