The single most important step you can take to increase your critical reading scores on the PSAT is to increase your vocabulary. There’s no type of critical reading question for which you are not at a distinct disadvantage if you don’t know what the words in the question or passage mean. In the past, it was possible to do well by knowing word roots, prefixes and suffixes, but more recently the test-makers have used words whose meanings are not as easy to determine in this way.
Vocabulary is not something you can learn quickly. Instead, you should begin weeks or months before the test, studying PSAT vocabulary lists (like the one in the Resources section of this article) and looking up all unfamiliar words you come across in daily conversation or reading. Make a flash card for every word you look up that includes the correct spelling and definition, and review the cards every day.
In addition to improving your vocabulary, you can also master some simple test-taking strategies that are effective on the PSAT, the first of which is to simply understand the format of the test. The critical reading section consists of two types of questions: sentence completions and passage-based reading. The sentence completion questions require you to choose the missing word or words that best fit the given sentence. The passage-based reading gives you a text to read and then asks four to six questions about the passage.
One useful strategy is to read actively by marking up reading passages. You can circle proper nouns or dates, underline main idea sentences and transition words (but, although, however) that mark a change in the passage’s direction. Similarly, you should get in the habit of marking up the questions and answers, evaluating each answer individually and making a mark to reflect whether you think it’s a strong answer, a weak answer, a definitely wrong or if you don’t know. Marking up the test saves you time by making your work more efficient.
And time management is indeed another important aspect of the test. While timing yourself is not very important in the early stages of your test preparation, it is a critical part of your final practice. There should be no need to feel rushed on the test, but you shouldn’t have a lot of leftover time, either. You should take timed practices to see if you are within the time limits and adjust your approach to the test so that you use all the time available without going over.