--- title: Obscure SAT Vocab Words Are Out, and Here's What They're Being Replaced With description: Watch MONEY staffers try to define tough SAT words, and learn about vocabulary changes on the redesigned SAT that starts March 5. authors: - name: Katie Meyer url: https://money.com/author/katie-meyer/ at_money_since: 2016 articles: 7 covers: - Education - Career Advice - Lifestyle - Personal Finance - Taxes former_staff: true - name: Kaitlin Mulhere role: Editor url: https://money.com/author/kaitlin-mulhere/ bio: Kaitlin Mulhere is an editor at Money.com. Since joining in 2015, she’s written and edited about a variety of personal finance topics, including banks, credit, student debt, saving strategies and more. education: University of Florida at_money_since: 2015 articles: 217 covers: - Education - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/KMulhere - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaitlin-mulhere-64503048/ published: '2016-02-19T11:00:37.000Z' modified: '2024-05-16T10:56:56.000Z' section: Education tags: - admissions exam - College Admissions - College Board - new sat - redesigned SAT - SAT - SAT vocab - Vocabulary word_count: 276 canonical: https://money.com/new-sat-vocabulary-changes/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![students with backpacks](https://img.money.com/2014/10/141017_gen_ff_education.jpg?crop=119px%2C85px%2C2536px%2C1427px&quality=85) Starting March 5, college-bound students will take a new version of the SAT. There's some concern about whether students are prepared for the new exam—and probably a fair share of anxiety among the soon-to-be test takers. But there is at least one change that nobody's complaining about: the end of abstruse verbiage, if you know what we mean. Instead of memorizing lists of rarely used vocabulary, students will now have to show they understand how to use more common words in context. The change reflects what the College Board hopes the new SAT will be—relevant to what students need to know after high school. [![Best college education image](https://content.money.com/wp-content/themes/money2018/img/college-site-banner-02.png)](https://best-colleges.time.com/money/search-colleges/?xid=cm-mcpFindTheCollegeWidget) From now on, test takers will have to answer questions about the meaning of words such as "embraced," "tracked," "channeled," "directly," and "devise," based on their context in a reading passage. Here's a new sample question: > As used in the following excerpt, what does the word "channeled" most nearly mean? > > The nature of impeachment: a narrowly channeled exception to the separation of powers maxim. The Federal Convention of 1787 said that. It limited impeachment to high crimes and misdemeanors, and discounted and opposed the term “maladministration” > > A) worn B) sent ***C) constrained*** D) siphoned The elimination of the, uh, unpopular, vocabulary section has been one of the most [frequently](http://www.npr.org/2013/12/23/256570578/sorry-assiduous-adj-sat-takers-linguist-in-dudgeon-n-over-vocab-flashcards) [mentioned changes](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/education/revised-sat-wont-include-obscure-vocabulary-words.html) in [media coverage](http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/17/living/sat-words-schools/) of the redesign. The College Board even had some fun saying goodbye to the words of the past, with this [vocab-laden press release](https://www.collegeboard.org/releases/2016/college-board-elegizes-anachronistic-verbiage-recondite-panegyric-celebrates-final-administration-extant-sat-jan-23). We decided to have our own fun by asking Money staffers, professional wordsmiths all, to define some vocabulary words we found in old test prep guides. 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