Korean SAT Vocabulary Grade & Frequency Guide

1. What the data covers

Suwords compiles public English vocabulary appearing in the Korean SAT (Suneung) plus June / September mock exams from 2021 through 2025. The original exam prose is under copyright (Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation), so we include only factual frequency counts, primary meanings, and original editorial example sentences — never the source passages themselves.

• 5-year cumulative occurrences (×f) — sortable descending
• Filter by alphabetical, grade (S/A/B/C), or part of speech
• Instant search across English headword or Korean meaning
• Flashcard mode with shuffle + "known / review" state saved per word

2. Grade system (S / A / B / C)

No official grade exists for Suneung vocabulary. This tool clusters words into four tiers based on the 5-year cumulative occurrence count.

3. Study strategy

1. Cover in order S → A → B. Save C for last.
2. In the flashcard tab, filter to just S and run 2–3 shuffle cycles before expanding to A.
3. Progress is saved in localStorage — keep studying on the same device to resume.
4. Review example → Korean translation → synonyms together. Contextual recall beats isolated repetition.
5. Weekly rhythm: 70 new words on weekdays, 200 word review on weekends. Shuffle to break position bias.

4. Sample of top-frequency words

Currently featured S-grade words include: consider, provide, require, increase, research, behavior, affect, create, develop, improve, various, particular, significant, available, however, therefore — all of which appear at least once in nearly every exam session.

5. Copyright and data sourcing

• We do not reproduce Suneung exam prose.
• Frequency counts and grade buckets are factual data aggregated from official KICE published lists and EBSi public vocabulary materials.
• All example sentences are original editorial content.
• Data refreshes 3× per year (after June mock, September mock, and the November final exam).

6. Section-by-section vocabulary weight

The same word carries different priority depending on where it appears. respond and recently show up in both listening and reading; therefore and consequently live almost exclusively as paragraph connectors in reading. The "section" tag at the bottom of each card lets you split practice by listening (17 items), reading (28 items), and grammar (2–3 items).

• Listening: conversational verbs, time/place adverbs. Prioritize 200–300 words like order, reserve, available, schedule.
• Reading: abstract nouns and logical connectors. About 1,200–1,500 items including argument, evidence, contradict, accordingly.
• Grammar: verb forms, relative clauses, participial phrases — pattern recognition matters more than raw vocabulary.
• Cloze / Summary: answers usually paraphrase the topic with a synonym. The "Synonyms" column is the key surface here.

7. Roots and affixes — a shortcut to 1,200 words

About 60% of S-grade and A-grade vocabulary is built from Latin or Greek roots. Master four pieces —com- / con- (together), pre- (before), -ate / -ize (verbalize), -tion / -ment(nominalize) — and you can infer over 1,200 words on the fly. Each word card in this tool shows its etymology.

• Prefixes: un-, re-, pre-, post-, anti-, inter-, trans-, super-, sub-, mis-.
• Roots: spec (to see), port (to carry), dict (to say), tract (to pull), ject (to throw), graph (to write).
• Suffixes: -tion / -ment / -ness (noun), -ize / -ate (verb), -ive / -ous / -ful (adjective).
• Roots are the strongest tool for handling unknown words in the exam — even 50–100 of them pay off.

8. Synonym & antonym networks

80%+ of Suneung English summary / cloze items hinge on a paraphrase of the topic. This tool surfaces 3–5 synonyms and antonyms for every S/A item. Memorizing significant next to noticeable · considerable · marginal lets you match the meaning group quickly in the exam room.

• Meaning groups: bundle 5–7 words per concept ("important") and study them together.
• Opposite pairs: always study "increase/decrease", "allow/forbid", "succeed/fail" together.
• Collocations: make a decision, pose a threat are easier to remember as chunks than as isolated words.

9. Thirty commonly confused pairs

Grammar and vocabulary items are most often missed on look-alike pairs. The "Confusable Pair" quiz in this tool walks you through these in order.

• affect (verb) ↔ effect (noun).
• complement (complete) ↔ compliment (praise).
• principal (main / head) ↔ principle (rule).
• stationary (still) ↔ stationery (writing supplies).
• adopt (take on) ↔ adapt (adjust).
• access (entry) ↔ assess (evaluate).
• economic (of economy) ↔ economical (thrifty).
• respectable ↔ respectful ↔ respective.
• conscious (aware) ↔ conscientious (careful, dutiful).
• imply (hint) ↔ infer (deduce).

10. Plan by D-day — D-180, D-90, D-30, D-7

1. D-180 → D-91 (Foundations): One pass through 1,800 S+A words. 50 new + 100 review daily. Use the "Daily 50" flashcard mode.
2. D-90 → D-31 (Expansion): Add 800 B-grade words; second pass through S/A. Send weak items to the "Review" folder.
3. D-30 → D-8 (Simulation): Sample C-grade, shuffle full list. After every mock, push unknown words straight into the deck.
4. D-7 → D-DAY (Taper): No new words. Only the "Review" folder. On the eve, skim 100 S-grade items lightly.

11. CSAT vocabulary vs. TOEIC / TEPS / IELTS

Suneung vocabulary overlaps roughly 70% with TOEIC, TEPS, and IELTS, but the remaining 30% diverges sharply: Suneung leans on abstract nouns and argumentation; TOEIC on business and office; IELTS on academic English. Test-takers moving from Suneung to TOEIC trip up on words like itinerary, agenda, reimbursement. This tool is Suneung-specific — pair it with a dedicated wordlist for other exams.

12. Four-step workflow with this tool

1. Screen: filter by letter and grade. Mark unknowns as "Unmemorized".
2. Learn: in flashcard mode go word → meaning → example → synonyms in that order.
3. Lock in: move weak items to the "Review" folder; retry after 3 days.
4. Audit: after each mock exam, search 5–10 unknown words, check the grade, study the same meaning group.

13. Forgetting curve — spacing reviews

Ebbinghaus showed that newly learned vocabulary decays sharply within 24 hours and continues to fade over the following week. Smart spacing of reviews flattens the curve. The schedule below sits inside this tool's flashcard scheduling and is the same pattern Korean test-prep academies have been validating for years.

• Day 0 (first contact): read word, meaning, example, two synonyms.
• Day 1: review without looking at meaning first. Mark unrecalled words.
• Day 3: review again. Words still unrecalled drop into the "Review" folder.
• Day 7: mass review. Cover meaning, see how many you can produce from English alone.
• Day 14 / Day 30: verification rounds. The remaining unknowns are your real weak set.

14. Reading speed and vocabulary — the silent threshold

The Suneung English section gives 70 minutes for 45 questions, of which 25 minutes are listening. That leaves about 60 seconds per reading item. Students who read at under 130 words per minute almost always run out of time. Vocabulary coverage is the single strongest lever on reading speed — every unknown word triggers a re-read of the surrounding sentence, eating 5–10 seconds. Mastering the top 1,800 S+A words usually pushes a learner from 110 WPM into the 150 WPM zone without practicing speed reading directly.

15. Mistakes to avoid in self-study

• Buying multiple wordlists at once: finish one before starting another. Switching books mid-cycle leaks 30–40% of retention.
• Studying only by reading: add active recall and writing the word from memory.
• Skipping example sentences: meaning without context is fragile.
• Cramming the last week: the forgetting curve makes a one-week cram return only 30% of the input by test day.
• Ignoring mock exam unknowns: the words that surprised you in a mock are your most exam-relevant deck.

16. Privacy and data handling

All progress — known words, the "Review" folder, the shuffle position — is stored in your browser's localStorage. Nothing leaves your device. No account, no cloud sync, no analytics on individual progress. If you clear browser data you reset your progress; export is currently not supported.

17. References

• KICE published vocabulary materials (annually).
• EBSi public vocabulary list (linked to the Suneung connect-rate of approximately 50%).
• Hermann Ebbinghaus, "Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology" (1885) — the original forgetting curve.
• In-house frequency aggregation: five years (2021–2025) of public Suneung plus June and September mock exam vocabulary.

More answers on the FAQ page.