The blog is getting rather long and verbose, so I organized the most popular posts by category. Here is an organized listing of SAT study tips for overall strategy, math, critical reading, and writing SAT Study Tips
Reading
Smart students play "dumb" on the SAT Critical Reading sections
The critical reading passages are the only place on the SAT that I’m going to tell you to be “dumb.” Here’s what I mean. Many of my students know a lot of information about a lot of topics. And then they try to leverage this information on the critical reading passages. Don’t reference your brain […]
SAT Secrets From a Top Scorer
What does it take to get a top score? I was chatting with a former student recently about his amazing jump in SAT scores. He said he changed his mindset. In Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To, Sian Beilock proposes that people have one of […]
Critical Reading Analysis
Erica Meltzer, who blogs over at The Critical Reader, makes an outstanding point about what is being tested in the SAT Critical Reading section. In her post Neutral Tone, Definite Opinion, she says You *are* being tested on your ability to understand the argument [a passage] makes, how the argument is structured and conveyed, and […]
Critical Reading: Dancing Around the Maypole
Did you ever dance around the maypole? You hold a colored ribbon which is attached to the top of the pole and you weave in and out and around the other kids and you end up with a decorated pole. The pole holds it all together It struck me today that it’s a good analogy […]
May SAT Vocabulary Hits
Here’s a sample of the words that showed up on the May SAT test. paradoxical* antithetical* cajole melodramatic* sinecure* laconic* substantial histrionic* extemporaneous* cohesive cryptic* satirical* chagrin* elixir ebullient* effusive* voluble* boon* narcissistic stolid dilettante* amateur bohemian fortitude* serendipity* gregarious* auspicious* parochial* See why I love the Direct Hits books so much? All the […]