The Insider's Complete Guide to SAT Vocabulary: The Essential 500 Words

Larry Krieger is a renowned author and educator whose books and workshops have helped thousands of students achieve outstanding scores on the SAT. Larry has long recognized that students do not need to memorize dictionary-like lists of vocabulary words. As the author of the first three editions of the Direct Hits vocabulary books Larry pioneered the technique of using pop culture to illustrate difficult SAT words. The Essential 500 Words takes Larry’s innovative techniques to a new level. Larry provides students with a variety of illustrative examples that include pop culture, student anecdotes, and Insider tips drawn from actual test examples. In addition, Larry also shows students how to use their vocabulary to answer both sentence completion and passage-based questions. The result is a unique book that will help students achieve high critical reading scores.

Here is a brief summary of The Essential 500 Words’ key features:

• 47 chapters devoted to defining and illustrating SAT vocabulary words
• 6 chapters devoted to answering sentence completion questions
• 6 chapters devoted to answering passage-based questions
• An Appendix that contains the Top 30 SAT roots

Larry Krieger is a renowned author and educator whose books and workshops have helped thousands of students achieve high SAT and AP scores. The founder of Insider Test Prep, Larry has taught SAT classes for over 20 years and AP classes for over 35 years. Larry was born and raised in North Carolina. He earned a BA in history and an MAT in Social Studies education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MA in sociology at Wake Forest University. Larry’s teaching career began in 1970 at Olympic High School in Charlotte, North Carolina. During the next 35 years Larry taught urban, rural, and suburban students in North Carolina and New Jersey. Larry’s popular courses were acclaimed for their energetic presentations, commitment to scholarship, and dedication to excellence. As the head of SAT education at Montgomery High School, Larry taught after-school classes that helped students earn an average critical reading score of 629, the highest for a New Jersey public school. In 2004 and 2005 the College Board recognized Larry as one of America’s most successful AP teachers. Larry is the author of several US History, World History, AP prep, and SAT prep book that are used throughout the U.S. and around the world.