Vocabulary and variables

Ive been doing some thinking about the relationship between the Critical Reading and Math sections of the SAT, particularly in relation to the the idea of  associative interference   the notion that unrelated   concepts have a tendency to get tied up with one another and interfere with understanding. Catherine Johnson at  Kitchen Table Math  has written about it in relation to the Math section, but I would venture to say that for most people, its actually much more of a problem on Critical Reading section. Heres why: One of the things that the SAT tests is the ability to draw conclusions based solely on the information in front of you and to ignore any preconceived notions or biases you may bring with you into the test. In terms of the math section, this means that you need to be able to understand the  concept  of a variable that is, that the letter a or x or y(or whatever else happens to be used) stands for whatever it happens to mean within the context of a particular problem, regardless of how youre used to seeing it elsewhere. I think that in general, this is not a terribly foreign concept for most people who have achieved a reasonably high level of mathematical understanding. If you dont   really get what a variable is but are still attempting to take any sort of advanced math class, youre   going to get thrown the second you see a familiar letter in an unfamiliar context, and thats probably going to cause you some trouble in math class at some point. In other words, school math does often overlap with SAT math in this regard, and if theres a serious weakness in your understanding of the concept, theres a halfway decent chance itll get picked up on eventually. When a similar issue emerges on the verbal side of things, however, there chances of it being caught are comparatively slim.  I think its safe to say that most high school students have never been explicitly asked to think about words in quite the way the SAT tests them namely, that a word can be made to mean almost anything that an author wants it to mean, even the exact opposite of what it usually means. Or, to draw a math analogy, that words = variables. In other words, sometimes it doesnt matter how a word is usually used, only how its being used in that particular context at that particular moment. (In order to answer higher-level questions dealing with things like irony and mockery and skepticism, it is of course necessary to understand  whyan author would use a word to mean its opposite, but in order to get there, you first have to understand whats literally being said. And in my experience, plenty of kids who take AP English struggle even with that.) In this sense, the SAT is exactly the  opposite  of a traditional vocabulary test. Its also the exact opposite of the kind of English assignment that asks you to connect what youre reading to your own experiences which, as far as I can tell, seems to comprise a substantial portion of the English assignments at a lot of schools. Knowing the dictionary definition of a word, pondering what it reminds you of, or remembering how your Aunt Sally used it last weekend will get you exactly nowhere. As a matter of fact, it doesnt even matter if you know the definition of the word being tested all that matters is that you know the definitions of the words in the answer choices. So what this means, practically speaking, is that when you see a question that that says, In line 17,  suffered  most nearly means, you need to rephrase the question as, In line 17, x most nearly means. The fact that the word suffered, as opposed to some other word, happens to be used in the original text is almost entirely incidental. Yes, knowing that suffered is negative  might  help you make some headway in eliminating answer choices, but if the passage indicates otherwise, that knowledge might actually drag you in the wrong direction. Thinking about vocabulary words as variables also eliminates the option that youll try to answer the question without looking back at the passage you might think you know what suffering means, but you probably wouldnt dare to guess what x meant without checking out the context. Even if you think you remember, youll be a whole lot more likely to play it safe.