by Erica L. Meltzer | Nov 16, 2024 | Books
I periodically receive emails inquiring about the order in which students should work through Critical Reader guides, and it occurred to me that rather than respond to them on an individual basis, I should probably just post my recommendations here.
Assuming that a student has at least several months before the test and is starting at roughly equivalent levels in both Reading and Writing, I would generally suggest the following order:
1) The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar & SAT Vocabulary: A New Approach (concurrently, with the vocabulary book to be continued for as long as necessary)
2) The Critical Reader: The Complete Guide to SAT Reading
3) Reading and Writing Test Book (more…)
by Erica L. Meltzer | Oct 19, 2024 | Blog, Books
Over the next few months, updated versions of several Critical Reader guides are projected to be released.
Late October 2024:
- The Complete Guide to ACT® Reading, 2nd Edition
The book will be aligned with the 2024-25 Official Guide and will also include, for the first time, an index of Official Guide Reading questions, grouped by category.
Early January 2025 (exact date TBD):
- SAT® Vocabulary: A New Approach
This will be the 3rd edition and will include detailed definitions/discussions of all 250+ words as well as additional exercises. It will also place a stronger emphasis on learning high-frequency words in terms of categories/topics and in relation to one another, as opposed to memorizing straight-up definitions.
- The Ultimate Guide to SAT® Grammar & The Critical Reader: The Complete Guide to SAT® Reading
Indexes of Official College Board Reading and Writing questions will be added to the respective guides (currently available for download via the Books page).
The reading book will feature about a dozen pages of new material; in the grammar book, some material will be reworked slightly in order to be more precisely aligned with dSAT.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Sep 11, 2023 | Books
I am very happy to announce some new book releases.
First, the e-book editions of The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar, 6th Edition, and The Critical Reader, 5th Edition, are now available on Amazon Kindle. (more…)
by Erica L. Meltzer | Sep 1, 2023 | Books
I am very happy to announce two additional forthcoming Critical Reader prep books for the digital SAT.
The first is a test book to accompany the main Reading and Writing guides. It features three full-length Reading & Writing tests in dSAT format (two modules per exam, each with 27 questions) and includes detailed explanations for all questions. It should be available from both Amazon and The Critical Reader within the next two weeks. (Please note that this book replaces The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar Workbook; because the number of Writing questions is considerably reduced on the digital test, it did not make sense to have a book of practice tests devoted solely to that portion of the exam.)
The second guide is a vocabulary book, on which I am very happy to be collaborating again with Larry Krieger. The book features approximately 200 challenging must-know words for both sentence completions and transitions, along with numerous entertaining examples drawn primarily from contemporary pop culture (think plenty of Barbie, with some Oppenheimer and The Avengers thrown in, plus an eclectic* mix of other references).
I really have to hand it to Larry: his knowledge of pop culture positively puts mine to shame, AND he actually managed to distill the Avengers plot down into a few hundred easy-to-follow words. Most impressive!
We’re doing our best to get a beta version of the book out sometime this month so that it can be used for PSAT preparation, with a final version to follow in the late winter or early spring. Stay tuned for more details.
*Varied, diverse, heterogeneous; note that this has traditionally been a favorite SAT word, and all signs suggest that the College Board is once again relying on the top ETS list. So much for that whole “no more ‘obscure’ (ha!) words” thing.
by Erica L. Meltzer | May 8, 2023 | Books, The Digital SAT
I am happy to report that Amazon/KDP has approved the file for the final version of The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar, 6th Edition, making both the grammar and reading books available for through Amazon and The Critical Reader.
At this time, we do not yet have copies of the new editions in our warehouse, so books must be sent directly from the printer. As a result, orders may take longer to arrive than would normally be the case. If you need the books urgently, please order directly from Amazon.
In addition, please note that if you are located outside of the United States and wish to purchase the books on Amazon, you must order through the corresponding Amazon page in your country of residence.
If you have a question regarding the new editions, please contact us directly.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Jan 29, 2023 | Books, The Digital SAT
I am happy to announce that the preliminary versions of The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar, Sixth Edition, and The Critical Reader, Fifth Edition are now available for international students preparing for the new digital SAT in March, as well as tutors working with International students and any U.S. students taking the digital school day SAT this spring.
If you live outside the United States and unable to order from Amazon locally, you can order directly through The Critical Reader. Students located in South Korea will be able to purchase books through our Korean distributor, JMK Education. As of 1/29/23, we are in the process of arranging to have an order shipped to them.
Both books have retained their core components but have been fully reworked to reflect the content and format of the digital SAT. While it is possible that there will eventually be some minor reshuffling of content (particularly in the grammar book, since it’s not entirely clear whether certain concepts will tested on the digital exam), I hesitate to call them beta versions because the bulk of the material is effectively final. The only major changes planned at this point are the additional of end-of-chapter practice questions/explanations in the reading book, and full explanations for end-of-chapter exercises in the grammar book.
In order to make the books available on the various international Amazon sites, there was no choice to publish to the main U.S. site as well—so yes, the books are technically available there now. However, I am aiming to release the expanded versions of both books by April, so you may want to wait to purchase them if you are planning to take the digital exam in June or later and do not need to start studying urgently.
Ensuring that the new editions matched the level of quality of the previous editions while getting them to publication in only a few months has been an enormously challenging process, and again, I very much appreciate everyone’s patience while I worked out all the unforeseen (but inevitable) last-minute kinks.
Note: comments on this post have been closed. If you have a question regarding book orders, please send us a message via the contact form, or email thecriticalreader1@gmail.com.
