HEAD Lines

Cramming for the standardized tests can help, but what is the surest way to bone up on tricky vocab? By reading. Take some time to keep yourself academically sharp - and now that it is summer and you have some more time for pleasure reading, read even one book that you set aside all year. Does another book seem daunting in addition to your required summer reading? Try sitting down with the newspaper every day, or treat yourself to a magazine or two.

No excuses - you DO have time to read, if you do it when you're:

• Going to the pool or the beach

• Riding (not driving!) in a car/riding the subway

• Flying in an airplane

• Waiting for an appointment

• Winding down to go to sleep

From Other HEADS

WHETHER READING OR IN A CONVERSATION, whenever I encountered a word that I didn't recognize, I would take the time to look it up in the dictionary. Then I would attempt to use that word in daily conversation in the future. This habit allowed me to further develop my vocabulary, to write on a more advanced level, and to improve my SAT writing scores.

-- BRITTANY RYAN

UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

I WAS REALLY INVOLVED in my high school's speech and debate team and spent a great deal of my summer reading, and preparing for fall competition.

-- CORAL A. SCHNEIDER

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Web Resources

Need inspiration? Check out the New York Times Best-Seller List: www.nytimes.com/pages/books/bestseller/index.html