Tips for SAT Critical Reading Vocabulary

In addition, if I'm not satisfied with my score after the retake, will retaking it again look bad? I've only taken the test once previously (6 years ago). When you sumbit scores to a company, does the company ask for the official score report (with all previous scores), or is it a trust system?

well for that one you can remove B,C,E because they dont fit one bit

So its just down to a flotsam and a raiment (clothes)

I dont think scientists are too worried about clothes in space

I'm not sure there's any reasonable targeted way to approach studying for the critical reading section. For questions like these, it mainly comes down to how much and what you've read.

However, as I remember it, only the last 2-3 questions in a reading section are anywhere near this level of difficulty, so you should be able to do just fine. You can miss or skip up to 2-3 questions and still wrangle an 800 on the reading.

There are some books that have lists of words and mnemonic devices to help you remember them. I remember this book: http://www.amazon.com/Up-Your-Score-Underground-Guide/dp/0761133259

If nothing else, it's a fun read.

Actually, looking at the question again I have a tip that might help you answer this even not knowing the meaning of the words.

As DeanPortman said, B, C, and E don't fit one bit -- a way you might notice this is that the question is clearly looking for a concrete noun, but B, C, and E and in -ance or -tion, which are indicative of abstract nouns. Then, it's a 50-50 shot if you don't know the meaning of either remaining word.

If you managed to graduate from college without knowing what the words "flotsam" and "raiment" mean, I just don't know what to tell you man.

Sounds like you need to read more. You write like a non-retard, so your inability to break 700 on the verbal section confuses the hell out of me.

It's all about reading for pleasure. Older books, I've found, are often better sources of worthwhile words for the SAT.

In high school I went from being mediocre on the vocab part to being perfect on the actual test day by just circling and then defining every word I didn't know in books I read and in the college board sat prep book. Make a list of all the words with definitions and memorize every definition. Doing that should help, but then again, you only have a week left of prep so idk lol.

I appreciate all the great advice. I postponed my SAT test day to the next available date, which is in October. Its unfortunate, because its a significant block of time, but I believe its the best decision. I see no point in retaking the test for a 620 on the Critical Reading. English isn't my first language, although I learned at a young age. I'm determined to make this work though. I'm planning on defining the words I don't know and reading some difficult classic literature (Tale of Two Cities, Huck Finn, etc).

If you read The Economist you can drastically improve your vocabulary too. I usually need to look up ~10 words per issue. Those cheeky Oxbridge fuckers have deep lexicons.

I scored in the 99% on the reading section, even though I happened to have missed 1 vocab question in total both times I've taken the SAT. I practically slept and breathed this stuff; I would do practice tests in class where we weren't doing anything and on my freetime. I was consumed by being the best. People on here have been saying read books, but lets be real- this may work if you had a few years till the test and read books regularly, but how many books would you need to read to read (let alone look up the words you don't know) to comprehensively know SAT words. The trick to SAT vocab is just memorizing simple as that. Getting your hands on books such as direct hits and cartoon ones if you find those helpful/easier to remember and also memorizing the sparknotes 250 most difficult words. It just comes to how much time you're willing to put in, theres no shortcut as I found. The example you gave up there in your post I believe is from the SAT collegeboard bluebook, and is not a difficult question. I've seen much harder ones on practice tests and the real test.

This is from a high school senior who took the test somewhat recently:

Direct Hits. This series is great. Its targeted, and most of the words did show up on the tests. Since you're graduating college I assume you've done this, but if you can read and understand complicated material quickly, that's the CR section.

Unrelated question: Do most places really ask for SAT scores? Do you have to give them? Because I have a 700 on the SAT Math for no good reason, and got 800s on the other section. Would I really have to retake this?