<p>I need to read some books that can be used in the essay sections or because they have good vocabulary. Can you help me make a list?</p>
<p>I'll start (though I don't know that much, since I am more of a NY times person)</p>
<p>To Kill a Mockingbird - essay
Jane Eyre - vocab
The Great Gatsby - essay and vocab
MacBeth - essay</p>
<p>NOT Macbeth.....that's 16th century Shakespearean language..how in the world is that going to help you for the SAT?</p>
<p>I saw a lot of essays use it, didn't actually read the essays themselves</p>
<p>vocabulary.com has a list of novels and how many SAT words they contain.</p>
<p>For essays:
Grapes of Wrath - TONS of themes in the novel
Huck Finn
Walden</p>
<p>okay but if you read Huck Finn, just don't start using the word "ain't"</p>
<p>There are also versions of those books that are actually regular except for the SAT words are marked and defined. They can be found in the SAT section of book stores.</p>
<p>How about any novel by Toni Morrison? What a powerful writer...</p>
<p>For language usage and style: I'd spend my time reading contemporary novels according to the excellence of the author's style, where you are sure to hear a "writer's voice" in the piece.</p>
<p>For topics/themes/examples, I'd save a bit of time by using film sources such as The History Channel, where in one hour you can learn a whole segment of history, or The Discovery Channel...National Geographic...stuff like that. </p>
<p>People who understand writing say that writers improve when they begin to READ great writing, and pick it apart to figure out why it works. This approach is better use of class time than having students critique/tear down each others' weak writing during in-class mutual peer reviews, according to the President of Bard College, interviewed on NPR about his school's approach to teaching writers to write.</p>
<p>When I wrote the above post, I was thinking of the new Writing (including the Esssay) section that is part 3 of the SAT-I.</p>
<p>Building vocab is certainly meaningful for the CR where they supply you with the text. </p>
<p>It's great to study vocab, but I think what happens with newly-learned vocab during an SAT-I test is different for the CR section than for the Writing section, as follows:</p>
<p>WRITING SECTION: BUilding vocab would also help you tweak or improve sentences at key moments in your essay. For example, I'd score a text higher if it had this sentence "I felt ambivalent." instead of "I didn't know what to do." But ONLY use a word if you are very comfortable that you know how the word works, because you've seen it in a book or heard it in a good teacher's classroom lecture.
The worst thing in an essay is abusing 10-pound vocab words to impress someone, when a 1-pound word would communicate just as well.
Let's say you're writing about a guy who has no cash for the weekend.
So: bad = "He decided to obviate the problem." That sounds like someone who recently learned the word "obviate" but doesn't yet understand it deeply, so it's used illlogically.
good = "He cashed his paycheck, which obviated the problem."</p>
<p>And if you just aren't sure, write a different clear, convincing sentence wihtout butchering the word "obviate."</p>
<p>CRITICAL READING SECTION:
If you read their passage and it happend to include the word "obviate" you'd be able to understand the passage!! (even if you couldn't quite use the word "obviate" yourself in the Writing section comfortably).</p>
<p>Also, by having studied the word "obviate" you'd know that word, PLUS: perhaps you'd be more attuned to all other words that relate to "obvious"
PLUS: you'd less likely mix them up with words such as observant, oblivious, obstinate, obtuse... </p>
<p>I had a big difference of opinion with my sons who felt it was a waste of time to "study vocab" because they were good readers and writers. I'm not sure I'm correct in terms of distributing one's study time. I just know why it might help to expand one's vocabulary...if you have time.</p>
<p>My D's b.f. was always an 800 guy on his maths, but didn't like his 700 verbal score. So at the end of his study weeks, since there wasn't much more he coudl do on Math, he SYSTEMATICALLY studied those SAT vocab lists, and went up to 780! My D was really steamed b/c she is a much better reader and writer than he is, hands down! But he got the higher verbal score, by 40 points--attributable only to that SAT vocab study he did, since that's ALL he did to prepare. She was steamed. They broke up. Ah, well. Time to go to college... </p>
<p>I hope this post wasn't tooo obvious!</p>
<p>any other suggestions</p>
<p>Although the topic of this book might be rather socially unacceptable, it has an abundance of good vocabulary words. I am not sure of their frequency on the SAT, though. However, I have noticed three or four on practice tests... If nothing else, it's a good read...</p>
<p>My rec.: <i>Lolita</i></p>
<p>i use jane eyre and macbeth for ALL my practice questions and i get 10/12 on the essay without trying...jane eyre and amcbeth work for anything they will give you guarenteed</p>
<p>I thought it was To Kill a MOckingbird and The Great Gatsby</p>