Simon's Saga for the New SAT Verbal

by Philip Geer

Simon, who is the narrator of this book, lets test-takers know that he's a cool college dude who's ready to help everybody get an incredibly fantastic score when they take the new, revised verbal... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0764122002
• ISBN13: 9780764122002
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: Barrons Educational Series
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Highly Recommended For Students And Teachers

Obviously written by a talented educator who knows how to maximize students' potential, this book truly deserves five stars - it's original, educational, and very effective as an SAT vocabulary-building tool. The approach is unusual, to say the least. On one level it's a fun story, but on another level it's a hilarious spoof on some interesting topics such as boy-girl relationships, the arts, creative writing, and education. Simon, the narrator, draws students in with his easy and open tone and students enjoy the witty repartee between the characters. Before they know it, they're thinking about political and other issues from new perspectives. A book that does this and boosts word power? Yes, indeed. Simon's Saga engenders lively class discussions on important topics that today's intelligent students are thinking about -America's role in the world, the effects of globalization, the role of the media, stereotyping of people, changing values, and cultural identity. This is the type of thinking students need to do to get a good score on the critical reading section of the new SAT. The book is packed with first-rate exercises that educate as they reinforce the SAT words. Cleverly, the author has made the exercises part of the story. My students look forward to answering the questions for Simply Simon and Axel Speaks that come at the end of each funny episode. I strongly recommend this book for all high school students preparing for the SAT and for classroom use by high school English teachers. Thank you, Philip Geer, for this creative learning tool!

You wont get a better book than this for a Standardized Test

I used to fear the long list of words which are given in any other books for Standardized Test. Then I came around this Simon's Saga and I was amazed to see the way it presented the long list of words by some enjoying episodes. With this book its really fun to study the long list of words and memorizing it is not a difficulty. Moreover it contains only those words which appear more frequently in the Standardized Tests. I recommend everybody preparing for Standardized test to buy this book and enjoy memorizing the most frequent words for Standardized Tests with some really funny episodes. The excersises in this book are also really helpfull for practise

Great for enhacing vocabulary

English is a second-language for me. Obviously, if the verbal standarized test section is difficult for native speakers, it is even worse for international students whose primary languge is not English. I find this book to be very user-friendly, it is not a list of words with definitions that a student must memorize as in Princeton's or Barron's verbal SAT review. Simon's Saga uses those difficult words in everyday context so that the reader slowly incorporates those words to his/her vocabulary and to understand the context in which they can be used. Standarized test do not test if you remember the definition of a word, rather it tests your ability to play with the words. This book, therefore, is suited for that purpose.

A fun and effective way to build vocabulary for the SAT

We've all heard that practice makes perfect. And it's true -- except in the life of a student. For most students, anything even remotely resembling systematic practice seems to be automatically put into one category: BORING.Simon's Saga for the SAT I Verbal uses storytelling to introduce SAT words to students without making it seem like a chore. It gives them a familiar context in which to understand the words, as well as exercises to later reinforce this comprehension. The author gives us an irresistible tongue-in-cheek take on college life and its `infinite' possibilities, while at the same time slipping in issues and concepts that appear in SAT reading passages. To make sure the words really sink in, important SAT words are regularly repeated.I don't know of any other prep guide that teaches students what they need to know in such a creative way. My students enjoy it, and I recommend it to any student looking for an interesting way to get ready for the SAT.

A great verbal booster

This book is a great way to increase your SAT verbal score. The book is divided in to 37 chapters. Each chapter is about 4 pages long and has around 20 vocab words that are in bold. At the end of every chapter is a list of the vocab words contained in the chapter. After that is a review consisting of fill-in-the-bank, matching, True/False, and mutiple choice questions involving the 20 vocab words. I found learning the words in context easier than memorizing word lists. The exercises also helped me remember more words. The story isn't half-bad either, until about three-quarters of the way in. Then it got a little boring, but overall I enjoyed using this book as a tool to improve my verbal score.