critical reading, solved

Schools don’t teach you how to read.

What?  Isn’t that the purpose of schools?

After blasting grade school kids with simple decoding skills, schools typically abandon advanced reading instruction, assuming students will pick it up automatically.  Most don’t: their abilities stay slipshod, and they struggle in school, the SAT, and college.

But reading well is a complex skill, and like any other, it can be built by expert practice.

I love – love – teaching high-level reading.  And I love showing you how to confidently tear apart the SAT’s demanding texts.

How does that work?

The secret: break things down.  Paragraphs become ideas, sentences become über-simple ideas, and words become nests of prefixes, suffixes, & roots.

Learning to read like this is demanding work, but it’s enjoyable: you’ll actually feel yourself get better.

Can I see an example?

Here’s a sentence from a recent SAT passage – go ahead and read it aloud:

In many respects living Native Americans remain as mysterious, exotic, and unfathomable to their contemporaries at the end of the twentieth century as they were to the Pilgrim settlers over three hundred fifty years ago.

After a few days of practice, you’ll be able to quickly simplify it to:

In many respects living Native Americans remain as mysterious, exotic, and unfathomable to their contemporaries at the end of the twentieth century as they were to the Pilgrim settlers over three hundred fifty years ago.

Best, all convoluted text can be broken down like this. Wordy text becomes clear, and reading in high school – and college – becomes much more approachable.

Lessons are $100 for a fairly intense 1.5-2 hour session. I generally meet students at the Starbucks in Juanita Village (northern Kirkland). Write me (Brandon) at seattleSATcoaching@gmail.com with questions, or to set up a free initial consultation.

“I’ve done more thinking this week than I have in any week of my life.”
– Monica, Port Orchard