Your best study strategy? Reading
As you know, the SAT is undergoing a radical overhaul this year to make sure it better reflects the skills students need in college and career. The most divergent changes are happening on the verbal side. In particular, vocabulary is tested in a completely different way from years past. Here is what’s new.
A different type of words
Linguists and educators break words up into three major categories:
• Tier 1: Words that are used often in everyday speech
• Tier 2: Words that occur on a regular basis in speech but might need context to fully understand
• Tier 3: Obscure words that only occur in specific, discipline-based situations
The previous SAT tested a lot of Tier 3 words, which is why the best way to study was “drill and kill” using word lists. The new SAT has moved to testing Tier 2 words. They want to make sure students can use context clues to really understand text, rather than just see if the student has a big (but mainly useless) vocabulary.
Context is everything
As mentioned above, the Tier 2 words used on the new SAT rely on context for meaning. In fact, most of them will have multiple meanings. In a sample test item, a non-fiction passage is given with the word “intense” highlighted. The question asks for the meaning of intense within the given context. The four possible answers are all an accepted meaning of the word, but only one is right within the context of the passage. There are also items in which you have to justify your answer by highlighting the part(s) of the passage that give you a clue into the meaning.
Although it’s still possible to study words with flash cards and similar old-school strategies, you need to make sure that your study materials cover all of the possible meanings of a word.
Your best study strategy? Reading
To best prepare for the verbal side of the new SAT, including vocabulary, the best preparation is to read deeply, both in fiction and nonfiction. Make sure to vary your sources as well. Tier 2 words can carry a different context depending on the source, but if you only read one type of source (like scientific magazines), you might miss other meanings that come from other sources.
No more analogies
The SAT was famous for its use of analogies when testing vocab. Because they want to focus more on context and reading skills rather than rote memorization, the analogies are gone.