Jodi Fodor - The SAT Word Slam: Rhyme Your Way to a Better Vocabulary and Higher Sat and Act Scores

JODI FODOR, MFA Copyright 2009 by Jodi Fodor
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This book is for Erin OConnell
who taught me playfulishness with wordisms.
Thanks, Mom. Contents Acknowledgments I happily thank my delightful students who helped me create and polish the rhymes and the mnemonics. Thank you very much for the effort and for all the laughs: Jake, Molly, Matthew, Hayley, Jenna, Michihito, Mamika, Sarah, Dylan, Kyle, Paige, Chase, Lindsey, Stephanie, Haley, Kristen, Chih, Rylan, Tyler, Alison, Griffin, and Lindsay.

Thanks to the team at Adams Media, especially Paula Munier, Wendy Simard, and Matthew Glazer for your vision, support, and professionalism. I thank my dear friend and fellow writer, Tom Towles, who pushed and cheered me to Write the thing! and who introduced me to my wonderful agent. The greatest thanks to the agent herself, Katharine Sands of the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency, whose infinite enthusiasm and support was and is an inspiration. Using This Book Hey, read this part. Its short! It helps.
The SAT Word Slam will give you a very strong grasp of the meanings of 517 SAT-type words. This book doesnt try to shove dictionary-style definitions down your throat; instead, it presents the words within smart-aleck rhymes.

That makes the thing a boatload more fun to read than the dictionary. Read these rhymes enough times and youll be able to use all 517 words in your speech and writing, and youll understand them when you hear or see them out in the wild. As Im sure you know by now, if you have a broad vocabulary, college entrance exams are going to be a lot more fun for you. Otherwise, youre in big trouble. For example, the sentence completions part of the SAT is essentially one big vocabulary test. Pay attention to the words in bold print. They offer you shades of the featured words meaning.

The first 339 words are presented in individual poems of their own, and the other 178 words are listed in root families. Some knowledge of Greek and Latin roots will help you to dissect many words on the fly. For example, if you know that mal is bad, you can take a more educated guess about words that start with that prefix. If you see malfeasance on the SAT or ACT, you might not know its definition, but you can guess that whatever it is, it aint good. Sometimes a sense of whether a word is positive or negative is enough to save your hide on these exams. 1.

Read each word out loud a few times (the pronunciation is right there for you). The syllable in all CAPS is the one you should EM-fuh-size. Erudite (adj) AIR-yoo-dite 2. Read each rhyme several times and let the rhythm of it get into your mind, like song lyrics that stay with you. Re-reading these things is going to be a big part of making the clues stick. 3.

Repeat each REMEMBER THIS clue a few timesthink about itand youll start to cement the word into your memory. In every case, the Remember This is intended to leave you with something logical, something catchy, something that rhymessome kind of mnemonic device to help you remember the meaning of the word long after you close this book. 4. Finally, youll see Now you: after each word. This is a space for you to write memory clues that have to do with your own life and knowledge. For example, I can always remember that gregarious means friendly and outgoing because my brother Greg is gregarious.

If you knew my brother Greg, I would have put that clue in the book! Whenever you can think of a clue thats specific to your life, your opinions, your friends, your experience, and so on, write it on the Now you line. The personal clueswill be VERY helpful.
Pronunciation Guide:A=short a like Stand back cause you act whacked. OE=long o as in Go home, you hopeless dope. O or OH=short o as in Stop calling yo mama. EH=short e as in That Fendi dress would look better on an elephant. G=hard g as in Get your gum off my great-grandmas grave. ZH=the sio part of Use precision on that brain incision. ZH=the sio part of Use precision on that brain incision.

The rest of them are pretty obvious. Remember (and this is very important): when you learn the words in this book and then go kick the crap out of the college entrance exams, youre going to make me look good, so get to it. I hope you enjoy reading these rhymes as much as I enjoyed writing them. Imagine a job that keeps you giggling all day. Part 1
The Individual Words You ready? Lets get started... Get your butt on the train.

Im using rhyme and humor To enlighten your brain.
So pay attention To the definitions (in bold), And memorize each words Remember This
Then youre gold. AAbase (verb) Uh-BASE To embarrass or to humble, To make one a disgrace. Barry Bonds was blushing When he couldnt steal a base. REMEMBER THIS : A baseball player was abased when he couldnt steal a base. Now you:Abhor (verb) Ab-HOR Abhor means to hate. So simple its great.
I abhor eating liver.

I abhor cigarettes. I abhor crappy drivers Who make nasty threats.
Here comes a clue, Kinda simple and groovy: Because I hate blood, I abhor horror movies. REMEMBER THIS : I abhor horror movies. Now you: