SAT Vocabulary? Play Free Rice!

Students, what's the easiest way to study for the SAT? Parents, how can you improve your vocabulary on an airplane?

Instead of wasting those precious hours, plan ahead. My first suggestion for long commutes, intercontinental flights, or any time you have 5 minutes?

Free Rice! It's a game you can play on your phone. Sponsored by the United Nations, Free Rice donates grains of rice for every word quiz you answer. It's CAT (computer assisted technology), so it adjusts the word it shows you to your level of proficiency. Anyone can play and it's free.

To improve a verbal score on the SAT, TOEFL, GRE or GMAT takes longer than to improve a math score. Vocabulary is a challenge because no one can master 50 words a day.

But if you play Free Rice for just a few minutes a day, you'll progress from "wriggle" to "realm," and even I may yet learn the correct spelling of "occurrence."

The link is here. Follow me for more advice on college and MBA admissions--and the latest updates on my forthcoming book, "Year by Year to College."