By Laura Whitmore
Vocabulary plays a bigger role on the SAT than it has in years. When College Board redesigned the test in 2023, they brought back vocabulary-heavy questions, especially in the first part of each module. On the old paper test, students could often figure out the correct word just by looking at the surrounding context. Now, many of these questions require knowing the actual definitions of words.
If reading regularly has never been a habit, it's tough to build a strong vocabulary quickly. But the good news is that there are strategies to help you maximize your score. Here are five effective ways to improve your SAT vocabulary skills and feel more confident on test day!
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Strategy 1. Break a Word Down Into Its Parts 🧩
A lot of English words come from Greek and Latin roots. If you recognize common prefixes, suffixes, and root words, you can often figure out what an unfamiliar word means without having to memorize thousands of definitions.
For example, let’s look at the word philanthropist:
Phil- means love (as in Philadelphia, the “City of Brotherly Love”).
Anthrop- refers to mankind (anthropology is the study of humans).
-ist refers to a person (as in dentist or scientist).
Put it all together, and a philanthropist is a person who loves mankind—someone who donates time or money to help others.
Another word that frequently appears on the SAT is insuperable:
In- means "not."
Super- means "to overcome" (think of supersede).
-able means "able to."
So, insuperable means "not able to be overcome." Understanding how words are built can help you make an educated guess even if you’ve never seen the word before.
Strategy 2. Look for Clues in the Passage 🔎
The SAT often provides hints about what a word means. Sometimes, the definition is directly in the passage—you just need to know where to look.
Punctuation marks like colons (:) and semicolons (;) are especially useful:
If the blank comes before a semicolon, the explanation will follow after it.
If the blank comes after a colon, the explanation will come before it.
For example, in an official SAT question:
"For her 2021 art installation Anthem, Wu Tsang joined forces with singer and composer Beverly Glenn-Copeland to produce a piece that critics found truly ____: they praised its inventive approach to transforming the museum space."
The colon tells us that what follows explains the missing word. Since the second part of the sentence mentions praised and inventive, we know the correct word should mean something positive and creative. That leads us to the right answer: inventive.
Strategy 3. Use the Positive/Negative Strategy ➕➖
If you don’t know a word, determine whether the missing word should have a positive or negative meaning based on the sentence. Then, look at the answer choices and eliminate the ones that don’t match the tone of the passage.
For example:
"It is by no means a ____ to recognize the influence of Dutch painter Bosch on Abel’s paintings; indeed, Abel himself cites Bosch as an inspiration."
The phrase by no means suggests the missing word should be negative.
The semicolon tells us that the second part of the sentence reinforces the first.
The word inspiration is positive, meaning that a double negative will create a positive statement.
The correct answer in this example is unimportant—the only negative word among the choices that makes sense in the sentence.
Strategy 4. Focus on High-Probability Words 👀
Certain words show up repeatedly on SAT tests. If you recognize them, you’ll have a big advantage. Here are a few that have appeared multiple times:
Innocuous = harmless
Buttress = to support (often in a figurative sense)
Preclude = to prevent (not "to come before," as some mistakenly assume)
One tricky thing about the SAT is that it sometimes tests secondary meanings of words. Buttress, for example, is often used in architecture, but on the SAT, it’s more likely to mean "support" in a general sense, like "to buttress an argument."
To prepare, go through every "Words in Context" question in College Board’s Bluebook practice tests and official question banks. Keep track of words that appear multiple times because there’s a good chance they’ll show up again.
Strategy 5. Make a Personal Vocabulary List 📋
One of the most effective ways to learn new words is to create your own vocabulary list. Any time you come across a word you don’t know—whether in SAT practice, a book, or an article—write it down. Include the definition and an example sentence.
Some students use a Google Doc to track unfamiliar words and review them regularly. I also recommend color-coding words: mark words you know in green and words you struggle with in red. Over time, you’ll be able to focus on the words that need the most practice.
A Smarter Way to Prepare for SAT English 😎
If you want even more strategies to boost your SAT English score, check out our SAT English Self-Paced Course. This course includes exclusive vocabulary lessons, practice exercises, and proven techniques to help students feel more confident on test day!
Bottom Line 🔥
By focusing on word parts, using context clues, and keeping track of high-frequency words, students can significantly improve their SAT vocabulary. Instead of memorizing endless word lists, these strategies help test-takers approach vocabulary questions logically and efficiently. With smart preparation, boosting your SAT English score is absolutely within reach!
Happy prepping!
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