PickyKidPix just turned 13 years old and she’s quite the long-term planner. Because she intends to get a high score on the SAT test four years from now, she’s taken immediate steps to improve her vocabulary.
The first thing she did was sign up for Latin for 7th grade based on the assumption that Latin, with its roots and suffixes, would help her break down unfamiliar words.
She asked me how I scored a decent but in no way perfect score on my SAT 30+ years ago. I told her that I memorized a box of 1000 SAT vocabulary cards over one summer. It really worked for me; my SAT verbal score went up a whopping 600 points! One of my college roommates got similar results by memorizing the dictionary.
Rich Vocabulary Part 1: Learning more words
PickyKidPix asked for a deck of SAT vocabulary cards and I found her this one that has pictures for 200 commonly used SAT words.
We started using this deck in the car on the way to soccer practice. PickyKidPix would pull out about 10 cards and we would make up a funny sentence using the word with her starring in it.
The key is repetition. We review the words over three or four sessions before moving on. PickyKidPix also tries to use these words in conversation at home as well.
Free SAT Vocabulary Flashcard Resources
FREE online SAT vocabulary game created by a teen!
100 Most Common SAT words (with audio for pronunciation)
350 Free SAT Flashcards from Magoosh (these are good because you can’t see the answer until you hit a button and they are grouped in smaller sets of 50)
A free printable PDF of 200 flashcards to print and cut out
This post is part of a four-part series to help PickyKidPix with her writing, and hopefully other kids too on:
- How to Use the Comma
- Rich Vocabulary Part 1: Learning more words
- Rich Vocabulary Part 2: Using the Thesaurus
- The Art of Editing: Analyzing Sentence Structure and Taking Several Passes
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This is fantastic, Mia. Perfect for my soon-to-be 7th grader.
Hi Mariana,
I am finding it is taking a while for my daughter to learn just a handful of cards but it’s fun in this format for her.
One more thing… the box/link is not working for me.
Sorry Mariana,
Let me fix that!
Thanks for this…my son will be in 7th in the fall and this would be a great help for him to get started. Wish I had started something like this with my soon to be 10th grader….but never too late….I’m going to get this.
Hi Susan,
I’m glad it will help your son too! My 7th grade daughter seems to enjoy the challenge of learning new words using these cards.
Really great idea! 😀 I think I may try it!
Hi Erik,
I will bet that you know many of these words already because you read so extensively but I found that I needed SAT cards myself when I took the SAT despite reading a lot. These cards are especially fun!
Thanks for the idea and links. I wouldn’t mind brushing up on vocab and introducing my kids to some!
Hi Ann,
I am brushing up on my vocab too as I help her learn the words. She’s really enjoying the flashcards which surprises me but she thinks knowing big words is like having an arsenal of weapons LOL!