This article aims to provide an informal set of general information and suggestions to get you going. Following an anecdote, this article is organized into two sections: What is SSAT vocabulary and how is it different from school vocabulary; and building and sustaining your new vocabulary.
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First, for what it's worth, a synopsis of an argument my husband (natural test taker) and I had (in front of our daughter) while reviewing the results of her first ever SSAT practice test. Our daughter was surprised by the number of words she simply had never come across before—despite being a voracious reader, and more surprised by the number of words she was familiar with and sort of knew—but became unsure of during the test because the word was being used in a different context or more exacting way.
Scene: My daughter and I were going through questions she guessed at, skipped, and got wrong. My husband enters just as I was explaining how the SSAT penalizes guesses, but that it's worthwhile to take one if she could reasonably narrow the multiple choice to 3-4 options. I was walking her through how I would have justified how I would have whittled down the options even if I did not know some of the words.
The analogy question was: Hiatus is to Lapse, as: (A) Panacea is to Vaccine; (B) Innuendo is to Analogy; (C) Ideology is to Prejudice; (D) Facsimile is to Replica; (E) Astuteness is to Lunacy.
- My daughter and I agreed on kicking out 'astuteness is to lunacy,' because it was not remotely close to the 'like for like' comparison that 'hiatus' and 'lapse' was drawing
- From there, my daughter did not know what 'panacea' meant, and was no longer confident about what 'facsimile' meant
- She picked: (B) Innuendo is to Analogy
My take was that: even without knowing 'panacea' and 'facsimile,' that:
- First, we should can feel alright kicking out option (C) because subscribing to an ideology does not necessarily make someone prejudiced
- Second, having taken Latin in school, I suggested my daughter should have been able to feel mildly alright about kicking out option (A) despite not knowing what 'panacea' means because the 'pan' means 'all,' which would indicate option (A) may be suggesting a 'like for like' type of relationship, but it's also probably suggesting a 'many vs. one specific' relationship
- So then … we're mildly confidently down to two options: (B) and (D)
- My argument against option (B), even if my daughter were not sure about what 'facsimile' means, is that at best, 'innuendo' is only *maybe sort of* like an analogy
Anyway, my husband overhears this reasoning, calls me out about backing into a rationale (because I am not actually burdened by being unfamiliar with these words), and calls the whole strategy too complicated to attempt under a time constraint.
His advice: "you sort of just need to know the words."
My immediate comment was to check his natural test taking gifts, and my next comment—in the form of a question—was: "did you know every single word when you took the SAT?"
He did in fact know every word (and yes, he did get a 1600; and no, he did not study).
And so my point was that not many people know all—if not most all of these words; and that students who are looking to score in competitive percentiles need to compete on the margins, meaning every point counts. And when every point counts, there needs to be a way to make educated guesses.
In short, in my opinion: my husband was right about my explanation being overly complicated; however, he was categorically wrong about simply needing to know all the words, though he shall receive partial credit because needing to know many of the words is clutch. That really is the only way to get through the verbal and reading sections (because yes, vocab shows up there too) with not only accuracy, but also with speed.
What Is SSAT Vocabulary and How Is It Different From School Vocabulary?
The SSAT verbal section is split into: (1) Synonyms (30 questions); and (2) Analogies (30 questions). And often, vocabulary also crops up in the Reading Comprehension section (which is separate and distinct from verbal).
- Synonyms require single-word definitional precision (e.g., Loquacious most nearly means... Talkative)
- Analogies are like, Baker : Bread :: Author : Book; they test the understanding of relationships, where what's also needed is both: an accurate—if not precise understanding, as well as the ability to organize relationships into different relationship types (e.g., part-to-whole; synonym; antonym; degree; cause-and-effect)
- Reading Comprehension vocabulary may come in various forms, like "by [this word], the author most likely means [that]"; or questions will simply use vocab to ask about which word best describes the tone of the passage, or protagonist's feelings
School vocabulary may be sophisticated, but at least common, and often comes with a colloquial or rough understanding of the definition. SSAT vocabulary, on the other hand, tends to include:
- Latin / Greek-root-based words
- Literary words
- Precise emotional descriptors
- Scientific / academic adjectives
- Words with nuance and shades of meaning (e.g., 'irate' vs. 'annoyed')
Building and Sustaining Your New Vocabulary
What we ended up doing was creating an aggregated word list that included all: (i) words my daughter did not know or were unsure about while taking practice tests; (ii) synonyms that came to mind while helping my daughter with definitions; and (iii) words that I came across in things I was reading that I thought felt like a possible SSAT word.
The aggregate list turned into different formats, including a Google Documents-based one that listed all the words, but grouped by some loose category, and of course, flashcards.
And for us, practice was running through the words, having my daughter use them in sentences (in different ways), and iteratively dwindling her 'rats' pile, which was the pile of words she consistently struggled with or continued to have no reasonable definition for.
Where possible, we also pointed out roots, and tried to learn those along the way.
And selectively, my daughter ended up remembering certain words we created ridiculous joke mnemonics for, like to remember the word 'Pariah,' think about Mariah Carey's 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' song, and how between October through December, you want to be sequestered, cast to the side, and away from your ears.
Conclusion
There are so many words, so if you're not my husband, chances are, your child will likely come across several that are unknown or unfamiliar to them. What may feel frustrating about vocabulary is that despite putting in the hard work to learn and retain words, only a few—or even none—of the words your child has practiced may show up on the test. Nonetheless, for what it's worth...
See [Link to Vocab List] for sets of the words my daughter came across.