<p>in my opinion, DH + Sparknotes 1k words should guarantee (or almost) a 18/19+ on the SC. Barron’s 3.5k is just a ridiculous amount of words, and it doesn’t produce ALL hits. Unless you start like 1~2 years before the SAT exam, I say it is a waste of time. By the way, even if the Hot Words did not do so well in these tests, I don’t believe that it is a terrible list of words. Many of its words are listed in DH as well.</p>
<p>^Good points.<br>
Update: I just checked the PSAT Sat thread. The consolidated list on page 55 post 814 now lists FORESHADOW as a consensus answer. Here is how the five vocabulary books/lists I have been analyzing did on FORESHADOW:</p>
<p>Direct Hits - another hit
Barron’s - another hit
Sparknotes - a miss
PR Hit Parade - a miss
Hot Words - a miss</p>
<p>My friend got an SAT vocab list from china that is 30,000 words. It puts barrons to shame in terms of words. Silly Americans :D</p>
<p>Xiggi, I am well aware of how long you have been around. When I started my SAT preparation I found your guide very helpful. My point about DK doing this analysis for the last 2 years is that the other “Similar Threads” are listed below from 2008 & 2009 and you did not post a response to any of them. It is fine to have a difference of opinion, but it seems clear you have not seen the Direct Hits books. They are very different from other word lists and have been very helpful to many students.</p>
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<p>They sell dictionaries in China? :P</p>
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<p>Well, wouldn’t that make it rather obvious that I do not spend my time criticizing Direct Hits? It should also be obvious that my issues are about the rote studying of list of words WITHOUT the necessary context. In this regard, I do consider DH to be indeed both different and more helpful than the other usual suspects. </p>
<p>Fwiw, there have been a number of “hit” analyses in the past years; since all of them suffer from the same faulty criteria, it serves little purpose to repeat the same arguments ad nauseam.</p>
<p>Thanks for the analysis. Yeah, I realized Hot Words didn’t help. Fortunately, I also went with DH. (:</p>
<p>bumped for easy reference for thelazyprat</p>
<p>I’m a senior who never took the SAT before, so I am obviously behind. I looked online and found that many people recommended Direct Hits, so I’ve been studying the word list since it is a reasonable size for my short amount of time. I’ve came to this site many times but just made an account to say something.</p>
<p>A bunch of those words are on the direct hit’s list. I don’t care what that guy or woman says; I know for a fact I would have done better if I took the test after studying the list, because I did not know all those words. For example, I did not know slight based on the definition provided. I always knew it as a ‘little bit’. A lot of words on there are words I’ve always heard but never knew the explicit definition to. I feel good to see all those words that are on there. I am not one of those people aiming for a perfect score or anywhere close. I would be happy with just a decent score, like maybe 1800+.</p>
<p>I have pretty good memory when it comes to words, so once I read the word and its definition, it’s basically stuck in my head for good.</p>
<p>I feel good since I know 99% of those words.</p>