The Good News and the Bad News

First, the Good News...

Let’s start with the good news about the Verbal Section of the SHSAT: There is no content to study or memorize for the Verbal
Section of the SHSAT. The SHSAT does not test vocabulary, so you don’t have to spend time memorizing lists of words or word
roots. The SHSAT does not test grammar or punctuation, so you don’t have to bone up on gerunds or dangling participles.

NO VOCABULARY OR GRAMMAR

There is no vocabulary or grammar on the SHSAT. Put away your dictionary and English textbook.

This is good news. You’ll have plenty of math content to study between now and Test Day, so it’s a pretty good deal that you don’t
have to memorize vocabulary or grammar rules. Success on this section of the test is dependent on your ability to read and to think.
There’s a pretty good chance that you know how to do both of these things.

Now for the Bad News...

The bad news is that the SHSAT does not test Verbal content. Okay, so this is a little contradictory. If the fact that that the test maker
does not test Verbal content is good news, you may wonder why this same piece of information constitutes bad news. The short
answer is that while Verbal content may be tedious, it’s also fairly easy to study. Preparing for the Verbal Section of the SHSAT is a
little trickier than simply memorizing a list of vocabulary words or grammar rules.

To prepare for the Verbal Section of the SHSAT, you must become familiar with the test and practice strategies for each question
type. This includes getting used to unfamiliar question types and reading a lot of dry reading passages.

HONE THE SKILLS YOU ALREADY HAVE

It’s all about strategy. Success on the Verbal Section is about reading and thinking.