Reading skills vital for college students––and in later life

By 2005, some college-bound students will be required to complete writing tests as part of their college entrance exams. But even students who aren’t required to take a writing test for college need strong writing skills.

According to ACT, a nonprofit organization that provides educational support services, writing is one of the top skills needed for success in college and the workplace.

The Education Trust reports that 17 percent of college freshmen can’t write well enough to do college-level coursework and are required to take non-credit remedial writing and grammar courses to raise their writing skills.

ACT provides the following tips on how you can strengthen your writing skills and prepare for college and beyond:

Read and write frequently. According to Dale Allender of the National Council of Teachers of English, students should read as much as they can from various sources, including fiction, poetry, news stories, plays, business writing, magazine features and essays.

Practice writing in different formats and in as many real situations as possible. Instead of just writing for school assignments, Allender recommends writing letters to the editor or to a company requesting information or commenting on a product or service. Writing e-mails is good practice, as long as you realize that writing for school and business is usually more formal than writing an e-mail to a friend.

Other tips:

Notice how adults use reading and writing in their daily lives. Ask friends or family to recommend a good book. Sometimes finding a good book can make all the difference in reading. Listening to audiobooks is another way to expose yourself to good writing.

Try some extracurricular writing—school newspapers, yearbooks and creative writing clubs offer opportunities to express ideas in writing.

Notice the writing that you already do, such as writing in a journal or sending instant messages to friends.