Reference: SIMON's SAGA
Episode 1. Welcome to College
Hi, I'm Simon. Welcome to college. I'll be your guide - sort of your mentor. You'll see what college is like from the student's point of view - the inside story. You'll meet my buddies and hang out with us. We're having a barbecue later on, and some of the coolest people on campus will be there.
Before we meet my friends and start to party, we'd better get some boring, mundane stuff out of the way. See, in college, if you want to have fun, you first have to do some really serious work. And to get into a good college like mine, you'd better have a pretty good SAT score.
How do you get a good SAT score? Well, for the verbal part, the most important thing you need to know is those bizarre words they're always sticking into the test. Do you know what a charlatan is? No? Don't worry, when I was in high school, I didn't either. (It means a "fake.") In fact, there were an awful lot of words that I didn't know. So, I was pretty worried back then. How was I going to learn all those words so I could get a decent SAT score?
Luckily, my best buddy happens to be a genius. His name is Axel. We go way back together- to first grade, in fact. But I'll tell you more about that later. Anyway. Axel is a very discerning guy. He had recognized how weak my vocabulary was years before I did. He tried to get me to improve it, but I wasn't interested. So, in twelfth grade, Axel really got on my case. He told me that my weak vocabulary would be deleterious to my academic future; in other words, it would hurt my chances of getting into a decent college. I became kind of morose when I realized that I would have to study long lists of words. But with Axel's help, I did. And here I am. It was no aberration. There was no chicanery involved. It was just good old-fashioned hard work that did the trick. One month, six hours a day, memorizing long, boring lists of words. Whew!
Now, I'm a pretty OK guy. I mean, I give some thought to the people around me. Since I find cognition a somewhat tedious process, I figured other people might too. I said to myself, "Why not give the students coming up a break? Why should they have to go through one month of unadulterated misery as I did?" So, I had an idea. (It's rare, but it does happen sporadically.) I thought, why not fire up the word processor and crank out a little didactic tale to help people like you learn the words without having to give up all your fun? I got my friends together, and they agreed to help. Together, we have a prodigious vocabulary.
Another thing before we start: I really want you to do well on the SAT. So read these little episodes and have a great time. My friends and I have done a lot of the work for you. But here's a flash - you'll have some pretty heavy lifting to do too. I mean, I could open up your head and pour the words in, but that wouldn't be cool.
Have you noticed that I've been using some pretty unusual words? These are the vital SAT words you have to learn. They're all in bold. (Like this.)
Here's the drill: If you don't know a word, just check out the list at the end of each episode. This gives you the denotation of the word as it is used in the episode. It also gives you other meanings if it's really critical that you know them. All of these words are the ones the guys in Princeton, New Jersey, who dream up the SAT assume to be part of a good student's lexicon.
The deal is, we'll pause the action for a little while after each episode when this happens - you're on! Just look at each word in bold, checkout its definition, and see how it's used in the story. When you think you've got it nailed, do the exercises at the end of the episode.
If you do OK, just keep going. If you don't do so well, you should go back for a little retooling. Read the story again and review how the words are used. Then, it's up to you to check out where you went wrong on the exercises.
Now, if you find yourself going back a lot to check out the words, don't worry. There's no ignominy in forgetting the meanings of words. Even Dr. Miller, my English professor, says he sometimes forgets words he's learned. But he doesn't let it get him down. That's because he's also picking up new words every day - really arcane words like "makimono." (Don't worry, the SAT test isn't that tough; but just for the record, a makimono is a Japanese art scroll.)
Would you like a hot tip? Get your hands on the most complete dictionary you can find. My roommates and I keep a gargantuan one on our kitchen table in the house so we can look up words we meet in our travels. Pretty eccentric, right? Yes, but it's amazing how fast your vocabulary improves if you look up words you don't know. And once you've seen a word a few times and looked it up, you'll really start to remember it.
Well, it's time for you to get to work. It would be great if you could get this pedestrian stuff out of the way so we can get to know each other better. I'll just hang out and wait for you to finish. Hey, I know the thing looks a little daunting, but I think the meanings are quite explicit. Just take it one episode at a time and, before you know it, you'll have learned an incredible number of new words. To be precise, you'll learn 820 words, the core of a college-level vocabulary you need for the SAT.
Ooops-just one last thing I forgot to tell you: The SAT words in all of the episodes are also listed together in alphabetical order at the back of the book. See, I use many of the words I've taught you in each episode later in the saga so that you learn how they're used in different ways and to help you remember them. So, if you're reading along and come across a word you don't know that's not in bold, check it out in the list at the back, You've probably learned it in an earlier episode, but it's kind of slipped your mind. But that's OK. As I said before, forgetting a few words happens to the best of us.
So, now you know the drill and where you fit into the picture. Yeah, you've got some work to do - I can't deny that. But, as I said, stay cool. You can handle it. Listen, if I can write this book, you can learn some words. Have fun!
Words
- mentor
- mundane
- bizarre
- charlatan
- discerning
- deleterious
- morose
- aberration
- chicanery
- unadulterated
- sporadically
- cognition
- tedious
- didactic
- prodigious
- denotation
- lexicon
- ignominy
- arcane
- gargantuan
- eccentric
- pedestrian
- daunting
- explicit
- saga