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Marantz said with a laugh.Between 18 the Academy published Member and naturalist David Humphreys Storer’s “A History of the Fishes of Massachusetts” in Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Later published in a book of the same title in 1867, it was called by Academy Member and entomologist Samuel H. One of his early drafts included the word antepenultimate (third from the end, in case you didn’t know), which he had eagerly inserted-only to see Kaplan officials strike it. Marantz admits that he occasionally succumbed to literary overexuberance. “I think I have another SAT or GRE novel in me,” he said.įor his first effort, Mr. Marantz’s foray into test-prep fiction gave him ideas for future works, such as a possible “prequel” to The Ring. “Tenebrous” and “tempestuous,” likewise, aren’t among the novel’s boldface words.) (The well-worn “dark and stormy” construction, for instance, does not appear. In the end, 1,046 of them wound up in the book.įinding the right narrative style, he said, was tougher than squeezing the words in. The writer pored over the master list from time to time, hoping to absorb it so the words would flow in naturally. Kaplan officials gave him a list of 2,000 words that were likely to appear on the SAT, and he was asked to squeeze between 1,000 and 1,200 of them into the story. Marantz had plenty to think about besides plot.
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From there, the protagonist is lured further into a mystery encompassing the town’s most prominent benefactor, the late Algernon McAllister. The Ring of McAllister, his first novel, centers on 17-year-old Will Lassiter, whose life in the town of Red Fork becomes far more intriguing when his neighbor, Dr. Anderson, the vice president for publishing at Kaplan, who is managing the fiction venture for his company. “Different people learn in different ways, but the first step is getting people interested by entertaining them,” said Trent R. And it keeps the process fun, unlike memorization drills and other drudgery. The approach allows students to learn the meaning of words in the context of a sentence or longer written passage-a skill that makes for easier memorization-and helps test-takers figure out terms they may not be sure of on the SAT. Using fiction to build vocabulary has several advantages, test- preparation experts argue. released Simon’s Saga, a novel described on the back cover as a tale of “adventure, knowledge, romance, ideas, fun, laughter, and 820 essential words on the SAT I.” Spoonful of Sugar
ILLUSTRATION OF TREMULOUS SERIES
Last year, Barron’s Educational Series Inc. Marantz’s story is just the latest in a line of test-preparation materials that have used the fiction format.Īn early literary test-prep entry was Tooth and Nail, a mystery published in 1994 by Harcourt Inc. Test preparation comes in numerous forms, from basic test- prep guides with sample questions to workshops and camps. “I thought of it as a light entertainment,” said Mr. The SAT I vocabulary words appear in boldface throughout the text, with a glossary in the back.