sat
vocabulary words
The 5000 words below, with
brief definitions, are free for individual and classroom use. These
words are also downloadable from
Texas
Instruments in a format for some Texas Instruments calculators.
A
small-print, PDF
version (Free) is good for printing and annotating.
Alphabetical list shows definitions, differences (aggravate, aggregate)
and similarities (bibliography,
bibliophile) at-a-glance for easy review.
Understand more words to improve reading comprehension & grades.Speak and write more accurately, persuasively, and
impressively.
"I
went from a 500 to a 750 thanks to your online list." SAT
test student
Recommended and used by hundreds of teachers and schools 2000+ More Vocabulary Words than other vocabulary builders
5,000 vocabulary words
on 7 audio CDs All
you have to do is listen for
college and career success.
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Professionally-read,
audio CD edition of
the 5000 words.
Learn 5000 definitions and correct pronunciations by listening. No time? Listen while exercising, driving, doing chores, online
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an Edge that Lasts a Lifetime
Digital Copy: MP3/MPEG2, sold
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CDs/DVD Purchase 22MB, compressed RAR files: Vocab CD1,
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SAT math 87MB hour
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+ SAT TEST MATH
Seminar
complete edition of $120 live class
1. Watch Math
Problems Solved Step-By-Step
2. Practice, Prep
3. Ace SAT math
Seminar
Math Problems PDF - Free
Learn 2 or 3
ways to solve: shortcut+backup
2-hour TV DVD Uses my below SAT math notes, my best tips from
10-years teaching
abase v. To lower in position, estimation, or the like; degrade.
abbess n. The lady superior of a nunnery.
abbey n. The group of buildings which collectively form the dwelling-place of a society of
monks or nuns.
abbot n. The superior of a community of monks.
abdicate v. To give up (royal power or the like).
abdomen n. In mammals, the visceral cavity between the diaphragm and the pelvic floor; the
belly.
abdominal n. Of, pertaining to, or situated on the abdomen.
abduction n. A carrying away of a person against his will, or illegally.
abed adv. In bed; on a bed.
aberration n. Deviation from a right, customary, or prescribed course.
abet v. To aid, promote, or encourage the commission of (an offense).
abeyance n. A state of suspension or temporary inaction.
abhorrence n. The act of detesting extremely.
abhorrent adj. Very repugnant; hateful.
abidance n. An abiding.
abject adj. Sunk to a low condition.
abjure v. To recant, renounce, repudiate under oath.
able-bodied adj. Competent for physical service.
ablution n. A washing or cleansing, especially of the body.
abnegate v. To renounce (a right or privilege).
abnormal adj. Not conformed to the ordinary rule or standard.
abominable adj. Very hateful.
abominate v. To hate violently.
abomination n. A very detestable act or practice.
aboriginal adj. Primitive; unsophisticated.
aborigines n. The original of earliest known inhabitants of a country.
aboveboard adv. & adj. Without concealment, fraud, or trickery.
abrade v. To wear away the surface or some part of by friction.
abrasion n. That which is rubbed off.
The words are targeted for SAT test
prep, but other tests, such as the GRE and GMAT, use the same collegiate words.
GRE words and GMAT vocabulary are just hard SAT words; SAT prep will help you on
graduate school entrance tests.
The below SAT vocabulary and SAT math advice also applies to GRE vocabulary and
GRE math, but the difficulty is different.
wittingly adv. With knowledge and by design.
wizen v. To become or cause to become withered or dry.
wizen-faced adj. Having a shriveled face.
working-man n. One who earns his bread by manual labor.
workmanlike adj. Like or befitting a skilled workman.
workmanship n. The art or skill of a workman.
wrangle v. To maintain by noisy argument or dispute.
wreak v. To inflict, as a revenge or punishment.
wrest v. To pull or force away by or as by violent twisting or wringing.
wretchedness n. Extreme misery or unhappiness.
writhe v. To twist the body, face, or limbs or as in pain or distress.
writing n. The act or art of tracing or inscribing on a surface letters or ideographs.
wry adj. Deviating from that which is proper or right.
yearling n. A young animal past its first year and not yet two years old.
zealot n. One who espouses a cause or pursues an object in an immoderately partisan
manner.
zeitgeist n. The intellectual and moral tendencies that characterize any age or epoch.
zenith n. The culminating-point of prosperity, influence, or greatness.
zephyr n. Any soft, gentle wind.
zodiac n. An imaginary belt encircling the heavens within which are the larger planets.
Teachers: The small print reduces the number of pages and the cost of
copying, but watch second-generation copy quality.
Students of English as a Second Language (TESL TEFL TESOL ESL EFL ESOL): These are very advanced English language vocabulary words.
Steve Baba,
Ph.D.
Ph.D. Economics, University of
Maryland, College Park
Taught undergraduate and graduate courses Published papers in
academic journals Teaching and Academic
awards Decade of SAT Prep
Experience (part-time)
Former students at Yale, Dartmouth, USMA (West Point)
and other prestigious schools.
Suggestions - Prep in MD Contact
Me (email/phone/address)
You do not need to learn
every word in the dictionary to improve your SAT score. Every bone in your
body has a name, but the names of your bones will not be on the SAT for
two reasons. It would give an unfair advantage to students interested in
human anatomy, and the question would be too difficult. Just as easy
questions that everyone can answer will not be on the test, questions that
no one can answer will also not be on the test for the same reason; they
do not measure anything since everyone would get the same score.
There are about 10,000 words that are likely to show up on the SAT - other
words are too hard or too easy. While 10,000 words is a lot, you probably
know half of the words already. Also, many of the words are related to
each other through common roots such as subsonic and supersonic. If you
know what supersonic means, you should be able to figure out what subsonic
means and vice versa.
Five or ten hours of vocabulary work cannot compare to a lifetime of
studious vocabulary building, but all is not lost. You can review,
remember and clarify words you once knew and learn a few new words. Unless
you have a photographic memory or have mastered mnemonics (thinking of
memory aids, class at top of this page), you will not be able to memorize 1000 new
words from a list in a few hours. What you can do is review words that you
barely remember, and some of the new words may stick.
If you are tempted to skip vocabulary building because there are too many
words, just remember that you do not need to know all the words to answer
vocabulary questions correctly. Consider the following sentence completion
question.
Because of his _____ and effort, John Doe was a success.
a. laziness
b. nationality
c. xyyxxyx (a word you don't know)
d. sleeping
e. beauty
Even without understanding xyyxxyx, you can rule out all of the other
answers - as long as you know 4 of the 5 words - and answer the question
correctly.
Vocabulary words are on the SAT, GRE and other standardized tests for a
reason - people with better vocabularies perform better in college and
later in life. If your vocabulary is weak, you will understand less. Your
ability to express yourself is limited by your vocabulary - if your
vocabulary is weak, you will be understood less. If you overuse
simplistic words, such as "cool" or "great," people
will be unimpressed. Even if you are a computer science genius, other
computer science geniuses with better verbal skills will be hired and
promoted ahead of you.
If you improve your vocabulary, you will (1) improve your SAT score, (2)
enter a better college, (3) earn better grades and learn more in college
and (4) perform better in your career. If you need to invest more time
building your vocabulary, read the following vocabulary-building books,
which have examples of words used in context and illuminating
explanations:
Click on the above titles to
view Amazon.com’s description. Amazon.com pays me a pittance, as an
Amazon associate.
In addition to answering more
vocabulary questions correctly, answering quickly leaves more time for
reading comprehension questions, which have vocabulary embedded in the
passages.
On the SAT,
Both Speed And Accuracy Count
Finishing the easy SAT math problems
faster gives you time to solve two more hard problems per section for 60
more points.
The reading-passage questions are NOT
ordered from easy to hard. If you run out of time, because of slow reading
or slow vocabulary, you both miss opportunities to answer easy questions
for easy points and don't have extra time for hard questions.
Just 20% faster is like having an extra 5
minutes on 25-minute sections.
SAT prep, such
as my CDs/DVD, can enable you to gain 50+ points from increased
accuracy and 50+ points from increased speed per subject for a total
increase of 300+.
SAT Writing: Can’t write (no good/good/well)? Not a Big Problem
The “new” SAT writing (really the same old SAT II
writing) is 2/3 multiple-choice grammar and 1/3 a 25-minute essay.
The multiple-choice grammar does not even require knowing the names of parts of speech. One only needs to pick the best of several choices or identify errors (no good/good/well). Because SAT scoring is highly curved, half correct (50%) is enough
to reach 500, and even 600, 650 or 700 allows many mistakes or 50/50 guesses.
Most, but not all, of the multiple-choice questions can be answered with two-dozen English grammar rules, which are covered in the Kaplan and Princeton Review books.
Multiple-choice grammar questions can be answered multiple ways:
1) know the grammar rule for the one correct answer
2) eliminate all wrong answers to find the remaining correct answer
3) know a correct similar sentence -
Can’t (swim/any activity) (no good/good/well)?
4) reword to clarify - I write (no good/good/well).
5) guess after eliminating some wrong answers
A 25-minute essay is as far from a creatively written novel as a 25-minute fast-food meal is from a gourmet meal. Becoming a professional chef or novelist takes years. Becoming a fast-food cook or writing a decent 25-minute essay can
be mastered faster.
The essay is often illustrated by a triple cheeseburger. Top bun = introduction. Three burgers = three examples. Cheese between burgers = transitions between examples. Bottom bun = conclusion. Cooking small pieces of meat is easy = using small examples is easy.
SAT writing is the easiest to improve. Reading with difficult vocabulary is the hardest to improve.
Recommended
SAT Prep Books by Steve Baba, Ph.D.
While some books are
slightly better than others, I have found that none were exceptional.
Kaplan certainly knows what Princeton Review is doing and vice versa.
Books from other companies generally contain similar advice and are only
differentiated by jokes, writing style, and graphics.
I have found that the Princeton
Review book is slightly better for low-scoring students because it
simplifies every solution. I have found that the Kaplan
book is slightly better for high-scoring students because it does not
(over) simplify every solution.
The book The
Official SAT Study Guide provides real SAT tests, which are ideal for
practicing and becoming more confident with the test. But do not use this
book alone. Using The
Official SAT Study Guide alone is like learning how to swim by jumping
into the deep end of the pool. To maximize your SAT
score, you need to both practice and learn from experts.
While SAT preparation
books generally contains similar advice, longer books obviously contain
more information. While learning 200 SAT words is useful, learning 2000
words is better. Ditto for math problems.
Almost every SAT math problem can be solved with
the below math. My DVD SAT math seminar shows how-to while covering the
necessary math.
Print (click icon below) the below, free, 6-page SAT Math Notes and use as a crash course and/or a quick
reference "cheat sheet."
The 4-column, small-type, terse-wording design enables students to quickly find and
read formulas. On a table or a large desk, 6-pages can be viewed
instantly.
Can you solve this
very hard SAT math problem
three ways in under a minute each?
It took a total of 10 hours to hike from the base of a mountain to the top and back by the same route. Going up speed was 2 miles per hour. Going down speed was 3 miles per hour. How far from base to top?
A) 6 B) 10 C) 12
D) 14 E) 24
Hints: 1) Work backwards from answers.
Rule out too large or too small extremes. Calculate close answers until
one works. Does 10, 12 or 14 work? 2) Pick a multiple of 2 mph and 3
mph to choose a distance (6 miles) to form a ratio (6 miles: 5 hours) and
solve ratio. 3) The long way: use algebra. Rate times time equals
distance. There is no given distance, but distance up equals
distance down. There is also no time at each rate, but total time equals
10 hours.
This is one of 55
problems (PDF)
fully explained in my Advanced SAT Math Seminar DVD.
