I’ve been in the test prep field for long enough now to be able to have seen about two complete high school student body turnovers. Amusingly enough, when I started prepping students for the SAT I was only a year or two out of college and still had a pretty decent sense of what was happening on the high school front.

Now, I don’t want to pull some sort of “in my day” spiel, but you should know that when I was in high school we didn’t have computers at the house and internet access was extremely limited (and, frankly, we really had no idea why we’d want to use it anyway). That being said, I’ll also admit that we watched a fair amount of television. Nevertheless, we spent a good deal of time reading recreationally. Anais Nin, On the Road, Jonathan Edwards–you name it and someone we knew was reading it. And now, well over a decade later, I will bet serious money on the following statement:

Kids–even the “smart” kids–just aren’t reading like they used to.

It’s a problem.

In the past week alone I’ve had to clarify the meaning of the following words for students hoping to attend Ivy League schools: timid, pedagogical, somber, polarized, consummate, equitable, and steadfast. [There are more but I'll spare you.] In no way do I mean to be condescending or to in any way poke fun at my students; instead I mean to Sound The Alarm.

In the world of educational chatter, “teaching to the test” and the limitations of what one can glean about a students’ intellect or college readiness from standardized testing are major issues–and a fair ones at that. However, I think we’re finally at the point where it’s not about the test anymore.

I don’t want to hear another word about how deeply unfair the SAT is until you can show me a culture of high school students who read quality literature for fun on a daily basis. Show me students who turn off YouTube and Hulu (and  Halo, for that matter) in favor of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell or The Kite Runner. Show me students who are working through House of Leaves for the fun of it (to date, I’ve had one dare to do so and, frankly, he loved it…. and now he’s at Williams) and I’ll show you a legion of college applicants that aren’t doing battle with the reading comprehension section on the SAT.

As a tutor I spend more time than ever teaching the rudiments of critical thinking–meaning, I spend many hours explaining one, the meanings of words, and two, why it’s so important that we be able to articulate definitions. (It’s quite difficult to compare the meaning and intention of two words–the building blocks of answer choices–when all you can say about each of them is “oh, you know, I know what it means, but it’s just so hard to say it!”)

I’m seeing fewer and fewer students knock the SAT Reading out of the ballpark and I’m going to stick my neck out and say that I don’t think it’s because I’ve spontaneously become a lousy teacher. So, teachers, parents, and my tutor colleagues: please, please, encourage your students to read more than you ever have before. And students, you heard it here first: if you don’t start reading challenging literature on a regular basis and discipline yourself to learn and articulate the meanings of new words as you come across them, your SAT score will suffer.

It’s as simple as that.

I recently realized that, whether you’re an accomplished student or not, that you may not really have a handle on the best way to prep for a standardized test. People argue back and forth about how “coachable” these tests may be, but there are two fundamental things you need to keep an eye out for while studying for either the ACT or SAT. This is one of my best-kept secret tactics. 

For every question you come across (and this is assuming you are using only real practice tests created by the test maker), you need to know what they asked how they asked the question. It’s fairly simple, really. Neither the SAT nor the ACT is a test of everything you learned in high school; instead, they test a finite number of facts/concepts and then test your knowledge or ability to apply them in different ways.

So, while you’re studying any SAT or ACT topic that fact-based (like grammar and math), this what you do for any question that gives you any sort of pause:

• Write down what you needed to know.

New formula? New grammatical construction? How functions work? Make sure you take notes on what you needed to know (and, most importantly, what you didn’t know) so you can make sure you don’t miss it again.

• Write down how they asked you about it.

Did they make the question a two-parter? Was the grammar something that “sounded right” that you might actually say but is, in fact, wrong? Did you miss an EXCEPT question? Did you overlook the different of perfect squares because you didn’t recognize it? Did you have to factor exponents in a way you never did in Algebra class?

Tracking these two simple elements is the key to unlocking and studying for any standardized test. Good luck!

Until now my general rule of thumb for practicing the reading passages on the SAT or ACT is “don’t read them aloud because you have to read silently during the test.” I’m all about practicality and doing things as they should be done, so I’ve always assumed this tactic made the most sense.

But sometimes I have to stop and rethink my strategies and this recent New York Times article has made me do a double take. One of the main tenets of my test prep tactics is based on a single concept: “I’m really good at standardized test; how can I share what I know with others?” Moreover, what are the experiences enhanced my natural test-taking ability and are they applicable to my students?

Reading this article, it hit me: reading aloud at my house wasn’t just something that my mother did with me when I was very young. We weren’t merely a bedtime story household. In fact, some of my favorite memories from my high school years involve hanging out with my mom, reading essays and articles to each other and laughing ourselves to tears.  We read Russell Baker, E.B. White, and George Will to each and talked about what we read. (Yes, seriously.)

The fact is that learning to read with nuance fosters not only an understanding of others’ work but also the ability to edit one’s own work efficiently and masterfully. Practicing communicating—conveying meaning—is integral to developing the very comprehension that the SAT in particular* tests.

What does this mean for us? Well for me and my students it means that we’re going to be doing a lot more reading aloud, and I’m going to be nitpicking their inflection and cadence to more carefully notice when they’ve lost their purpose. For students reading this it means it’s time to start reading out loud, whether to your friend or your family. If you find a funny article online on a magazine, share it with your friends by reading a paragraph or two to them rather than just handing them the magazine. When you’re hanging out on the beach this summer vacation share that funny bit you just read in your beach book.

Join the debate club. Get involved in theater. Consider being part of the literary magazine or yearbook at your school—most clubs that involve writing will involve reading aloud. Most importantly, get in the habit of reading material on a variety of subjects aloud into your daily life. Prioritize it, and you should see your scores increase.

*I say SAT in particular because the ACT’s reading passages are more geared toward testing attention to detail rather than nuance, intention, and implication of the passage itself. 

Nevertheless, I’m going to stick my own grammatical neck out and say it: if you want to break the rules, you need to learn the rules first. Struck and White are, as far as I’m concerned, the A#1 resource for learning to piece together a concise piece of writing that is well structured and clearly states an idea. I’ve been known to hand it to students who are 13, 14 years old (and even sometimes those about to graduate high school) as a great little guide for Getting What You Mean On Your Paper. 

God bless the crafty writers with their beautiful prose, but if you’re looking for the basics and great examples of what you might do versus what you should do as you learn to write, The Elements of Style is still where it’s at.

I LEGO N.Y. – NY Times

I’m really excited about this initiative within high schools to move away from quotas of volunteer hours and toward meaningful projects that impact those schools’ immediate communities. I can’t tell you how many college applications I’ve seen that yammer on and on about the value of community service, and yet the hundreds of hours those students have racked up hardly represent the work of kids who have a heart for their communities.

It seems counterintuitive that the wealthiest communities—those with the most to spare—would be least inclined to find projects that have large impact on those with real need, and yet that seems to be the case. Anything that alludes to a move towards authenticity and service gets a thumbs-up from me.

Good Deeds: The Backlash –NY Times

Also, if you’re planning to take the December SAT please remember to register soon, as the November deadline has already passed.

A Tiny Fruit That Tricks the Tongue

Blowback–Atlantic Monthly