SAT prep: swap 1 hour of scrolling for 1 hour of reading

Lately I have been working with my students to do something daring: trade 1 hour of scrolling for 1 hour of reading. After all, they have big dreams for their college careers. Many are aiming for Harvard, Princeton, or Penn, and they know they can afford to miss only a couple of questions at most on SAT Reading and Writing.

I assure each student that it's 100% possible for them to achieve their big score. Then I ask an uncomfortable question: how much do they read each day? It is well-known that daily reading for at least an hour helps many students because it exposes them to more vocabulary and sentence structures and increases their reading speed and critical thinking skills. So, how much do they read each day?

Crickets.

This is when evasive maneuvers begin. Some students just flat-out tell me they don't read at all. Others search for any evidence that they do, including that book they were assigned by their English teacher or the textbook they read for their AP History class. Does that count?

Nope.

Eventually, after more evasive maneuvers and protests that they just don't have the time to read because they are so busy, we get to the subject of dead time, aka scrolling. When pressed, students admit that they are like adults in that they, too, are scrolling their lives away each day. Some do it for only 30 minutes, which is pretty impressive. Most, though, scroll for at least 3 hours each day, sometimes even more. Playing computer games is another time-taker.

I tell the student that I don't want them to stop scrolling or playing computer games entirely. It is fun to them and relaxing, so keep doing it! Instead, I want them to trade one of those three hours of scrolling for reading so that their reading ability improves. When pressed a little more, the student agrees that this isn't really unreasonable.

We are all facing this choice, not just students. It's about balance. Do what you like to do because everyone needs to relax. However, let's take back a little of that dead time and apply it to something more productive, like reading. For a student, that can really improve their confidence and ability on the SAT over time.

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