How to improve your comprehension/vocabulary score for SATs, ACTs and APs

Here's something for fellow students who might be practising for a standardized exam (to the older readers: yes, remember those?). Learning vocab words and lists for standardized exams isn't what most people consider to be an enjoyable task. But I've recently figured out that it can be enjoyable... if you know what to do. People always ask me about how I have such a great vocabulary (ok, not really... but pretend that they did) and this is what I always tell them:

The best ways to improve your vocabulary are...

1. Reading (my english teacher swears by this one - according to her, you'll retain 5% of the vocabulary from anything you read):
I for one hated reading. Especially the "romance" novels that are supposed to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Why? Because first off... they make so sense, and second, they take too much time (and did I mention, they never have any pictures in them?!) So often, I just ended up reading the first few chapters, and then never touching the book ever again.

But the truth is, you don't always have to read "the classics" or "the quintessential Socrates series" if they don't make any sense. There are several other, dare I say enjoyable, sources of inspiration that you can plunge into. Especially if you like technology, there are several other things you can read, to improve your vocabulary and improve your comprehension skills. Remember though. If you come across a word that stumps you, you might want to check out what it means (I recommend using one of the dictionaries mentioned in this post) before continuing.

Here are some "good" websites where you might find interesting (if you don't like Harry Potter and all that kind of stuff that is...)

The Onion (America's Finest News Source!) - A great news source. Although, I advise that you take everything you read on that website with a grain of salt.

e-Books online - There are a ton of e-books that you can potentially download (or even read) online. If you get board with one of them, why not just switch to another. It's easy, and who knows, you just might find something interesting.

News Websites (NYTimes, Globe and Mail and even CNet sometimes)- Like The Onion, news websites are a great source of information, provided the english they use is good. However, I would stay away from the depressing kinds of news though... you don't want any nightmares.

Crossword Puzzles - Crosswords are a great way of improving your vocabulary, especially when it comes to big words.

Write! - The best way to learn how to read, is to learn how to write. Try to use big words when you're writing though so that you get a feel for certain "esoteric" words. If you want, you can publish them online (in a blog), and if you have something to say (like I always do) I'm sure you'll build your own group of readers as well. This is good, because you'll be able to get feedback, and also do well on the writing portion of the standardized tests. Although I recommend that you practice writing too, because unless you're taking the MCAT, you'll be using a pen, and not a keyboard.

Vocab Lists - Vocabulary lists are the least preferable method of learning for me. That's because rote memorization almost always never works unless you're a savant. However, if you feel like you need to brush up on a little bit of vocabulary, here are some tips concerning vocab lists:

• Never simply memorize the words. You'll be memorizing them for 5 minutes and then you'll forget it all!
• Instead, what you want to do is put the word in a memorable sentence of some sort, and "use the word". This way, you'll retain the word better, and hopefully you'll be able to recall it when necessary. [Rinse and Repeat!]
  

Bonus: If you're Canadian, you might want to check out some columns by Rex Murphy. Even though he is from Newfoundland he never uses a word that smaller than 9 syllables.

In my opinion, there is no substitute for reading. So incase you're wondering what to do a year before the standardized test, I suggest you start reading first and then try the other tips I've mentioned here!

Good Luck!

Go Google Go!

Wow, Its been like 5 months or something since I last blogged anything. I'm trying to set aside sometime to blog everyday and visit web-sites like tech-recipes.com and syschat.com and all that, but its getting harder every day.

But, recently I've been getting so many comments about articles that I wrote a long time ago. For example the blank e-mail in Outlook problem. And the Firefox blinking cursor problem and the Ipod shuffle problem. Its totally crazy to know that Beyond Tecknology is still very much alive sort of anyways.

Along with that I recently updated to blogger 2.0 and due to that I have some problems now. Basically before my blog had links to all kinds of feeds and what not, as well as about 500 comments on haloscan (I preferred haloscan since it gave me more control) but I figured that people comment more when you use blogger commenting. So yeah, I guess I need to provide links for 'Old Comments' as well as 'New Comments' at the same time. Phew. And along with that I need to make a better template for my website so that it can support the new 2.0 blogger things such as archives and labels and what not. Not to mention that now I have to re-tag all my hundreds of old posts so that people can use the labels feature.

I guess I'll do that later on.. much important things are left to be done right now (like work on my homework.. which is going to take me about 20 hours atleast :D ).

How to study from a textbook

Although this has nothing to do with technology, I think textbooks play a huge role in our life. Time and again they have served as the way humans learn more about a subject and further their understanding on a particular topic. Obviously as we progress the populations of textbooks is assuredly going to dwindle, nonetheless it is still the most important way many students today get their knowledge from. Here are a couple of tips that I found that are sure to help you study better, retain more and therefore make the most out of your textbook.

Step 1 - Skim through the text / chapter you are about to learn or cover in class

• Get an overview, find out what the chapter is about: Discovery only.

Step 2 - Underline

• Underline the keyword for subheadings
  
• Main phrase of paragraphs and definitions
• Important names, places, dates

Step 3 - Number

• Events in sequence, steps in a process
• All points to be remembered
• You should now recopy the notes in point form

Step 4 - Draw

• Drawing often helps people retain more, especially visual learners who like to picture facts and even numbers
• Draw a chart to - link events - show a process - show differences such as advantages / disadvantages or cause / effect, or similarities and differences.

Step 5 - Arrange

• Outlines in order; collect charts and diagrams to go with outline notes.
• Arrange study cue cards too

Step 6  - Write out things in your own words

• Rewrite th ekey words as a subheading
• Rerite ll point form notes in YOUR OWN WORDS for each heading
• Redraw the charts and diagrams

Finally -- Study

Study every thing from your charts, sub-headings and your point form notes. Following the process in a timely manner will help you get more out from school and more importantly help you manage your time a lot better.