Day 1: Outlaw Biker (This is a real mag!)
Day 2: The National Enquirer
Day 3: Seventeen
Day 4: People
Day 5: Entertainment Weekly
Day 6: Time
Day 7: Vanity Fair
Now you should be ready to tackle the kind of reading you are likely to find
on the SAT. Read things like the New York Times, the Economist, the Atlantic,
National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Outside, The New Yorker, Harper’s,
Lapham’s Quarterly, and Scientific American.
Reading these high-caliber publications is useful for many reasons. First of
all, you get to impress your friends with all the lofty vocabulary and syntax
you’ll pick up. (“Dude, evanescence is my MO—one minute I’m here, the next
minute I’m gone.”) Secondly, you’ll start to think that SAT-type passages are
familiar, almost normal. And on the Essay, the more you mimic the sort of
writing featured in these kinds of publications, the happier the Essay scorers will
be. And lastly, if you can survive an eight-page article on interest rates in the
Middle East, you can survive anything the Evil Testing Serpent throws at you.
Of course, if you’re feeling ambitious, you might also try reading a full book,
but please consult a doctor before any extreme, unfamiliar exertions.
It’s never too late to become a good reader. Just think about things that
interest you—really, anything—and start reading all the high-quality material on
the subject that you can find. Look for it online. You should also look at what
your school and local libraries have to offer. And suggest magazine subscriptions
and books if someone asks what you want for Flag Day.
Magazine subscriptions can be found in app form. We realize this is not the sixteenth century.
—Samantha
Once you get your reading endurance up, you may have to transition from
topics you like to read about to those that are going to make you good at the
SAT. Remember, the Serpent likes passages about history and science, and
excerpts from works of literature. We wish there was a way to avoid having to
read these things and still do well on the SAT, but it doesn’t seem that there is.
So just suck it up and get in touch with your inner nerd.