[PrinceLightfoot]

I do not consider myself as an ESL individual, but I remember being extremely frustrated with the word analogies and the verbal section in general. My parents from another country just did not have a deep vocabulary or proper sentence structure and neither did my friends who had very similar backgrounds. My brothers and I would read fiction books in elementary by JRR Tolkien or Piers Anthony that would introduce new words, but nothing too difficult to understand.

Consequently, my lexicon was limited until high school when I finally was exposed to literature that used words that were completely foreign to my understanding. Reading comprehension was also slowed because things were written in a way that was unfamiliar to my understanding of English grammar and sentence formation. I ended up scoring a 580 on the verbal section which I think was accurate because I did struggle at Stanford my freshman year with classes that required plenty of reading (thankfully, I almost aced the math portion which probably solidified my admission); no test prep and only took it one time which was not wise.

A large portion of the assigned reading in CIV was either written in a dated form of English or written by an academic whose writing style was so high-minded that it took three or four times to read a passage just to grasp a vague idea of its meaning. Understanding this type of writing eventually arrived later my sophomore year....practice and exposure I suppose.

Linked below is an op-ed I read last year concerning changes in the SAT. I took a practice exam just to check it out and only missed one question in the writing section. Yes, it is painfully easy compared to the test I took in the early 1990s.

http://nypost.com/2014/03/11/college-boa...ier-again/

[PrinceLightfoot]

I do not consider myself as an ESL individual, but I remember being extremely frustrated with the word analogies and the verbal section in general. My parents from another country just did not have a deep vocabulary or proper sentence structure and neither did my friends who had very similar backgrounds. My brothers and I would read fiction books in elementary by JRR Tolkien or Piers Anthony that would introduce new words, but nothing too difficult to understand.

Consequently, my lexicon was limited until high school when I finally was exposed to literature that used words that were completely foreign to my understanding. Reading comprehension was also slowed because things were written in a way that was unfamiliar to my understanding of English grammar and sentence formation. I ended up scoring a 580 on the verbal section which I think was accurate because I did struggle at Stanford my freshman year with classes that required plenty of reading (thankfully, I almost aced the math portion which probably solidified my admission); no test prep and only took it one time which was not wise.

A large portion of the assigned reading in CIV was either written in a dated form of English or written by an academic whose writing style was so high-minded that it took three or four times to read a passage just to grasp a vague idea of its meaning. Understanding this type of writing eventually arrived later my sophomore year....practice and exposure I suppose.

Linked below is an op-ed I read last year concerning changes in the SAT. I took a practice exam just to check it out and only missed one question in the writing section. Yes, it is painfully easy compared to the test I took in the early 1990s.

http://nypost.com/2014/03/11/college-boa...ier-again/