The SAT — formerly, the Scholastic Aptitude Test or Scholastic Assessment Test, now simply the SAT Reasoning Test or SAT — is a widely used admissions test for colleges and universities in the USA.
The SAT tests vocabulary because vocabulary correlates highly with intelligence (see, for example, R Bowker, English Vocabulary Manual (1981) 1).
A good vocabulary is most obviously important for the SAT's Critical Reading section, which includes sentence completion questions and passage-based reading questions.
The Internet and bookstores are crowded with "SAT vocabulary word lists". These lists vary in both quantity (ranging from 100 words to several thousand words) and quality, with some SAT vocabulary word lists providing only a few examples of the word in context.
We think the best SAT vocabulary words list is the list that comes with the popular and highly regarded Ultimate Vocabulary software. We recommend Ultimate Vocabulary because Ultimate Vocabulary:
- comes with a SAT vocabulary word list of 1006, which is extensive but also targeted;
- provides a "meta" SAT vocabulary word list; that is, the software combines the SAT vocabulary word lists from the 8 best-selling word lists;
- is the only vocabulary-building software we know that is designed specifically to boost your score in the New SAT exam: every test, exercise, and word in Ultimate Vocabulary for the SAT Exam is specifically tailored to the SAT;
- uses the full suite of vocabulary-learning techniques, including, crucially, the technique of elaboration (for example, through the software's "50 Power Examples") and repetition (for example, through the software's innovative "Word Messenger" component).
Go to Ultimate Vocabulary for more information. Click "For SAT Exam" from the top-left menu.