Piles & Piles of SAT Vocabulary Flashcards
“So how many words have you learned?”
“Is your vocabulary list as long as mine?”
“Do you have piles and piles of vocabulary flashcards?”
Maybe you have heard friends talk about “SAT vocabulary” and heard that you can improve your score by learning more words. While a strong vocabulary is helpful on the SAT, especially the reading section, there are no “SAT words”, no list of special words favored by the College Board. The SAT requires students to be familiar with a broad array of college bound vocabulary. Words commonly found in the SAT reading section are also frequently used by college professors and in college texts. Some terms are used more than others in day-to-day speech, but most college graduates will be familiar with the words used on the SAT. Get ahead of the curve; start building your vocabulary now. Here are some suggestions to help build your college bound vocabulary:- Read. Reading is the best long-term strategy for building vocabulary. Read a variety of materials and try to learn any unfamiliar words you encounter.
- Start early. If you learn challenging words in middle school then you will be ready to learn more college-bound words as a high school student.
- Make (don’t buy) flashcards. Use words from school or your reading and create a card for each new word. Sometime just writing out the cards is enough for some people to learn the words.
- Learn don’t cram. I remember cramming words for the Friday vocabulary tests in high school; by Monday I couldn’t define those words to save my life. Make it your goal to really learn words, so when you encounter them on the SAT or in college, you will remember the definitions.