SAT Vocabulary – How To Improve Your Score

The SAT, or the Standardized Aptitude Test, is one of the most important tests a student takes during their scholastic career. This and other standardized tests are used by US colleges and universities to assess the performance of students who are applying for academic study programs.

Gaining a solid SAT vocabulary will definitely help in scoring well on the exam, not only for the critical reading section, but will also aide in comprehension throughout the entire exam. A strong vocabulary will also help students express their thoughts more completely and clearly on the essay section of the test.

A very powerful way to increase one's vocabulary is to read voraciously and the best way to improve your SAT vocabulary skills is to read SAT-level materials like The Wall Street Journal or a favorite novel.

Although learning SAT vocabulary in context is acknowledged as the best way to learn new words, some might not have enough time to read a great deal. In that instance, learning from a list is a quick way to improve SAT vocabulary, but it is not considered the best approach for long-term retention.

An effective compromise between long hours of reading and fast list-based learning is to make use of vocabulary-building books, workbooks and online SAT practice exercises, which include examples of words used in context and illuminating explanations that can assist in retention and proper usage of new vocabulary terms.

Utilizing word games can also be an engaging and fun way to improve active vocabulary, and is proven way to help students build their word lexicons and thus achieve higher test scores on any college admission test.

It is also interesting to realize the the SAT exams are actually scored by computer. There is a great website that has free practice tools available to help students anticipate the words that might be looked for by the scoring software. The site has SAT test prep and also practice vocabulary for a number of other standardized tests. The free SAT vocabulary test prep can be found at Vocabulary-Vocabulary.com.

Investing time in building SAT vocabulary is an effective way to boost a student's verbal standardized test scores. To maximize the SAT score, time, effort and practice is required. Many students find it helpful to mix up their study routine to include word games, flash cards, vocabulary exercises from SAT practice books or websites, and, of course, reading the proper level of material. By following the above strategies SAT vocabulary words are retained much better than just trying to memorize lists of words.