When my daughter was little, we were looking at You Tube videos of kittens. I wondered aloud about one of the videos. And she said “Yes, Mama. What the f***?” Not my brightest parenting moment (if still hysterical). But it’s also the same response that many of my students have to the writing section on […]
Writing
Don't pet the cute bunny!
Lately my students have been answering the hard questions. The get sucked in by the cuteness and the fluffy factor. “But it looked so easy.” Even though we talked about how it doesn’t make sense to grab big pumpkins if all the pumpkins are worth the same amount. For some reason, they find the […]
Grab PWN’s Essay Guide!
[NOTE: this applies to the pre-2016 version of the SAT] Mike’s excellent Essay Guide is free on Kindle (or you can download it to your iPad or computer if you don’t have a Kindle)
Grammar Practice
The most consistent problem my students struggle with is grammar. Apparently it is a mythical beast that isn’t showing up in school curriculums anymore. I’ve been searching around to find appropriate material to fill in the gap. Erica Meltzer’s The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar is terrific and highly recommended. But I was also looking […]
Pandas for better grammar!
Is writing your college essay getting you down? Are you exhausted from trying to sort out all the grammar and punctuation rules? This is one of my favorite books on punctuation rules: Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynn Truss. It’s lighthearted, memorable, and an easy read. Lynn gets the title […]
Writing your college essay
[NOTE: this applies to the pre-2016 version of the SAT] Are you working on your college essay over the summer? Here’s a great article on what not to do: 5 Horrible Essay Topics for Your College Application written by Elizabeth Heaton at USA Today. What topics should you avoid? The big game The List The […]