An ascetic is one who practices self-denial and self-discipline. The word is associated with avoiding pleasure. Aesthetic, on the other hand, has to do with appreciating beauty, particularly with regard to art.

These words both come from Greek, but they have different roots. Aesthetic comes from the Greek aisthetikos, meaning sense perception. Ascetic comes from the Greek asketes, meaning monk or hermit.

Although the word “aesthetic” is far more common in everyday usage, it is important to know both terms, particularly when taking the SAT!

The Solution: Student Debt Forgiveness

Last week, President Obama requested $80 million in new funds for an effort to boost math and science education in our schools. While we agree that math and science education are vital for America’s future, we question the wisdom of President Obama’s request.

As we wrote last week, America’s best and brightest are flocking to Wall Street. In fact, our math and science students are those who are most likely to set up shop in a corner office. Given these trends, one has to wonder: What’s the point in investing $80 million in math and science education if our best mathematicians, engineers, and scientists are simply going to use their expertise to line the pockets of investment bankers?

Before we can invest our resources into creating new mathematicians and scientists, we must first find a way to encourage our most brilliant minds to use their knowledge for the betterment of society. These graduates should be the nation’s greatest innovators. These are the people with the ability to discover cures for deadly diseases, alternative sources of energy, or ways to reverse climate change. These are the people who might teach a new generation to hope and to dream, and instead they teach future generations to earn wealth and to scheme.

Our best and brightest do not flock to the financial sector because they have a mad passion for numbers. They do so because a) finance and consulting jobs are simple to get, and b) these jobs pay big bucks. In order to lure these well educated individuals into alternative industries, we must level the playing field. After all, who wants to work in a lab making little money when you can work in an office and pull down a big salary?

One solution would be student debt forgiveness. That $80 million could be used to pay for a program which would either eliminate or help to pay down student debt for graduates who agree to work in a particular field. Another solution would be to make government research positions more lucrative. But no matter how we go about it, the fact is that investing in math and science is meaningless until we find a way to encourage mathematicians and scientists to use our investment wisely.

Presidents aren’t the only ones that get caught lying.

Because both Abraham Lincoln and George Washington were born in February, we celebrate Presidents Day on the third Monday of the month each year. Not only were both of these revered presidents born in February, they were also both known for their honesty, which may be one reason why they stand out in American political history.

Abraham Lincoln, also known as “Honest Abe”, earned his nickname early in life. As a young man, Lincoln worked in a general store. One evening as he was counting out the money, he discovered that he had accidentally short-changed a customer by a few cents. Lincoln walked a long distance to return the money to the customer – customer service at its best. On another occasion, Lincoln realized that he had given a woman too little tea; he put the remaining tea in a package and personally delivered it to her. Later, as an attorney, Lincoln became known for his unwavering honesty – in fact, Lincoln preferred to lose a case than to win through deceit.

Likewise, George Washington is admired for his reputation as an unswervingly honest individual. Though the famous story of the boy George Washington readily admitting to the crime of chopping down his father’s prized cherry tree is likely fictional, it illustrates the popular idea that Washington could not tell a lie. Later in life, during his Farewell Address, Washington said, “I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs that honesty is always the best policy.”

But would these men be as honest if they lived in our modern times, or would they succumb to the dishonesty of the modern age?

It is plainly (and painfully) obvious that today’s politicians have made lying into an art form. They’ve become so good at it that there is now an entire group of websites dedicated to chronicling and refuting political untruths. The largest of these sites, Politifact.com, even holds an annual “Lie of the Year” contest, and their competitor, factcheck.org, compiled a list of the biggest whoppers of 2011. In modern American politics, lying has become a way of life. Voters are never confused when a candidate says one thing while running in a primary race and something entirely different when running in the general election – it’s simply the way things are done. But why?

One reason is the expansion of technology. Once upon a time, before the internet and TV, it was easier to be honest because political news wasn’t as sensationalized. Today, in the era of 24-hour news networks and 24-hour internet coverage – complete with hundreds of thousands of citizen journalists in the form of bloggers – political news coverage takes up so much time that there aren’t enough new stories to fill the gaps. Instead of reporting truth and fact, networks and news writers have no choice but to report conjecture, lies, and opinions disguised as facts.

We can lament the modern age of politics endlessly, but there is no going back. And the realm of politics is hardly the only arena that has become less honest as a result of modern technology – our students have learned to lie as well.

In 1940, only 20% of college students admitted to cheating. Today, various studies show between 75% and 98% of students admitting to cheating. Statistics on academic cheating are dismal:

• Cheating typically begins in middle school. 9 out of 10 middle school students admit to copying someone else’s homework and 2/3 say that they have cheated on exams.
• In a survey, 95% of high school students say they’ve cheated during the course of their education. 64% admitted to cheating on tests.
• Cheating is more prevalent among college-bound students than any other group.
• 80% of high-achieving high school students admit to cheating.

Perhaps more terrifying than the prevalence of cheating is the fact that students don’t seem to believe that cheating is wrong. One survey showed that 51% of high school students did not believe that cheating was wrong. Another survey revealed that even when students recognize a given act as cheating, they are willing to do it anyway. Moreover, many students don’t seem to recognize what cheating is.

• 89% of students said that looking at someone else’s answers during a test was cheating, but 87% admitted to doing it anyway.
• 94% of students said that providing the answers to someone else during a test was cheating, but 74% admitted to doing it anyway.
• Only 47% of students consider providing test questions to a student who has yet to take the test to be cheating. 7 in 10 admitted to doing it.
• Only 39% of students consider writing a report based on the movie instead of reading the book to be cheating.

Once again, a large part of the blame for this dishonesty can be placed at the feet of modern technology. Not only has modern technology helped to make lying a way of life in politics, but it has also helped to make cheating easier than ever before. Several major news outlets, including USA Today, US News and World Report, PC Magazine, and Higher Ed Morning, have produced articles detailing the various ways in which students utilize technology to help them cheat:

• Plagiarizing by copying and pasting material from the web
• Storing notes and cheats in graphing calculators or cell phones
• Texting questions and answers
• Using cell phones to photograph test papers and then circulating the exam questions
• Purchasing cheating kits that turn cell phones or iPods into personal cheating devices
• Using smart phones to search the internet for answers
• Purchasing plagiarism-free essays off the internet

We would like to be able to say that educators are appalled by the prevalence of cheating in their classrooms, but the bevy of cheating scandals centered on teachers and administrators shows us that many educators cheat, too. Have the days of honesty passed? Is lying and cheating the new norm? How can we teach our children that cheaters never prosper if that maxim is no longer true?

Click here for information on the President’s Day Event at C2 Education.

In the past few weeks, “Lin-sanity” has gripped the nation. After leading the Knicks to seven straight wins, Lin seems to have cemented his role as a star player, something few people saw coming. A fact that most people aren’t aware of: Jeremy Lin is the first NBA player out of Harvard since 1954. Many sports fans have been surprised to learn that Lin is a Harvard graduate, because the Ivy League schools have hardly been known for their athletic programs. Until now.

Thanks to improved financial aid policies, which make attending Ivy League institutions affordable for middle class families, the Ivies are once more athletically competitive. These policies make it easier for the Ancient Eight to recruit elite athletes, a task they largely failed at for much of the last century. Because the Ivy League does not offer athletic scholarships, they have never been able to compete with schools like Duke or Notre Dame when it comes to recruiting athletes. This practice has meant that Ivy League athletes tended to either be relatively wealthy or relatively poor – in either case, money is no longer an issue – and this socioeconomic division limited the pool of potential athletic recruits, resulting in languishing athletic programs for many Ivy schools.

In recent years, however, most of the Ivy League universities have all but eliminated student loans by nearly doubling the size of grants available to middle class families. At Harvard, for example, new financial aid policies cap the percentage of income a family is expected to contribute; now, a family earning $120,000 to $180,000 contributes no more than 10% of family income to college tuition.

These new policies have had consequences far beyond the basketball court or the football field. Just as improved financial aid policies have made it easier to recruit top athletes, these same policies have allowed Ivy League schools to compete for top students who might otherwise have gone to a less expensive public or private college.

The Ivy League schools are at a distinct advantage when it comes to recruiting students. At nearly all colleges and universities, the operating costs per pupil outpace the money the school actually gets in tuition. At public schools this gap is filled with state funds, and at private schools the gap is filled by endowments. In either case, the school is limited by its funding. But at Ivy League schools, the endowments are massive. In fact, on a list of the top ten richest schools in the country, 5 are Ivy League schools. Harvard, by far the richest school in the country, has an endowment worth $32 billion, $13 billion more than Yale, the second richest school in the country. Other elite private schools have impressive endowments, but they simply don’t have the same resources as Ivy League schools. In order for a private school to match the Ivy League’s generous financial aid offers, they would have to cut services, potentially harming the quality of education. Meanwhile, Ivy League schools are not only offering impressive financial aid packages, but also spending billions to improve their campuses and course offerings.

This situation effectively gives the Ivy League a monopoly on the most talented students in the country. Once upon a time, talented students from middle-class backgrounds were lured to public institutions which offered low tuition rates; today, these same students are finding that an Ivy League education can be even less expensive than a public school education. The long term consequences of this trend have yet to be fully realized, but with roughly ¼ of Ivy grads flocking to Wall Street, we can predict a cycle of wealth disparity in higher education: Ivy schools lure in top students, these grads go to the financial sector where they earn high salaries, and these wealthy alums donate to the Ivy League institutions thereby further increasing their already robust endowments. The rich schools will get richer while other schools struggle just to keep up.

So what do these trends mean for your child?

1. An Ivy League Education Is Affordable: If your child makes the cut, an Ivy League education can now be less expensive than a public school education. Middle-class families shouldn’t be turned off of an Ivy League school simply due to sticker shock because those $50,000 price tags aren’t really accurate.
2. Competition Is Stiffer Than Ever: Because an Ivy League education is now fairly affordable, the pool of applicants has widened considerably. This helps to account for the record breaking numbers of applicants at Ivy League schools over the past few years. But because Ivy League schools are financially accessible for more students, applicants have to be more impressive than ever before in order to stand a chance of earning admission.
3. Student Athletes Can Go to an Ivy League School: Ivy League schools have used their improved financial aid policies to target talented athletes; however, since the schools cannot offer athletic scholarships, athletes must still have impressive academic credentials. Jeremy Lin, for example, was not only a talented basketball player – he also graduated high school with a 4.2 GPA. Instead of pinning college hopes on an athletic scholarship at a less prestigious school, your child should utilize their athletic prowess to gain an edge in admission at an Ivy League school. Student athletes will still need stellar grades and test scores to earn admission, but athletic ability is now a bigger plus than ever before.

In short, an Ivy education is both easier and harder to obtain – it’s easier to afford, but harder to get in. Rather than allowing your child to be discouraged by such news, you should use this information as motivation – by working hard and earning the best grades and test scores possible, your child can obtain an amazing education at a prestigious university. Make sure to give your child the guidance necessary to compete for admission at the Ancient Eight – start here at C2’s blog with some of our most popular past posts:

• College Counseling: The Failure of Public Schools – learn how to get the right advice for your child
• High School Grades and the SAT – why kids with great grades underperform on the SAT and how to help
• College Admissions: What Top Schools Look For – find out the secrets to gaining acceptance at selective colleges
• The Secrets of Advanced Placement Classes – how many is too many?
• Can a B in Advanced Placement Beat an A in Regular Classes? – learn about how colleges weigh course levels when examining grades
• The College Admissions Process – an in depth look at the admissions process at some of the nation’s most selective institutions
• The SATs and that Elusive High Score – tips for boosting test scores
• College Admissions: Creating Your Own Bieber Fever – how to harness social media to bolster a college application
• 10 Things to NOT Do in a College Essay – our top ten no-no’s for college essay writing

And for Asian-American students, Jeremy Lin offers additional lessons. As we’ve written before, earning admission in the Ivy League can be even more difficult for an Asian-American applicant than for other applicants. But by following in Lin’s footsteps and cultivating an athletic talent in addition to a strong academic background, Asian-American students can help to break out of the Asian stereotype – something which can help overcome the Asian-American bias in Ivy League admissions.

Take harder classes in high school!

High school students tend to approach their course selections in one of two ways. The first goes something like this: “I will take easy courses so that I can get really high grades so that I will have an impressive GPA and go to a good college.” The second goes like this: “I will take difficult classes so that I will be challenged and so that my transcript will impress colleges.” In fact, students and parents alike often wonder about which is more important – grades or course difficulty.

The question is a nuanced one because the real answer is “both.” Sadly, the real world demands a certain trade off. After all, it is rare for a student to be able to take the highest level classes and still earn straight A’s. But when making decisions regarding course difficulty, a new study may add to the scale. In a study recently published in the American Educational Research Journal, researchers found that students who took rigorous high school courses were more likely to attend and succeed in college.

This finding is hardly surprising. In our experiences with C2 students, we have found that students who engage in the most challenging coursework they can reasonably handle outperform their peers on standardized tests and have an easier transition from high school to college. Moreover, many school principals, college admission counselors, and college administrators strongly believe that students benefit greatly from challenging coursework because of the intangible lessons learned – students who engage in intellectually challenging work learn better critical thinking and study skills.

In particular, the College Board’s Advanced Placement program, which provides college-level coursework that culminates in an annual exam which can award college credit, can prove beneficial to students. This program allows high school students to gain insight into the demands of college-level work, thereby better preparing students for college. In fact, many students report that the rigor of their AP courses over-prepared them for their college courses, allowing them to make a far smoother transition from high school to college than many of their peers.

We’ve written before on the tradeoff between course difficulty and maintaining a high GPA and on the risks of overloading on difficult classes. Striking the correct balance of challenging classes and high grades can be difficult, but it also brings benefits that last long after graduation. If you and your child are struggling to balance grades and class level, consider speaking with your school’s guidance counselor or with an independent college admissions counselor such as those at C2 Education. The advice they provide may prove invaluable to your child’s future.

Ah, the season of love. Valentine’s Day is here, and with it the greeting card industry (along with florists and chocolate purveyors) rejoices. Would you be surprised to learn that St. Valentine’s Day actually has little or nothing to do with romantic love?

The Legend

Legend has it that St. Valentine’s Day was founded in honor of Valentine of Rome, a priest who lived in Rome during the 3^rd century AD. At this time in history, the Roman Empire was fading. The Empire had grown too large to properly defend against outside aggressors, of whom there were many. Emperor Claudius II needed good soldiers – lots of them. Believing that married men make poor soldiers because of their close family ties, Claudius banned marriage for young men in order to ensure himself a ready crop of able bodied soldiers. Valentine, believing this to be unfair and unjust, secretly married young lovers against Claudius II’s edict.

When the Emperor found out, he ordered Valentine arrested. While under guard, Valentine was approached by his jailor, Asterius. Asterius had a blind daughter; he hoped that Valentine would use his saintly abilities to restore her sight. Valentine did so, earning the friendship of both Asterius and his daughter.

Eventually, Claudius II met with Valentine. Impressed by Valentine’s dignity and conviction, Claudius II offered a chance for escape: If Valentine would convert to the Roman gods, he could live. Valentine refused and even went so far as to attempt to convert Claudius II to Christianity. This angered Claudius II who ordered Valentine’s execution.

The night before his execution, Valentine penned a letter to Asterius’s daughter, whom he had come to love. He signed the letter “From Your Valentine”, making it the first Valentine in history.

Valentine was executed on February 14, 270 AD.

The Truth

St. Valentine’s Day was originally created by Pope Gelasius I in the late 5^th century. The Catholic feast day honoring Saint Valentine was created to replace the pagan fertility celebration of Lupercalia, which was celebrated in mid-February. It is unclear which Saint Valentine was meant to be honored as there are in fact three Saint Valentines.

Even if we were to accept that Pope Gelasius intended to honor Valentine of Rome, there is little historical proof of many of the events rumored in the legend of St. Valentine. He was a priest in Rome, and he was martyred by Emperor Claudius II on February 14. Beyond that, none of the “facts” of the legend of St. Valentine have been proven true. It is believed that Valentine was not arrested for secretly marrying Claudius’s soldiers, but for aiding Christians, an illegal practice in the Roman Empire.

To further de-romanticize the history of Saint Valentine, it is worth noting the brutality of his execution. Valentine of Rome was stoned and beaten with clubs, and when that failed to kill him he was beheaded. Not exactly the stuff of Romance.

In fact, the romantic aspects of the legend of St. Valentine did not emerge until the 14^th century, when writers such as Geoffrey Chaucer began to attribute romance to the season. The holiday was further romanticized throughout the European Renaissance, and the commercialization of the holiday began in the mid-1800s when mass produced greeting cards became popular.

The fact that St. Valentine’s Day was never intended to encourage romance shouldn’t prevent you from demonstrating your love. So what if Valentine’s Day is really nothing more than an excuse for florists to boost sales? A little romance never killed anyone. (Except, if you believe the legends, St. Valentine.)

When Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series first came out, I was shocked to see teenage girls across the nation flocking to bookstores. Girls who professed a hatred of reading, girls who avoided novels at all cost, were suddenly sitting up all night long to finish a book – how could this possibly be a bad thing?

Under normal circumstances, we applaud any books popular enough to get unwilling readers to read. After all, reading for pleasure is one of the most important things a student can do to improve grades, raise test scores, improve writing abilities, and prepare for college. Whether students read newspapers, magazines, novellas, or Shakespeare, reading is good.

Except when it’s not.

The Twilight saga is the most widely read teen series since Harry Potter – over 1.3 million copies of the final book sold within the first 24 hours – but unlike J.K. Rowling’s famous series, the Twilight saga does not add to a reader’s facility with language or to a reader’s worldview.

Aside from the many controversial messages in the series (which we’ll touch on momentarily), the series is poorly written. If the benefit of reading for pleasure is to gain familiarity and facility with the written language, then the quality of writing is important. Stephanie Meyer may have a good imagination and an excellent sense of what teen girls want to read, but her writing abilities leave much to be desired. She overuses florid adjectives (“He lay perfectly still in the grass, his shirt open over his sculpted, incandescent chest, his scintillating arms bare.”), pays little attention to correct sentence structure (“Time passes. Even when it seems impossible. Even when each tick of the second hand aches like the pulse of blood behind a bruise. It passes unevenly in strange lurches and dragging lulls, but pass it does. Even for me.”), and includes multiple grammar and usage errors (such as this dangling modifier: “The room was cut in half by a long counter, cluttered with wire baskets full of papers and brightly colored flyers taped to its front.”). Students gain their natural instincts for correct language through their reading, and if students begin to write on the same level as Stephanie Meyer, English teachers across the country will begin pulling out their hair.

Beyond the bad writing, the books contain messages which teenage girls probably shouldn’t be internalizing. While the series takes great care to promote the values of sexual abstinence, any benefits derived from this message are immediately negated by the nature of the protagonists’ relationship. Main character Bella, who is hardly even described so that readers can easily insert themselves in her place, falls for vampire Edward, who is described in great detail as basically everything a girl could ever want. In their relationship, Edward holds the reigns – he dictates who Bella can be friends with, encourages his family to spy on her, and essentially engages in all of the typical warning signs of an emotionally abusive relationship. According to the story, though, Edward’s overbearing dictates are perfectly acceptable because he only controls Bella because he loves her. The books teach young, impressionable young women that they need a man and that any behavior is acceptable so long as it is done “out of love”.

If you have a daughter who has become obsessed with Twilight and its teen-vampire-werewolf spin-offs, here are some alternatives which feature far more artful writing, a more advanced (and correctly utilized vocabulary), and stronger plot elements:

• Leviathan by Scott Westerfield: By the author of Uglies, this novel features Deryn Sharp, a young girl who pretends to be male in order to fight in WWI with the British Air Service. Includes elements of science fiction and alternate history.
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: This classic Gothic novel has many of the same classic love story elements as Twilight, but with a more feminist approach. Protagonist Jane is perhaps one of the most complex and self-aware female characters in literature.
• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova: This is an incredibly well-written historic thriller and it’s about vampires! Long, but beautifully wrought, this novel is impossible to put down.
• Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice: Still about vampires, but much better written. In fact, this book is the very reason for the resurgence in vampire literature – it was this novel that brought vampires from being monstrous to sympathetic. This book is for mature teens only as it does include some more adult themes.
• Salem’s Lot by Stephen King: Another vampire book, but without the antifeminist principles, sparkly vampires, and florid writing. This horror novel focuses on a small New England town that is, unfortunately, beset with bad vampires.
• Dracula by Bram Stoker: The quintessential vampire novel; no one should be allowed to read about vampires without reading this first.

Rules:

“Go out on a limb, that’s where the fruit is.” – Jimmy Carter

What do Facebook and Under Armour have in common? Both were the brain child of a college student. College students are known for their willingness to take risks and their ability to think outside the box, their idealistic worldviews and their lofty life goals. At least they used to be…

Today’s college students demonstrate a remarkable, and ultimately harmful, tendency to follow the path of least resistance as they launch their careers. On campuses across the country, and particularly at the nation’s most elite schools, recruiters for the finance and consulting industries make securing entry level positions in their fields easier than ever before. As a result, many of the nation’s most brilliant students are drawn to these industries like moths to a flame. After all, accepting a position with a consulting firm provides a secure income with little or no risk – it’s a safe choice.

According to surveys of the college class of 2010, more than half of respondents from the University of Pennsylvania, 49% of respondents from Harvard, and more than 1/3 of respondents from Cornell entered the financial sector. But as Kevin Hicks, former dean of Berkeley College said, “Too many seniors march lemming-like towards [consulting] because everyone else seems to be doing it…The danger in doing a prefabricated thing after graduation is that there’s no unique story to tell about it. If there was ever a moment to be entrepreneurial and daring – whether in terms of business or social change – and really test yourself, this is it.”

Both Mark Zuckerburg, founder of Facebook, and Kevin Plank, founder of Under Armour, exhibited great daring in thinking outside the box. And for these entrepreneurs, their creative approaches paid off: The news of Facebook’s IPO filing has launched rumors that value the company at $100 billion, and Under Armor has become the product of choice for professional athletes across the country. But, whether they are scared off by a sluggish economy or lured by promises of high salaries, today’s college students seem to have abandoned the entrepreneurial spirit to the detriment of the rest of the country.

Even as the nation’s brightest scientists, engineers, and mathematicians are “yanked off into the financial sector never to be seen again”, the rate at which new companies are created in the U.S. has flat lined. If this trend was driven by student passion for finance, that would be one thing. But, as we’ve noted before, budding scientists and engineers rarely express an interest in finance. Upon entering college, students voice idealistic goals and a desire to change the world for the better; then, somewhere between high school and college graduation, many students exchange their dreams for corner offices on Wall Street.

Regardless of a student’s interests or major, entrepreneurship holds many appeals that the finance industry simply can’t match. Becoming an entrepreneur not only allows a recent grad to be his own boss – a benefit that anyone can appreciate – but also encourages innovation, creativity, and problem solving. As an entrepreneur, a graduate can pursue his own interests and plot his own course – all while helping to revive the nation’s economy, create jobs, and renew the sense of innovation that this country has lacked for so long.

Advice for Future Entrepreneurs

• Think outside of the box. Innovation does not have to be limited to the world of technology as many young adults seem to believe. Kevin Plank came up with the idea for his athletic gear, Under Armour, when his cotton t-shirts didn’t do the job during athletic practice. There is room for innovation in nearly any field, from fashion or music to mundane areas like cooking and cleaning. Look beyond tech startups and find a new area to explore.
• Reinventions can be as useful and lucrative as new inventions. Just look at Gaston Glock, inventor of the Glock handgun. Glock, who knew practically nothing about guns, revolutionized the entire industry with his improvements. You don’t have to have a new product to be successful.
• Start young. Entrepreneurship requires more than just a great idea – a good entrepreneur must also gain people skills, problem solving skills, management skills, and sales skills. Students who start mastering these skills in high school by starting their own small businesses will be ahead of the game.
• Don’t follow the crowd. Many students who hope to become successful entrepreneurs automatically major in business as they feel that this will best prepare them for life as a small business owner. However, a business degree offers a limited skill set which may not prove helpful to a new entrepreneur. Instead, consider studying the liberal arts. A liberal arts degree teaches many of the creative thinking, analysis, and communication skills that are so vital to a small business owner.
• Make dreams a reality. Too many graduates take a safe job with the idea of leaving to launch a small business “one day.” For most of these grads, “one day” will never come. If you have a potentially lucrative idea, strike while the iron is hot or life will get in the way.

If someone pays you a complement you should be confused rather than flattered. Likewise, your scarf probably doesn’t compliment your outfit (unless you have a talking scarf). Here’s why:

To complement something means to complete or supplement something. To compliment is to praise something. So, that red wine might complement the meal, but if it compliments the meal, you’ve drunk too much.

The same differences hold true for the words complimentary and complementary. In this case, something that is complimentary is either flattering or given freely: a complimentary breakfast at the hotel or a complimentary note from a secret admirer. Something that is complementary completes or supplements something: the countertop was done in a complementary color or the waitress provided complementary cream and sugar for my coffee.

One small letter separates these words, and while that one letter may not make much of a difference in everyday use, you can bet that the test designers who craft verbal tests (like the SAT) will count on that one letter to trip you up.

Just remember: Something that complements completes (look at the “e” in “complete”) and something that compliments praises (look at the “i” in “praise”).