<p>Also are there any other vocab lists that are relevant to the most recent SAT’s?</p>
<p>Bumpity bump? Anyone?</p>
<p>Both the Essential 500/300 and Direct Hits were written by the same author. The Essential Vocabulary books are newer and should give you more “hits” than the older Direct Hits.</p>
<p>The 5th Edition Direct Hits was publish in Sept 2012. The most recent Essentials was written just a few months ago. </p>
<p>I think the original author of DH moved onto Essentials, but they have definitely updated (they are on the 5th edition at this point). </p>
<p>To be honest, they are both really good lists. They both update their materials frequently, they both keep a database of the most used words on SC.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, neither teaches you HOW to learn nor use words. They are simply excellent lists of words + quick quizzes.</p>
<p>Pick the one that you like… are related to… can get support for… and move on with your study. </p>
<p>More important than vocab list is an understanding of how to understand what the SC requires (ie. Craig was really ____; he hadn’t slept for a month during his move from BKK to UK… <em>knowing</em> that I am tired is arguably more important than having a list of words that may include a synonym for tired…). </p>
<p>CG</p>
<p>Agree with Craig on what is most important but just wanted to add a few things…</p>
<p>DH includes a lot of words! More than twice as many as the 440 listed when you include the synonyms and side bars. Essential 500 does not include quite so many.</p>
<p>Although E5 is more recent, and supposedly LK was not happy with the frequency of DH updates, no one has any idea what individual words will show up on any given test. Which books generates more hits probably changes with each administration of the test.</p>
<p>There are over 150 words in DH that are not included in E5, not including sidebars. If you add these to E5 and take out the words you already know (somewhere around half), you will have both books covered by studying somewhere between 300 and 400 words.</p>
<p>Whether that is a good value for your time is up to you.</p>
<p>Essential 500 has 500 words as well as synonyms for a lot of the words</p>