<p>When studying for the vocab questions for the SAT, I was wondering what methods people use. Im not sure if I should study prefixes and suffixes or just study huge vocab lists of SAT words. I feel as if there are way too many words in the dictionary that test makers could use. What adivice do people have who have taken the reading section and have done well.</p>
<p>There are a few different schools of thoughts on this. Personally, I don’t like studying prefixes and suffixes; I rather go through the lists. You’ll find that many of the words on the big list you already know. Sparknotes 250 hard word is a good start. I also have some lists towards the bottom here:<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1438553-cheerioswithmilks-guide-sat.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1438553-cheerioswithmilks-guide-sat.html</a></p>
<p>thank you!!</p>
<p>Personally I think if you read college-level texts and look up words you don’t know (instead of just skipping over them) you shouldn’t need to study. The SAT vocab actually isn’t that bad Memorizing things by rote is never a good way to learn, especially not to pass a test.
Source: 800 on writing section.</p>
<p>In addition to keeping a list of words you do not know, memorize all 400 words in the Direct Hits books. Seriously, those are the only words that show up on the SAT. You should be golden if you know those words. MaoMao123 makes a good point; don’t read lengthy novels. Try reading some short newspaper articles from Wall Street Journal or New York Times.</p>
<p>Best to think of it as expanding your vocabulary. Meaning, learn more words, their origins, variations in meaning, proper usage, etc. Which does mean reading more (fiction & non-fiction) & looking words up, as maomao suggested. While reading NYT & WSJ as suggested won’t hurt you, they probably won’t include many words that tend to trip people up on the SAT.</p>
<p>Studying vocab lists is useful for the last 5% of the words perhaps, but not for the last 50%.</p>