The Perfect Score Project

One mom's quest to ace the SAT.

Voraciously Yours...

When it comes to SAT reading, better to be perspicacious than voracious.

 

 

I'm a glutton when it comes to books. I finish most within a day or two. I read in gigantic eye gulps.

I like "E," "P," and "A" (audio) editions -- but if I have my druthers, I choose "P" (print --  especially if there's nice paper involved).

I'm a cocktail party reader -- not the proofreading type -- and I am great at skimming, notating, highlighting, connecting, marinating, and synthesizing. I am decidedly not perspicacious.

These skills have served me well...in real life...

On the SAT, they are a liability.

I've decided that the SAT is, for all intents and purposes, a reading test.

My mistakes often come down to one word missed, transposed, or possibly just eye-gulped down the wrong hatch without even realizing that I missed something.  The questions are often dressed up in someone else's outfit (especially the math) -- so you must summon every iota of punctiliousness* you have at your disposal.

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If you walk away with nothing else useful from this blog, mark these words: the future copy editors of the world will have an easier time with this test, than the mathematicians.

 

*I've stumbled across this word twice in two days on the SAT.

 

Illustrations by Jennifer Orkin Lewis

 



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Debbie Stier is the founder of The Perfect Score Project, and is writing a book about her experience of trying to get a perfect SAT score.

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