Recently I have been concentrating my efforts on reading more of the "Classics" of literature, especially those written by English speaking authors: Somerset Maugham, Cheever, Faulkner, Orwell, Hesse, and Huxley all come to mind. Reading someone like Somerset Maugham is like studying a list of SAT vocabulary words in context and effortlessly. I don't mean to say that the reader is necessarily familiar with all the words, but that the words are used so eloquently, effectively, and appropriately makes it a necessary source for reading, both for learning SAT vocabulary - and GRE vocabulary as well, without a doubt - and for simply enjoying a good read and reminding us why vocabulary variety even exists in the first place.
Although the collection of names above clearly focuses on 20th century writers, and despite the flooding of the literature market with new authors and works that demand less of the reader's "college level" vocabulary, vocabulary variety continues on in 21st century writers including Foster Wallace or Pynchon. I confess that after reading Infinite Jest I had a list of approximately twenty vocabulary words I don't recall ever having seen before, and the discovery of each definition was a revelation and allowed me to better appreciate and even laugh my way through entire paragraphs.
Yes, there is depth in vocabulary, and meaning, and color, and nuance, and humor. Vocabulary can be informative, caustic, and funny.
I recall reading Patrick Suskind's Perfume and being struck by his ability to use well-chosen vocabulary to describe and evoke smells. The storyline could have been written by any writer of gothic horror, but the power with which the story was told depended almost entirely on his precise selection of vocabulary.
Reading is an adventure different from cinema, television, music, theater, painting, photography, or dance. I'm sure I've left some other art forms out, but I think you get the picture. Reading tells us what to see, but the seeing is done in our minds. It is pleasant and entertaining. Additionally, our imagination elevates what we read. It stimulates our creativity and our visualizing skills. Reading speaks to us through words. It turns us into better speakers, better writers, better thinkers. It makes us better communicators. And all of these processes, from reading to expressing, become more profound the more words we have to work with.
For this reason the vocabulary on the SAT and GRE exams is important. It isn't a question of testing obscure words that nobody will know or ever use. It is actually a selection of extremely useful words that describe a myriad of everyday objects, people, and situations. And the more of this vocabulary you learn, the better you are able to precise describe the world around you. And the better you can describe that world, the better you may be able to participate in it. Or change it. Or adapt to it.
Somerset Maugham was allegedly the highest paid author of the 1930s, and he was a hugely popular writer. One of his most well known books, Of Human Bondage, was published just 100 years ago this year. Today his name is fading. But the books are still great. The world has changed a lot since then, but people haven't.
You can get a lot out of books. The problem with the vocabulary on the SAT or GRE isn't that it's hard. It's that we don't use it enough. Read more, and learn vocabulary. You'll thank yourself for it, before, during, and after your exam.
