Elsewhere in this blog, we’ve discussed why it isn’t a great idea to spend lots of time studying vocabulary as part of your SAT prep. But that doesn’t mean you should throw your hands up in despair when you see an unfamiliar vocabulary word lurking in a Sentence Completion question. Instead, you should employ these strategies:

1) See if the word sounds like any other words you know in English (try to preserve the consonants, but be flexible with the vowels):

• tangible – sounds like tangent, “a line that touches a circle at one point” (sound familiar from math class?); tangible means “able to be touched” or “real”
• plaudit – sounds like applaud, and it means “praise”
• resplendent – splend sounds like splendid, and resplendent means “brilliant” or “shiny”
• brevity – sounds like brief, and it means “shortness” or “conciseness”

2) See if the word sounds like any other words you know in a different language (especially a Romance language, such as Spanish or French—or better, yet, Latin, the source of all the Romance languages!):

• tenacious – ten sounds like the Spanish tener and the French tenir (both from the Latin tenere, “to hold”); tenacious means “holding strongly”
• clairvoyant – clair sounds like the Spanish claro and the French clair (both from the Latin clarus, “clear”); similarly, voy is related to the Spanish ver and the French voir (both from the Latin videre, “to see”); clairvoyant means “seeing clearly” (especially into the future)
• salutary – when someone sneezes in your Spanish class, what do you say? Salud! (“To your health!”); salutary means “good for one’s health”

3) Even if a word doesn’t sound like other words you know in any language, see if you can break it down into prefixes, roots, and suffixes:

• immutable

im is really the negating prefix in, usually meaning “not” (impossible, inarticulate)

mut is a root meaning “change” (as in mutation)

able is a suffix meaning, easily enough, “able”

Put it all together:  immutable means “not able to be changed.”

• ignominious

ig is from the same negating prefix in (ignorant means “not aware of”)

nomin is from the root nomen, meaning “name” (as in nominate, “to call by name”)

ious is a suffix meaning “full of” (as in beauteous, “full of beauty”)

Put it all together: ignominious means “full of a not name” – having a name is very important, so to have an empty name is ignominious, or “shameful.”

And, of course, you can mingle these approaches on a single word:

• convivial – con sounds pretty similar to the Spanish con, “with”; viv sounds like the English “vivid”; and ial is a suffix that indicates the word is an adjective; convivial describes something that is “with life” or “festive.”

You won’t necessarily be able to break down all the hard vocab words you see on the SAT, but if you look for opportunities to slice and dice, you can make a lot of them much more facile (sounds like the Spanish fácil, the French facile, the English word facilitate…).

Boomie Aglietti is a real estate novelist; he never had time for a wife. And he’s talking to Davy, who’s still in the Navy, and probably will be for life. Also, he’s a Revolution Prep instructor who enjoys the absurdities of history and a rousing bout of Charles Dickens.

While the best way to succeed on the SAT is to study, studying is only useful if you are able to focus on the questions on test day. But often students show up groggy and unfocused, because they failed to get sleep the night before.  Research has shown that students have better recall for test answers when they take the test in the same mental state they studied and since most people have had a full night’s sleep before they study for the SATs, getting sleep before the test is important. Sleep withdrawal also causes:

• Trouble focusing
• Anxiety symptoms
• Stomach discomfort
• Eye aches
• Frustration and irritability

It’s not a pleasant way to take the test, and it can badly hurt your overall score. All of that effort you spent studying can be wasted if you don’t get a good amount of sleep.

Laughter is one of the best ways to loosen up when you're stressed about test day.

How to Get Sleep With Anxiety

Test anxiety is one of one of the most common reasons that students can’t sleep before test day. If you are experiencing test anxiety, try these sleep-improving strategies.

• Stop Studying and Go to Bed Early

You’ve studied for the SAT for months. There is little you are going to learn in an hour the day before the test. Give your brain a rest and try to go to bed early so that you can get as much sleep as possible before the big day.

• Write Down Your Worries/Thoughts

Your brain tries to keep you awake to help you remember your thoughts and worries. Keeping a journal by your bed to write down your thoughts can help with that problem, as it tells your brain they’re right next to you in a permanent place.

• Laugh

Laughter is one of the best ways to loosen up when you’re stressed about test day. It’s too easy to put a lot of pressure and attention on the next day, and forget to enjoy the present. Find something that always makes you laugh and watch/do it the night before you go to bed.

• Relaxation Techniques

There are ample relaxation exercises that you can try until you find one that works for you. Look at deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation. Both of these are easy to do before you go in for the test.

• Positive Thoughts/Affirmations

Few high school students enjoy the idea of doing affirmations, but they are surprisingly effective, because they force your mind to focus on positive things instead of dwell on negative things. Consider affirmations as a way to help yourself remain positive about the test.

Preparing for Test Day With Sleep

Most students deal with some level of anxiety before test day. But you don’t want that anxiety keeping you awake and causing you to take the test sleep deprived and nervous. Sleep is a natural anxiety treatment, and if you are able to get a full night’s sleep – by using the tips above and trying to calm your mind and body – you’ll do much better on the test and give yourself a better opportunity to succeed.

About the Author: Ryan Rivera often let his anxiety keep him from getting a good night’s rest. That’s why he tries to help other students learn more about anxiety at www.calmclinic.com.

In your SAT Writing prep, you’ve probably learned the Big 2: Verbs & Pronouns. Problems with verbs and pronouns account for almost 50% of the errors you’ll find when Improving Sentences and Identifying Errors. So why, then, is the preposition important? Just think of it as your inside man, giving you all the details on the verbs, nouns, and pronouns surrounding him.

Prepositions give you the tips you need to identify the errors on the SAT Writing section.

What is a preposition? Prepositions are those little words in sentences like “on”, “in”, “for”, “of”, and “between”. They show the relationship of a noun or pronoun to another word, usually indicating time, location, or movement, and they can give you vital information on Subject-Verb Agreement and Pronoun Case.

Let’s look at Subject-Verb Agreement first. Singular subjects need to be paired with singular verbs. Plural subjects need to be paired with plural verbs. Sounds simple, right? Unfortunately, the SAT likes to confuse matters, tricking you with false subjects. They do this by using prepositional phrases, descriptive phrases that start with a preposition. Let’s look at an Improving Sentences example, remembering the simple rule that a sentence’s subject cannot follow a preposition:

The details of the recipe for the delicious dessert was a secret passed down through generations.

What’s the subject of this sentence? The SAT wants you to think it’s “dessert”. “Dessert” is singular, and “was” is singular. All good, right? But we have a few prepositions in our way: “of” and “for”. Since the subject cannot follow a preposition, remove the prepositional phrases “of the recipe” and “for the delicious dessert”. Once you’ve taken those out, re-read the sentence. “The details was a secret…” Our true subject is “details”, which is plural, so we need to change “was” to “were”.

Prepositions can help with more than Subject-Verb Agreement – they can tell us whether to use a subject pronoun (I, you, he/she/it, we, they, who) or an object pronoun (me, you, her/him/it, us, them, whom). How can prepositions help? Here’s the rule: if a pronoun follows a preposition, it must be in the object case. One common preposition used to trick you on the SAT is “between”, which is demonstrated in this Identifying Errors example:

He claims to have paid (A) the contractor on time, but, between you and I (B), this is hardly (C) the first time he has gotten embroiled (D) in a dispute. No error (E)

This might seem like a “No error” problem, but let’s take a closer look. When a grouping of pronouns is underlined, like “you and I”, immediately check to see if they are in the proper case. “Between”, a preposition, comes before “you and I”, so any pronoun that follows must be in object case. “You” can be object or subject case, so it’s ok. However, “I” is a subject pronoun. We’ve found our error:

(B)! (While we don’t need to correct the error here, had this been an Improving Sentences question, you would change the phrase to read “between you and me”.)

Subject-Verb Agreement and Pronoun Case are two big ways that one little word, the preposition, can help you avoid the SAT’s tricks and traps.

Lia O’Neale is a world-traveling, soccer-loving, Revolution Prep tutor and instructor.  She’s a UC Berkeley graduate, who studied at Queen Mary College her junior year.  She’s taught in China, walked in the footsteps of Dickens in London, held a penguin in New Zealand, and run from a crocodile in Australia.

The word phlegmatic means “unemotional” or “apathetic.” It’s a good SAT vocab word. But so is sedulous (“diligent”). And eclectic (“varying widely”). And alacrity (“swiftness”).  And every other word you get when you Google “SAT vocab”. If you lived outside the space-time continuum, learning all these words that could show up on the SAT would be a good idea. But it’s not a good idea, because:

1) you do not live outside the space-time continuum.

If you live out here, don't worry about the SAT.

It’s a misconception that you need a great vocabulary to do well on the SAT. The only “vocab questions” on the test are Sentence Completions—and there are only 19 of them, about 6 of which (the last 1-3 in each set) involve high-level vocab. Ergo, studying vocab is not the best way to increase your Critical Reading score.

But surely knowing words is more helpful than not knowing words! Surely, but there are thousands of “SAT vocab” words, so it’s highly unlikely that any particular word you study would actually show up on the test. And studying thousands of words would require an enormous amount of time that could be much better spent practicing critical reading, essay outlining, tricky math, etc.

Another reason not to go overboard with vocab is that you can often get the right answer to a Sentence Completion without knowing all the words. For example:

The mayor’s speech was full of _____ ideas, ranging from building a waterpark in the community center to guaranteeing free dental work to all citizens.

(A) soporific

(B) deleterious

(C) nostalgic

(D) grandiose

(E) bucolic

Instead of plugging each answer choice in and reading the sentence five more times, we can just anticipate our own word for the blank: a waterpark and free dental work sound like extraordinary ideas. Now all we have to do is eliminate answer choices that don’t at least come close to the meaning of extraordinary. Some of these words (soporific, deleterious, bucolic) might be unfamiliar. But that’s okay—leave them aside and focus on the words you do know. Does nostalgic (“hearkening back sadly to an earlier time”) go with extraordinary? Not really. So we cross off (C). Does grandiose (“impressive” or “pretentious”) go with extraordinary? They don’t mean exactly the same thing, but yes, they’re close enough. So we pick (D), which is right. And it doesn’t matter if we don’t know the other three words.

Another example:

Dale found the beauty of the sunset _____; he could think of no words to describe it.

(A) misconstrued

(B) ineffable

(C) lethargic

(D) spontaneous

(E) docile

You can probably eliminate (E) (docile means “tame”), (D) (while the sunset might be spontaneous, that has nothing to do with why Dale can’t think of any words to describe it), and (C) (lethargic means “lazy”). (A) and (B) might be tougher; if they’re equally unfamiliar, you can look at the mis prefix on (A), which always indicates something negative (e.g., misfire, mistake), so you can probably cross off (A). Which means the answer has to be (B), even if you have no idea what it means (ineffable means “indescribable”).

In sum, don’t make studying vocab a huge part of your SAT prep. Even if you had the time to study every single word that could possibly show up on the SAT, you’d probably only gain yourself a few extra points—and that’s assuming you remembered each and every word you studied. And if you don’t think that would be hard, what does phlegmatic mean?

Told you.

Boomie Aglietti is a real estate novelist; he never had time for a wife. And he’s talking to Davy, who’s still in the Navy, and probably will be for life. Also, he’s a Revolution Prep instructor who enjoys the absurdities of history and a rousing bout of Charles Dickens.

Not a grammar guru? You don’t need to be one to do well on the SAT!

Grammar may seem random and untamable, but it’s actually a lot like math—a closed system with specific rules (if you’ve ever taken Latin, you have a good sense of the structured ways in which various parts of speech function and relate to each other).

Great, so then grammar is just about memorizing tons of annoying rules? Nope! You read, hear, and speak English every single day, so you already have a pretty good internal sense of these rules, even if you’ve never shaken hands with a gerund or gone foraging for misplaced modifiers. The tricky part is that you’re used to hearing incorrect grammar all the time—and SAT grammar questions are designed to take advantage of this fact—but if you can clear out the garbage and focus on the core of the sentence, your natural grammar instincts will kick in and save you.

Example #1:

A large group of birds are sitting on the balcony.

Anything sound wrong to you? Probably not. (If so, prizes for you!) But a lot of the “garbage” in SAT grammar questions is in prepositional phrases. You remember prepositions? Those little words that indicate where or when something is happening, such as at the school, down the street, before midnight, into the woods, etc. Cross out these kinds of phrases, as they’re just there to confuse you.

So let’s simplify the original sentence:

A large group of birds are sitting on the balcony.

Or, more cleanly:

A large group are sitting.

Anything sound wrong to you now? Hopefully! Once you eliminate the prepositional phrases, it’s a lot easier to hear that the subject group, a singular noun doesn’t work with are, a plural verb; your natural grammar instinct tells you that the simplified sentence should read A large group is sitting. (A group may have many people, but it’s still just one, singular group). And adding of birds back in doesn’t change the underlying grammar: A large group of birds is sitting. Notice how much easier it is for your instinct to kick in when you clear away the distractions in the sentence.

Example #2:

The teacher gave him and I a project to finish.

Anything sound fishy? If not, it’s because people say this kind of thing all the time. But if you break the sentence down into simpler parts, you might notice something:

The teacher gave him a project to finish.

Sounds fine, right? But how about:

The teacher gave I a project to finish.

No chance you’d ever say that! And you know the pronoun I is wrong (and how to fix it) without having to cite any complex grammar rule: The teacher gave me a project to finish. As in Example #1, adding back in the words him and doesn’t change the underlying grammar: The teacher gave him and me a project to finish. And, as above, notice how easy it is to hear the error once you’ve simplified the sentence.

These examples represent just two of the common SAT grammar error types (specifically, subject-verb agreement in #1 and pronoun case in #2). Not every error is going to be quite so easy to locate just by crossing off prepositional phrases and/or trying a pronoun by itself, and there are some rules you’ll want to study to help you catch more subtle errors. But your overarching approach to prepping for SAT grammar should be about SIMPLIFYING—making it easier for yourself to hear the kinds of errors the SAT likes to test you on.

Boomie Aglietti is a real estate novelist; he never had time for a wife. And he’s talking to Davy, who’s still in the Navy, and probably will be for life. Also, he’s a Revolution Prep instructor who enjoys the absurdities of history and a rousing bout of Charles Dickens.

SAT reading passages are a challenge for most students.

So you’re on board with SAT prep. You’re taking a practice test. It’s time for another dreaded long reading passage, and…

Scenario 1:

You’re reading and you’re reading and you finally get to the bottom of the page and then it hits you – you totally just read every word of the passage, but you have no idea what it’s about.

Scenario 2:

You finally take a deep breath and start to read the dreaded long reading passage, and all of a sudden – boom. “Single Ladies” is stuck in your head — on repeat.

Scenario 3:

You’re starting to read yet another long, boring passage late in the test: One of the features that distinguishes traditional Pueblo pottery… Seriously? Pueblo pottery? …from other types of clay art… this sucks… is that absence of machinery from all parts of the creative process. (Like this test — all parts of the creative process, definitely absent.) The clay is gathered, processed, and shaped by hand. Instead of using a potter’s wheel to create Pueblo vases … Why would I ever care about Pueblo pottery?

Does this happen to you? Have no fear! Your hand is here!

Your brain is capable of focusing on two things at once. This is why you can read and think about other things at the same time. To make your life easier (and your score higher), focus that other part of your brain with written tasks. If you are reading and writing simultaneously, there’ll be no brain space left for drifting off, and the “checked out” part of your brain can focus on what’s important in the moment – the passage.

Here are some bonus tips on using your pencil during the reading passages to give yourself a leg up on the questions:

1. As you’re reading, hunt for and underline adjectives/tone/emotion words that might help you discover and define what the author/narrator’s tone about the subject is. There can be as many as 3 tone questions for each long reading passage.
2. At the end of each paragraph, quickly write a 2-3 word summary of what you just read. Don’t spend too much time here. These paraphrases will give you a refresher for when the line reference questions send you back to that part of the passage.
3. At the end of the essay, write a less-than-one sentence summary of the whole essay. If you do this well, this summary can be used as your anticipation to the inevitable “This passage is best described as…” question.

Don’t let your head get the better of you; let your hand lead the way.

Happy reading!

Knowing how to take a test is a vital skill that all serious students must practice. There are many types of exams that you will be required take to over your academic career. The following guide can be applied to all types of tests, from everyday subject tests in school to those pesky standardized tests. Take notes on the methods that are summarized below and try out these techniques on your next exam.

Scan. When you open your test, start by familiarizing yourself with the material. Scan the entire test immediately and evaluate the importance of each section. Note the amount of points each section is worth and estimate how much time will be needed for each part.

Read. Slowly read the directions and underline key words. It can be agonizing to lose points when you knew the material, but misread the directions. If the directions ask for one concise paragraph for your answer, write exactly one paragraph! Occasionally directions will state that you should answer only some of the questions (“pick eight out of ten questions to answer”). Discovering this after answering all ten questions is not only irking, but also takes away precious time from other parts of the test.

Write. Write down helpful facts that you memorized for the test so you do not worry about forgetting them and can refer to them during the test.

Answer. Start by answering the shortest questions first. This gives you the experience of success and prepares your brain for the harder questions.

Increase recall. What happens if an important fact slips your mind? First try to think of something similar. Start from the general and move to the specific. If you are still floundering, try writing a brief mind map to stimulate your memory. (This should not take more than one or two minutes. If so, cut it loose and move on to the next question. You can always come back to it at the end if time permits.)

Leave extra space. Whether you are writing your answers in sentence form or crunching numbers, leave extra space between answers. You will often recall an additional fact while completing a different problem, prompting you to add to a previous answer. Moreover, your instructor will appreciate the extra space when grading your test.

Look for answers elsewhere. It is common for answers to show up in other test questions. A date, equation, or other fact that you cannot remember may appear in the test itself.

Use your gut. For quick-answer questions such as true/false or multiple-choice, pay attention to your instinct. Never change your answer unless you are absolutely confident in your second choice.

Blake H. is an instructor and tutor for Revolution Prep. Blake attended Cal Poly –SLO as an undergrad and is currently pursuing his master’s degree in Architecture at California College of the Arts.

About Revolution Prep: Revolution Prep offers ACT and SAT test prep group courses,  a hybrid course which includes test prep tutoring,  SAT / ACT software, ACT / SAT test prep tutoring and academic tutoring for finals, SAT Subject Tests, AP Exams, and more.  Revolution was named one of the fastest growing private companies nationwide on the Inc. 5000 list and was also recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the fastest growing private companies in Los Angeles.

The semicolon is an underutilized form of punctuation that can be a valuable tool for students who are uneasy about using it. It has two primary uses: its use as a soft period and its use a “super-coma” in a long list. Memorize these two simple rules and you will never question your semicolon use again.

1. Semicolon used as a soft period. The semicolon can be used to bring two separate but closely related statements together into one complete sentence. For example, “This could be one complete sentence; this could be another one.”

A common mistake is to put a comma where the semicolon is. This is called a comma splice and it is an error that all students must be able to recognize. SAT/ACT exams always have questions that test knowledge of the comma splice error. Students often get confused and put a comma instead of a semicolon because the second clause does not really look like a complete sentence. For example, “Fifty-two weeks are in one year; only eight remain.”

One exception to this rule is if there is a conjunction between the two clauses. If there is a conjunction such as “and” or “but,” a comma is used. For example, “this could be a complete sentence, and this could be another one.”

In each of these examples, a period could be used instead of a semicolon; however, a semicolon is preferred because it gives continuity between the independent clauses.

2. Semicolon used as a “super-comma” in a complicated list. A sentence containing a ton of commas can be really confusing. When writing a list or multiple clauses containing commas, use semicolons to separate each.

For example, “San Francisco, California; New York City, New York; and Boston, Massachusetts have the highest percentage of college degree holders of all American cities.”

The semicolons used above help the reader recognize the major groupings and bring clarity to the sentence overall.

That’s it! There are some other minor rules for using semicolons (which you should research on your own), but the two rules above will cover the majority of your semicolon use. Remember that punctuation is a powerful tool and slight changes can have a great impact on the meaning of your words. Understanding the basics of punctuation early in your academic career is important because it will make your future work clear and your readers happy!

Blake H. is an instructor and tutor for Revolution Prep. Blake attended Cal Poly –SLO as an undergrad and is currently pursuing his master’s degree in Architecture at California College of the Arts.

About Revolution Prep: Revolution Prep offers ACT and SAT test prep group courses,  a hybrid course which includes test prep tutoring,  SAT / ACT software, ACT / SAT test prep tutoring and academic tutoring for finals, SAT Subject Tests, AP Exams, and more.  Revolution was named one of the fastest growing private companies nationwide on the Inc. 5000 list and was also recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the fastest growing private companies in Los Angeles.

Benefits of Service-Learning

We are all familiar with the concept of volunteering. You have probably planted trees or picked up trash in your community as a volunteer for a day. But are you familiar with service-learning? In short, it is a “learn by doing” experience where students complete projects to help communities. Those receiving the service receive much needed help while those performing the service gain real-world experience and a deeper understanding of societal issues. If you are unfamiliar with service learning or are unsure if it is right for you, here are some reasons to give it a try.

There is a Chinese proverb that goes: “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand”. Service learning provides innumerable opportunities to explore your interests and help you grow as an individual, all by doing hands-on work. For example, students interested in bringing more trees into their community would not only organize the planting of trees, but also create a long-term plan to green the entire community. This is when volunteering becomes service-learning.

Service-learning allows you to work with new people, which can lead to new partnerships, job opportunities, etc.  These experiences also look great on a resume, demonstrating initiative, leadership skills, and ability to work hard.

For those interested in traveling, international service-learning projects are a great option. Students learn about new cultures, languages, and traditions through collaboration, and get a more well-rounded education than those who stay in the classroom.

Reflection

A major component of service-learning is reflection. Reflection time, whether it is keeping a journal or discussing your experiences with fellow students, is what distinguishes service-learning from community service.  Examples include:

Artistic Expression: Drawing, music, and theater are fun and useful outlets for reflection.

Reading and Writing: Reading a breadth of material with differing viewpoints on your area of focus will provide a solid foundation for journaling.

Journaling: Writing about your observations and how they relate to issues such as communication, privilege, and conflict is a helpful way to make conclusions and move forward in your studies.

Studies show that altruism is one of the largest contributors to overall happiness levels in people. If you have any interest in gaining life experience, helping others, and getting academic credit, get involved in a service-learning program soon!

Blake is an instructor and tutor for Revolution Prep. Blake attended Cal Poly –SLO as an undergrad and is currently pursuing his master’s degree in Architecture at California College of the Arts.

About Revolution Prep: Revolution Prep offers ACT and SAT test prep group courses,  a hybrid course which includes test prep tutoring,  SAT / ACT software, ACT / SAT test prep tutoring and academic tutoring for finals, SAT Subject Tests, AP Exams, and more.  Revolution was named one of the fastest growing private companies nationwide on the Inc. 5000 list and was also recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the fastest growing private companies in Los Angeles.

Join us on the Revolution Prep Facebook page for our SAT Office Hours Wednesday from 5-8pm PST and Thursday from 6-9pm PST to get your last minute SAT questions answered by a live instructor.

Our expert instructors are happy to help you with any questions that come up while you prep for the SAT. Simply log on to our Revolution Prep Facebook page, “Like” the page, and post your test prep question on our wall. An instructor will answer your questions for you right there on the page, absolutely free during Office Hours.

Don’t have a specific question in mind?  That’s OK — our instructors will be posting SAT and ACT questions of their own, and working through the solutions to help you prepare.