{"id":997,"date":"2013-04-08t10:00:56","date_gmt":"2013-04-08t10:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/sat\/?p=997"},"modified":"2018-10-24t03:29:45","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24t10:29:45","slug":"how-to-take-notes-on-sat-critical-reading-passages-faster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/sat\/how-to-take-notes-on-sat-critical-reading-passages-faster\/","title":{"rendered":"how to take notes on sat critical reading passages, faster"},"content":{"rendered":"

one of the most important things you can do to raise your critical reading score on your sat is to improve your reading strategy. there\u2019re a few ways reading the passage often goes wrong\u2014forgetting to look at the big picture<\/a>, for one\u2014and the best way to avoid all of them is to refine your notes.<\/p>\n

and yes, you should be taking notes. without them, you\u2019ll have a hard time staying focused<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

messy notes are good notes<\/h2>\n

while it may be true that legible handwriting<\/a><\/span>\u00a0is a bonus for the sat essay, it has no place in your notes. your fastest, sloppiest writing is the best writing here, because you\u2019re the only one that needs to be able to read it.\u00a0 think about that for a moment. if you\u2019re the only one that needs to understand it, how messy can it get?<\/p>\n

let\u2019s conduct a little experiment. get a pencil and paper. without looking at what you\u2019re writing, copy some nonsense sentences<\/a> (courtesy of gertrude stein) as quickly as you can. don\u2019t look at what you\u2019re writing and don\u2019t erase anything. just write, and do it fast. <\/i>you only need a couple of sentences.<\/p>\n

when you\u2019re done, put it to the side. we\u2019ll get back to it later.<\/p>\n

finished? okay. you may keep reading.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

use abbreviations<\/h2>\n

you should abbreviate as much as you can. the number one argument against notes for sat reading is that it takes too long. well, guess what? it doesn\u2019t have to take long at all. just don\u2019t write out the word \u201chippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia<\/a>\u201d (the fear of very long words); make up an abbreviation. how about \u201chipp.\u201d? again, you\u2019re the only one who has to understand it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

draw pictures and symbols<\/h2>\n

if you\u2019re at all artistically inclined, use that to your advantage.<\/p>\n

let\u2019s say the author of a passage seems to really like his iphone. why write that out? instead of jotting down \u201cauth. loves phone,\u201d you could just as easy make a little doodle in the margins.<\/p>\n

\"httfsosrc_img1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(once again<\/a>, my skills in microsoft paint are mind-blowing, don\u2019t you think? )<\/p>\n

depending on how you think and how comfortable you are with drawing, these kinds of visual notes might be a much better option during your sat. if you\u2019re not taking the test until a couple months from now, give it a whirl.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

the results of the penmanship experiment<\/h2>\n

let\u2019s take a look back at that nonsense you jotted down a couple minutes ago. or better still, you could look at them in another five minutes. how much of it can you read? most people will be able to understand every word they wrote, even if it looks like it was written by a cat that\u2019s eaten too much catnip.<\/p>\n

you only need to be able to read your notes for about ten minutes. after that, they\u2019re basically trash. don\u2019t waste time making them pretty.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

one of the most important things you can do to raise your critical reading score on your sat is to improve your reading strategy. there\u2019re a few ways reading the passage often goes wrong\u2014forgetting to look at the big picture, for one\u2014and the best way to avoid all of them is to refine your notes. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[43,85,44],"ppma_author":[24883],"class_list":["post-997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all","tag-sat-critical-reading","tag-sat-reading-section","tag-sat-strategies"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nhow to take notes on sat critical reading passages, faster - magoosh blog | sat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/sat\/how-to-take-notes-on-sat-critical-reading-passages-faster\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"how to take notes on sat critical reading passages, faster\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"one of the most important things you can do to raise your critical reading score on your sat is to improve your reading strategy. there\u2019re a few ways reading the passage often goes wrong\u2014forgetting to look at the big picture, for one\u2014and the best way to avoid all of them is to refine your notes. 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