SAT Vocabulary: High-Utility Academic Words Part II (Letter A) Click here for Part I of this video series! What is high utility? Basically, words that you need to know for college. In fact you may even know these words. You might not know, however, how to define them. And I don’t mean, “uh, it […]

There will always be one paired passage on every New SAT Reading Test. Here are the specific question types you’ll see and the strategies you should use.

Ever get a graded essay back from your English teacher and it’s bleeding red with passive-aggressive questions such as “Examples?” “Support?” “Evidence for this?” “How do you know?” or the backhanded compliment, “Interesting arguments, but they need support”?

We won’t beat around the bush. There’s a lot to read on the new SAT Reading test. And if you aren’t careful with balancing your time between reading and question answering, you very well might find yourself in a panic when the proctor announces 5 minutes left. So let’s talk about how you can learn to pace yourself appropriately.

Think vocabulary is dead on the New SAT? Well, think again! Vocabulary is still part of the test, only know it’s a slightly different breed and goes under the annoying title “high-utility academic words.”

After the Literature passage on the New SAT, you’ll see two History/Social Studies passages and two Science passages–typically alternated. These passages should be approached a little differently than the Fiction passage. Here’s what you need to know:

On every New SAT exam, there’s one fiction passage from “U.S. or World Literature” (yeah, that does basically mean anything in the world, as long as it’s written in English). The literature passage is the first passage in the Reading Section. Let’s discuss!

The SAT has always loved agreement—it’s easy to test and it’s easy to make the question difficult. But first let’s talk about what agreement is: it is when the subject and verb are consistent in terms of number.

How can I get better at New SAT reading? The answer to this question is both obvious and not that obvious. The short answer: read. The long answer: read the right material. And by that I don’t mean read SAT passages for fun (who would listen to that?). Rather, read articles from magazines and newspapers […]

The big news is that vocabulary words will no longer have their own section. Indeed, big vocabulary words will be virtually absent from the new test. That’s right: words like “deferential”, “gregarious”, and “abstemious” will never keep you up at night again. Sure, they might show up in a vocabulary-in-context question in Reading Comprehension, but even this vocabulary will be far more basic so that’s not likely to be case.