Verbal Strategies
Speedreading
As the SAT is a timed test, I ask that my students take this speedreading test and report to me their words per minute for 100% comprehension. If necessary, I will suggest some strategies to raise reading rates by 50% or even 150%. The strategies are clever mind-hacks that refine two key aspects of our reading technique into a much more efficient process: how we glance and how we process the textual information.
Vocabulary
I recommend my students download SAT vocabulary apps, as well as a dictionary app that has word etymology. Understanding the etymology (origins/evolution) of words and their meanings is useful both for better understanding familiar words and for grasping novel words. For example, each of the words
eloquent
loquacious
interlocutor
has the root "loq-", which comes from latin "loqui" "(to speak"), and each word relates to speech: Eloquent means well-spoken/fluent/persuasive. Loquacious means talkative, and interlocutor (= inter, between + locutor) is one taking part in a dialogue.
Sentence Completion
This section of the test relies not just on your vocabulary, but also on your logic and holistic understanding of the entire sentence. For example, key transitional words or phrases such as "yet", "however", "but", "but now", and so forth indicate that we need to look for a contrast, possibly antonyms, to fill in the blanks. However, if there are multiple contrasting pairs of words in the answer choices, we will have to look at other details in the sentence to determine the nature of the contrast.
Essay
In the spirit of the SAT exam, don't look at SAT essay topics unless you are going to write them then and there, and don't prethink/memorize templates. On exam day you need to be able to write your entire essay extemporaneously in 25 minutes, and that is one of the skills we will cultivate.
It is best to read the prompt first, then spend a few minutes considering a multitude of possible angles and responses to the prompt. Many students find it helpful to imagine the perspectives that 5 people would each have to the question, and in the first 5 minutes quickly jot down a few key words for each topic that comes to mind (only a few words per idea, enough to structure the essay) then spend the remainder writing the actual text. Make sure you have a coherent position, and do not spend a lot of time wandering around different concepts. Organize them and present them in a more or less linear fashion, with smooth transitions.
Your goal in crafting an excellent essay is to articulate your ideas, not take them for granted. Demonstrate your full understanding to someone who might not understand or agree with you at first. Put what's in there (your brain) out here (on paper), in full detail for them!
Always imagine your audience there with you and connect with them through your writing. It can be a transcendental act, a work of art if done right. The great scholarly and artistic written works survived and spread because they did just that. The authors not only had a great idea, but, here's the key, they communicated it very clearly. They inspired a change in the minds of the readers from within! How awesome is that?!
I encourage you to write about the things you are interested in and passionate about as much as possible. That is where your writing ability will really develop. As Kahlil Gibran put it:
"Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas.
For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction."
The skills you pick up when writing about what you really care about will of course help you in your assigned writing for classes/SAT, but more importantly, they will help you for the rest of your life.
Now a few specific things to keep in mind when writing your essay.
-Quality vs quantity: Quantity alone is not going to get you a good score. However, since you only get 25 minutes for the essay, it will take quantity to flesh out more complicated ideas and make a quality essay. Don't use filler, make every sentence count.
-Short attention span: Essay graders only spend a couple of minutes per essay, as there are millions to grade. So make your points quickly, make them hard-hitting, and keep the graders engaged. The graders will not spend time figuring out what you meant, and will not read past what you wrote. They do not know you, and can only see what's on the page. Think of it like this: They want to give you all the points, but it's a lot of work for them. So make it less work for them.
-Find your position and stay on point: Make sure you're answering the essay prompt. It is easy to get lost in a sea of ideas and wander away from the specific question you were asked.
-Don't just start writing: While you don't have much time to craft your essay, it helps to take a couple minutes in the beginning to plan the whole thing. Imagine that you have to climb a very difficult mountain with many trails. Some people just start blindly running up the mountain, then encounter unforeseen difficulties, while others glance at the mountain first and have a plan for ascension. Those are the ones who make it to the top fastest. It is fine to adjust your strategy a bit, but if you start writing without thinking, you are more or less committed to what you have written, and adjustments will be difficult.
As the SAT is a timed test, I ask that my students take this speedreading test and report to me their words per minute for 100% comprehension. If necessary, I will suggest some strategies to raise reading rates by 50% or even 150%. The strategies are clever mind-hacks that refine two key aspects of our reading technique into a much more efficient process: how we glance and how we process the textual information.
Vocabulary
I recommend my students download SAT vocabulary apps, as well as a dictionary app that has word etymology. Understanding the etymology (origins/evolution) of words and their meanings is useful both for better understanding familiar words and for grasping novel words. For example, each of the words
eloquent
loquacious
interlocutor
has the root "loq-", which comes from latin "loqui" "(to speak"), and each word relates to speech: Eloquent means well-spoken/fluent/persuasive. Loquacious means talkative, and interlocutor (= inter, between + locutor) is one taking part in a dialogue.
Sentence Completion
This section of the test relies not just on your vocabulary, but also on your logic and holistic understanding of the entire sentence. For example, key transitional words or phrases such as "yet", "however", "but", "but now", and so forth indicate that we need to look for a contrast, possibly antonyms, to fill in the blanks. However, if there are multiple contrasting pairs of words in the answer choices, we will have to look at other details in the sentence to determine the nature of the contrast.
Essay
In the spirit of the SAT exam, don't look at SAT essay topics unless you are going to write them then and there, and don't prethink/memorize templates. On exam day you need to be able to write your entire essay extemporaneously in 25 minutes, and that is one of the skills we will cultivate.
It is best to read the prompt first, then spend a few minutes considering a multitude of possible angles and responses to the prompt. Many students find it helpful to imagine the perspectives that 5 people would each have to the question, and in the first 5 minutes quickly jot down a few key words for each topic that comes to mind (only a few words per idea, enough to structure the essay) then spend the remainder writing the actual text. Make sure you have a coherent position, and do not spend a lot of time wandering around different concepts. Organize them and present them in a more or less linear fashion, with smooth transitions.
Your goal in crafting an excellent essay is to articulate your ideas, not take them for granted. Demonstrate your full understanding to someone who might not understand or agree with you at first. Put what's in there (your brain) out here (on paper), in full detail for them!
Always imagine your audience there with you and connect with them through your writing. It can be a transcendental act, a work of art if done right. The great scholarly and artistic written works survived and spread because they did just that. The authors not only had a great idea, but, here's the key, they communicated it very clearly. They inspired a change in the minds of the readers from within! How awesome is that?!
I encourage you to write about the things you are interested in and passionate about as much as possible. That is where your writing ability will really develop. As Kahlil Gibran put it:
"Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas.
For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction."
The skills you pick up when writing about what you really care about will of course help you in your assigned writing for classes/SAT, but more importantly, they will help you for the rest of your life.
Now a few specific things to keep in mind when writing your essay.
-Quality vs quantity: Quantity alone is not going to get you a good score. However, since you only get 25 minutes for the essay, it will take quantity to flesh out more complicated ideas and make a quality essay. Don't use filler, make every sentence count.
-Short attention span: Essay graders only spend a couple of minutes per essay, as there are millions to grade. So make your points quickly, make them hard-hitting, and keep the graders engaged. The graders will not spend time figuring out what you meant, and will not read past what you wrote. They do not know you, and can only see what's on the page. Think of it like this: They want to give you all the points, but it's a lot of work for them. So make it less work for them.
-Find your position and stay on point: Make sure you're answering the essay prompt. It is easy to get lost in a sea of ideas and wander away from the specific question you were asked.
-Don't just start writing: While you don't have much time to craft your essay, it helps to take a couple minutes in the beginning to plan the whole thing. Imagine that you have to climb a very difficult mountain with many trails. Some people just start blindly running up the mountain, then encounter unforeseen difficulties, while others glance at the mountain first and have a plan for ascension. Those are the ones who make it to the top fastest. It is fine to adjust your strategy a bit, but if you start writing without thinking, you are more or less committed to what you have written, and adjustments will be difficult.