Reading train - Improve your reading skills

Would this improve my reading skill? Reading magazines and the paper as opposed to long novels?

In 40 days, I have to take the SAT, while I need to work on every area, my main problem is Critical reading. My New Years Resolution is to read more but since I really need to get my score up, think reading the shorter articles first should help me get used to reading also. Shorter articles are most similar to what I will read the on the SAT and it will be easier for me to find the main idea and things like that. After I take it however, I will begin to read other books to get me ready for the volume of reading I will be expected to do in college. To improve my writing skills, I am going to write an essay per week and let my english teacher grade and tell me the areas that I need to work on. Would this help me. Even if I dont score as high as I would like (650-750 in each area) shouldn't it improve at least by October if I take it again?

Public Comments

1. uhmmm...
2. I think the reading and writing you're planning certainly couldn't hurt. I'm not sure how much they will help, though, either. I read once that lifelong readers are the most likely to get top scores on the writing and critical reading portions of the SAT... that even 1-2 years of preparation with tutors, etc., can't really surpass the abilities infused through lifelong, regular reading. So, I'm not sure that 40 days worth of intensive reading will be enough, if you get my point. But as I say, it certainly can't hurt. My son's SAT tutor says that the essay portion of the "new" SAT is the easiest part to teach. If you simply get Barron's or Princeton Review prep books and check out www.collegeboard.com for their instructions re: the essay, you should be able to work on this on your own. If your teacher is ready to "grade" your essays based on the criteria spelled out for the SAT (ie what constitutes a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) then certainly you should do that. Re: critical reading, that's supposed to be the hardest to "teach to." I gather that taking many practice tests is best. It's tough to know if you can/will improve on your second taking. Your score report will indicate what percent of people who scored as you did do better or worse at another sitting, and by how much, on average, their scores change. If you score in the 700s, you have literally less room to improve. Good luck!
3. It sounds like you've got a great plan, and it's very admirable that you're taking the time to really try to improve your score. Be careful about what you read, fluff isn't going to help you much. Try to find more intellectual articles, reading the New York Times each week would probably help you a lot. But, for the best score on the test, get practise exams or older tests and take that section over and over until you feel comfortable. You should see some improvement quickly, but maybe not in 40 days. If your score isn't what you'd like this time, keep up your resolution and try again in October. Critical reading is a trainable skill and if you keep working on it you'll see a big change.
4. I think writing the essay is a good idea, as long as it is an essay similar to the SAT essays, you only give yourself limited time and your teacher knows what to look for. The grading on the SAT is a lot different from a normal English teacher's grading. As far as reading goes, if you want to improve your reading speed, if you have trouble finishing the passages in time, it would be a good idea to read a lot of short articles and still make sure that you understood everything that you read. But, just reading is not going to help that much. You also need to do a lot of practice answering the kinds of questions that the SAT asks. Reading for understanding is one thing, but being able to analyze and answer the SAT questions accurately and quickly is a totally different skill. I would recommend that you buy an SAT prep book. There are tons of them out there. Just read the reviews and find which one you think is best. Then, do the practice critical reading sections everyday. This will improve your reading and teach you the kind of questions that will appear on the test.