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VocabSushi teaches vocabulary using sentences from the news

Trying to memorize 8,000 SAT words can be a daunting task, even for the most assiduous of students. But SAT tutor Jeff Novich has launched a new web site that helps students learn vocabulary the old-fashioned way‹by reading. VocabSushi searches through news stories online for sentences with vocabulary words that typically appear on the SAT and GRE. The site then presents those sentences to students, allowing them to enjoy the learning process and keep abreast of current events. "When you learned English, you didn’t sit down with 1,000 flash cards," said Novich, 29. "You listened to people talk and you read stories. When there was a word you didn’t recognize, you figured out its meaning based on context. Why should that learning process be any different for test preparation?" Novich came up with the idea while tutoring students in Manhattan for the SATs. The site offers a free two-week trial membership. After that, the cost for individual users ranges from $10 for a month’s subscription to $50 for a year, though Novich said volume discounts are available for schools. The site also provides printable PDF quizzes, podcasts, sentence completion and definition matching games, and audio files of words for correct pronunciation. Users can build and maintain customized vocabulary lists tailored to their skills and goals and can chart their progress over time. http://www.vocabsushi.com [1]