I already received general suggestions for raising my score, like reading non fiction books or articles. However, I would like to hear suggestions and tips that could be useful.
By the way, english is not my first language and I am terrible at pacing.
Thanks in advance.
If you wanted to be a better piano player, would you reject the suggestion to practice more and ask for “useful” tips? This implies that you believe practice is not useful and wouldn’t improve your reading.
I have taught primarily ESL students the SAT and ACT for over 15 years, and you are not the first student to ask me exactly this. It is extremely common for ESL students who are smart and capable to top out at 650ish on the reading section because of vocabulary deficits, and cultural knowledge deficits;however, overall they are just not strong readers. Of course there are test taking skills that can improve your score (mapping the passage, process of elimination, understanding the question types), but these won’t make up for weak reading skills.
I know, I know, you want a quick fix. Here are the best strategies for improving your reading score.
Make notes on the passage- Most students, if they do anything, merely underline. But this doesn’t really help because you need to go back and reread those underlined lines (wasted time). It is more effective to write brief 2-4 word summary of each paragraph as you read it. This will also prevent you from blanking out and getting to the end of the passage and having no idea what you read. Universally my students who have scored over 750 on the reading section write notes all over their reading passages to solidify the information and create a map to find the answers.
Be critical of the answers–Don’t look for what makes a right answer right (at first). Identify what makes the wrong answers wrong. The clearer you are about why the wrong answer is wrong, the more certain you can be that what is left is right, even if you are not certain why.
Understand what the question is asking-don’t look for factual information if the question is about Function. Erica Meltzer’s The Complete Guide to SAT Reading does a good job of explaining the different types of questions to help you identify them.
Understand your tendencies–Pay attention to your mistakes on practice tests. Do you tend to get lost and just guess? Do you misread/misunderstand key details? Do you get bored? Is vocabulary the stumbling block? The answers to these questions can help you identify what skills you need to improve.
@academiccoach thanks for your suggestions, I’ll will take everything in consideration.