I have used this website in the past to help with vocabulary...
I have my students make flashcards and they must use the word in an original sentence. It helps if they can relate it to someone/something personal and I usually try to have them put clues to the meaning in the sentence.
For example: Arid
Bad sentence: The air is arid.
Good sentence: The desert air is arid.
One strategy I use with my students is called Read, Hunt, Apply.
1. Read the QUESTIONS (Not the story!!!!)
2. Go to the passage and hunt for the answer. This only works on questions where they ask about a specific paragraph or specific lines within the text. Save the main idea questions (or questions that don �t ask about specific lines or paragraphs) for the end. Once you have answered all the questions you can by hunting for the answer, there is usually not much left to read, so my students can skim the passage quickly and then answer the remaining questions. (The strategy of hunting before reading the passage ensures that the students only look at the paragraph or sentences that the question is referring to. Sometimes, the SAT answer choices will be tricky and list an answer that is almost a direct quote, but it comes from a different paragraph. My students tend to choose the answer that is from a different paragraph because it is almost a quote, but when they haven �t read the entire passage, they can focus on what the questions is actually asking.)
3. The apply step is simply where the students pick the best answer based on what they found while hunting.
Another thing I teach my students is to cross out the answers they know are definitely wrong. This helps them narrow down their options. If they cannot eliminate at least 2 answer choices, they should omit that question. If they can eliminate at least 2 answer choices, they should guess (even if they aren �t absolutely sure what the answer is). The idea behind this is that you can gain points by guessing IF you have narrowed your choices, but if you can �t narrow the choices, it is better to omit than lose the points.
If you have any questions, let me know. I am more than willing to help (Math is not my thing, but I can help you with any of the language stuff)!
