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Counselor's Corner |
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On my office wall is an old publishing house poster I found at an antique sale.
It is a drawing of a little teddy bear holding a huge book on his lap with a caption that says: "Read Good Books."
That struck me as the most important piece of advice I could give to any student. To emphasize the message,
during my first meeting with students, I give them a handout entitled "Checklist for Life in High School".
It contains, among other things, what I hope are "words of wisdom" -
a list of thoughts I have compiled over the years that address a variety of topics,
including how to spend at least some of your spare time. I tell students that they should:
READ! Read anything you want, whatever interests you, just READ.
Shut the TV; give up video games
(they are beyond a waste of time unless you're planning to be a gunner on a fighter plane or a navigator on a submarine)
and READ!!!
There is absolutely no better way to prepare for SATs and ACTs,
not to mention becoming a generally better student, than improving your reading.
While math lends itself to short-term tutoring to boost skills in particular areas,
verbal abilities are acquired over a lifetime. Speaking,
writing and reading on an increasingly sophisticated level are things that take years to develop
and it is therefore unlikely that a relatively short review course is going to give you the talents
you need to significantly elevate either your test scores or school work.
Memorizing vocabulary and learning how to find the most important points in a reading passage will help
on college entry exams to a certain extent. They cannot, however,
substitute for the broader skills that are developed when you bring books (or newspapers, magazines, etc.) into your life.
In addition, the more challenging the materials are that you read, the more quickly you will begin not just to comprehend,
but also to speak, write and even think on a much more impressive level.
Once you have followed the advice to read anything, try bumping it up a notch.
Begin reading, on a daily basis, the editorials and columns in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.
(There are few other newspapers that will provide you with a similar type of content).
Circle words you don't know, look them up and start your own vocabulary list that can be used later to study for standardized tests.
Words you have learned from context will stay with you much longer than words you have tried to memorize from a flashcard.
Keep in mind that, with the exception of math problems and certain formulas in the sciences,
success in the overwhelming majority of your high school and college courses will depend on your mastery of reading.
Make it a part of your daily life now and you will have taken the single most important step toward maximizing your education.
Copyright © 2008 College Directions, LLC.
Even if your days are crammed with SAT tutors, community service in Costa Rica,
or resume-boosting courses at Ivy League colleges,
a trip to your local public library might be your most effective college prep strategy this summer.
Besides the simple pleasure of getting lost in a good book during a heavy thunderstorm,
reading will have many benefits.
Need help figuring out black hole questions like your college major or career?
Reading is a great way to pursue topics that interest you.
If you think you might be interested in politics after watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report,
try picking up a good newspaper or a weekly news magazine to follow the candidates on the campaign trail.
The many candidate biographies and autobiographies are also informative.
For students contemplating a career in medicine, books covering health care issues at home and abroad,
ranging from Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains to Atul Gawande's Better are eye-opening.
A Civil Action, by Jonathan Harr is a non-fiction introduction to one lawyer's big case.
The more of the world you see by reading on your own couch,
the stronger your voice in your college essays and interviews.
In fact, some application supplements or interviewers ask specifically about books you've read.
Why not exude enthusiasm about a topic of interest rather than relying upon your junior year required readings?
The Grapes of Wrath and The Great Gatsby get old fast for seasoned admissions officers.
Reading might help with those nasty SAT and ACT retakes still looming.
As you read, have index cards and a dictionary handy. Sure, flash cards are dorky,
but looking up words is a great way to increase vocabulary for those challenging SAT sentence completions.
When those fall tests roll around, you might even notice that you're moving
through the reading passages faster and with better comprehension.
© 2008 Elise Epner
Elise R. Epner LLC
College Admissions Consulting
Medical Schools & Other Graduate Programs, too
www.eliseepner.com
The views expressed herein are those of their authors alone, and do not necessarily represent the views of Hundreds of Heads or of IECA.
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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
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Need inspiration? Check out the New York Times Best-Seller List:
www.nytimes.com/pages/books/bestseller/index.html
Or the one of the 100 Greatest Novels:
www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html
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