One of the most challenging aspects of preparing for the SAT is mastering as much as possible all of the difficult vocabulary words that you’ve never heard of but will likely appear on the test. Vocabulary development is key if you want to do well on the SAT. However, it is of course difficult to know all of the definitions of the words that will appear on the exam, especially in the sentence completion section. Still, there are ways that you can study for this portion of the SAT. It is recommended that you work with an English tutor who can give you the SAT help that you will need in this area.

An effective way is to review words that have been frequently tested over the years with an English tutor. Some lists contain hundreds of words while others have thousands. Depending on the amount of time you have before the test, this is a great way for students looking for SAT help and more specifically vocabulary development before test day. Drill with an English tutor as much as possible before by first, reviewing frequently tested words, determining which words you are familiar with and which words you are unsure or unfamiliar, and then repeatedly studying your list with your English tutor until you know all of the words. You can make flashcards, either on paper or electronically, and test yourself. It is important to study secondary definitions as well.

This is not the only way an English tutor can provide SAT help for a student seeking to develop their vocabulary before the test. Since you will likely still come across unfamiliar vocabulary words on test day, you can also use another method for determining as much as possible their meaning. Words are composed of parts, including their roots, suffixes, and prefixes. If you have a thorough knowledge of common word roots, prefixes and suffixes, you will increase your ability to figure out the definition of a word that you may have never seen before. When receiving SAT help, you can ask an English tutor to help you compile a list of roots / stems, prefixes, and suffixes that will help you with your vocabulary development.

To get you started, here is a list of some common word roots / word stems:

ac, acr: sharp

agri, agrari: field

ann, enn: year

aqua: water

arch: ruler

belli: war

ben, bon: good

bio: life

carn: flesh

cent: one hundred

chron: time

cred: believe

derm: skin

dic, dict: to say

domin: to rule

fac, fic, fec: to do, to make

fid: faith

fin: end

liber: free

log: word

loqu: to talk

magn: great

mal: bad

mater: mother

mort: die

mut: change

nov: new

omni: all

pater: father

ped: foot

poten: powerful

sacr: holy

soph: wisdom

veni: come

ver: true

viv: alive

Some common prefixes are:

ab: from

ad: to

ambi: both

a, an: without

ante: before

anti: against

bi: two

circum: around

co: with

contra: against

ex: out

extra: beyond

hyper: excessive

intra: within

macro: large

micro: small

mono: one

multi: many

non: not

post: after

re: again

semi: half

trans: across

uni: one

Common suffixes that you should study include:

able: capable

acious, ous, ant, ent: full of

fic: making

ism: belief

Knowing the above roots, prefixes, and suffixes can give you a sense of the following words even if you have never seen them before the day of the exam:

In the word "hyperbole," for example, you can see the prefix "hyper," indicating that this word has something to do with something excessive. Hyperbole actually means an exaggeration. In the word, "bellicose," knowing that the word root "belli," which means war, can help you determine that this word has something to do with war; it means inclined to fight. The word "fidelity" contains the root "fid," which means faith. Fidelity means faithfulness. You get the idea. Studying as many word roots / stems and prefixes, as well as suffixes to a slightly lesser degree, will significantly help you work on your vocabulary development in order to maximize your SAT scores!