Everyone knows that the SAT and ACT test reading skills. What far fewer people understand until they take the tests is that just being able to read isn’t enough to earn a perfect or even a good score. The SAT and ACT test the same ability to quickly and efficiently comprehend unfamiliar text that leads to success in college and beyond.
Everyone also knows that you cannot cram reading. Literacy is not a series of facts to memorize. No fancy mnemonics or study aids can improve the ability to derive meaning from text. The only path to reading well involves reading the right material at the right critical intervals.
The Strategic Reading Club answers all the questions about how to help high schoolers develop the reading skills needed for academic, testing, and professional success:
We are strategic about what club members read.
We are strategic about when and how often club members read.
We are strategic about how to assess and improve club members’ reading skills.
We are strategic about who coaches club members during and between meetings.
We even have a strategic reason for making this a club in the first place: students can include this on their college applications! Every aspect of Strategic Reading Club is carefully calibrated to cultivate the kind of reading skills and executive function that leads to success on tests, in school, and after college:
- improved comprehension (which means more knowledge as well as better grades and scores)
- increased speed (which mean less time doing homework, more test questions answered, and greater productivity)
- advanced vocabulary (which means more sophisticated, persuasive communication)
- decreased frustration (which means reading becomes more enjoyable, which inspires even more reading)
Plus, regular readers exhibit greater levels of happiness, community engagement, and mental health. What more could you want for your teen?
The Strategic Reading Club is perfect for any high schooler–especially 9th and 10th graders–who wants to become better at school, tests, and life. Every month, club members read carefully selected books and articles, primarily non-fiction works on psychology and performance. Every two weeks, each group of 4-10 club members meets to discuss what they’ve read and understood in a guided conversation led by SAT/ACT experts that fosters greater comprehension and cognition. Our moderators coach members both during and between sessions to ensure that everyone leverages the benefits of reading every single day.
Best of all, this club is designed to benefit students through their entire academic careers; every month brings a new book or set of articles, so club members are always working on new skills, amassing more knowledge, and developing academic critical maturity.
In an era when fewer teens than ever read anything beyond what is assigned for school (if that), the need for a Strategic Reading Club is obvious. For just $60 per book, our test experts will guide your teen in what, when, and how to read while doing everything possible to make sure that reading actually happens. Even better, we draw a straight line from growing reading proficiency to higher test scores in ways that matter far beyond the SAT and ACT.
Frederick Douglass understood how fundamental these skills are when he said, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” Why wait to get your high schooler on the path to a lifetime of real reading benefits? Check out our upcoming schedule and sign your teen up for the Strategic Reading Club today!
JULY 2021: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
AUGUST 2021: Atomic Habits by James Clear
SEPTEMBER 2021: The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance by W. Timothy Gallwey
WILD CARD: Do you want to put a group together to work on books from your school, summer, or wish reading list? Let us know!