<p>I have indeed posted several vocabulary lists on College Confidential, including a compilation of the gargantuan Barron's list of several thousands words.</p>
<p>This is a copy of a post that appeared on Monday, April 21, 2003. From the date, you'll notice it dates from the older board ... so don't be surprised by the different format</p>
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Here is a list of the vast majority of the "difficult" words that show up on the 10 Real SAT Test. It may become helpful in reviewing the list after taking the 10 practice tests. If you do not feel like taking them all, it may be helpful to read to get a feel for the words that <em>tend</em> to show up. Please remember that few, if any, words get repeated in subsequent tests. </p>
<p>I apologize for the formatting. It looks a lot nicer in my Word file as the text is in tables. I lost that formatting when copying here. I recommend to cut and paste it in Word and add some formatting for a better use or printing.
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<p>However, I have also posted many, many disclaimers about the use of wordlists. In a nutshell, while studying extensive lists of words can be beneficial in specific cases, it represents an extremely poor ratio of time and efforts over ... rewards. Ihave spent considerable time MEASURING the potential effect of knowing every word on the 3500 or even a 5000 word list on subsequent tests. The results were dismal, and this assumed a complete recall of the entire list. Further, this was at a time when analogies still existed. When it comes to the Critical Reading sections, the rote memorization of words is unfortunately a very ineffective way to prepare. In addition, very few CR questions test the direct knowledge of vocabulary. </p>
<p>On the other hand, spending the time to understand the specific structure of the test is critical. In this regard, the conclusion that the questions allow for imprecise and circular answers is often unfounded. Students who are left with two possible and plausible answers typically missed an opportunity to eliminate one of the two answers by changing the Process of Elimination. In many cases, it is much easier finding four incorrect answers than picking the correct --which may simply mean the best-- one with absolute certainty. What is, however, certain is that the answer can be found in the four corners of the document and that no external knowledge is needed. </p>
<p>Please realize that all my comments ONLY apply to tests written by ETS and do not apply AT ALL to anything produced by PR, Kaplan, and similar companies. Those tests are unreliable, poorly written, and ABSOLUTELY worthless and misleading. Synthetic tests should NEVER be part of anyone's preparation. Never!</p>