Prefixes are placed before the root of a word to alter its meaning; suffixes are placed at the end. Often, prefixes can help SAT students figure out the meaning of unknown words on the sentence completion portion of the SAT when students know what the prefix or suffix means. For example, the word "autobiography" has the prefix "auto," which means self, the root "bio," which means life, and the suffix "graphy" which means write. Hence, knowledge of the prefixes, suffixes and roots of the word can help a student figure out that autobiography means a book written by a person about their own life. To help SAT students use prefixes and suffixes to increase their scores, provide a reference list of the most common and fundamental prefixes and suffixes. Don’t, however, have students merely memorize the list.The sentence completion portion of the SAT is the part of the test in which knowledge of unfamiliar vocabulary is heavily tested. Typically, sections are 24 questions long with 24 minutes allotted for completion. Prefix and suffix knowledge can decrease the time it takes to figure out word meaning.
Students come to SAT prep with loads of knowledge that enable them to make important connections that will help them to learn the information you are presenting. Take advantage of this and unlock their knowledge of certain words and prefixes and suffixes. For example, the word "preview" is a word that most students understand. Ask them to break down and identify the word into its prefix and suffix parts. "Pre" means before and "view" means to watch, hence preview means to watch something before something else. Once students do the exercise with familiar words, have them complete a similar activity with a passage that has a lot of unfamiliar vocabulary. Using a graphic organizer with headings for "Unknown Word," "Prefix," "Suffix," "Root," "Inferred Meaning," and "Dictionary Meaning," have students write down the words they don’t know and identify the prefixes and suffixes of those words onto the graphic organizer. When they have completely filled out the organizer, have students check their inferred meanings against the dictionary meanings of the words.
A great way for students to learn prefixes and suffixes it to play timed games involving the construction of various words using prefixes and suffixes. Give students a stack of cards with preprinted prefixes and suffixes and use a stop watch to time them as they try to form as many words as they can with the cards. This will ingrain the words and their meanings more effectively than just rote memorization.
Because of the sheer volume of vocabulary words, it is highly ineffective to try to cram them in the few weeks leading up the SAT. Learning a simple list of the most prevalent prefixes and suffixes that make up over 15,000 words is a great way to get a leg up on the verbal section of the SAT.