Study Prof

What if you had never heard of a lion, and I told you that a lion is a large African cat.  Do you now understand what a lion is?  Not really.  You need to watch some documentaries on lions and go see them in a zoo or on safari before you really understand what a lion is; what it can do, what it eats, all the different varieties, how different people view lions, etc.  Once you fully understand lions in that manner, then you can memorize a short definition like "large African cat," and it will encapsulate your broader understanding.  You must start with the broad understanding before memorizing a short definition will be helpful.

There are lot's of resources available to help you build your vocabulary for the SAT and GRE, and it's hard to know what's going to be the most effective.  I would caution you not to memorize a long list of words and short definitions.  I have seen many people do this in the past with very minimal effect on their verbal score.  That strategy is not very effective for the same reason that memorizing "lion = large African cat." would not be very useful to someone who doesn't know what a lion is.

Let's use the word "flag" as an example.  If you see flag on the SAT or GRE, chances are it's being used as a verb; you might flag someone down, flag a document for future attention, or your energy might flag.  All of these uses might appear on the test, and the last one is probably the most common, since it's the least common usage in real life. 

Vocabulary lists for the SAT and GRE, such as those you will see in the study guides, tend to have the word and a short definition; "flag – to wane or decrease."  The problem is that you can memorize that word and that short definition and still not really know the word.  For instance, would it be proper to say that temperature flagged over time?  Would you say the moon flagged?  How about, "his strength flagged?"  Perhaps all are correct.  Perhaps none are.  You really can't tell from that short definition, just as you wouldn't be able to pick a lion out of a lineup based on the "large African cat" definition.

So use the study guides as a directory of which words you might see on the SAT or GRE, but look up the longer definition online at some site such as www.dictionary.com or www.thefreedictionary.com.  But don't stop at the definition!  Also read the word in context and look at the antonyms, synonyms, word origin, etc.  Finally, write out several sentences using the word.  Try to make it a normal part of your vocabulary. 

Don't waste your time memorizing "large, African cat" style definitions.  To max out your verbal scores, you'll need more than that!

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