If you’ve ever studied linguistics you’re likely aware of a theory that says human brains have a mechanism for picking up language.  It’s called a “language acquisition device.” The idea is that the brain is naturally geared to acquire a language without a lot of formal instruction. By simply by being exposed to a language, the brain will do most of the work on its own.

This is why a child who hears the word car for the first time will instinctively say “cars” if he or she has been exposed to the rules of English for plurals. Maybe it also explains why you’ll hear people refer to freshmans in college.

But the point is that, with enough exposure, brains get fluent in a language. Some of my students from foreign countries have said that they picked up English by watching TV. They were speaking English long before they’d had any formal instruction.

The other side of that coin is that a lack of exposure to the language means a lack of acquisition. If any of us moved to France and stayed inside our hotel rooms watching English language television, our brains wouldn’t have a chance to acquire French. But if we got involved in listening to the language, reading and speaking it, our brains would begin to solve the language puzzle on their own. Immerse yourself in the language completely, and your brain will get fluent even more quickly.

Test taking is a lot like this. It’s as if each test were speaking its own language, and exposing a brain to this language starts the brain working on getting us fluent. And like the language acquisition theory, it’s not so much a matter of grinding drills. It’s more a matter of exposing the brain to the puzzles, then letting it do its thing.

A little exposure to a new language allows us to find a restaurant, or ask where the nearest bathroom can be found. It’s better than nothing. But lots of exposure gives a brain a good chance to become fluent in testspeak.

We not only watched this happen with our students, but it happened to us. Simply working with test questions daily was enough to let our brains learn how to work things out. Without our even knowing it, our brains were solving puzzles, and rearranging neurological synapses. When we looked at the test again, we were surprised by how familiar it seemed, and how much easier it got. Almost passively, our brains were acquiring test language.  This process is at the heart of how we approach test prep with our students.  We see it as the most effective way to prepare for the ISEE and all standardized tests.