SAT Prep - Verbal Section - Vocabulary

• adversity -- (n) misfortune, an unfavorable turn of events
  • Even students that face great adversity can succeed on the SAT.

• antagonist -- (n) foe, opponent, adversary
  • Some people would say that the SAT is their antagonist.

• congregation -- (n) a crowd of people, an assembly
  • Every test day, at congregation of students gather at the SAT testing center.

•  exasperation -- (n) irritation, frustration
  • The student showed his exasperation by crumpling his SAT practice test.

• integrity -- (n) decency, honesty, wholeness 
  • The student demonstrated integrity by not cheating on his SAT.

• jubilation -- (n) joy, celebration, exultation 
  • You could see the jubilation in the teenager’s eyes after he handed in his SAT.
    

• renovation -- (n) repair, making something new again
  • The location of the SAT test will have to change due to renovations in the old center.

• sagacity -- (n) wisdom
  • The experienced SAT tutor has more sagacity than his students.

• spontaneity -- (n) impulsive action, unplanned events
  • The SAT instructor showed her spontaneity by stopping the lesson to stand on her head.

SAT Prep Vocabulary - Verbs

• censure -- (v) to criticize harshly
  • If you censure me for coming to the SAT late, then I will leave.

• discredit -- (v) to harm the reputation of, dishonor or disgrace
  
  • One strategy on the SAT is to discredit incorrect answers.

• emulate -- (v) to imitate, follow an example  
  • I am a unique SAT taker because I don’t emulate anybody else.

• enhance -- (v) to improve, bring to a greater level of intensity
  • Memorizing the test tips in the SAT book would enhance my grade.

• procrastinate -- (v) to unnecessarily delay, postpone, put off
  • Even SAT students sometimes procrastinate with their homework.

• scrutinize -- (v) to observe carefully
  • You don’t need to scrutinize me, I am going to do my SAT homework.

• suppress -- (v) to end an activity, e.g., to prevent the dissemination of information
  • He took three deep breaths to try to suppress his anxiety about the SAT practice test.

• vindicate -- (v) to clear from blame or suspicion
  • The student felt vindicated by their high SAT score.

SAT Prep Vocabulary - Adjectives

• amicable -- (adj) friendly, agreeable
  • The two friendly SAT students had an amicable discussion.

• anonymous -- (adj) nameless, without a disclosed identity
  • Nothing showed up the SAT tutor’s caller ID—the caller was anonymous.

• benevolent -- (adj) friendly and helpful
  • SAT tutors are known for being benevolent people.

• clairvoyant -- (adj) exceptionally insightful, able to foresee the future
  • Sometimes I think my SAT tutor is clairvoyant! He knew I would get a 2400.

• condescending -- (adj) possessing an attitude of superiority, patronizing
  • As an SAT instructor, I try not to be condescending to my students.

• deleterious -- (adj) harmful, destructive, detrimental
  • Doing poorly on an SAT has a deleterious effect on your college admissions chances

• divergent -- (adj) separating, moving in different directions from a particular point
  • The two roads were divergent, and I didn’t know which path to take to get to my SAT test center.

• ephemeral -- (adj) momentary, transient, fleeting
  • The satisfaction that the student felt after taking the SAT was ephemeral and dissipated when she received her SAT score.

• exemplary -- (adj) outstanding, an example to others
  • Exemplary SAT students turn in all their homework and participate actively in class.

• florid -- (adj) red-colored, flushed; gaudy, ornate
  • The SAT student’s cheeks turned florid when he answered the question incorrectly.

• hackneyed -- (adj) cliched, worn out by overuse
  • “Winging it” is a hackneyed expression about preparing for the SAT.

• incompatible -- (adj) opposed in nature, not able to live or work together
  • The SAT tutor and the poor student were incompatible so they chose not to work together.

• inevitable -- (adj) certain, unavoidable
  • After staying awake all night studying for the SAT, sleep is inevitable.

• intrepid -- (adj) fearless, adventurous
  • The intrepid student tried to take 3 practice SAT tests consecutively.

• mundane -- (adj) ordinary, commonplace
  • Mundane SAT drills are usually boring.

• nonchalant -- (adj) calm, casual, seeming unexcited
  • Brian tried to appear nonchalant after scoring poorly on his diagnostic SAT before he started studying, but you could tell he was disappointed.

• opulent -- (adj) wealthy
  • After studying for weeks in coffee shops, the SAT student felt surprised to try studying at the opulent library.
• parched -- (adj) dried up, shriveled
  • “My throat is parched because I haven’t drunk any water all day” said the SAT student.

• precocious -- (adj) unusually advanced or talented at an early age
  • The precocious SAT student already scored an 800 on her math section.

• provocative -- (adj) tending to provoke a response, e.g., anger or disagreement
  • The provocative SAT student attempted to get a rise out of his instructor by questioning vociferously every answer choice.

• rancorous -- (adj) bitter, hateful
  • Some students have rancorous feelings towards the SAT.

• reclusive -- (adj) preferring to live in isolation
  • My reclusive SAT tutor only comes out of his house to tutor his students.

• submissive -- (adj) tending to meekness, to submit to the will of others
  • A submissive SAT student would not talk back to his teacher.

• subtle -- (adj) hard to detect or describe; perceptive
  • There are subtle differences between the SAT and the ACT.

• superfluous -- (adj) extra, more than enough, redundant
  • After my mom told me to do my SAT prep homework, my dad made a superfluous comment about homework.
    

• anachronistic -- (adj) out-of-date, not attributed to the correct historical period
  • The kid in my SAT class who wears bow ties and suspenders has an anachronistic sense of style.

• arid -- (adj) extremely dry or deathly boring
  • I fell asleep during the arid SAT tutoring session.

• circuitous -- (adj) indirect, taking the longest route
  • The student took a circuitous route to his SAT test because of street construction.

• conditional -- (adj) depending on a condition, e.g., in a contract
  • SAT students believe that doing their homework is not conditional and should be done on time.

• diligent -- (adj) careful and hard-working
  • If you are diligent in your preparation, you can improve your SAT score.

• enervating -- (adj) weakening, tiring
  • Teaching SAT students all day can be enervating.

• evanescent -- (adj) quickly fading, short-lived, esp. an image
  • SAT tips should not be evanescent; you need to remember them in order to do well.

• fortuitous -- (adj) happening by luck, fortunate
  • I lost my SAT prep book and my tutor had a fortuitous extra copy for me.

• haughty -- (adj) arrogant and condescending
  • SAT tutors often have trouble working with haughty students.

• impetuous -- (adj) rash, impulsive, acting without thinking
  • The impetuous SAT student got in trouble for shouting out inappropriate words in class.

• inconsequential -- (adj) unimportant, trivial
  • Eating jellybeans is inconsequential to your performance on the SAT math test.

• intuitive -- (adj) instinctive, untaught
  • The SAT tutor has an intuitive ability to train students to do well on the exam.

• ostentatious -- (adj) showy, displaying wealth
  • If the SAT student always wears flashy jewelry, some people may say she is ostentatious.

• perfidious -- (adj) faithless, disloyal, untrustworthy
  • The perfidious, cheating student could not be trusted to take the SAT with other people in the room.

• prosaic -- (adj) relating to prose; dull, commonplace
  • The SAT tutor’s account of the incident was so prosaic that I nodded off while reading it.

• prudent -- (adj) careful, cautious
  • It is prudent to bring multiple pens and pencils to your SAT.

• querulous -- (adj) complaining, irritable
  • The querulous SAT students in the classroom wouldn’t stop complaining about the summer heat. 

• resilient -- (adj) quick to recover, bounce back
  • The resilient SAT student studied harder after he did not do as well as he hoped on the first test he took.

• spurious -- (adj) lacking authenticity, false
  • The SAT student gave spurious excuses for being thirty minutes late.

• superficial -- (adj) shallow, lacking in depth
  • Judging an SAT tutor based on her physical appearance is superficial.

• tenacious -- (adj) determined, keeping a firm grip on
  • The SAT student was a tenacious studier of exam tricks.

• transient -- (adj) temporary, short-lived, fleeting
  • The transient SAT tutor found a new student to tutor every day.

• venerable -- (adj) respected because of age
  • I had the honor of meeting the venerable SAT tutor who had tutored for 20 years.

• wary -- (adj) careful, cautious
  • The SAT tutor told the student to be wary of prepositional phrases in the sentence correction section.

SAT Prep Vocabulary - Advanced Words

• adulation -- (n) high praise
  • Professional SAT tutors receive adulation from satisfied customers across the country.

• anecdote -- (n) short, usually funny account of an event
  • My SAT tutor used to tell anecdotes about her past testing experiences during review sessions.

• assiduous -- (adj) persistent, hard-working
  • The assiduous SAT student did incredibly well on his test after attending all his prep sessions.

• camaraderie -- (n) trust, sociability amongst friends
  • After the SAT prep course was over, the students showed camaraderie by promising each other to keep in touch.

• collaborate -- (v) to cooperate, work together
  • Students collaborate with one another while preparing to succeed on the SAT test.  

• compassion -- (n) sympathy, helpfulness or mercy
  • The SAT instructor demonstrated compassion when he saw one of his students lagging behind and slowed his pace.

• conformist -- (n) person who complies with accepted rules and customs
  • A conformist does not question the SAT’s testing of vocabulary.

• convergence -- (n) the state of separate elements joining or coming together
  • We planned study for the SAT at the coffee shop at the convergence of our two streets.

• digression -- (n) the act of turning aside, straying from the main point, esp. in a speech or argument
  • The digression in the lesson provided background on the SAT instructor’s personal life.

• disdain -- (v) to regard with scorn or contempt
  • She disdained studying for the SAT but in the end realized how beneficial it was.

• empathy -- (n) identification with the feelings of others
  • The boy demonstrated empathy by sharing his SAT notes with his friend.

• extenuating -- (adj) excusing, lessening the seriousness of guilt or crime, e.g., of mitigating factors
  • Your SAT prep homework will be considered late unless you have extenuating circumstances.

• frugal -- (adj) thrifty, cheap
  • A frugal person saves money whenever possible, for example on discounted SAT classes.
    

• impute -- (v) to attribute an action to particular person or group
  • The student imputed his 800 on the math section of the SAT to his SAT tutor.

• novice -- (n) apprentice, beginner
  • I’m a novice at using SAT strategies, but I would like to get better.

• pretentious -- (adj) pretending to be important, intelligent or cultured
  • People who think they know everything about the SAT can be pretentious.

• reconciliation -- (n) the act of agreement after a quarrel, the resolution of a dispute
  • After their reconciliation, the two SAT students agreed not to fight ever again.

• restrained -- (adj) controlled, repressed, restricted
  • The SAT proctor restrained his temper, but I could tell that he was very angry that the student was talking during the test.

• reverence -- (n) worship, profound respect
  • Students were full of reference for the the student that scored a perfect score on the SAT.

• substantiate -- (v) to verify, confirm, provide supporting evidence
  • Can you substantiate your claim that this SAT section is the most difficult?