<p>Congratulations on your amazing CR scores. You misinterpret my point. Fact is on your earlier post you eliminated panoply for the wrong reason but still got the question right. Most people do not have your impressive reasoning skills. Best for students in the high 500s or low 600s to find the best vocab list and learn it.</p>
<p>I understood that part clearly. You, however, proved my point by showing a clear and easy way in which the word could be reasoned out. Furthermore, it is difficult for me to invent a way of reasoning out a word I already know, hence the poor example. Nevertheless, I believe the other words still stand.</p>
<p>“Congratulations on your amazing CR scores” - I posted that not to be ostentatious, but to show that an average joe like myself can use Tenacious D, Harry Potter, or any facet of their life to make it through the vocab section. If you met me on the streets, the last thing you would be impressed with is my vocabulary (I am not sure there really is anything to be impressed with…) I am a working class guy through and through.</p>
<p>When I first took the SSAT (Secondary School Admissions Test), my vocab scores were terrible. I even took the test a second time just to see if they would go up, and they actually went down a significant amount. Yet, I read just as much as I did then as I do now. The only difference is a sense of confidence. From what I have gathered by talking to my friends after the tests and going over test questions with others, a lot of students second guess their intuitions (at least with the vocab section, that is), which are often correct.</p>
<p>Memorizing word lists is boring. You are unlikely to retain long-term memory of the words. And perhaps you may retain memory of these huge word lists long enough for the test, but what’s the point if you are only doing it for the test?</p>
<p>Test Prep by means of reading a quirky magazine like the New Yorker, which also has great vocab words, is a much more thorough. You’re more likely to retain the words you learn, and more importantly, you’ll actually have some fun while you’re at it (who doesn’t love the New Yorker?). If reading newspapers or magazines isn’t your thing, read translations of great foreign literature! Translators tend to exercise a large vocabulary in their translations as words are their “thing.” Memorizing “hit words” is not nearly as important as practicing the deconstruction of words or the determination of meaning from context.</p>
<p>I would rather have a word memorized and be able to eliminate all wrong choices immediately rather than “reason” through it. By not learning new vocabulary simply by reassuring yourself that you can reason through the sentence completions, you’re hurting yourself. Reasoning may help, but it takes up more time than if you just knew the word. The whole point is that you shouldn’t make it a goal to memorize x number of words per day. You should be looking up words you don’t understand in your school novels, the newspaper, etc. When you’re bored or waiting in line for something, pull out a vocab list and look over some new words. You may come to enjoy it.</p>
<p>“The whole point is that you shouldn’t make it a goal to memorize x number of words per day. You should be looking up words you don’t understand in your school novels, the newspaper, etc. When you’re bored or waiting in line for something, pull out a vocab list and look over some new words. You may come to enjoy it.”</p>
<p>“Test Prep by means of reading a quirky magazine like the New Yorker, which also has great vocab words, is a much more thorough. You’re more likely to retain the words you learn, and more importantly, you’ll actually have some fun while you’re at it (who doesn’t love the New Yorker?). If reading newspapers or magazines isn’t your thing, read translations of great foreign literature! Translators tend to exercise a large vocabulary in their translations as words are their “thing.” Memorizing “hit words” is not nearly as important as practicing the deconstruction of words or the determination of meaning from context.”</p>
<p>Liist - Kaplan’s comprehensive SAT list has a 500 word vocabulary list. It performed poorly with just 2 hits in March, 4 hits in May and 4 hits in June. This was far below performances turned in by Direct Hits, the PR Hit Parade, the Rocket Review Core Words and other sources. I am not familiar with the “flip book.” Could you provide me with more details. Thx.</p>
<p>How about this: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1191190-top-400-vocabulary-words.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1191190-top-400-vocabulary-words.html</a></p>
<p>May I ask if someone could help with the “hit count”? </p>
<p>I think that if someone is willing to memorize 600 words, then he could also memorize 1300 words where around 1/3 of them is familiar and 1/5 is very familiar to a 500-scoring student (a.k.a. me)</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>