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The SAT Critical Reading test is misunderstood by most people and they fail to properly prepare for the test. But that doesn't have to be your situation. Here are strategies for you to improve your SAT Critical Reading comprehension score.

Strategy #1 Understand Its Parts

The Critical Reading Test is basically a reading comprehension test with sentence completion problems thrown in for good measure. So, it is important that you practice reading, writing and improve your vocabulary.

A good source of reading material is periodicals like Time and Newsweek. Reading these periodicals serves two purposes:

1. You will be informed on current events for the essay portion of the SAT.
2. You will be practicing with articles similar to the ones used on the SAT.

Strategy #2 Improve Your Vocabulary

Start working on your vocabulary, now. It not only will help you with your SAT or ACT test; it will help you with school now and in college. An expanded vocabulary improves your intelligence, your speaking and your image. You can't lose by working on your vocabulary.

A great start for improving your vocabulary is to get yourself a good dictionary like the American Heritage Dictionary. This is one of the dictionaries used by the SAT writers when writing SAT questions. If you don't have the American Heritage Dictionary, buy one. It is a great investment that you will use in college.

Another great way to improve your vocabulary is to join an email service that sends you SAT specific words at regular intervals. There are several vocabulary services available but many charge a membership fee. A good free service is at MrcauseyTutors.

Strategy #3 Practice Your Writing

The best way to solidify your reading and your new vocabulary words is to use them in your writing. You should make every effort to use your new vocabulary in your IMing, your text messages, and your emails. Your family and friends will be impressed while at the same time you are creating a vocabulary memory.

SAT prep courses or tutoring seem to be the way to go if you plan to do well on the SAT.

Time is an important factor. Will you be able to make the time to study for this test? SAT prep courses or tutoring will force you to make the time.

Also, the course outline will be a plan in itself and will keep you on track in your study. That may be why people who take these courses score 60 points higher on average than those who don't. They had a plan.

Lastly, you will have an instructor, a third party to keep you on task. Your instructor will be able to measure your progress instead of you trying to guess how you are doing yourself.

Did you know that almost 90 percent of students today prepare for the SAT in some way. This was just not so a generation ago. Back then, a good nights sleep and a good breakfast was all that was necessary. Things have definitely changed since then. You must prepare in some way for the SAT. The trick is to get as much realistic practice before the test so that on the day of the test it becomes no big deal. It is that test day anxiety that these SAT prep courses can alleviate.

The higher score you will make could result in you being accepted to one of the more selective Universities. And this could affect you in a positive way later upon graduation.

You can see how the SAT exam could change your life. Start preparing now by taking one of the SAT prep courses in your local area or getting some tutoring.

You can't afford to have writer's block since you only have 25 minutes to write your SAT Essay. So to help my students put pen to paper faster I created these 8 techniques for creating a compelling introduction quickly. Try them and they'll help you too.

1. Understand the prompt first

The number one thing you must do to write a great introduction is to make sure you know what you are writing about first. The biggest mistake I've seen in scoring SAT Essays is that many students misread the prompt. To avoid this I have my students underline or circle important words and phrases to make sure they have truly digested the prompt. I suggest you do the same.

2. Use an analogy or metaphor

Analogies require creativity. A trait that SAT Essay graders love to reward. For an essay in which the prompt was "Is it true that to make progress people must make sacrifices?" A student created the following analogy,

"To climb a mountain a person must struggle and strain. And this is the case with any worthwhile goal..."

3. Tell a brief anecdote

You can create an engaging introduction by telling a brief (1-2 sentence anecdote) such as the following.

"When I trained for my first marathon it was difficult and often painful. But I wanted to have the accomplishment of running 26.2 miles so I did it anyway. To make progress in life requires sacrifice."

4. Use a quote that was not used in the prompt

It is useful to memorize quotes that you love. You never know when they can come in handy on the test. For example for the essay topic "Do mistakes lead to growth?" one of my students wrote

"Someone once asked Edison, "how can you feel good about your work, having failed nine-hundred and ninety-nine times to make a light bulb?" To this Edison replied, "I have not failed so many times, I have merely learned nine-hundred and ninety-nine ways not to make a light bulb. Why did Edison react this way? Because he knew that mistakes are always experiences that lead to learning and growth."

This was a great quote to begin his essay with and would definitely impress SAT Essay graders.

5. Mention a topic in the news

SAT Essay Experts will often say to stay away from news in the body of your essay. And they are right. However, in the introduction it can be very useful IF you have the facts straight AND it's even better if it is a news story that isn't well covered. If you use this idea make sure it clearly fits the topic.

6. Make up an anecdote using very specific details

I don't recommend this as you don't need a creative introduction badly enough to take the trouble to make one up. I had a student insist on trying this and his were so bad at first anyone could guess they were fictional. Finally, however he started to put details that were so specific that I couldn't tell if it was real or not. So you can fool graders if you want to but I don't recommend it.

7. Use a cliche in an inventive way

Most books and articles on writing say to stay away from cliches however, it's a secret of professional writers that if you change a cliche it captures people's attention.

One student used the following cliche to make a great introduction for the topic "Which is a better indicator of a person's true character, their actions or their words?"

"A picture tells a thousand words" is a saying that applies to the newspaper industry but which also applies to people. The picture created by a person's actions tells us a thousand words about him or her and goes much farther than words do in telling us about a person's true thoughts and feelings. Several examples from literature and history demonstrate this point.

Using the cliche "A picture tells a thousand words" to make the point that actions speak louder than words is very unique and very powerful.

8. When all else fails just do a quick summary of what you will cover in your essay

Make sure you clearly state your thesis and state which categories of information your examples are from

For example, "Examples from history, literature and science will prove that people care far too much about what others think of them."

Most of all remember, you do not need to write an impressive introduction so badly that you sacrifice the rest of your essay. In fact I taught my students to write great body paragraphs first as these are just as important. Then when they could write them quickly I taught them how to write great introductions and powerful conclusions.

1. Read the prompt carefully

This is the step where many students go wrong. Read the prompt and with your pencil underline the main idea you need to be writing about. Most students who get low scores fail to read the prompt carefully. Don't be one of them.

2. Decide on a thesis

Now that you understand the prompt, choose one side of the issue presented. Your thesis must be the equivalent of a 'yes' or 'no' to the prompt. Don't be afraid to use the words of the prompt in your thesis. For example if they ask, "Are people basically good?" You can have a thesis that says "This essay will show that people are basically good."

3. Brainstorm 3-4 examples to support the thesis

Now that you have a thesis you can go in search of examples to support it. Quickly make a list of several works of literature you read in school or events you studied in history that support your point of view. Once you have these go on to the next step.

4. Create a short introduction that incorporates the thesis

You basically have the outline for your essay now. A thesis and a one sentence description of each of your examples. Now begin writing the introduction by saying a few words about the topic. Then one sentence on your thesis. It does not have to be anything fancy.

5. Write 3-4 body paragraphs

Now that your introduction is written support your thesis with the examples you generated in step 3. Make sure that in your paragraph you tell them what you are going to prove in the first sentence. Give a few details that prove your point in the next two sentences. And finally give a concluding sentence that tells how your example supported your thesis.

6. Write a conclusion that uses an analogy or metaphor to back up your thesis

The best essays end with an analogy or very brief anecdote that drives the point home. You can also make a prediction about the future. Whatever you do don't force yourself to come up with a brilliant conclusion. At the minimum you can just summarize the evidence you came up with to support your thesis.