In my last blog, I shared my disappointment that the English modules on the new digital SAT are less difficult than the test they replaced. Today, I want to discuss what students find challenging on the test and to share the resources that I find most helpful preparing students for the new test.
It will come as no surprise that vocabulary remains a perennial problem for test takers, especially those who aren’t big readers. However, there are a number of free online sources that make it easy for students to beef up their word banks. Prep Scholar provides a list of the “262 SAT Vocab Words You Must Know,” and Quizlet offers a list of “350+ Digital SAT Words Flashcards.” These sites are an invaluable resource because the flashcard format is interactive and multisensory, which helps students retain words and their meanings over the long term.
The grammar questions on the test challenge students with a potpourri of errors. Subject/verb agreement and comma usage questions are the most prevalent; questions that ask about pronoun agreement, semicolons, colons and misplaced or dangling modifiers are also featured. I’ve long favored Erica Meltzer’s series, The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar, and the sixth edition, written for the digital test, is no exception. Each chapter is devoted to a specific concept, and includes excellent explanations, supporting materials, and practice exercises. When students need additional practice, I use Grammar Bytes! Grammatical Instruction with Attitude because its sentences are fun. Most students get a kick from reading sentences like “This week’s National Inquisitor claims that there ______ photographs of the Loch Ness Monster eating Elvis” or “Tonya made the mistake of walking her boisterous bulldog Billy in high heels” are entertaining and help students stay focused on what is otherwise a fairly boring activity.
Transition questions can comprise as many as ten of each module’s 33 questions, so they definitely merit serious attention. Students are asked to insert the “most logical transition” word into a sentence or short passage. My students run into two problems here. First, they don’t know the vocabulary. Although they are mostly comfortable with basic transition words like also and however, they are often shaky on words like nonetheless, nevertheless, whereas, and conversely. Second, and harder to remediate, is that they need to be able to apply those words contextually to select the “most logical” of four choices. Meltzer’s chapter on transitions categorizes them by both function and meaning; this, plus the image of a transition as a bridge from Idea A to Idea B, helps students understand how they work. Attentive reading is also crucial because kids who read too quickly often misidentify the relationships that the test passage describes or implies.
Even though the new SAT is less daunting than the test it replaced, the skills it tests are still challenging for most students. However, they are easily acquired with a little practice and study, and a perfect score is definitely attainable for those who apply themselves!
Elizabeth Breau, Ph.D. (she/her), is an award-winning writing coach and private English tutor. Her book, History According to SAT: A Content Guide to SAT Reading and Writing, won a silver medal in the teen category from the Nonfiction Authors Association and was a young adult nonfiction finalist in American Book Fest’s Best Book Awards. You can reach her at elizabeth.breau@gmail.com.
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