The SAT

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

The College Board recently announced a shift in how the SAT will gauge students’ talent for vocabulary. The days when a commitment to flash cards could get young people a good score are coming to an end in 2015. Starting in 2016, students won’t be asked about obscure, 10-dollar words with fill-in-the-blank questions; they’ll be asked about “high utility” words, much more common terms with multiple meanings that can only be identified by looking at the word’s context.

-- How Would You Do On the New SAT Vocabulary Questions?

Comments

[cinnamontoast.livejournal.com]

You're right; memorizing things is an outdated way to learn. It is sort of silly. (Although folks my age tend to whine about the lack of memorizing and whacking asses in schools.)

The exceptions to this are grammar and spelling. I've gone over them a million times and I still can't remember certain rules for grammar. I'm grateful for spell-check. I'm terrible at memorizing things and getting worse as the years go by.