Tell me the story
Whenever someone sends me their scores, I reply back with the same question:
How’d you do it?
My favorite email last week was from a father of a daughter who is a junior in high school. Read More →
Tips
I Have a Question: How’d You Do It?
Reading
Reading: There’s Voracious (me), and Perspicacious (not me)
I’m a glutton when it comes to books. I finish most within a day or two. I read in gigantic eye gulps.
I like “E,” “P,” and “A” (audio) editions — but if I have my druthers, I choose “P” Read More →
Reading
A Diabolical Passage (But I Love It)
There’s a fascinating conversation in the comments of this post on Kitchen Table Math about whether or not our schools are properly preparing students for the SAT. The College Board says a “rigorous curriculum” is the best way to prepare Read More →
Reading
There Are Basically Four Types of Relationships
Continuing with the Compare 2 Passages conversation of yesterday, the reason I often find these so difficult is that their distinctions can be very subtle and hard to articulate. It’s not as if one is “pro” and the other Read More →
Reading
Apparently I Have “Relationship Issues”
Turns out that I have “passage based relationship issues.” I discovered this last Saturday while working with Erica Meltzer.
Main idea, no problem. Tone, easy.
But don’t ask me to state “the relationship” between the two passages in a Read More →
Reading
The Effectiveness of Reading Comprehension Strategies
I read Daniel Willingham’s article about reading comprehension strategies, and was struck by his assertion that reading comprehension strategies may help, but they do not build skill:
Based on my reading of the research and my knowledge of cognitive science,
Tips
Top 10 Things I Learned From Stacey Howe-Lott
I spent the month of May working with the highest SAT score improver I could find: Stacey Howe-Lott. Sessions were via Skype with a shared white board, and she assigns work in between sessions (not a lot).
To Read More →
Writing
What is “Good Writing?”
Given that I spent over two decades working in book publishing, I assumed that the SAT Reading and Writing sections would be a piece of cake.
Wrong.
Take a look at this SAT paragraph, which I would characterize as typical Read More →
