<p>I am sure many people would have faced this problem when preparing for the SAT - How can one increase his voacbulary ?</p>
<p>Now here’s my situation - I have two years of free time as I am currently in my Junior year of High School . Math section and and SAT IIs don’t pose any problem at all.</p>
<p>I have generally seen that two methods are advised
- Read lots and lots of novels , articles , etc. , etc.
- Learn 20-30 words daily .</p>
<p>Now I am personally inclined towards the second method thanks to my experience - I have read 10s of novels and other literary works but it didn’t help me increase my vocabulary much . </p>
<p>From what I have read on many sites on the net , it appears that the college board has around 4500 - 5000 words to chose from while preparing the paper . </p>
<p>Which way do you think would better if had have two years left ? If you think second method is better than please also tell me about some good lists since I see a lot of lists piled up on the Internet.</p>
<p>P.S. I did like to score atleast 750 on CR and writing so please tell accordingly</p>
<p>I personally used the first method. The way to really get it to work is to make sure you look up a word if you don’t know it or can’t figure it out from the context. After doing this for a long time, you can start to recognize patterns in words without just memorizing them. I love to read so this way was a lot more fun than just trying to memorize a list of words. This method works better with more time because not everyone is a fast reader and can read enough to improve their vocabulary. </p>
<p>My first SAT I got 750 CR and on the next I was able to get 800 CR just by reading a lot over the summer.</p>
<p>Mystery101926 your scores look impressive . Now I am thinking of using a combination of both the methods . Reading lots and lots will not be a problem as I too love reading! Would you recommend it ? . Please tell me about what kind of material you read like novels or newspaper articles , etc. Please also give me a few names if possible . </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I read anything I could get my hands on, mostly novels but I read the occasional newspaper article as well. I can’t name any books in particular that helped me, but the typical classics (Scarlet Letter, Silas Marner, Oliver Twist, Picture of Dorian Gray, etc.) are a good place to start. Even reading books in your favorite genre will help, if the reading level is not too low. Just reading anything and making sure to figure out the meanings of the words you don’t know will help. Most of the books I read over the summer before my second SAT were books I wanted to read for fun, but they also taught me some new words.
Science Fiction/Fantasy books are good because they sometimes include made up words that force you to decipher their meanings. Exercising your brain like that is what I think really helps.
I couldn’t do the lists because I got too bored to sit down and memorize hundreds of words by rote, but if you can do that I think a mixture of the two methods would be fine.
Reading articles might help too, but only read things you are interested in. That helps things stick for me for some reason. It also helps to feel like you are doing something fun when you are really improving your vocabulary and studying for the SAT.</p>
<p>Thanks for advice .</p>
<p>Just a quick heads up. If you are going to read a book, do not go directly to something like James Joyce, but build up until you are comfortable with reading something of that high of a caliber.</p>
<p>Reading challenging information is actually the best way to develop vocabulary, and your passage reading ability. I tell my students to try signing up for a daily email from the New York Times on a topic you enjoy, like science. Then be sure to look up any words you don’t know.</p>
<p>For focused vocabulary prep, I like word-nerd.com so you can look into that if you just want to study vocab. Good luck!</p>