Critical reading section part 2: Vocabulary

A popular and destructive weapon the SAT uses is vocabulary.  By way of demonstration, how many of you know what “labyrinthine” means?  Okay, how about “convoluted”?  No?  Don’t feel bad. I’m purposefully trying to befuddle you. 

It’s not that you or your student are not smart.  It’s just that you’ve grown up with a specific language your entire life and the SAT shoves a completely different one in your face at the last moment to trip you up.

To beat the SAT you have to learn its language.  Johnson and Eskelsen (30) state that there is no substitute for memorizing vocabulary words to prepare for the critical reading section of the SAT, and I couldn’t agree more.  Although every word your child studies will not be in the passages they are tested on, the SAT will insert arcane and enigmatic appellations, nomenclatures, and locutions that make the SAT seem unfathomably inscrutable. 

Get the picture?

            Essentially, if your student is not prepared to face a vocabulary incursion, the critical reading section will be like reading a boring, academic journal article (which many of the passages are) with every third or fourth word blanked out.  Almost like Mad Libs, except less fun and you don’t get to make up words for the blanks. 

                

           Now that you’ve got a taste of why learning vocabulary to prepare for the SAT is so important, here are some resources that can help you and your student master this section:

http://quizlet.com/207969/100-most-common-sat-words-flash-cards/

http://www.majortests.com/sat/wordlist.php

http://www.freevocabulary.com/

http://www.vocabulary.com/lists/23400http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/6510

            I recommend freerice.com only after your student has already demonstrated some mastery over the recommended SAT vocabulary words.  It’s a fun game and a great way to help end world hunger, but it doesn’t help students learn as well as flash cards do.  Also, if you do use freerice.com, I’d begin around level 25 to make sure the vocabulary is challenging enough to prepare the student properly. 

Start early and help your child learn 25-30 words a week.  If they do that over summer vacation (approx. 10 weeks), that will add up to 250-300 new words.  If they break it up into 3-5 words per day, they might spend only a half hour at most per day doing this.  Flash cards are the most helpful.  If they carry flashcards with them, they can do it while you or someone else drives with them to and from any appointments they have during the day, and that alone might add up to their daily practice time.  After all, in the U.S., we spend a considerable number of years of our lives in the car.  Why not put it to good use? 

Citations

Johnson, Ned and Emily Warner Eskelsen.  Conquering the SAT:  How Parents Can Help Teens Overcome the Pressure and Succeed.  New York:  Palgrave/Macmillan, 2007.  Print.