SAT Vocabulary: A New Approach

I teach an after school SAT class focusing on the Reading Test, Writing and Language Test and the Essay. (Our Calculus teacher handles the math sections). My students are reporting three major observations: First, the Reading and Writing sections are becoming more difficult. Second, vocabulary is becoming more challenging and more important. And finally, the Essay is becoming a more formidable task with high scores increasingly difficult to earn. SAT Vocabulary - A New Approach addresses all three of these concerns and much more. The authors correctly note that SAT vocabulary has changed but not gone away. They address the changes by devoting chapters to vocabulary-in-context questions, passage-based vocabulary, commonly confused words (prosecute/persecute), and transitional words and phrases (conversely, furthermore). Each chapter begins with an attention grabbing hook (I love the Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson opener!) followed by extremely clear explanations, guided instruction, sets of independent practice examples, and detailed answer explanations. The authors do a particularly excellent job of using challenging examples that are virtually identical to the ones on real SATs. I found the discussions on scientific vocabulary, affect vs. effect, formal vs. informal language, and the use of vocabulary to help answer evidence-based pairs to be especially helpful. As noted above, many students are having trouble writing a high-scoring essay. The concluding chapter on the Essay is short but outstanding. The chapter features a particularly helpful presentation on 6 persuasive devices, a list of 25 top Essay vocabulary words (with illustrative examples), and best of all a real Level 24 essay written by a real student on the November 2016 SAT. Special thanks to Annie Li for sharing her outstanding essay. And congratulations to Ms. Meltzer and Mr. Krieger for creating an excellent book that will definitely help my students achieve higher SAT scores.

The kinds of passages in this book are very similar to what you will see on the SAT, albeit the passages are shorter. So far the best workbook I've found to help with the reading portion of the SAT including the College Board book which has WAY too much information to digest (in my opinion). I will still use the College Board book, but not until we finish this workbook.

It is a good workbook for any student preparing for the SAT or PSAT test. My only concern is that it doesn't have enough hard words in it.

Excellent for the new SAT. Our rising 8th grade daughter is using it for her SAT practice and we are seeing improvements in her vocabulary on the tests. Must get for SAT EBRW.

The authors did a great job and this book is really helping me

Super helpful!! Love it!

Well written book! However, it doesn’t solve the problem of vocabulary lacking (except for approximately 100 words); It could be better.

Just so we are clear, you do need to know vocabulary for the newest iteration of the SAT. Yes, yes, I know the man promised you no more "obscure" words, but darlings...the vocabulary used on the SAT is not obscure. It is merely vocabulary used by educated people in their writing. This is vocabulary you will encounter in University while doing research for essays, listening to lectures and discussing concepts in tutorials. Students frequently ask me what list of words they should study, and, honestly, I just want to point to the dictionary and have them start reading. Fortunately for you, the test prep mavens, Larry Krieger and Erica L. Meltzer, put their heads together and have come up with a manual to guide you through the types of words you will need to know. However, this is not a mere list of words to memorize and regurgitate, but a series of approaches to use when tackling the different ways vocabulary is tested on the SAT. The book is split into 5 sections, each focusing on the 5 ways you will encounter vocabulary on the SAT in the Reading, Writing & Language and Essay sections. I received an advanced copy of this book, and I worked my way through it last month. I found it gave excellent strategies for approaching each type of vocabulary along with lists of words that are commonly encountered. The list of common words and their uncommon second meanings is particularly useful along with the break down of common words used in each of the different reading passage types. There are also plenty of practice questions to demonstrate how the words are used on the SAT. While the book is slim, I wouldn't suggest rushing through it because there are plenty of tips that need to be assimilated. Take your time and do a chapter a week and apply the lessons to your practice tests. Use the released tests from the College Board and analyze how the words are used and how context really affects meaning. This book will be particularly helpful to ESL students and those who find they are struggling with "vocabulary in context" and "word choice questions. But I would recommend it to all students as a robust vocabulary is the basis of comprehension.

Solid. A short book the explains the concepts well.

I liked it a lot because of its easy and understandable .