Education Questions and Answers
Any advice for increasing my vocabulary for the SAT?
Question:i just finished 10th grade this year. i am taking the whole summer for preparing for the SAT. i suck at math. i mean, i am very slow at solving problems. (On the SAT, do they always have similar math questions to the practice tests? or are they just randomly different?)..
i haven't read a book in the last 2 years on my own, so my understanding and vocabulary isn't as good as i want it to be, which is very significant. i really want to get a good score for the SAT, cmon, everyone does. only this year i have started reading books. i've read around 15 books since then. could you recommend books for me to read which are at the same time interesting and filled with vocabulary and good for comprehension? I even bought SAT flash cards. but everytime i look into a practice SAT in my books i always see lots of new words..help
Answers:
It doesn't matter what book you read, just read! If you want to focus on a strictly SAT vocab book pick up Simon's Saga. It's a story that includes commonly used SAT words with exercises to do after reading each chapter. It has a very simple storyline and contains somewhere over 100 words.
Also, I believe that studying root words is important because you are able to figure out what a whole word means just from the first or last few letters instead of going through a list and memorizing definitions.
Look up every word you don't know when you read. Mark in the margins and look them up later.
Read the classics. Just go to the classic literature section of any bookstore and pick a few books. They're all good.
Look up words you don't know.
Buy practice test books. Kaplan and Barron's make good practice books. Take the practice tests.
Use dictionary.com
Go to collegeboard.com and do the SAT question of the day everyday.
My suggestion is to power through everything. Do all the practice tests as fast as you can, don't be overly scrupulous to get an answer. Just prepare and power through it and you'll be fine.
As for the math, make sure you understand your calculator and spend extra time reviewing math in the practice books. Really look at how the book suggests solving each problem and work on your understandinng of problem solving.
The test isn't that difficult, you'll be fine. Try to take it more than oce though. I suggest once in the begining of your junior year and once at the end.
just keep on reading. Try skimming books before you choose them, and if you spot some 'bigger' words pick up that book and read it.
Also, in a prep book like Barrons, they have their own SAT vocab flashcards with all the right words to study!
Read books. Doesnt matter what the level is. It helps with grammar as well as vocab. When you find a word u don't know then tab the page with one of those small post-its. Then go to Dictionary.com and look them up. Or try to learn a foreign language over the summer. Something with a latin base. Maybe you will recognize certain words on a test. Personally I have never taken the SAT's but since I work in a law office that reading is very important to learn grammar and how to generate correspondence with tones.
There is a book called the marino mission, and it has 1000 words in it that are most commonly used on the SAT. It has the definitions at the bottom and it is a very interesting and funny read. There are lots of books like that and they can help you learn a lot.
Another way to learn new vocabulary is to make an account on http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/l... and it will send you a new vocabulary word each day through email. VEEEERRRRRYYY easy and handy.
Just keep reading and make goals for yourself. You will do just fine.
Well, When it come to critical reading, your best bet is to focus on reading strategies. To do well on the reading tests, you should do the questions while you are reading the passage, except for the ones that involve your overall knowledge of the passage, which you should do afterwards. The reading is more important than the vocabulary. Meanwhile, make flashcards of the words, and write the definition and a sentence using the word on the card. Then you keep the words in your head. And just read whatever. Including newspapers and magazines. Keep a dictionary when you read so that you can look up new words.
As far as the math section goes, just study using a prep book. Maybe the Princeton Review.
I've been reading A World Lit Only By Fire and I've repeatedly plugged the words I've had trouble with into Dictionary.com. It's definitely handy to have a laptop nearby whilst reading. : )
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