09 May 2019
Vocabulary Virtuoso PSAT-SAT Book 1 Review
May 09, 2019
We have used several products from The Critical Thinking Co. throughout our homeschool years. The most recent is Vocabulary Virtuoso PSAT-SAT Book 1 in which I received a physical copy of the book.
Vocabulary
Virtuoso PSAT-SAT Book 1 is for grades 8 thru 12 and anyone needing help with
vocabulary for the PSAT and SAT test.
My
13 year old son is just finishing up 7th grade. He has always
enjoyed learning new vocabulary. The reality is that I would also like to
prepare him for the standardized testing as he approaches highschool. I don’t
want it to be a rush and trying to have him assimilate new vocabulary just for
the testing of the SAT and PSAT.
Vocabulary
Virtuoso PSAT-SAT Book 1 book has twenty vocabulary list and five reviews. Every
vocabulary list you are introduced to nine vocabulary words. That amounts to
180 vocabulary words which according to the author 85% of the words are
currently included in the PSAT and SAT list. Pretty impressive amount of words
to help out with your testing and not to mention having the satisfaction of
learning some pretty impressive vocabulary words that you may not know!
On
each list you some part of speech is focused on during the lessons. For example
List 1 is “Amazing Adjectives” or List 6 is “No nonsense Nouns.”
To
make the learning of the vocabulary words fun the stories are fashioned after a
fictional classroom with the interactions between the student and teachers. The
activities focus on concepts.
The
concepts are:
Literary:
Characterization in Literature, Idioms, Puns, Jargon, Irony, Euphemisms,
Aphorisms, Allusions, and Theme.
Rhetorical:
The Art of Persuasion in Speech and Writing and Using the Extended Simile to
Write a Poem.
Historical:
The Renaissance and the Renaissance Artist.
After
each word you have the pronunciation listed under it. The definition of the
word is provided and also a sample sentence using the vocabulary word in
context.
All the answers are located in the back
You start out by going over your nine vocabulary words at the beginning of
each list. Each word list has six different activities that you work through.
Completed activity finding the best word to complete e the sentence
There are several activities throughout. One activity is filling in the
vocabulary words to complete the sentence. The vocabulary words are located in
a box at the top of the page. Under each sentence is a gray box that has synonyms
or idioms of the vocabulary word. Some of the words in the gray boxes my son
knew while other ones he looked them up in a thesaurus to see how they are
similar to the vocabulary word.
Completed pages from List 3 on the Story Challenge activity
Story Challenge activities are 2-3 pages long. Your vocabulary words are at
the top of the page. You basically fill in the blanks in the story using your
words. The stories vary from one focusing on idioms, puns, euphemism, and more
styles. At the end of the story there is a gray box that explains the concept
and gives you more examples.
Unscramble the word completed activity page
Unscrambling the word- You read the provided sentence and within it a word
is underlined. The underlined word could be the vocabulary word, definition, idiom,
synonym, or phrase. You have to unscramble the word to obtain the correct
answer. This was my son’s least favorite activity as he’s never cared for
unscrambling words.
Write the word from your vocabulary box that is the best match to define
the word. Using your vocabulary box you have to either write the correct word
which could be idiom, phrase, or the vocabulary word.
Another activity is completing a sentence. You read the first part of the
sentence and then write out the rest of the sentence. There is an unlined word
in which you have to deduce the meaning of the word yourself.
Two pages from the first review that my son completed
The five reviews cover a total of four lists you will have
three activities to complete. There is a crossword puzzle that uses your
vocabulary words that you learned in the last four lists. The next page is a multiply
choice question in which you circle the correct response.
A completed review page finding the word that best fits for the fictional titles of books
The last activity you
have fictional titles of books and using your vocabulary list from the top of
the page you need to record the best word that is an option to use in the books
Vocabulary Virtuoso PSAT-SAT Book 1 How did I use it in my homeschool?
I
used this with my 13 year old son who is finishing up his 7th grade.
My son is an independent worker and was able to do this with very little help
from me.
I
spent a bit looking over the material before I handed it over to him. The
curriculum is self explanatory. I like that I don’t have to do any prep for the
lessons either.
My
son started out each lesson reading over the
list. Some words I helped him pronounce and sometimes he looked up the words using
an online dictionary to make sure he was saying the words correctly with the
online audio button.
My son is just finishing up List 1 here
The only activity that he needed me was when he had to unscramble the
words. He was able to figure out some of them without unscrambling the words
from the word list and the meaning. He would have me check the answer key to
see if he guessed correctly.
We’ve had a few crazy weeks here lately and he for the most part worked on this
throughout the school week. Some activities took longer than others but we spend no
more than 20 minutes each day. As of this week we are halfway into List 5.
Since our school year is coming to an end we are going to continue this next
year after he completes List 5. Next year we will do a quick review with the vocabulary when we begin.
We sat down last week and looked over all the words in the book to get an
idea of which words we may or may not know. Here are just a few words that I’m
going to mention.
As far as some of the vocabulary words my son knows are words like: iconic,
quiescent, stoic, accost, litigate, authentic, curtail, serenity.
Some words that we both didn’t know: egalitarian, ebullient, prehensile,
inchoate, aplomb, quixotic, caricature, obfuscate, mawkish, visceral.
My son’s thoughts, “This wasn’t bad. I liked that the lessons aren’t very
long. I liked all of them except the unscrambling the words. I found some of the words hard to say so I found the audio button on the
words with an online dictionary which helped me a lot.”
I’m happy that he is happy with what he has been doing the last few weeks.
I’ve been pleased with all the products I have used from The Critical
Thinking Co. and using Vocabulary Virtuoso PSAT-SAT Book 1 the last few weeks in another great product.
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Right now is a good time to start preparing for next years curriculum. The Critical Thinking Co. is graciously offering a coupon plus free shipping. The details are below.
I’m just one out of 75 members of the Homeschool Review Crew who are reviewing
different products.
Pattern Explorer Beginning (Grades 3-4)
Elementary Math Games (Grades 3-5)
Critical Thinking Detective - Vocabulary Book 2 (Grades 5-12+)
Dare to Compare: Math Level 2 (Grades 6-7)
Middle School Math Games (Grades 6-8)
Building Writing Skills - Essential Tips & Techniques (Grades 6-12+)
Elementary Math Games (Grades 3-5)
Critical Thinking Detective - Vocabulary Book 2 (Grades 5-12+)
Dare to Compare: Math Level 2 (Grades 6-7)
Middle School Math Games (Grades 6-8)
Building Writing Skills - Essential Tips & Techniques (Grades 6-12+)
Vocabulary Virtuoso PSAT-SAT Book 1 (Grades 8-12+)
Vocabulary Virtuoso PSAT-SAT Book 2 (Grades 8-12+)
Vocabulary Virtuoso PSAT-SAT Book 2 (Grades 8-12+)
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the banner to find out more about the products from The Critical Thinking Co.
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