Dept. of Word Lists

SAT Vocabulary Deconstructed

You may remember an interview we did last year with Katie Raynolds, a remarkable 10th grader and dedicated linguaphile from Seattle, Washington. Katie recently spent a busy week with us here at the VT's New York office as our editorial intern, and put together this list of SAT words -- with tips on how to remember them:

The SAT, of course, is one of the most important tests a student takes during their scholastic career. I can't help you with the math section, but I thought to give you a useful method for remembering tricky vocabulary. In the list below, I'll show you "memory hooks" you can find right within the word and its Latin root. I'll also share some cool linguistic histories!

Dubious
Root: Dubious derives from the Latin word dubitare (to waver, to hesitate)
Relatives: Doubt
Hook: When you see the dub-, you should remember the word doubt.

Brevity
Root: Brevity comes from the Latin breve (short)
Relatives: Abbreviation, brief, breve
Hook: If you're more familiar with the word abbreviation, then you should see the brev- in brevity and remember short!

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