<p>I didn’t. It’s the worst way to go.</p>
<p>I didn’t. I read a lot usually.</p>
<p>does studying the words really help? it just seems so unlikely that the words will actually be on the test. </p>
<p>I read a ton, I just don’t use unnecessary words (aka I’m fine with saying “big” instead of “gargantuan” …also, I read more for enjoyment, and the big picture–not to memorize every word I don’t know…reading doesn’t seem as if it as helped me as much as everyone claims it should have. </p>
<p>Background info:
I read the Time magazine, the Economist sometimes, and various authors depending on whatever “phase” I’m going through: right now its an Ayn Rand phase. I also read at least 20-25 books for school each year</p>
<p>read difficult books.</p>
<p>lots of flashcards</p>
<p>There’s nothing that will prepare you better than the stress of the night before 
(I’m not joking in the slightest; I picked up a custom-tailored list a friend gave me at the last minute). I got a 740 CR, so I don’t know if you’d consider it a success or w/e <em>shrugs</em>. 2340 total though!</p>
<p>i’ve just completed exactly 300 flash cards with definitions, and examples. some are to test me on root words.
i really hope this strategy works for me…</p>
<p>i’ve read difficult books, and i’ve used wordsmart(if you have time its beneficial; raised my score by 110 points)</p>
<p>its just that on the sat, i try too hard.</p>
<p>my best cr score from the practice tests is 650 right now…</p>
<p>do i have a chance of getting at least a 720 on the actual test?</p>
<p>my writing and math are near 800…</p>
<p>Ever since I was about five or six, I’d always hang out on geeky tech forums. In an attempt to not make conspicuous my relative youngness, I would always look up erudite synonyms to my rather simplistic sentences to make myself sound intelligent. Oh, and I’d always get a thrill when my dad would be “impressed” when I used a “big” word correctly, so I made it a point to, every day, learn a slew of words to use on him – and when I used a word incorrectly, he’d educate me. Yeap, true story.</p>
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<p>Just using big words doesn’t indicate maturity, and I find writing that has big words thrown into simplistic sentences no better than simplistic sentences. If you can construct eloquent sentences that successfully integrate advanced vocabulary, you have demonstrated intelligence in a much more efficacious manner. Of course, I used to do the same thing. I learned, though. All smart young kids want to know everything and be as good as older people. Its natural, and nothing be ashamed of. When I see high schoolers throwing around large words marooned in a sea of mediocrity, and often used only partially correctly, that is a much different issue.</p>
<p>amciw, I totally agree with you. For instance, when SAT-mania struck my school, everybody seemed to be studying these obscenely large word lists (that is, every one of the overachievers). In conversation, I’d routinely hear people use words incorrectly and it would bother the living daylights out of me. At first, I resisted the urge to correct them, because I felt that it wasn’t my duty to teach the world the English language, but when things started getting really bad – you know, somebody trying to use a word, but mispronouncing it and using it out of context – I finally snapped and decided to, from that point on, define words for people and give them example sentences. </p>
<p>It seems to have worked; people don’t speak in a pretentious fashion around me anymore :)</p>
<p>My story is at least one example of last minute cramming coming in handy. I took the SATs last year during a run of a show I was in and so I didn’t have time to take a prep class. I made little flashcards of all the SAT words I dind’t know that were in some review book my mother bought me. I probably spent an hour cramming hundreds of words into my brain. The next morning, exactly one of the words I had crammed the night before was on the test - melifluous. A year later, I don’t remember a single other word I studied that night except that one. Heck, I don’t think I remembered any of them two days later. But see, that hour of frantic cramming may have raised my score ten points! Who needs review classes anyway…
Last minute cramming can be helpful if you want an extra ten points (which isn’t even statistically significant - college board says their scores are accurate +/-30pts each time you take it) but I actually do recommend it a little. However, it won’t make up for years of preparation. Read a lot and take loads of practice tests. I took my first PSAT when I was in third grade. My guess is that since you are asking this question you don’t have ten years to build a strong vocabulary but that doesn’t mean all hope is lost! Actually, taking practice tests will help you study because they reuse words so often. Take time to go over missed questions and study from there.</p>
<p>just take the act and not worry about vocabulary words :). these tests should not be there to measure you memorization skills!!! (but lets not go into what they really measure :/)</p>
<p>I first made flashcards and put the word on one side, and the answer on the back. When I did this, I also included my own sentence with the word in it on the back for example and this somehow helped me learn the word better. [Flashcards:</a> The world’s largest library of printable flash cards](<a href=“http://www.flashcardexchange.com/]Flashcards:”>http://www.flashcardexchange.com/) is a great site to make flash cards online for all you ccers. Also type in sat into the search bar to get many already pre made word lists.</p>
<p>Paper flashcards at first and then online flashcards. Flashcardexchange.com, quizlet.com, sat-prep.heroku.com, studystack.com, etc. were all adequate and already had lists of words, but I think I learned the most from just reading a lot over a number of years. In my case it was, believe it or not, reading motorcycle magazines and looking up the words that I didn’t know. If you can find reading material that you are really interested in and it’s challenging (ie, probably not comics), then you might do well without having to do any boring memorizing. Although, I must add, last minute power cramming IS worth the effort, it just seems a bit wasteful since you’ll forget half of the crammed words within 2 weeks.</p>
<p>i think READING ^ ^</p>
<p>Not Too Scary Vocabulary: For the SAT & Other Standardized Tests</p>
<p>My daughter used these CD’s - very silly little songs to memorize words. She thought it was crazy when I bought it on a whim. In the end she said several words were on the SATand that the silly little explanations really had stuck in her head!</p>
<p>Make your own flashcards, including a sentence that you write yourself with the new word.</p>
<p>word memorization is not for an intellectually developed native speaker (someone with reasonable amount of serious reading thoughout his life).</p>
<p>I totally agree with you With<em>one</em>voice. You’re right. Reading does not help much for students like me who is going to take SAT in one month.</p>