Building your vocabulary will help maximize your score on the Critical Reading and Writing sections. Although the SAT will never ask you to define a word, it will ask you to explain what a word means in context. Often you can figure out this meaning without actually knowing what a word means, but on harder items, the context might not be enough to guide you to an answer.

When you come across a word whose meaning you don’t know, write it down and look up the definition. Once you have your words and definitions on hand, create flashcards by writing the word on one side and the definition on the other. You should also create groupings for your flashcards, such as positive words, negative words, words of praise, and so forth. Finally, create a sample sentence that uses the word. Here’s what your flashcards should look like: