<p>Hey. So I'm a little bit confused about how to approach vocab when it comes to the SAT. I'm an international student so learning words can sometimes be... extra difficult and time-consuming let's say.</p>
<p>I took the SAT in October 2013 and I got a 620 in CR: I hadn't really done a lot of vocab prep back then. I'm taking it again in October 2014, and I have a few questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>Learning how many words would be considered a safe option?</li>
<li>Are suffixes, roots and prefixes really worth learning?</li>
<li>Which books would you consider the best for vocab?</li>
</ol>
<p>I have a list of 5500+ words for the SAT/GMAT/GRE/TOEFL including translations in my native languages and examples in English. However, should I strain to learn all of those words in just 3 months? </p>
<p>I would gather up a vocabulary list and learn a few words each day, working gradually on however many you want to know before the test, but I wouldn’t use this and prep books as your only means of preparation. While this stategy may work best for you memorizing their definitions, take in consideration that this will not help you recognize when they should be used based on context.</p>
<p>One way I’ve been preparing, and has helped me a lot, is reading difficult books that have a strong, enriching vocabulary. While I am reading, if I come across a word I don’t know, I immediately look it up and read the sentence again with knowing the definition. Even write it down! This has helped me retain the information so much more, and it will of course help you get used to tackling long passages. I know it may be more time consuming and cumbersome than route memorization, but the benefits are immense, helping you in all areas of critical reading.</p>
<p>To answer your questions:
1.) This is probably best as something for you to decide. Pace yourself and focus on reading more in general.</p>
<p>2.) I don’t believe learning prefixes and suffixes really helped me much when I was doing that for vocabulary tests in AP Lang. I believe, while in some cases they can be helpful if you’re in a rut, that they can ultimately be a scapegoat. Reliance on them will deter you from the actual practice you need. Go ahead and familiarize yourself with them, but don’t make them the object of your full concentration. </p>
<p>3.) Hard books. Books with a meaty, pretentious vocabulary. Picks up books like Frankenstein (which actually has a TON of SAT vocabulary words in it), not The Fault in Our Stars. I don’t have a full list of good books that will aid you in enhancing your diction right now, but if you would like it, let me know! You can’t go wrong with classics! </p>
<p>First of all, throw the 5500 words list out of the window.Second of all, study the essential 600 and the direct hits and that’s all what you need.</p>
<p>If you don’t have money, just find the direct hits book in the internet and get the list at the end of the book of the essential 600 in Amazon.com.</p>
<p>I did the SAT June 2014 international and the essential 600 was tremendously helpful.</p>
<p>"“3.) Hard books. Books with a meaty, pretentious vocabulary. Picks up books like Frankenstein (which actually has a TON of SAT vocabulary words in it), not The Fault in Our Stars. I don’t have a full list of good books that will aid you in enhancing your diction right now, but if you would like it, let me know! You can’t go wrong with classics!”"</p>
<p>This is exactly what I would recommend.</p>
<p>BUT DONT WASTE YOUR TIME MEMORIZING 5000+ words. I’ve only memorized only 100-200 “common” SAT words and on all the practice tests I’ve taken, I only get at most 1 vocab question wrong on each one.</p>
<p>There are millions of difficult and obscure English words, and less than 100 (if that) would appear on the actual SAT. Chances are those 5500+ words aren’t going to help that much.</p>
<p>Most of the questions are based on intuition/educated guesses anyways, and only a few require explicit knowledge of the vocabulary.</p>
<p>^^This seems like an inefficient approach, especially given the short time frame. I’d suggest learning words from old tests at the same time you are working on other skills. Just take treal college board tests (see other threads for the way to find these and make the most of this method) and make sure you learn each word during your review of the tests. Old tests are the source of the words in Direct Hits and Essential 600. If you really want more specific vocab work then I’d suggest following @meumeu’s suggestions.</p>