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SAT Prep begins in childhood with early and continued reading

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but being an avid reader as a child/young adult can reduce or replace the need for significant SAT prep.

Even though I spent most of my 18 years as a tutor working in mathematics, I firmly believe that reading is the most important skill to develop in children. If you can read (and by that I mean all the subskills of reading: scanning for information, reading for comprehension, evaluating what you read) then no information is beyond your grasp. Want to be a better writer? Read more.

Readers — real readers — intuitively pick up grammar and language rules that SAT students struggle to memorize. The 2005 changes to the SAT made language the focus of 2 of the 3 subsections of the test. Instead of 50-50 Verbal/Math, the SAT is now 2/3 language (Critical Reasoning and Writing) and 1/3 math. (Although, there are still several schools who either do not require or do not put much stock in the new Writing section, since it is not as tested and evaluated as the other sections.)

But wait, there’s more! Reading skills help on the math section, too, since most of the SAT questions are not technically challenging; they are tricky word problems. The math questions that routinely give students the most difficulty are in fact simple logic, counting or categorizing questions where the conditions are spelled out in words. Here are some examples that are all freely available online at various test prep sources (SparkNotes Test Prep, Number2.com and the College Board):

Of the lions at the zoo, 13 eat zebra meat, 11 eat giraffe meat, and 7 eat both. How many lions are there in the zoo?

Let the expression §x§ be defined as the smallest integer greater than x. What is the value of §-7§ times §-6§ ? 

Two years ago, a rabbit breeder had 75 rabbits. Since then 500 rabbits have been born, 220 have died and 185 have been sold. How many rabbits does the breeder have now expressed as a percentage of the number she had two years ago?

Three years ago men made up two out of every three internet users in America. Today the ratio of male to female users is about 1 to 1. In that time the number of American females using the internet has grown by 30,000,000, while the number of males who use the internet has grown by 100%. By how much has the total internet-user population increased in America in the past three years?
If A is the set of prime numbers and B is the set of two-digit positive integers whose units digit is 5, how many numbers are common to both sets?

These questions require little more than the four basic operations of arithmetic, but they are some of the most difficult questions on the SAT for non-readers.  And, even for readers they may pose a problem under the time constraints and stresses of test day.  It is easy to see how your child’s math score is directly affected by his reading level.

There is nothing geeky, cruel or abusive about getting your kids hooked on reading at an early age. But, my kids don’t like to read, you say? It could be that you simply haven’t found the right reading material. Most young children love stories, but many kids (especially gifted students) may soon grow into a taste for non-fiction. I remember that my elementary school report cards always had two separate check boxes for evaluating our reading skills: “Reading for information” and “Reading for pleasure.” Personally, I always wondered why the two were thought to be different things. Kids who have outgrown stories may instead be interested in reading to learn about a topic of interest.

Even reading instructions (since that’s really what many of the SAT math questions are) without a context can be a useful and fun (ok, maybe that’s starting to get a little geeky) exercise.  I recently came across a puzzle in one of my Official variety puzzles magazines that just screamed “SAT prep” to me:

Do as you’re told ~ Follow the instructions to discover the surprise answer.

1. Print the phrase BLACK BEAR, omitting the space.
2. Add an O at the left end of the row.
3. Insert a P at the exact center of the row.
4. Delete the fifth consonant.
5. Switch the second consonant from the left with the second vowel from the right.
6. Repeat step 2.
7. Change the fifth letter to an I.
8. Add a T at the right end of the row.
9. Repeat step 3.
10. Change the first consonant to an S.
11. Move the E to the right end of the row.
12. Repeat step 2.
13. Delete all consonants that come before J in the alphabet.
14. Repeat step 3.
15. Switch the first vowel with the second consonant.
16. Switch letters three through five, as a group, with letters nine through eleven.

I also find that it’s easier to consciously learn math.  Once a child knows how to read, they “know how to read” . . . right?  Wrong.  Just because you can identify each word in the above math questions doesn’t mean you are equipped to answer the question. Yet, with math, it’s understood that we are continually learning more math, and that math “gets harder.”  That’s why it’s so important to get reading right early.  It’s easy to see when you’re on to the next unit in math, but not so easy to see when you’re reading “at the next level.”  So the best you can do is start early and keep it continuous.  And then, you won’t be throwing up your hands in frustration trying to help your child prepare for the math portion of the SAT!  (Well, not for that reason.)

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