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<p>There is a very simple answer to that. Contrary to the belief of the many who have a rather superficial understanding of what is really tested on the SAT or PSAT, the pure mastery of vocabulary accounts only for a small PART of the entire exercise. </p>
<p>In fact, if raising scores for reading and writing hinged on the extensive study of vocabulary only, students would find it easier to raise their scores. As an example, someone might learn every word on the Barron’s 3500 list and fail to improve his or her scores. </p>
<p>Reading the thousands of CC posts regarding the frustration of students in dealing with the Critical Reading sections should make it quite clear where the true difficulty of the test resides.</p>