<p>So...difficult SAT words are great to learn because of a) the CR section and b) the essay section.
An example of the type of word I'm discussing (because some SAT words are more widely known, such as "animosity")
perfunctory
(adj.) showing little interest or enthusiasm (The radio broadcaster announced the news of the massacre in a surprisingly perfunctory manner.)</p>
<p>But what about outside the SAT?
After learning so many words, my vocabulary has become more precise. In classroom discussions, sometimes SAT words are the first words in my mind...but I shy away from using them...because I worry that it sounds pompous to say "obsequious" or "modicum" in a classroom where the majority would not know what I'm talking about.
In essays, I don't shy away from precise language...because helllllllo, it's an English or history teacher grading it!</p>
<p>What about you? Where do you use SAT words/where do you stay away from them?</p>
<p>No use for them so I never memorized any of the vocabulary needed for the SAT. I find myself able to describe what I see without using overly complicated words.</p>
<p>I use SAT words a lot in ninth grade when I was obsessively learning them for the SAT (I wish that obsession still continues today so that I have a variety of words to use at my disposal). It was a bad thing because putting them in my essays would make me sound pretentious. However, I choose to restrain myself after reading a grammar handbook or a style book, and I learn when to use an SAT word precisely in context in an essay.</p>
<p>^I’m glad that now you feel comfortable using it precisely in an essay. It just sucks that you had to worry about sounding “pretentious”…even though I feel more comfortable using them in essays now as a junior, I still hold back a little because I don’t want to sound that way</p>
<p>yeah, i hold back when speaking (i still drop them every once and a while, but not excessively), but not as much when i’m writing becuase a teacher is reading and grading it</p>
<p>I only use words I know off the top of my head that are SAT words. I won’t think before I speak to use some strong SAT words, I’ll just say what I feel and be as right as possible.</p>
<p>I came across an article or website a while ago that asked the question: why use a $20 word when a 2-cent word would work just fine?</p>
<p>Language isn’t about complicating things as much as possible or have the highest average word length in essays out of everyone you know. If you can make something simple, make it simple. I have always found that complex/varied sentence structure added more elegance to writing than big words. I mean, you can use ‘prismatic’ instead of ‘colorful’, but that will almost never add much to a sentence and only runs the risk of sounding out-of-place. Take the example for perfunctory - why not just say ‘uninterested’?</p>
<p>(Of course, if the word is more precise than a smaller synonym, you will never sound pretentious unless it’s severely out-of-place or you misuse it; none of what I said applies if the word is more specific than an alternative.)</p>
<p>I hardly use them. I dont talk to friends with big words. Whats the point, to sound fancy? I dont think it is worth it and it can get them confused. Secondly, on essays my teacher doesn’t really like us using big words. He thinks they are over our head, and when we use them its not usually correct in the sentence. He would rather have it simple and correct than elaborate and incorrect. I really dont understand why the SAT and other tests put huge vocab on a test when you’re not going to use it in everyday life.</p>
<p>Actually, I use SAT vocabulary practically every day in conversation. </p>
<p>My high school of over 3000 students has recently started the IB programme, and because of the programme’s (portrayed) rigor, there are only 17 junior IB students and 4 senior ones (8 dropped out, while one entered college early…there should have been 13 seniors). So far, the program is more or less attracting only the (excuse the arrogance, but it’s mostly true) academic elite, and since I take all my classes with fellow IBers, I’m free to use any and all advanced words.</p>
<p>I think I realized this when, within the first day of class, I heard “perspicacious,” “deleterious,” and “epiphany”…and in history class, no less; I’m just exceedingly lucky to have found the right niche. =)</p>
<p>I hold off on my SAT words when talking because there’s really no need to use them. </p>
<p>It becomes a problem though when I forget the simpler words and can only think of SAT words. I end up writing my AP Euro FRQs with words like “paucity” because I don’t have time to think of the “simpler” words like “shortage”.</p>
<p>In everyday conversation. I referred to myself as inconspicuous once and people were like o_0 but…the words I select best express what I’m trying to say so it’s natural.</p>
<p>@Zexodus, that’s impressive haha. I know I wouldn’t naturally think of “perspicacious” in a discussion…
As for “deleterious”, that would come naturally for me but I’d feel awkward saying it in a classroom.</p>
<p>I’m a 7thgrader. I studied for the SAT CR because I wanted to get into a summer program. I learned so many words I use them without thinking. my parents noticed that and so did my friends. </p>
<p>One of my friends had a hamster who died. I supposed she’d be very sad. When I asked her, she smiled and said nonchalantly: “she died.”</p>
<p>My friends asked me if I played the french horn. I told her “I play vacariously, i.e., my Dad plays.” She gave me this look, apparently she didn’t understand the word. I did explain to her and she thought it was cool.</p>