<p>Whoops, did I post it on the other thread but not here?</p>
<p>It's <a href="http://www.sesamewords.com%5B/url%5D">www.sesamewords.com</a>.</p>
<p>If you go there you can navigate to the shortish list or the longish list.</p>
<p>Hey lotf. Thanks for your vocab list..I appreciate your efforts. I'm trying to memorize your 1900 word list to prepare me for my Jan SAT. </p>
<p>I do want to show you a strange definition I encountered while skimming over your vocab list.. I know it's difficult fixing so many words so I just wanted to help you out by notifying you of this def. Isn't the definition something like having a natural likeness of something?(I know this is one definition of the word, but I meant a definition that would be more likely used on the SAT.) .. I don't know for sure though..
13.....affinity
Definition: n: (immunology) the attraction between an antigen and an antibody
Synonyms: affinity</p>
<p>Hey Joe_L514,</p>
<p>Thanks for the heads-up!</p>
<p>The <em>list</em> of words has been really carefully edited, but the definitions have not (yet--soon!). They were pulled automatically (using a computer program) from a reference database. I actually have a friend working on the editing with me right now, and I'll have them fixed as fast as I possibly can. I'll make sure we get that one you mentioned.</p>
<p>I am also working on adding mnemonics (funny sentences) for each word.</p>
<p>I really appreciate your taking the time to let me know about the mistake. Let me know if you have any other feedback. I'll post here once the defs are completely fixed.</p>
<p>My opinion is just to read improve scores....mainly newspapers or books...reading will boost vocab and sentence completion skills and may even help your writing. "Kill 3 bird with one stone."
If you actually break down the time to memorize words
1900+4800=6700words, 10 minutes spend each day for 10 words. so 6700 minutes to memorize your list. that equates to 111.66666 hours of memorizing.
Lets say reading one book takes 3 hours. So in 111.666 hours you can theoretically read 37 new books.
I think that is way more beneficial and enjoying to read a book than to memorize 6700 words!!! dayum</p>
<p>Hey sanfrancisco, I've posted on this a lot before. </p>
<p>Memorizing produces linear growth in your vocabulary, while reading produces exponential growth in your vocabulary.</p>
<p>So if you have a long time, you want to read, because you want to see that exponential growth. You are absolutely, absolutely right.</p>
<p>But sometimes, in the short term, linear growth outperforms exponential growth. It depends how long you have.</p>
<p>Also. The 1900 word list is <em>part of</em> the 5000 word list. There are only 5000 words, total. Moreover, nobody is learning the whole 5000 word list. It's just a way for people to fill in the gaps. Most people on this board would know all but 1000-1500 words. </p>
<p>And why not learn 10 words a day, <em>and</em> read a lot, after all?</p>
<p>But I think you are definitely right: over the long term, reading is much more fun and much more effective, and the sooner you start, the better!</p>
<p>We always mention about reading mainly books, newspapers or articles. However, we don't usually point out how to read or what to read. Because, others probably agree with me that each subject contains particular words in a newspaper or a book. Therefore, for instance, let's say we read "TIME". It mostly contains divergent vocabulary in each subject such as science, economics, politics and health. Admittedly, students will read some of them unwillingly, even though it seems best way to improve your vocabulary in every aspect.</p>
<p>At this point, I had read an article by chance published in a linguistic conference booklet although similar papers probably had mentioned it that the growth of your vocabulary is mainly related to the person's interests and goals in reading. Therefore, my first sentences here ended in stalemate, because the deadlock is not possible to solve it. How? If I am not interested in reading environmental issues and historical subjects, suffice it to say that I will not be able to memory those words in that vocabulary with a considerable growth of my vocabulary.</p>
<p>Consequently, I think, reading magazines or newspapers is better way to learn words than reading books for short period. However, how should we learn to read the uninterested issues in magazines or newspapers?</p>
<p>Hi torontofero,</p>
<p>Here is the short answer to your question, I think. I have seen the same research that you have seen (I read a book about it). The research showed that reading a lot of the material that you love will actually make you a better reader of all kinds of material. In other words, if you love science and so you read 50 books about science, you will be a better reader of books about history and the news and art and everything else as well. The most important thing is <em>that</em> you read, not <em>what</em> you read.</p>
<p>At the same time, if you want to become a truly advanced reader, it's important to have some variety in your reading program. </p>
<p>The best readers are interested in a large number of subjects. Most great readers are very curious people (this is also true of most great writers). So, you have to start acting curious! Let your curiosity grow! Here are some tips:</p>
<p>1) Always take a minute to connect what you are reading to either a) something you already know or b) something you care about. For instance, one young man I know got through Ralph Waldo Emerson (whom he disliked at first) by connecting it to his thoughts about economics (a subject he loved).</p>
<p>2) Find articles and books that connect things you love with things you find boring. Over time, you may find yourself interested in many new things.</p>
<p>3) Remember: when you are reading about a new subject, you should start with easier books or articles. Lots of people think they hate art criticism, but it's because they've only been exposed to advanced work on art criticism. If you start at the beginning with a simple book, like The Many Ways of Seeing, you understand more. Then your interest can grow.</p>
<p>Truly skilled readers are interested in a wide variety of subjects. So the first step is to cultivate your interest.</p>
<p>However, again, reading <em>anything at all</em> will be helpful to you.</p>
<p>Thank you for your suggestions. I will reconsider your tips.</p>
<p>For anyone using any of these lists:</p>
<p>I added a blog to the webpage for my own students so that I could post edited definitions and mnemonics (memorable sentences) as I had time to write them. I also added a few short articles about memorizing words. If anyone would like to follow along with the mnemonics, they are becoming available at blog.sesamewords.com.</p>
<p>@lotf69 i have probably read a lot of books. But the SAT Critical Reading asks stupid questions! What does the author infer balha blaha. i read the passage on the SAT and i get it, i understand it. But then ETS trips you up and makes it all confusing in their questions.</p>
<p>@Jinks Try Rocket Review for the Critical Reading; I like their strategies.</p>
<p>Also, there's a thread about inference questions somewhere on this forum.</p>
<p>All those who've taken a second to tell me that they found the list helpful: thanks for letting me know! It's really fun and encouraging to me to know that some of you guys are using these materials and getting some value from them. </p>
<p>Full results are in: I checked the full October QAS against this list and here's what I found. The huuuuge list (about 4950 wds) covered 94% of the words, as I expected. Of course, that's more than enough to get every sentence completion question right. The SAT list (1900 words) covered 70% of the vocabulary on the test. On past sections, I've seen more like 80% coverage, but only time will tell how this list does on average. For comparison purposes, the Barrons 3500 word list covered 80% of the words. So the 1900 word SAT list covered 10% fewer words than the Barrons list, but then again, it's only a little more than half as long.</p>
<p>The 470-word SAT high-frequency list (a subset of the long SAT list) covered 31% of the words on the test: 35 of these 470 words showed up on the Oct test.</p>
<p>On other threads I've said that the 1900 word list covers about exactly as many words as the Barrons list. That's been true in the past but was not true this time around. Nonetheless, this list is almost twice as <em>efficient</em> as the Barrons list.</p>
<p>Other good news: I am finished with the first round of edits of defs and synonyms, and all of that work is available now at the website.</p>
<p>For those who are curious, here are all the words from the Oct QAS:</p>
<p>abject abstruse adept ambivalent amiable analogous anecdotal capricious chronicle collaboration compromise constitute convoluted dearth diligent diminish diverse doctrinaire dogmatic ebullient eliminate enigma eschew expedient facetious feasible forgo illusory improvident incongruous infallible inflexible inscrutable interpretation intricate irrelevant jocular legitimize mystery notorious obdurate obtuse paradox paragon pertinent placid prescient profusion prohibitive propitious rationalize reiterate resilient resistant reticent reticent rigorous serendipity serene servile simplistic somnolent speculation squander stoic submissive subsidize substantiation superfluous susceptible suspicious synthesize systematic tractable tranquil trivial ubiquitous uniform unsubstantiated accessible affordable amateur amend amicability ardor avuncular bounty complex confirmation conjecture consummate contrive countryside cowardly create data depreciate dilatory disposition eccentric emporium entrepreneur explanation formal formulaic furious generous guesswork halcyon historian icon impressionistic improvise incomprehensible individuality informal inscrutable manner melancholy memorable merriment metropolis multitude neighborhood outrage perturb plausible poignant promote proof realistic research residual sanguine sedulous sensible insignificant solitary sophisticated surly theoretical universal variety vibrant visionary vitriolic vivid weary</p>
<p>Fun fact: two words showed up twice on this one test alone! One of those words was "substantiate," which appeared in the forms "unsubstantiated" and "substantation"; the other was "inscrutable."</p>
<p>lotf629,</p>
<p>I know you engineered the list for the SAT, but I was just wondering, would the list be good for the MCAT, do you know? I know the MCAT doesn't directly test vocabulary, however it is almost all passages with college level material.</p>
<p>Let's see. My only exposure to the MCAT is that my housemate took it last year. I did a few of the MCAT reading passages just out of curiosity and they're pretty different from the SAT (or for that matter the GRE or the LSAT). While the other three tests (SAT/GRE/LSAT) reward scanning skills, ability to recognize psg organization, and the ability to make sound inferences from specific textual details, the MCAT CR is much more a test of speed and ability to make lightning-fast judgments. I think that vocab is likely to help you less on the MCAT than on the GRE, even on passage-based reading.</p>
<p>A few months ago somebody posted this link:</p>
<p>It's mostly common sense, I guess, but it gives guidance specifically for college freshmen and sophomores planning to take the MCAT one day, and it's probably the best advice you're going to get. (It's directed at people who got below 600 on the SAT CR, but it applies to everyone, even higher scorers.) Basically it tells you to read and read and read and read and read. I think if I were you I'd spend all my prep time reading rather than memorizing. Also, when the time comes for you, the ExamKrackers guide is really good.</p>
<p>But your biggest goal this spring should be to get fully unwound and destressed after your ridiculously stressful fall and winter. :)</p>
<p>Wow that's interesting, I thought the MCAT would be more like the GRE. Indeed this fall has been stressful, and I truly can't wait until its all over and I'm in my Bio 101 class as a premed in a good U. Well, I don't want to steal your thread, and I must say, I looked over my QASs and the list would have been really helpful had I the time. One last Q, what kind of reading do you suggest, magazines, literature... Thank you for your reply. </p>
<p>ak</p>
<p>@ahahmed: in one of your previous posts about the SAT CR, you mentioned that you'd taken a tough AP course in between your first and last SAT, which helped you raise your score. I think that was good advice for your future self. :) Probably, one of the best things you can do is to take at least one or two rigorous classes in the humanities.</p>
<p>As far as outside reading, I think the most important thing is probably that you get some <em>variety</em> in your reading: make sure you're comfortable with a lot of different topics. Magazines with an intellectual bent (the New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, etc.) are probably a good fit. </p>
<p>But once you're in college, you should have access to a premed advisor (or even several premed advisors) who will be able to answer all of these questions in a lot more detail than I can. They are often available through the career services or career planning office of your college, and they'll have some insight into things like MCAT preparation.</p>
<p>And remember: ExamKrackers books/courses are good MCAT prep--and, as in so many things, Kaplan sucks.</p>
<p>if you want to e-mail or send me that list i'd be most grateful. I got a 710 on my CR portion of my last SAT's and would really appreciate a 750.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Hey interelations09,</p>
<p>It's online at Sesame</a> Words: Academic and SAT Vocabulary.</p>
<p>Hi, everyone. Why does my download file start from level 9 ? Did it miss something ?</p>
<p>What does the first number in each word entry indicate ?
Thank you.</p>
<p>Hey engstu214041,</p>
<p>The numbers indicate the frequency of the word in English. Low numbers mean that the word is very common; high numbers means that the word is less common.</p>
<p>The reason that the download starts at 9 is that "9" is the lowest level of any word on the list. The only word in level "1" would be "the." The word "free" is in level 6. You see the pattern.</p>
<p>I think your DL is probably fine.</p>