This course is designed to review essential skills for doing well on the verbal portion of the SAT. Over the course of 8 weeks we will will do a series of drills to prepare for the verbal portion of the SAT exam. We will review essential vocabulary words to aid in comprehension for the Precision and Words in Context sections and practice context clues, best guess, and process of elimination.

Week 1 will review vocabulary words. We will review approximately 100 words including:
           1. Part of speech
           2. Definition
           3. Using the word in a sentence
           4. Synonyms/Antonyms
           5. Word Origin (Language)/Root Words/Prefixes and Suffixes

Week 2: US or World Literature-based passage - we will review common forms of literature from English and World based writers including poetry, prose, and other types of writing and examine how they have been tested on past exams.
- Lydia Minatoya, The Strangeness of Beauty by Lydia Minatoya. The setting is Japan in 1920. Chie and her daughter Naomi are members of the House of Fuji, a noble family.
- Francis J. Flynn and Gabrielle S. Adams, "Money Can't Buy Love: Asymmetric Beliefs about Gift Price and Feelings of Appreciation."
-Virginia Woolf, Three Guineas. Here, Woolf considers the situation of women in English society.

Week 3: History and Social Studies based passages - we will review historical documents and evaluate their meaning in context.
- Taras Grescoe, Straphanger: Saving Our Cities and Ourselves from the Automobile. 

Week 4: Science-based passages - we will look at science based writings and learn skills for comprehending charts, graphs, and tables
- J. D. Watson and F. H. C. Crick, “Genetical Implications of the Structure of Deoxyribonucleic Acid.” Watson and Crick deduced the structure of DNA using evidence from Rosalind Franklin and R. G. Gosling’s X-ray crystallography diagrams of DNA and from Erwin Chargaff’s data on the base composition of DNA.
- Michael Slezak, “Space Mining: the Next Gold Rush?” by New Scientist magazine

Week 5: We will read and re-read passages for understanding looking at context clues
Week 6: We will work on additional  vocabulary using games.
Week 7: We will work in a collaborative environment to practice essential skills for the exam.
Week 8: We will review test taking skills and best practices.

We will use practice tests each week using practice exams. Students will not need to purchase additional materials.