While the SAT no longer tests obscure, esoteric vocabulary words with sentence completions, a strong vocabulary is still essential for success, particularly on the Reading and Writing sections. You’ll be tested on “Words in Context,” which means you need to understand the precise meaning of words in a given passage.
Read Widely: This is the most natural way to build your vocabulary. Read high-quality material from sources like The New York Times, The Atlantic, and classic literature. When you encounter a new word, don’t just skip it. Try to understand it from the context, then look it up to confirm its meaning.
Use Flashcards (Smartly): Don’t just memorize definitions. For each word, include its part of speech, a sentence using the word correctly, and its synonyms. Spaced repetition systems (SRS) are fantastic for this. Anki is a powerful, free flashcard app that uses SRS and is highly recommended by students worldwide.
Focus on Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes: Understanding common word parts can help you deconstruct and understand unfamiliar words on the fly. For example, knowing “bene-” means “good” helps you understand words like “benefit,” “benevolent,” and “benediction.”
Here is a short list of words that frequently appear on the SAT. This is not an exhaustive list, but it’s a great place to start!
For more practice with vocabulary in the context of real SAT questions, check out the Panchi app, where you can tackle hundreds of “Words in Context” questions.
