Tips on Learning Your Vocab

For many people, studying abroad means having to take standardized tests like the SAT or GRE, and sometimes even spoken English tests, both of which require you to learn a whole load of long, difficult words. Sometimes, learning vocabulary is the hardest part of studying for these tests, and most often, even if you do learn them, you will forget in a few days.

However, there are ways to go about it that can make the process easier and help you remember the words better over a longer period of time.

Study Long-term

If possible, plan your schedule so that you have ample time to study for the test and spread out your vocab over a long time. Cramming may work in some cases, but not here!

Use Flashcards

Flashcards may sound old fashioned, but they are the best way you can learn new words and remember them. Make the flashcards yourself instead of buying them, and as you write down each word and its meaning, say them out loud, and use them in their proper context in a sentence. By using so many of your senses to engage with the word, you are more likely to remember it and keep it in your memory for a longer stretch of time. If you can, think of ways to associate the word with something else – such as an object, or another word that sounds and means something similar to it, so that you can remember it better.

Write Down Unfamiliar Words

You’d be surprised how easy it becomes to increase your vocab if you write down words you don’t know. When you come across a word you are not familiar with that may be included in your tests’ vocab list, write it down anywhere – on your phone, on a napkin, your notebook, anywhere. When you are practicing for your tests, rewrite these words on a separate document, and make it your personal word list, and study from it every day. Even if these words don’t show up on the test itself, you will have improved your vocabulary, and you can always use these words in your essays (but make sure you are using them correctly!)

Study Buddies

Finding someone to study with can be a great help. Get your study partner to test you, and do the same for them, and get together to find fun and creative ways to learn your vocabulary.

Learn Roots

The meanings of many words you don’t know can be identified if you know where they originate from. For example, any word that ends in the suffix -logy would definitely mean that it is a study of something, or if it contains the word photo, then you can assume that it has something to do with light. Once you learn the common roots for words, it becomes easier for you to learn the words when you come across them.

Make sure that you don’t just learn your vocab once and put it aside. Repeat and revise them frequently and use them in conversation as often as you can to be able to commit them to memory.