<p>Here they are guys.</p>
<p>-Underline!
As you skim through a passage…underline things in parentheses, quotes, or things that stand out. Things that you feel are important. Don’t overdue it, but underlining while reading helps you be more active and understand more of what you are reading, even if what you underline doesn’t help in answering a question.</p>
<p>-Read the background info above long passages…it puts things in context</p>
<p>-Skim Quickly
Go through the first and last sentence of each paragraph to start, this will almost always lay down a clear general idea of the whole thing. It will help you answer general, or tone based questions easily. </p>
<p>-Read the questions first and look for answers for short reading
Always skip right to the questions for the short reading and read for them. The short readings are concise enough that you can do this very effectively unlike long passages.</p>
<p>-Answer “in line” question effectively
As hard as they may seem, these questions are often the easiest to improve and get points on. Read the sentence above the lines mentioned and below to get the jist in context and answer. </p>
<p>-Don’t leave vocab in context questions on the table
These are the easiest to answer and most people consistently get these right. They don’t test your vocab skills to the extent that the fill ins do, so you don’t need a lot of vocab knowledge to be good at them. Just plug in the answer choices in place of the word and see which makes sense, this usually works. </p>
<p>-Play the “devil’s advocate” <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1024138-how-i-got-800-sat-critical-reading-story-guide.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1024138-how-i-got-800-sat-critical-reading-story-guide.html</a></p>
<p>I found this strategy on this forum and I will say it has helped a bit. This works best when you are deciding between two very plausible answers. Instead of trying to prove which one is better, try to prove which one is worse! Take the statement and try to find evidence in the text why is can’t be true. If you find a simple thing that makes it untrue, it is not the best answer and the other choice must be it! This is better than trying to prove them right, since you may find small details supporting each, but finding even one detail that is contradicting will automatically negate an answer choice.</p>
<p>-Use the info in the passage ONLY!
Sometimes you will come across a topic that you have studied in school already. Don’t bring that knowledge in, come into the passage like you have no idea what the topic is or what is being talked about. Read the passage and answer as if what you know is in the reading and nothing else. </p>
<p>I am still improving my critical reading score. I started at 660 and am consistently scoring a 700-710 with these methods, and I have yet to fully master them!</p>