Hot Words for the SAT (Hot Words for the Sat)

I am a mom with a 10 year old who is begging to study SAT words. (Don't ask why...she just really wants to learn them) I saw this book being used by the 10th graders at the local private school and I was very impressed. The organization of words into groups with similar meanings is fabulous. It really helps you to talk about those "shades of meaning" that you get with different word choices. Of course, these are not the most difficult of the SAT words, but I think it is perfect for the average to above average student. The highly gifted child who is taking the SAT as a senior should probably know the majority of these words already, but for most students I think it is perfect.

HERE IS THE TRUE SECRET to the vocab section. Go through the entire 10 test prep book and underline each and every word that you do not know. (The college board book with the cheap grey paper, costs about 20 bucks). Then make 3x5 cards. By the time you have gone through all 10 sample tests, you will know all the vocab you need to know. This is how my 12 year old got a 750 on the verbal last year.

I am a full time SAT tutor and have almost all my students study this book. It is perhaps the most popular book of its kind, and for good reason-- Carnevale's effective approach to acquiring new SAT words. She presents words by theme. For example, the first chapter's theme, Cat Got Your Tongue? presents "Words Relating to Using Few Words or Being Quiet." They are: brevity, concise, laconic, pithy, quiescent, reticent, succinct, taciturn, and terse. I find that studying words in categories, as presented in this book, is an effective way for students to (1) learn more words and (2) internalize the sometimes subtle differences between synonyms. The book also has several sentences for each word to illustrate the word's proper context.
On the other hand, there are several mistakes in the book. For example, the introduction refers to the books approach as yielding, "expoential vocabulary growth" (the "n" in "exponential" is missing). In chapter 9, the book says correct use of "miserly" is "Using a sheet of paper on only one side is a sign of a miserly individual."
These mistakes take away only slightly from the book's value since the concept is so solid and the words appear so often on tests.

I purchased this book for an exchange student that we are hosting. His English teacher recommended it. This book is good for basic vocabulary and spelling. Its strait forward and serves it's purpose.

I am an international student who just arrived America two months ago but still need to take SAT tests. It is very hard for me at first because my vocabulary bank is not broad enough to deal with the critical reading section. I did poorly in the practice tests. However,after I had finished reading this book, everything changed. I knew a lot more vocabularies and I could understand the passages more clearly. Moreover, it was a good first step for me before I began studying more advanced vocabularies. However, the only problem for this book is that the vocabularies are not advanced enough. You can't deal with the vocabulary section and understand the whole passage by knowing only vocabularies from this book. Therefore, I suggest that you read this book quickly and then start reading other vocabulary book such as Word Smart. It will help you a lot.
I won't recommend international students to start at Word Smart because it's too hard if you don't know some advanced vocabularies. You will be intimidated. But for Native speakers, you can skip this book.

I received the order quickly and the book was in great condition.