If English is not your first language, you have probably been told to memorize 2,000 SAT words.

That is the slowest way to raise a score.

Reading on the SAT is evidence. The answer is in the passage. The trap is the choice that sounds smart in English but is not supported by the line they pointed you to.

What actually moves international scores:

• Stop translating the passage. Mark the claim, the evidence, the contrast word (however, yet, although).

• Writing is grammar rules, not "what sounds right." Subject-verb, modifiers, punctuation. Learn the 8 rules they recycle. Ignore the rest.

• Math is the same exam you already know, written in slightly worse English. Translate the word problem into an equation before you touch the choices.

US students waste time on vocabulary lists too. They just do not notice because the language is invisible to them.

If you are applying from outside the US, study the test, not American high school.