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PeteSAT · 05-26-2005, 06:21 PM

This is a tricky question, and I differ from Xiggi slightly (but only slightly) on this point. I find that a lot of my students, after they’ve learned how to analyze sentence completion and critical reading passages, miss a significant number of questions based purely on vocabulary. Xiggi is right about secondary and tertiary definitions, but I think he’s missing something when he says the test is not about vocabulary.

That said, there aren’t that many vocabulary based questions left on the test. Back in the old analogy days, vocab was significantly more important.

I certainly don’t think that people should study vocab to the exclusion of studying other ST material, but I don think it can help. Not nearly as much as it used to, but it can still help. For example, many SATs test an understanding of the difference between “indifferent” and “ambivalent”, usually on a reading comp question.

So I usually recommend making vocab a small part of each day’s studying. Now luck certainly plays a role, and there’s no guarantee that studying vocab will buy even one point, but it often can help pick up two or three questions.

That's all the rambling I have in me today!

05-26-2005, 06:21 PM	#56
PeteSAT Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Los Angeles Threads: 5 Posts: 571	What about vocabulary? This is a tricky question, and I differ from Xiggi slightly (but only slightly) on this point. I find that a lot of my students, after they’ve learned how to analyze sentence completion and critical reading passages, miss a significant number of questions based purely on vocabulary. Xiggi is right about secondary and tertiary definitions, but I think he’s missing something when he says the test is not about vocabulary. That said, there aren’t that many vocabulary based questions left on the test. Back in the old analogy days, vocab was significantly more important. I certainly don’t think that people should study vocab to the exclusion of studying other ST material, but I don think it can help. Not nearly as much as it used to, but it can still help. For example, many SATs test an understanding of the difference between “indifferent” and “ambivalent”, usually on a reading comp question. So I usually recommend making vocab a small part of each day’s studying. Now luck certainly plays a role, and there’s no guarantee that studying vocab will buy even one point, but it often can help pick up two or three questions. That's all the rambling I have in me today!