50 Words the SAT Loves

Auspicious. Aesthetic. Eclectic. These words may sound vaguely familiar to the teen in your house. But does he know exactly what they mean?

If he's prepping for the SAT, he should. Vocabulary for the test isn't as random as you might think. While it changes for each test sitting, there are certain stalwarts that tend to show up again and again. And if your kid knows the set, his odds of scoring will improve. A lot.

Much money has been spent on teasing out the candidates. And coaching companies aren't giving it all out for free. The Princeton Review offered us 50 words from their stash of "most frequently tested".  If nothing else, it's a good start. So drop a few of these words into dinnertime conversation and hope your kid's ears are perked:

1. abstract not concrete
2. aesthetic having to do with the appreciation of beauty
3. alleviate to ease a pain or a burden
4. ambivalent simultaneously feeling opposing feelings; uncertain
5. apathetic feeling or showing little emotion
6. auspicious favorable; promising
7. benevolent well-meaning; generous
8. candor sincerity; openness
9. cogent convincing; reasonable
10. comprehensive broad or complete in scope or content
11. contemporary current, modern; from the same time
12. conviction a fixed or strong belief
13. diligent marked by painstaking effort; hard-working
14. dubious doubtful; of unlikely authenticity
15. eclectic made up of a variety of sources or styles
16. egregious conspicuously bad or offensive
17. exculpate to free from guilt or blame
18. florid flowery or elaborate in style
19. gratuitous given freely; unearned; unwarranted
20. hackneyed worn out through overuse; trite
21. idealize to consider perfect
22. impartial not in favor of one side or the other; unbiased
23. imperious arrogantly domineering or overbearing
24. inherent inborn; built-in
25. innovative introducing something new
26. inveterate long established; deep-rooted; habitual
27. laudatory giving praise
28. maverick one who resists adherence to a group
29. mollify to calm or soothe
30. novel strikingly new or unusual
31. obdurate stubborn; inflexible
32. objectivity judgment uninfluenced by emotion
33. obstinate stubbornly adhering to an opinion
34. ornate elaborately decorated
35. ostentatious describing a pretentious display
36. paramount of chief concern or importance
37. penitent expressing remorse for one's misdeeds
38. pervasive dispersed throughout
39. plausible seemingly valid or acceptable; credible
40. profound having great depth or seriousness
41. prosaic unimaginative; dull; ordinary
42. quandary a state of uncertainty or perplexity
43. rancorous hateful; marked by deep-seated ill will
44. spurious not genuine; false; counterfeit
45. stoic indifferent to pleasure or pain; impassive
46. superfluous extra; unnecessary
47. tenuous having little substance or strength; unsure; weak
48. timorous timid; fearful
49. transitory short-lived; temporary
50. vindicated freed from blame