Making Connections teaches an extensive range of reading skills and strategies in order to prepare students for college reading. The current series takes students from a low-intermediate to a low-advanced level of academic reading skill proficiency. In December 2015 two new levels û high beginning and advanced û will be added to the series. The series contains a strong focus on vocabulary-building, including teaching words from the Academic Word List. It emphasizes critical thinking and increased reading speed. The series has a unique unit structure. At the outset of each unit, students are presented with and practice key reading and vocabulary-building skills. As students read the texts following these sections, they apply these skills by completing exercises in boxes in the margins of the readings, so that students literally have to apply the newly-learned skills 'while reading.'