Vocabulary: Barron’s 1100 words

In previous posts on vocabulary, I’ve linked the Academic Word List (AWL) and the SATs word lists in previous posts (filed under ‘Vocabulary’ in the sidebar/tag cloud).

Barron’s 1100 words is yet another word list, full of commonly used and useful-to-know words. If you study from multiple word lists, you’ll notice that a fair number of the words overlap – so it might make sense to start with one list, and only move on to another list when done.

The Fourth Edition of Barron’s 1100 words (a little outdated, but still extremely useful) is available for download here. For online flashcards to study from, check out this site.

Vocabulary: The Academic Word List (AWL)

What is the Academic Word List?

The AWL is a list of words which appear with high frequency in English-language academic texts.

Why should I learn it?

You will need to know this vocabulary if you want to study in an English-speaking college or university. In fact, because these words are so common, they are even useful to those who do not plan to go on to post-secondary study in English. These are words that you will frequently see in newspapers, magazines, and novels, and hear on television, movies or in conversation.

- http://www.academicvocabularyexercises.com

In other words, because these are (non-basic) words that are frequently used, there is a decent chance of you encountering some of these words in the vocabulary section of Paper 2. And if you’re unlucky enough for none of these words to appear in the vocabulary section, it is more than likely that some of them will appear in the comprehension passage anyway – so knowing the words will improve your comprehension of the passage.

Task:

1. Visit http://www.academicvocabularyexercises.com/

2. Click on ‘Sublist 1′ under the header

3. Scroll down to ‘List of words’

4. Using a dictionary, find the meaning of each word on the list. Note down at least three synonyms for the word.

5. Test yourself with the exercises provided on the same page.

6. Test yourself by recalling all three synonyms for each word on the list.

7. Repeat with Sublists 2-10

Vocabulary: SAT Word Lists

Still struggling with contextual clues?

Here are 10 word lists, each containing 100 words. In addition to the 10 lists, there are additional words complied from the SAT study guide.

Your GP course is a two-year course – so if you  invest just a little time every day in learning these words, you should have plenty of time to learn them before the GCE ‘A’ Levels. And even if the five vocabulary words you ultimately get in your exam paper are not on this list, knowing these words will make you a better reader, and help you improve your paraphrasing skills.

Vocabulary help: Contextual clues

The vocabulary section of the Comprehension paper is worth five marks – almost 15% of the content marks available. As such, students who do well for this section tend to do better overall.

When compared to the AQ and the summary, the vocabulary section is a significantly quicker way of earning marks, for these questions often take the least time to complete.

But how do you get them right if you have no idea what the word means?

Two words: contextual clues.

Here are some helpful links which deal with using contextual clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words:

Building Vocabulary: Using Context Clues to Learn Word Meaning

The Longman Vocabulary Website: Using Context Clues

Once you’re familiar with the various contextual clues that writers use, test yourself, with these online tests:

Guessing Vocabulary in Context 1
Guessing Vocabulary in Context 2

The Longman Vocabulary Website
Exercises are separated into beginner, intermediate and advanced. However, note that even the advanced ones are relatively easy by GCE ‘A’ Level standards)