There’s No Substitute for Vocabulary Power!
by Michael D. Davis
One question I am often asked is “How soon should I start getting my child prepared for the SAT?” My answer is that sophomore or junior high is a good time to begin. If you start earlier, you run the risk of the student forgetting everything by test time. Besides, some of the math stuff is not going to be altogether familiar for anyone below sophomore level, as a rule. On the other hand, it is NEVER too early to start building up your child’s vocabulary.
I learned this from my Spanish professor in high school. He used the phrase over and over again: “Vocabulary Power.” Of course, what he meant by that was that the more words you know, the better able you are to express yourself. Certainly that should be the main motivation for developing a good vocabulary—so you can have substantial, interesting conversations with a variety of people. However, there’s another reason for building your vocabulary: if you don’t, your performance on the SAT Writing and Critical Reading sections will be abysmal.
I can’t stress enough how crucial a solid vocabulary is to doing well on the SAT. In addition, a solid knowledge of Latin and Greek roots is absolutely essential. Many times, if you don’t know the meaning of a word, you can figure it out by looking at the root words. So, for example, you might not know what the word philosophy means; however, if you know that “philos” is the Greek word for “love” and “sophia” is the Greek word for “wisdom,” you can at least get a sense of what the word might mean.
I have an extensive knowledge of Greek and Latin word roots. I studied Greek for three years in college, and I picked up a great deal of Latin along the way. I have some great resources to help your child improve his/her vocabulary. I like to make this a fun learning experience; building your vocabulary does not need to be a drudgery. I have books with games and puzzles that are entertaining as well as educational.
Don’t do what so many students do—waiting until the beginning of junior year, when the sense of urgency is starting to heighten and then having to cram as many definitions in their brain as they can in a brief period of time. By the time you’re a junior, SAT preparation should mainly be a matter of learning strategies for the various sections. Ideally, your vocabulary is well-developed by the time you get to junior year, so that your energy can be more efficiently channeled.
Why do we need to know latin and greek, nobody speaks that anymore do they? Its hard enough to learn English words. Is there some place to learn about latin and greek words that will really help me on the PSAT, like the root words you talked about?
Melissa, it’s not that you have to know Latin and Greek. My point is that one needs to know Latin and Greek word roots in order to know many words in the English language. A huge number of words in English (many of them which we use all the time) come from Greek and Latin. No one is saying that you need to read Homer and Cicero in their original languages. You just need to get familiar with some of the roots. Also, while you are correct that people don’t speak Latin anymore, it is certainly the case that Latin lives on in our language, and many others. The so-called Romance languages (the word comes from “Rome” by the way) are based almost entirely on Latin. And remember, Melissa, that Greek is still spoken by many people—especially in Greece.