Best SAT Vocab Book

sydneysider009
Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:23:07 +0000

Which Vocabulary book/list performed best on the November 2011
International SAT?

I have seen the Dark Knight and JefferyJung’s posts about “which list performed best” on different tests. I found them interesting and compiled a list on the December 2011 SAT. Here is a comparison for the November 2011
International SAT. Based upon CC posts and reports from really good students I came up with a list of 20 consensus vocabulary words. Here they are:

Conjecture, Connotation, Conundrum, Diffidence, Elusive, Enigma, Flourish, Indigenous, Inquisition, Meticulous, Overwrought, Plausible, Pristine, Pulverize, Quixotic, Skeptical, Unaffected, Unconventional, Understatement, and Vituperation.

I then compared this list of answers to the leading vocabulary books, eBooks, and free online lists to see which performed best. Here is what I found:


The Essential 300 Words: 341 words (based upon the index); 17 hits; One
hit per 20.05 words. eBook only
Direct Hits 3rd edition: 670 words (based upon the index); 15 hits; One hit
per 44.6 words. Paperback and eBook
VocabVideos: 500 words; 10 hits; One hit per 50 words. Free online list.
Princeton Review: 250 words; 5 hits; One hit per 50 words. Inside PR’s
Cracking the SAT
Hot Words 4th edition: 402 words; 5 hits; One hit per 80.4 words.
Paperback and eBook
Barron’s High Frequency and Hot Prospect Words: 540 words; 6 hits; One
hit per 90 words. Inside Barron’s SAT book
College Board Blue Book: 669 words compiled by MajorTests.com; 7 hits;
One hit per 95.5 words. Free online list.
MajorTests.com: 1000 words; 10 hits; One hit per 100 words; Free online
list
SparkNotes: 1000 words; 10 hits; One hit per 100 words; Free online list
Kaplan’s Score Raising Dictionary: 1000 Words; 7 hits; One hit per 142.2
words. Paperback book
Sesamewords: 450 Top Frequency Words; 3 hits; One hit per 150 words;
Free online list
Word Smart: 1505 words; 7 hits; one hit per 215 words; Paperback book


None of the lists had Pulverize or Connotation. Essential was the only one that had Understatement. The Blue Book words continued to underperform.