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Godot · 05-27-2005, 09:10 PM

Vocabulary

I can totally understand Mike's views on vocabulary and the pitfalls associated with learning vocabulary blindly. It's true that there are many words with secondary or tertiary meanings that can often take a student by surprise on the exam and cause errors. It's also true that a student may use a word inappropriately despite having studied a word. So I can sympathize with Mike's concerns about learning vocabulary.

These concerns alone, however, should not deter one from learning vocabulary to improve on an exam such as the SAT. If one word out of ten will cause problems such as the ones that Mike mentions, the other nine words will still be useful on the exam. You should understand that I ALSO give my students strategies and techniques to handle the questions, besides advocating knowing the words. Often, a student CAN do quite well on the sentence completions despite not knowing many words, but my aim is to MAXIMIZE scores, not just to get "pretty good" scores. So I give them all the tools to do that; this can include learning vocabulary. To avoid the dangers and risks Mike points out, I make sure that my students know all the various definitions and sub-senses a word has, and understands how to use it in context. If one is diligent about studying words properly, understanding all the nuances of each particular word, learning vocabulary should not be detrimental. You should also know that once I push a student up to 90% or higher on the Sentence Completion questions (and this happens very often), I usually stop pushing vocabulary. I only push the tool as much as I need to to get the results we desire.

There is also a concern about which word lists to use. This is a very valid concern, since most word lists are inaccurate and ineffective. Barron's 3500-word list is especially notorious, but I doubt most sane students have the discipline and motivation to work through their entire list. Their "High-Frequency Word List," however, is not bad, and I have used it to good effect in the past with students. Currently, I use the 323-word list in RocketReview. It's proven to be quite sufficient and targeted for my students. I don't require any more; there is not much additional value in having my students learn 700 words.

Preparation Time

My courses typically last one to two months. This is usually enough time for a student to learn the strategies and content and experience sufficient practice to achieve a very good score improvement. I know of tutoring companies that advise students to study for a year and do up to 80 hours or more of tutoring. To me, this is a signal that the courses are not very good. Given 50 hours or more with any student, I am fairly confident that I can get most, if not all, students up to a 2100 or higher. The reality, however, is that most students do not wish to work that long (or do not have the time -- keep in mind that some students come up to me with only weeks before the exam), nor are their parents willing to pay me the amount necessary to perform that many hours, so we "settle" for a 400-point improvement. My most popular course, a 28-hour course, has achieved very good results so far with the New SAT students.

Mike is correct in that big improvements can be achieved in a short amount of time. I have certainly done it with many students in the past, but, then again, every student is different and some certainly need more time to improve significantly, so I am not willing to do a strict 12-hour course with every student just because the last student improved quite a bit in merely 12 hours. His 9-hour course sounds a little bit too condensed to me, but I'm sure his students have gotten some good results from it. I choose to take a little more time to ensure that my students are not overwhelmed and achieve their highest possible scores, while still keeping the process efficient and cost-effective. This means, in most cases, about two to three months.

05-27-2005, 09:10 PM	#74
Godot Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Buffalo, NY Threads: 18 Posts: 531	On vocabulary and preparation time... Vocabulary I can totally understand Mike's views on vocabulary and the pitfalls associated with learning vocabulary blindly. It's true that there are many words with secondary or tertiary meanings that can often take a student by surprise on the exam and cause errors. It's also true that a student may use a word inappropriately despite having studied a word. So I can sympathize with Mike's concerns about learning vocabulary. These concerns alone, however, should not deter one from learning vocabulary to improve on an exam such as the SAT. If one word out of ten will cause problems such as the ones that Mike mentions, the other nine words will still be useful on the exam. You should understand that I ALSO give my students strategies and techniques to handle the questions, besides advocating knowing the words. Often, a student CAN do quite well on the sentence completions despite not knowing many words, but my aim is to MAXIMIZE scores, not just to get "pretty good" scores. So I give them all the tools to do that; this can include learning vocabulary. To avoid the dangers and risks Mike points out, I make sure that my students know all the various definitions and sub-senses a word has, and understands how to use it in context. If one is diligent about studying words properly, understanding all the nuances of each particular word, learning vocabulary should not be detrimental. You should also know that once I push a student up to 90% or higher on the Sentence Completion questions (and this happens very often), I usually stop pushing vocabulary. I only push the tool as much as I need to to get the results we desire. There is also a concern about which word lists to use. This is a very valid concern, since most word lists are inaccurate and ineffective. Barron's 3500-word list is especially notorious, but I doubt most sane students have the discipline and motivation to work through their entire list. Their "High-Frequency Word List," however, is not bad, and I have used it to good effect in the past with students. Currently, I use the 323-word list in RocketReview. It's proven to be quite sufficient and targeted for my students. I don't require any more; there is not much additional value in having my students learn 700 words. Preparation Time My courses typically last one to two months. This is usually enough time for a student to learn the strategies and content and experience sufficient practice to achieve a very good score improvement. I know of tutoring companies that advise students to study for a year and do up to 80 hours or more of tutoring. To me, this is a signal that the courses are not very good. Given 50 hours or more with any student, I am fairly confident that I can get most, if not all, students up to a 2100 or higher. The reality, however, is that most students do not wish to work that long (or do not have the time -- keep in mind that some students come up to me with only weeks before the exam), nor are their parents willing to pay me the amount necessary to perform that many hours, so we "settle" for a 400-point improvement. My most popular course, a 28-hour course, has achieved very good results so far with the New SAT students. Mike is correct in that big improvements can be achieved in a short amount of time. I have certainly done it with many students in the past, but, then again, every student is different and some certainly need more time to improve significantly, so I am not willing to do a strict 12-hour course with every student just because the last student improved quite a bit in merely 12 hours. His 9-hour course sounds a little bit too condensed to me, but I'm sure his students have gotten some good results from it. I choose to take a little more time to ensure that my students are not overwhelmed and achieve their highest possible scores, while still keeping the process efficient and cost-effective. This means, in most cases, about two to three months.