5 Ways to Build Up Your SAT Vocabulary

If you’re like most high school sophomores and juniors, you’re probably preparing to take your SATs in the next few months and building up the skills to do so right now. Without a doubt, if you’re not an avid reader, vocabulary is a tough nut to crack and you should get an early start.

So if you’re looking to build up your SAT vocabulary, there are many ways to do it. Your mileage may vary, but here are some suggested routes to take.

1. Study flashcards. My favorite flash cards were these SAT Verbal English Flashcards. They not only give you the definitions but they also show them in context of a sentence so that you apply the terms correctly in your regular speaking.
2. Read. Stick your nose in a book — in fact, read a variety of magazines and books. Find something you’re interested in and read during your free time.
3. Seek out etymology. Look for roots in words and see if you can determine what a word means. If you have exposure to foreign language, such as Spanish, Latin, or French, you’re ahead of the gang because there are some similarities between these languages and English.
4. Use a dictionary. If you don’t know what it means, look it up. Write down words that you encounter throughout the day and then put those words through an online dictionary to get your definition.
5. Take practice vocabulary exams. You can buy a book and study all the words, or you can go with the free options as provided by the College Board.

How I studied: Let me put it this way. Vocabulary isn’t my strong suit. I write well (or at least I think I do), but I’m by no means an enthusiast when it comes to reading books. So what did I do? I bought the vocabulary cards (2 boxes) and started reading every single one of them over a course of several months. I looked at each word and wrote a sentence using the word (in addition to the sentence applied by the publisher) on the back of the cards. That got me familiar with the terms quite quickly. With 2000 cards (and then more on index cards as I stumbled across new words), I disciplined myself to learn about 50-60 words a night. I’d quiz myself (often alone, but sometimes with a friend) on the terms. I wouldn’t give up my study sessions until I was absolutely certain that I understood the words. I’d also revisit the weaker terms every so often so that they wouldn’t be forgotten. Fortunately, there was overlap with words I found in tests and the SAT vocabulary words.

How did I do? After using these study skills, my SAT vocabulary score increased over 150 points. Now that was totally worth it.

Discipline yourself, work hard, and you’ll score well. You’ll also be happy to know that studying vocabulary isn’t a one-time thing. You’ll come across the words again in your everyday life and you’ll say, “hey, I remember learning that for my SATs!”