Core Vocabulary of the SAT
Direct Hits' first volume focuses on the level 3 and 4 words a student needs to know to achieve a Critical Reading score above a 500. The book is organized as follows:
Chapters One and Two are devoted to 100 core words that have repeatedly appeared on the SAT and PSAT.
Chapter Three introduces 30 words about interesting types of people, defined through examples from pop culture icons to make the words relevant and understandable to any teen.
Chapter Four uses historic figures and events to explain each vocabulary word.
Chapter Five focuses on the most frequently used prefixes on the SAT.
Chapter Six highlights tone words that are commonly tested in sentence completion and critical reading sections.
The book concludes with 30 sentence completion questions (and answers) to test mastery of the SAT words presented.
Sample Words
SARCASTIC and SARDONIC: Mocking, derisive comments that taunt and sting
Winston Churchill was famous for his SARCASTIC and SARDONIC comments. Here are two well-known examples:
Bessie Braddock: Sir, you are a drunk. Churchill: Madame, you are ugly. In the morning I shall be sober, and you will still be ugly.
Nancy Astor: Sir, if you were my husband, I would give you poison. Churchill: If I were your husband, I would take it.
SUPERFICIAL: Shallow; lacking in depth; concerned with surface appearances
What do Cher (“Clueless”) and Daisy Buchanan (The Great Gatsby) have in common? Both were SUPERFICIAL. In “Clueless,” Josh called Cher “a SUPERFICIAL space cadet” because she lacked direction. Daisy proved to be a SUPERFICIAL person who prized material possessions. For example, she burst into tears when Gatsby showed her his collection of English dress shirts. Gatsby would tragically discover that beneath Daisy’s SUPERFICIAL surface there was only more surface.
RACONTEUR: A person who excels in telling ANECDOTES
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was a renowned RACONTEUR. Many of the ANECDOTES (Word 203) in the movie “300” are taken from his famous history of the Persian Wars. For example, Herodotus recounts how a Persian officer tried to intimidate the Spartans by declaring that “A thousand nations of the Persian Empire descend upon you. Our arrows will blot out the sun.” UNDAUNTED (Word 73), the Spartan warrior Stelios retorted, “Then we will fight in the shade.”
