Vocabulary
What is tested
Vocabulary items on this exam rarely ask for dictionary definitions in isolation. They test whether you can use context - the words and logic surrounding an unfamiliar term - to fix its meaning. Expect synonyms and antonyms, words with multiple meanings, roots and affixes, and connotation (the emotional shading a word carries beyond its literal sense).
Skills to build
- Context clues: definition (often set off by dashes or that is), contrast (unlike, although, but), cause and effect, and examples in a list.
- Word parts: bene- good, mal- bad, cred- believe, jur-/jud- law, -tion makes a noun, in-/un- negates. Even one familiar part gives you a foothold.
- Connotation: thrifty and stingy describe the same behavior, but one approves and one criticizes. A near-synonym with the wrong shade is a classic wrong answer.
- Multiple meanings: charged can mean accused, billed, attacked, or emotionally intense. Only context decides.
Traps
- Picking a familiar meaning that does not fit the sentence.
- Choosing a word related in topic but wrong in part of speech or degree.
- Missing a which is the OPPOSITE instruction.
- Being fooled by a word that resembles a known one.
Worked example
The sergeant's terse report left out nothing essential. Terse most nearly means (A) rude (B) brief (C) unclear (D) delayed. Report plus left out nothing essential signals compactness - B. Note that (A) is a real connotation of terseness in some settings, but this sentence praises brevity rather than criticizing rudeness. Always let the surrounding words, not your feelings about the word, decide.