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SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips
A lot of students immediately think of vocabulary when they hear the word SAT. But are
SAT vocab words really that important for doing well on the test? Kind of. If you’re
aiming for a high score, you’ll de nitely want to spend some time learning key SAT
words.
In this guide, we give you a comprehensive list of 262 of the most common SAT
vocabulary words. We also explain how vocab is tested on the SAT, what types of
questions you’ll see, and how to get the most out of your vocab prep.
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The SAT underwent a signi cant redesign in 2016, and since then vocabulary has
become a far less important part of the test. This is because there are fewer vocabulary
459 questions on the current SAT than there were on the old SAT.
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That said, it'll still bene t you to study vocab, especially if you're aiming for a high or
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perfect score.
All SAT words are about medium di culty and are tested in the context of reading
200 passages, so you’ll get not just a sentence but an entire paragraph or passage to work
with.
Context clues make memorizing SAT vocab words less important on the current SAT
than it was on the old SAT, back when you had to memorize dozens of obscure words
and answer questions that dealt with isolated sentences (these were called Sentence
Completion problems). This made vocab questions particularly hard since you were
given minimal context with which to solve them.
Purely vocabulary-based questions don’t make up a large part of the SAT. Based on our
analysis of o cial SAT practice tests, 13% of the Reading section (or about seven
questions) ask you to match a word with its correct meaning. We call these Words
in Context questions.
For these questions, you'll need to know alternative meanings of relatively common
words, such as “directly” and “hold.” While you might come across slightly more di cult
SAT words, you generally shouldn’t see any as hard as those on the old SAT.
Here's an example of a Reading vocabulary question (with the relevant part of the
passage shown):
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Source: O cial SAT Practice Test #1
In addition to Words in Context questions, you’ll get questions that require you to pick
a single word or phrase in order to paraphrase or clarify part of a passage. With
these questions, you must understand what all the SAT vocab words mean so that you
can choose the right answer.
A sample SAT question with single vocab words as answer choices. (Source: O cial SAT Practice Test
#1)
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Aside from the Reading section, are there any SAT vocab questions on the Writing and
200 Language section? The quick answer is yes—you will see vocab questions on Writing
and Language.
While most questions in this section focus on grammar, transitions, and tense, you'll
also get some vocab questions that ask you to replace SAT words in a passage; we call
these Precision questions. In total, you’ll get three Precision questions, making
up about 7% of the SAT Writing section.
Here's an example of a Precision question (with the relevant part of the passage shown):
Source: O cial SAT Practice Test #2
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Now that you know what kinds of vocab questions are on the SAT, let's go over the 262
words and de nitions we suggest memorizing if you want to get high scores on SAT
Reading and Writing.
To compile this list, we dug through all o cial SAT practice tests, looking at both the
Reading and Writing sections (and not just the questions but the answer choices and
passages, too). We also looked at SAT words from other online vocab lists.
Though you don’t need to memorize all the words below, familiarizing yourself with
most of them should help you better identify the tones of passages and make you more
e cient at interpreting and answering questions correctly on SAT Reading and Writing.
Below, we give you each word, its part of speech, its de nition, and an example sentence
(or more if the word has multiple de nitions/parts of speech). All words are listed in
alphabetical order.
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representing actual
reality
I got an abysmal grade on my
Abysmal adj. extremely bad
research paper!
adv. in accordance All students must behave
Accordingly
with accordingly.
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Language acquisition is easier for
Acquisition skill or possession of
kids than it is for adults.
something
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v. to make suit a new
The US has adapted many foreign
purpose
foods to better suit the tastes of
200 v. to accommodate
Adapt Americans.
oneself to a new
Dogs are known for their ability to
condition, setting, or
quickly adapt to their environments.
situation
adj. having knowledge
Beth loves playing the piano, but
Adept or skill (usu. in a
she’s especially adept at the violin.
particular area)
adj. having su cient
Though his resume was adequate,
quali cations to meet
Adequate the company doubted whether he’d
a speci c task or
be a good t.
purpose
n. the arrival or
The world has never been the same
Advent creation of something
since the advent of the light bulb.
(usu. historic)
adj. relating to hostile An adversarial attitude will make you
Adversarial
opposition many enemies in life.
n. someone who
promotes or defends I am an advocate for free higher
something education.
Advocate v. to defend or Environmental protesters often
promote something advocate for cleaner energy
(usu. a belief, theory, practices.
opinion, etc.)
The aesthetic decorations at the
adj. relating to beauty
Aesthetic wedding reception made you feel as if
or re ned taste
you were a character in a fairy tale.
A ord v. to be able to buy He’s saving money so he can a ord
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Dire adj. hopeless and When the police didn’t explain what
dangerous or fearful was happening right away, Jane knew
that the situation must be dire.
Disputes over money caused
Discord n. disagreement
intense discord in the family.
n. a lack of respect
459 He looked at me with such disdain
and strong dislike
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(toward something or
wouldn’t work out.
someone)
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n. hopelessness,
To Nick’s dismay, he got an F on the
stress, or
test.
200 Dismay consternation
Many were dismayed by the town’s
v. to ll with woe or
implementation of metered parking.
apprehension
v. to belittle or speak A good boss is stern but never
Disparage
down to disparages his or her employees.
v. to send o a
The mother dispatched her daughter
Dispatch message or
to their neighbor’s house.
messenger
Lately, there’s been noticeable
n. the act of
Diversi cation diversi cation of students at higher
becoming diverse
institutions.
n. a principle, theory,
Devoutly religious people often live
or position, usu.
Doctrine their lives according to their
advocated by a
doctrines.
religion or gov’t
n. power and
The country claimed to have
authority (usu. over a
Dominion dominion over parts of Russia.
territory)
Puerto Rico is a dominion of the US.
n. a legal territory
The gray clouds in the sky made the
Dreary adj. sad, gloomy, dull
day feel dreary.
The man’s claims to the throne were
adj. doubtful,
Dubious dubious since nobody knew where
questionable
he’d come from.
adj. peculiar or odd;
She’s a little eccentric but still fun to
Eccentric deviating from the
be around.
norm
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Tactful adj. skilled at dealing Her tactful attitude toward our class
with people made her one of my favorite
teachers.
The rubberband was taut and ready
Taut adj. pulled tight
to be red.
adj. abundantly lled Doorknobs are not as clean as they
459 Teeming (usu. with living look and are often teeming with
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organisms) germs.
She had a hostile temperament,
n. usual mood or
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Temperament making her intimidating to most
feelings
people.
200 We haven’t made any o cial
Tentative adj. not yet nalized arrangements yet, but the tentative
location for our wedding is Hawaii.
adj. see-through; so Stained window glass isn’t as
thin that light can transparent as regular window glass
Transparent shine through is.
adj. truthful or easy to She was transparent about her plans
perceive to end her marriage.
The journey was becoming
adj. dangerous and
Treacherous treacherous, but they continued on
unstable
regardless.
adj. very large, good,
Tremendous news! You don’t have to
Tremendous or bad in degree or
repay your loans!
size
adj. being everywhere Cell phones are ubiquitous these
Ubiquitous
at once days.
Though the dress was cheap and
adj. undecorated,
Unadorned unadorned, it was by far her favorite
plain
one on the rack.
v. to weaken or
Parents should take care not to
Undermine subvert (usu.
constantly undermine their children.
gradually or secretly)
v. to emphasize or
This sentence seems to underscore
Underscore give additional weight
the overall meaning of the passage.
to
Undulate v. to move as ripples Belly dancers are known for their
or in a wavy pattern ability to skillfully undulate their
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stomachs.
The unilateral decision was deemed
Unilateral adj. one-sided
unfair by the other party involved.
adj. unfair; not The court’s decision is unjust—he
Unjust
justi ed should not go free.
adj. downright, utter, My speech was an unmitigated
459 Unmitigated
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adj. completely new
and never having The number of protestors was
259 Unprecedented
happened before; unprecedented.
historic
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v. to make visible; to We plan to unveil our plans for the
Unveil
reveal new company project on Sunday.
He had the urge to tell his parents
n. desire or impulse about his acceptance to Columbia but
Urge v. to encourage or decided against it.
persuade She urged her sister to apply to
Stanford.
v. to prove or declare Your sel sh actions do not validate
Validate
valid your feelings for me.
n. ability to be done in
The viability of the solution is
Viability a practical or useful
questionable.
way
adj. urgently It is vital that you respond by the
Vital
necessary deadline.
My brother quickly broke his vow to
Vow v. to promise
never eat chocolate again.
Wanting to look cool in front of your
v. to prove to be
Warrant friends doesn’t warrant breaking the
reasonable
law.
n. production of an The farmer’s annual
amount pumpkin yield exceeded 10,000.
v. to give way to or Cars turning right on red must yield
Yield
surrender to to oncoming tra c.
v. to produce or Our experiment yielded many
supply unique-looking vegetables.
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Now that you've got a huge list of SAT vocabulary words you can work with, what’s the
best way to study them? Here are three key tips to help you get the most out of your SAT
vocab studies.
One of the absolute best ways to study SAT vocab words is to make ashcards. This
lets you control which SAT words you study and even randomizes them so that you don't
accidentally memorize words in a predetermined order.
We recommend using the waterfall method to study your ashcards. With this method,
you'll get to see all the words in your deck, going over the most challenging words more
often than the ones you already know or sort of know.
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259 Once you’ve made your ashcards, split them up into decks (you can put whatever
words you want in these decks) of about 30-50 cards each. Choose one deck to be your
200 Starting Stack.
Go through your Starting Stack, looking at each and every card. For the words you know,
put them in a Know It pile. For the words you don’t know, put them in a separate
Struggled pile as so:
Now, pick up your Struggled pile and go through each card in it (leave your Know It pile
where it is). Put the cards you know in a second Know It pile and the ones you don’t
know in a Struggled pile.
You should now have two Know It piles and one Struggled pile:
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Repeat this process of picking up your Struggled pile and going through each card until
you’re left with about one to ve cards in your Struggled pile:
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By now you should know most, if not all, cards in your deck. But it isn’t enough to just go
through them once—you also have to work back up your “waterfall” of cards.
To do this, combine your Struggled pile with your last Know It pile (the pile closest to the
Struggled pile). This will be your Working pile. Go through all the cards in this pile. If
there are any words you forgot, go through the entire pile again and again until you've
learned all the de nitions in it.
Continue this pattern by combining your current Working pile with the next Know It pile.
Go through all these cards until you know each one.
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At the end, you should have made your way all the back to your original Starting Stack.
You now know all the SAT words and their meanings in your deck! Repeat this
waterfall method with the other decks you make so that you can learn even more critical
SAT vocab words.
If you don’t have time to study the entire list above or only want to learn some SAT
words, use our list to make a new vocab list containing only the words you don’t
know. So if you know a word or are fairly sure you’ll be able to recognize it on test day,
skip it and instead focus on the words you’ll have the most trouble remembering. Once
you have your list, use the waterfall method to study it.
If you’re not a fan of paper ashcards, you can opt for digital ashcards. Anki is a free
software you can download and use to make your own ashcards. The program uses
spaced-repetition software (SRS) to show you di cult cards more often than those you
know (basically, a digital version of the waterfall method).
Since the majority of the words in our list above come from o cial SAT practice tests,
once you’ve studied these SAT words, you can put your knowledge to the test by taking a
practice test. This lets you see whether you truly know the meanings of the words
and whether you’ll be able to get the right answers in the context of a full-length,
timed test—just like the real SAT.
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If you miss any questions because you forgot the meaning of a word, go back over our
SAT vocab words list using your ashcards and the waterfall method.
Though we strongly recommend making your own ashcards, you can also buy pre-
made ones. There aren't a lot of options for the new SAT. We'd recommend going
with Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know, a series of exercises to master key words
and idioms, or Manhattan's GRE ashcards if you're looking for a challenge.
Overall, vocabulary words don't play a huge part on the SAT. That said, you’ll de nitely
have some questions on both the Reading and Writing sections that test your knowledge
of SAT words, so it’s important to study those most likely to appear on test day.
The best way to study SAT vocabulary is to make ashcards and use the waterfall
method. This ensures you know all the words in your deck and aren’t glossing over any
di cult ones.
If you don’t want to make ashcards or don’t have time to study the whole list, however,
it’s a good idea to pick out the words you don’t know and study just those. With these,
you can either make a smaller deck of paper ashcards or opt for digital ashcards.
No matter how you choose to study SAT vocab words, be sure to test out what you’ve
learned in the context of full-length practice tests. Nearly all the words in our list
above come from o cial SAT practice tests, so you’re guaranteed to come across them
in some form!
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What’s Next?
Want more tips on how to study SAT vocabulary words? Check out our expert tips
for memorizing SAT words fast and learn why the waterfall method works so well.
Aiming for a high SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score? Take a peek at our
459 in-depth guides to getting a perfect Reading score and learning how to read SAT
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passages.
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Taking the ACT instead? Then you'll need to know vocab for that test, too. Learn what
words to expect on the ACT and how to study them.
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Check out our best-in-class online SAT prep classes. We guarantee your money
back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160 points or more.
Our classes are entirely online, and they're taught by SAT experts. If you liked this
article, you'll love our classes. Along with expert-led classes, you'll get
personalized homework with thousands of practice problems organized by
individual skills so you learn most e ectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step,
custom program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next.
Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article!
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Have any questions about this article or other topics? Ask below and we'll reply!
Do u recommend that I memorize this list instead of memorizing the 2000 word list (i
have about a month to nish my vocab)
Reply to Dana M
Hannah Muniz 8/26/2018, 4:54:08 AM
Hi Dana,
Thanks for your question, and sorry for the late response.
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I de nitely recommend reading this list instead of a 2,000-word list. The reason is
that these days the SAT does not test vocab as intensely as it used to (prior to 2016).
As a result, you really shouldn't need to study thousands and thousands of words in
order to do well on it.
459 My biggest piece of advice: familiarize yourself with most of the words here and
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make sure that you know any alternate meanings of "simple" words, too, since the
SAT loves to test these.
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Hope this helps!
Hannah
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Thanks so much
I have my PSAT on wednesday next week but how is the best way to prep for it?
Reply to Katie S.
Hannah Muniz 12/3/2018, 7:30:01 AM
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Hi Katie,
I apologize for the late response. Thank you for your question.
459 https://blog.prepscholar.com/psat-prep-tips
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I downloaded 200 most important words in prepscholar web. Some words are
overlapped and some are not. Which one is more recent or more important?? What are
the di erences in a important point of view??
Reply to Seon
Hannah Muniz 12/3/2018, 7:37:22 AM
Hi Seon,
Thanks for your question! Our ebook of the 200 most important SAT vocab words
was originally made for the old (pre-2016) SAT, whereas this article's 262 vocab
words are all based on the current format of the test.
While you can certainly use both lists for your studies, the list on this page should be
a little more relevant, so I'd stick with this one if you want to use just one in your
test prep.
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Shares Kate Ng 1/26/2019, 5:50:35 AM
Wow! Thanks a lot! You are good! Well done! It sure helped me in my studies!
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Reply to Kate Ng
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