Up Your Score (10 page)

(Hint: Type 4, Author’s Logic / Type 1, General)

3. The word “detractors” in the fifth paragraph most nearly means

(A) farm implements

(B) critics

(C) supporters

(D) pet owners

(E) scientific experts

(Hint: Type 5, Vocabulary-in-Context)

4. According to the passage, one of the most specific problems associated with the process is

(A) a freeze-dried pet attracts viruses

(B) cost is high

(C) the lack of qualified individuals to perform the task

(D) freeze-dried pets are not shatterproof

(E) the fear that freeze-dried pets will stick to the wallpaper

(Hint: Type 2, Explicit)

5. The author seems to believe that

(A) freeze-drying is a worthless process when applied to animals

(B) the difficulties of freeze-drying outweigh the benefits

(C) it would be easier to freeze-dry an arma-dillo than a pinecone

(D) if you give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day; if you give a man two fishes, he’ll eat for two days

(E) the goals of freeze-drying are worth striving for

(Hint: Type 4, Author’s Logic)

Answers: 1. (C) 2. (B) 3. (B) 4. (D) 5. (E)

Now you have an idea of what the critical reading passages are all about. However, most passages won’t be that interesting, that short, or that easy. (We couldn’t help it; we’re also interesting, short, and easy.) For practice, do the reading passages in
The Official SAT Study Guide.
The SAT booklets available at your high school guidance office will also have some reading passages.

These passages will show up on the new SAT in place of the long gone analogies. To tell you the truth, it’s a good trade. Instead of memorizing tons of vocabulary, most of which is so specific you will never
ever
use it again in your life (you still have to memorize vocabulary, by the way, but there will be fewer direct questions about it), you get short, perky little passages with two or three questions after them.

JaJa says: Just because they’re short doesn’t mean that they’re easier! Don’t let the ETS catch you off guard.

The topics and strategies for tackling the short passages are essentially the same as those for the long passages. But these are friendlier than the long passages. For one thing, if it is talking about the growth cycle of celery, at least it’s only going to be five lines long. It’s really hard to make someone fall asleep during a hundred-word passage (although we suspect that the Evil Testing Serpent is going to try).

Here’s an example of a short passage:

Among young college students, a trend is emerging. Today, more than ever, these hardworking people are being saddled with skyrocketing tuition, book fees, and boarding costs. So it is not surprising that many of them are taking desperate measures in order to pay the bills. There have been reports of 19-year-olds selling their souls on eBay, blackmailing their siblings with grainy photos of tattoos that Mom and Dad don’t know about, and hunting for change on the ground under roller coasters. And, in a show of extreme anguish, some of these young people have even looked for work.

1. In line 4, the word “measures” is used to mean

(A) events

(B) quantities

(C) actions

(D) calculations

(E) weights

(Hint: Type 5, Vocabulary-in-Context)

2. According to the passage, the desperation many students feel is the result of

(A) the impossibility of staying in college

(B) the ever-increasing bills they have to pay

(C) the poor relationships they are fostering with their brothers and sisters

(D) the necessity of taking jobs

(E) seeing that their souls are worth only $4.28 on eBay

(Hint: Type 2, Explicit)

Answers: 1. (C) 2. (B)

See? It wasn’t that difficult at all. Again, not every SAT passage is going to be this exciting, but not every SAT passage is written by brilliant and resourceful teenagers.

hypogyrrationalrhombocuboids

diffeomorphism

supermartingale

myelomeningocele

dacryocystorhinoscopy

floccinaucinihilipilification

You probably don’t know what any of the above words mean. You probably don’t care what they mean. Once you have finished this book, you still won’t know what they mean.

These words may be interesting and useful. But who cares? They were put here simply to intimidate you. They will not be on the SAT. This is because the SAT tests you on the type of words that a college student would be likely to run into. A college student who ran into any of these words would suffer a concussion.

JaJa says: Circle and look up every word that you are not 100 percent sure about on practice tests. You want to be positive on the big day.

There is a certain type of word that just
is
an SAT word. It is impossible to define precisely what makes a word an SAT word, but by the time you have finished our word lists you will know what we mean. For the most part, they are words that you look at and say, “Man, I should know what that word means, but I don’t. It’s right here on the tip of my tongue but I can’t quite . . .” Another characteristic of an SAT word is that it isn’t particularly controversial. It won’t have much to do with sex or violence or religion or anything that could offend someone. In all probability, you know more “offensive” words than the ETS does.

Type 1: Almost-Normal Words

Words that you would encounter in the course of doing your homework, listening to articulate people, or watching TV.

Example: If you saw the movie
The Wizard of Oz,
you heard the word
pusillanimous
. However, you probably didn’t whip out your pocket dictionary and look it up. (If you did, consider a career with the ETS.) Now that you are in training for the SAT, you will have to start looking up any and all words you encounter. Start now. Do you know what
amalgam
means?

Type 2: Decodable Words

Unusual words that they don’t expect you to know offhand but that you can figure out if you are clever.

Example: The word
decodable
is a decodable word. You could decode it like this:

Here’s a list of prefixes that are handy to know.

When I started studying for the SAT, I had a feeble memory. I would spend a lot of time on the word lists, but nothing seemed to sink in. My feeble memory also affected other aspects of life. One day I met this gorgeous girl and she said, as girls are always saying to me, “I have an unquenchable desire to talk to you. My name is Jenny and my number is 867-5309.” I was going to go home and give her a ring, but I couldn’t remember her info. I knew then it was time to do something about my memory problem.

So I read some stuff about how to improve my memory. Most of what I read sounded extremely dopey, but I gave it a try anyway. And, as they say in the world of laundry detergent, “It worked! It really worked!”

The moral of my story is that if you have a bad memory, it’s not because there is something wrong with your brain, it’s just that you haven’t learned how to memorize. We will teach you how in this chapter. The techniques we present are more than cute little tricks. They will tremendously improve your ability to remember vocabulary words and may even change your life. You don’t have to use them if you don’t want to, but if you don’t use them, it will take you much, much longer to learn the words.

The most important concept in memorizing things like vocabulary words is the mnemonic (“nuh-mahn-eck”) device. A mnemonic device is any technique, other than pure repetition, that helps you memorize something. So for each word in the list that you don’t know, close your eyes for 12 seconds and think of a mnemonic device.

Research has demonstrated that the most successful mnemonic devices are visual. If you can associate a word with a picture, you will be more likely to remember the word. For example, if you are trying to memorize the word
opulence
(luxury, great wealth), you could visualize a giant mansion surrounded by manicured lawns and lavish gardens. Above the gold-leaf front door, the word
opulence
would be spelled out in precious gems. Within, you might imagine well-groomed fat gentlemen, the word
opulence
stitched in diamonds across their chests, eating huge amounts of caviar molded into the shape of the word
opulence.
If you make your mental pictures extreme in some way they will be more memorable. So make your pictures extremely bizarre, extremely gross, extremely obscene, extremely comical, or extremely whatever you are likely to remember. (Detail is important in mental images like this one. The more details you are able to dream up, the more likely you are to remember the word.)

Move on to the other senses.
Hear
the chorus of castrati in the ballroom singing the word
opulence
over the gentle strains of Chopin played by an 80-piece symphony.
Feel
the silks the ladies and gentlemen wear sliding through your fingers as you trace the word
opulence
with champagne over your desktop.
Smell
the delicate and costly perfumes. And of course,
taste
the exquisitely fine wines enjoyed by
opulent
society.

After you have seen, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted the word, you can open your eyes. You’re still not done, though. Research has also shown that the more you do with a word, the more likely it will stay in your brain. So first read the word and its definition, then write the word and its definition, then sing the word and its definition, then make up a story about the word, then use the word in a conversation, then tattoo the word and its definition on your elbow, then staple the word and its definition to your goldfish.

Clinical tests have also proven that the pun is a very helpful memory technique. We have used puns to illustrate many of the words in the vocabulary list. (Note: Since we want to make sure that no one misses our subtlety, we have
pun
derlined each one.)