Most Frequently Tested SAT Words
By: Celia Webb
Preparing for the SAT requires mastering vocabulary. To get you started, here are the 95 most frequently tested words. This list was compiled by comparing frequently-tested word lists from the major SAT preparation companies. The companies had reviewed hundreds of SAT examinations to compile their lists. These lists varied in their content. The lists from these companies, no doubt, used different examinations in their review thus accounting for the differences.
The words which were included in at least three of the college preparation lists are given below. Seven words were included on all lists reviewed and are marked with an asterisk. Some words occurred in various forms and the forms are noted in parenthesis.
If you are preparing for the GRE or GMAT, find lists specifically for those tests. There is virtually no overlap between the most frequently tested words on the SAT and those on the graduate-level exams.
Master these words by working with them in at least three different ways. Multiple approaches create a stronger recall connection in your brain.
- Try making flashcards by hand.
- Post a list of five words on your mirror each day with the goal of memorizing them while you brush your teeth.
- Keep a notebook in which you write the word, its definition, and then a sentence using the word.
- Record the words and their definitions and then play it back while you are waiting in line or riding the bus.
- Try making a rhyme or poem with the words.
- Ask one of your parents, siblings, or friends to quiz you.
- Doodle the words on scrap paper. Don't just write the letters; make them artistic and colorful.
Most commonly tested words:
- Abbreviate -- To shorten; abridge
- Adversity -- Misfortune; an unfortunate turn of events
- Aesthetic -- Pertaining to beauty
- Amicable -- Friendly; agreeable
- Anachronistic -- Out-of-date; attributed to the wrong historical period
- Arid -- Very dry
- Asylum -- Place of retreat or security
- Benevolent -- Well-meaning; generous
- Camaraderie -- Goodwill between friends
- Censure -- To criticize harshly
- Circuitous -- Indirect; taking the longest route
- Clairvoyant -- Can predict the future
- Cogent -- Convincing; reasonable
- Collaborate -- To work together; to cooperate
- Compassion -- Sympathy
- Compromise -- Meeting in the middle, settling differences
- Condescending -- Patronizing
- Conditional -- Contingent upon something else
- Conformist -- Someone who follows the majority
- Deleterious -- Having a harmful effect; injurious
- Demagogue -- Rabble-rousing leader
- Digression -- straying from the main point
- Diligent -- Marked by painstaking effort; hard-working
- Discredit -- Dishonor someone; prove something untrue
- Disdain -- To regard with scorn
- Divergent -- Moving apart; going in different directions
- Ebullience -- Intense enthusiasm
- Empathy -- Feeling someone else's feelings
- Emulate -- Following someone else's example
- Enervating -- Tiring
- Ephemeral -- Fleeting; temporary
- Evanescent -- Not lasting long
- Exculpate -- To free from guilt or blame
- Exemplary -- Outstanding
- Extenuating -- Something that makes the situation not as bad
- Fastidious -- Careful attention to detail; difficult to please
- Florid -- Describing flowery or elaborate speech; ornate
- Fortuitous -- Lucky
- Frugal -- Thrifty
- *Hackneyed -- Worn out through overuse; trite
- Haughty -- Being arrogant; talking down to people
- Hedonist -- person who acts in pursuit of pleasure
- Hypothesis -- Unproven theory; educated guess
- Imperious (imperial) -- Arrogantly domineering or overbearing
- Impetuous -- Rash; impulsive
- Impute -- To assign or attribute to someone
- Inconsequential -- Without consequence; trivial; does not matter
- Inevitable -- Unavoidable, definitely going to happen
- Intrepid -- Courageous; fearless
- Intuitive -- Knowing something by instinct
- Jubilation (jubilant) -- Extreme happiness; joy
- Lobbyist -- Person who takes one side or the other and persuades government officials
- Longevity -- Long (particularly long life)
- Mundane -- Boring; ordinary
- Nonchalant -- Casual; calm; at ease
- Novice -- A beginner
- Obdurate -- Stubborn; inflexible
- Opulent -- Display of great wealth
- Orator -- Speaker
- Ostentatious -- Showy or pretentious display
- Parched -- Freed from water; dried up
- Pejorative -- Words or phrases that belittle someone
- Perfidious (perfidy) -- Disloyal
- Pragmatic -- Practical
- Precocious -- Gifted; talented beyond one's years
- Pretentious -- Being self important; thinking you are better than others
- Procrastinate -- To delay, often unnecessarily
- Prosaic -- Unimaginative; dull; ordinary
- Prosperity -- Wealth
- Provocative (provoke) -- Causes a fuss; inflammatory; likely to get people riled up
- Prudent -- Careful; wise
- Pugnacious -- Combative; belligerent
- Querulous -- Irritable; prone to argument
- *Rancorous (rancor) -- Hateful; marked by deep-seated ill will
- Reclusive -- Withdrawn
- Reconciliation -- Coming back together after a disagreement
- Renovation -- Being new; being redone
- Restrained -- Controlled; not free
- Reverence -- Deep respect
- Sagacity -- Wisdom
- Scrutinize -- To look at carefully
- Spontaneous (spontaneity) -- Being impulsive; acting without thinking
- *Spurious -- Not genuine; false; counterfeit
- Submissive -- Mild; meek
- Substantiate -- To confirm; prove
- Subtle -- Shy; small; not showy
- Superficial -- Shallow
- Superfluous -- Extra; unnecessary
- Surreptitiously (surreptitious) -- Done by secretive means
- Tactful -- Polite
- *Tenacity (tenacious) -- Persistence
- *Transient -- Passing away with time; passing from time to time
- *Venerated (venerable; venerate) -- Highly respected
- Vindicated (vindicate) -- Freed from blame
- Wary -- Careful; watchful
You will want to study many more vocabulary words in preparation for the SAT, but this list will give you a good beginning. Study hard and do your best.
