Chapter One Tt was a dark and stormy night. Four students sat in their homes. Felix sat at his desk, his head in his hands. The lights in his room were out, so that the only light in the room was provided by the desk lamp. It cast a pale pool.of light in a circle in front of Felix. Within the circle of light were various books and papers, tokens of Felix’s profound struggle that night. For it was test prep season. As a rising high school senior, Felix knew he had to do well on all his tests this year - not only his school tests, but also the SAT, for Felix had dreams of going to a fine university. He was also 4 conscientious. student, dne who always did his homework and tried hard in class. Yet he had terrible problems studying for the SAT. The essay - so intimidating! The reading passages — so difficult! Who could remember all that vocabulary and grammar? Worse still, it was so difficult to find any decent prep materials or classes; all the books were so tedious, all the teachers so boring! Surely there must be a cool and fun SAT prep center somewhere that would help him ameliorate his test grades! If not, it would be :detrimental to his future plans. As lightning flashed and thunder bellowed, the anger and frustration that had been lying dormant within Felix began to come to life. He lifted his head and shook. his fist at the night sky. He vowed to find some way to raise his SAT score! Even. if he had to take lessons! : Some blocks away, the lightning’ had momentarily illuminated a small building. This was the local SAT prep school. No one was there; all the windows were dark. ‘Across town, Elvira was having a problem similar to Felix’s. She, too, sat at her desk, trying to focus on the math and |» Scanned with CamScannerTESTED ___— eee science books in front of her. She, like Felix, had her heart set on getting into a good university, but at the rate she was: going, she was headed for disappointment. Math - 50 hard! Physics - so confusing! ‘And don't get her started on those word problems! Normally a vivacious girl, always lively and full of energy, Elvira these days had become gloomy and tired of her newly sedentary lifestyle, always sitting and studying. She gritted her teeth and stared at the equations in the books. It just wasn’t settling into her mind. Checking her practice test answers, she saw that three of her last five answers had been , erroneous, and she sighed at her mistakes. She had to find some way of mastering this stuff, even for SAT lessons somewhere. if it meant signing up Lightning flashed again. This time anyone Jooking. would have seen in its illumination a single silent figure walking slowly toward the SAT prep schoo! building. Meanwhile, in his own house, Vassily also sat at 2 desk covered with books. He, too, was keen to get into a top-level university. Not that he himself cared; he was doing it for his parents, who hassled him every day to work hard and get good grades. As a boy, vassily had been precocious, learning everything quickly and easily. His parents had therefore Gecided that he was their little genius, who was going to go to some university that everyone, everywhere esteemed highly — Harvard, maybe, or perhaps Stanford. ‘They even promised to buy hin extravagant gifts, even a fancy car, if he got straight A's. So, in deference to their wishes, Vassily sat, 25 he-did every night, going through the books over and over again to make the knowledge stick. He was very tired. Occasionally his eyes would droop, and he would almost drop off to sleep — but then he would jerk himself awake, pinching himself if necessary. He just had to get straight A’s and ace the SAT. His parents had just signed him up for lessons at a local SAT prep ‘school, hoping — 45 Vassily did — that it would get him up to the level they needed him to be at if he were going to Fulfill their dreams. 14] Scanned with CamScannerPART ONE - Chapter One A third bolt of lightning flashed. There was now a window lit at the SAT prep school. Murph, down the street from Vassily, was the only one of the four who was not miserable. He, like the others, sat at a desk covered in books and papers. Unlike them, though, he leafed through the pages calmly and cheerfully, Many of the Papers on his desk were covered with his own handwriting; these were his writings. Murph, you see, was a poet. Or at least he wanted to be. Murph had chosen his mission in life, and it was to say important things and say them well. To be able to do cither, he knew he had to go toa good school and study English (to leam to write well) and something like philosophy or history (to figure out what important things had been or needed to be said). Lots of kids at school derided Murph for his ambition, laughing at his dream, but whenever they did so, Murph tried to temper their levity with a serious comment. Murph's parents thought their son was being capricious; they thought his stated dream of being a poct was just a temporary interest, and he would change his mind in a few days or weeks. They were certainly not enthusiastic about his career choice. They themselves had little money and had to exercise considerable frugality in order to make ends meet. They did not want to spend their meager savings to send Murph to university to study something that would leave him poor, too. Murph, however, had made up his mind. Studying for the SAT, therefore, was less painful for him than for his friends. ‘That doesn't mean it was any easier for him, though, In fact, he found it difficult enough that he started to think he should sign up for lessons. He had heard some of his teachers extol the local SAT school, saying it was one of the best in the country, so he was willing to give ita try. ‘A fourth lightning flash of the night lit up the SAT prep school once again. All had gone dark, No one was there’. anymore, jas Scanned with CamScannerTESTED Words Used In Chapter One Word Pronunciation Defaltion Synonym(s) consclentious (adj) ,karnfl‘enfos controlled by meticulous consclence ameliorate (v) e'mitlierent to make better improve detrimental (ed))—_detn'ment! damaging; harmful disadvantageous dormant (a4j) “dosrmont temporarily without inactive extemal activity vivacious (adj) var'verfos lively; cheerful animated; merry sedentary (adj) “sednteri characterized by sitting; inactive; not migrating stationary erraneous (adj) Vrocnias ‘containing en error incorrect precocious (adj) pri'koufas Sore unusually -_asdvaneed; bright esteem (¥) sim to respect value extravagant (adj) tk’ strevagont” excessively elaborate; wasteful moderation deference (n) “deforons respectful obedience to complaisance someone's wish deride (¥) dr'raid to taugh at ridicule : 0 temper (v) “tempor to moderatestomake lessen; alleviate more eccepial levity (ny “levoti lack of seriousness. ‘tilliness, Nig ness capricious (adj) ko'prifes unpredictable; incenstant Impulsive frugality (n) thu gelotd ‘being careful with parsimony money and resources; economizing meager (adj) ‘mb:ger not enough scanty extol (v) k’stool to pralse highly; to laud glorify pa maaan 10 Scanned with CamScanner