How to go about SAT critical reading and practice smartly

If you are preparing for your SAT then it’s quite easy to let it completely overwhelm you. You want to get through the best colleges in the country, which is why you are aiming for the perfect 1600. But have you realized that getting 1530+ can also easily put you through the top colleges? You are not really going to get any extra credit for scoring 1590 over another candidate who has scored say 1540. So why waste your energy trying to work up to a score close to 1600? If anything, the key to getting the best out of SAT is pushing your score over 1530 mark. And that’s where your SAT Critical Reading score gives you the advantage. Importance of scoring well in SAT Critical Reading Here’s simple math for you – if you manage to score well in your Critical Reading and Writing sections, you give yourself more flexibility with the scoring in the trickier SAT Math section. Importantly, it will give you the confidence and help you get over the 1530 mark. How to practice for Critical Reading section Now that we have established the importance of this section, it’s fairly obvious that the preparation has to be spot on. That means just vocabulary flash cards won’t do. But we aren’t suggesting devouring the entire dictionary either. Here are a few tips you can follow to practice well and practice smart for the Critical Reading section. The right and wrong of it Well, quite simply you don’t have to be a language genius. You just have to figure out what makes an answer wrong and what makes another answer right. Once you start going through different study resources you will see a pattern of what SAT expects out of you. Keep at it The section is designed to find out how easily you can work with difficult texts. It’s a lot more than having a comprehensive vocabulary. Hence you need to push yourself with reading regularly. Ideally you should find text that you have to reread at least once to decipher it. Vocabulary is important too Let’s not forget that 19 of the 67 questions in the section are sentence completion. That’s why you should also focus on the vocabulary. One way to learn new words is to try and use them in your writing; it will also help you with the essay section. Test yourself When you feel a bit confident with the preparations, take a reliable SAT practice test but focus only on the Reading section for now. Try to answer all the questions in time and then assess your weak zones. Focus on them more as you continue your prep. These simple strategies will help you with your SAT Critical Reading practice and fill you with confidence.