There are several SAT vocabulary word games that high school teachers may opt to play with their students. In many cases these SAT vocabulary word games may be as easy as simple vocabulary word drills that are normally used in the guise of a daily quiz. Other times the SAT vocabulary word games will actually be a game in which teachers will have their students be avid participants. At the end of it all, the delivery of the game is purely up to the discretion of the teacher.
Many teachers opt to play recognizable games such as popular television quiz games such as Jeopardy. They will take the basic rules of the game and then apply them to the vocabulary words that are most common to the SAT.
Here are a few examples of vocabulary word games that are targeted towards students who take the SAT.
Where there are vocabulary words, there are crossword puzzles. The aim of the crossword puzzle is to get students to guess the hidden vocabulary words. Whether horizontal or vertical there will be an abundance of vocabulary words for the students to find. This game will be both mentally stimulating and challenging for students, because it will motivate them to learn their vocabulary words.
One of the vocabulary word games that has managed to stand the test of time is Hangman. In the game, students are tasked with figuring out the SAT vocabulary word prior to the completed drawing of the body of a hanging man. If they do not guess the word, then they will lose the game and the hanging man will be hung. However if they do guess the vocabulary word then the hanging man will not be hung and they will be able to continue with their guessing.
These games are more like timed computer quizzes. If you have three computer stations you can break the class up into teams of students and each team will have seven minutes to figure out the complete SAT vocabulary quiz. The quiz is made up of twenty questions and the team who can complete the most questions in the seven minute time limit will win the game. This not only helps with vocabulary word recognition, but it also assists in boosting the speed of the student.
This is something that can work to the advantage of the high school student. If the teacher makes up flash cards (perhaps twenty or fifty) and breaks the class into teams, this might be an exciting challenge for the students.
You can have the word on the side of the card facing the class and the definition of the word on the opposite side of the card. You call on team members to define the word. If they define it correctly, points are given. If not, then points are not given. You may want to consider having an incentive that you can use as an award for the winners in order to better motivate the students.
If you base the game on the weekly or daily vocabulary words, then you can pull words from those lists and scramble the words either on the board or on a worksheet. This game should be timed, and students will have to unscramble as many of the words as possible. The more words that they complete during the designated time frame, the more prepared they will be for the SAT.
The above games are just a random sampling of what teachers can have on hand in order to better prepare the students for the SAT. For additional word games teachers can either brainstorm, go to the local toy store and look at a few board games.