Do you need to boost your SAT or ACT score fast? One VERY efficient use of your studying time from now ‘til test day would be focusing on a certain genre of question: the “Vocab In Context” (or “VIC”) question. These questions not only appear consistently in every SAT Evidence-Based Reading section; they also tend to crop up in the ACT Reading Section—and, to a certain extent, even in the SAT Evidence-Based Writing section. (In the latter, VICs will take the form of “Word Choice” questions, but the strategy I describe below is still relevant.) Being able to recognize and answer this type of question will win you crucial points every time—so buckle up and let’s get to it!
What Is a “Vocab in Context” Question?
Generally speaking, this is the structure that these questions tend to have. (This sample problem is taken from College Board SAT Practice Test #1.)
8) As used in line 2, the word “form” most nearly means
A) appearance.
B) custom.
C) structure.
D) nature.
What this question is asking you to do may seem simple enough: just pick the answer choice that means the same as the word in the question. However, many test-takers (for instance, those who haven’t worked with me in a one-on-one setting to study for the SAT or ACT) STILL pick the wrong answer.
You may be wondering why that is.
Well, most students assume they should approach these types of questions as simple vocabulary quizzes, like flashcards with only one answer. But they’re really quite different from that. Because the SAT and the ACT will try to hoodwink you by providing several answer choices that technically do fit some definition of the word in question.
That’s why I didn’t call these “Vocab” Questions…I called them “Vocab in Context” Questions. And if you follow my strategy of honing in on the “in Context” part of the equation, your path to the correct answer will be straightforward from this point forward. And of course, I’m going to teach you exactly how to do that right now.
The Best Method for “Vocab In Context” Questions
Here’s the basic skeleton of the strategy, and I’ll explain each step in greater detail after the image below.
Step #1: Locate the vocab word in the line cited, underlining or circling the word.
Step #2: Read the whole sentence that contains the word, but instead of reading the vocab word, swap in the word “blank.”
Step #3: Now reread the part of the sentence containing the vocab word four times in a row, each time swapping out the vocab word for each of the four answer choices.
Step #4: Choose the answer, which—thanks to this strategy—will now be easy to determine!
Time to TRY the method OUT ON OUR QUESTION FROM the SAT PRACTICE TEST, above:
Step #1: Go back to line 2 and underline or circle the word “form.” Make it stand out (for the purpose of this example, I'm underlining it). Here’s what the sentence would look like now:
“Had he followed form—had he asked his mother to speak to his father to approach a go-between—would Chie have been more receptive?”
Step #2: Read the entire sentence, replacing the vocab word with the word “blank.” This is what you’d read to yourself:
“Had he followed blank—had he asked his mother to speak to his father to approach a go-between—would Chie have been more receptive?”
Step #3: Reread the segment or clause of the sentence with the vocab word four times in a row, each time replacing it with an answer choice. Here’s what you’d read to yourself in this scenario:
“Had he followed appearance…” (Answer choice A)
“Had he followed custom…” (Answer choice B)
“Had he followed structure…” (Answer choice C)
“Had he followed nature…” (Answer choice D)
Step #4: Select the correct answer. In this case, following “custom” is the only choice that makes any sense at all, so select answer choice B! Now pat yourself on the back for selecting the correct answer very quickly—the Ivy Lounge Test Prep® way!
Now, you may have noticed a few counterintuitive things about this method.
1) NEVER IN THIS PROCESS DID I ASK MYSELF WHAT THE WORD “FORM” MEANS.
Because, honestly, what “form” means is not of interest to us, here—we only care what “form” means in that particular sentence! Vocab in context, right?
2) IN STEP #2, I ACTUALLY REREAD THE ENTIRE SENTENCE BUT USED A PLACEHOLDER INSTEAD OF THE VOCAB WORD.
I did this so I could silence any preconceived definitions I might have in my head for a given word, and remain neutral when I try out the options in the next step. AND…
3) IN STEP #3, I REREAD THE WHOLE SEGMENT ALL FOUR TIMES, EACH WITH A DIFFERENT WORD.
I did NOT read: “Had he followed appearance…custom…structure…nature”
That’s confusing. Your brain needs to hear all four options in context. If I read it like that, I only really understand what the word “appearance” sounds like in context, and I’m relying on my memory to make a judgment call about the other three words…which means I end up overthinking and asking myself time-consuming questions that lead to the wrong answer, like “does ‘structure’ mean ‘form’?” and so on.
And that's the Ivy Lounge Test Prep® way to ace “Vocab in Context” Questions.
So, dear reader, if you can stay on-track and follow these steps, in order, without skipping around or cutting corners, you, too, can nab the (significant number of) points these questions contain! You might even want to share this post with a pal who’s also prepping for a standardized test.
And if this post leaves you hungry for more of my SAT Reading/ACT Reading tricks, check out the self-study courses linked in this sentence! Learn everything you need to ace these tests from the comfort of your own home/laptop.
