How to ace GRE Vocabulary

How to ace GRE Vocabulary

Verbal Section of the GRE contains three types of questions - Text Completion, Sentence
Equivalence, and Reading Comprehension. Reading Comprehension questions require you to read a text and answer questions based on your understanding of it. Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence questions, on the other hand, are vocabulary-based questions. In order to excel in these two sections, it’s crucial to have a rich vocabulary.

For many students, building a robust vocabulary is a challenging task as they do not adopt any right way to learn new words. Instead of randomly picking up new words and trying to memorize their meanings, it’s better to adopt proven vocabulary-enhancement tactics like mnemonics, flashcards, learning about root words etc. Here are some useful tips that will help you enhance your vocabulary -

1. Maintain a vocabulary journal

It is important to maintain a vocabulary log in which you can write ten words (or more
depending on your retention power) daily. Writing a word with its meaning is not enough. It is important to use the word in a sentence or story so that it is easy to recall. A
vocabulary journal will make the revision of words easy.

2. Make learning words interesting

Learning words through roots is one of the easiest and the most effective ways to learn
new words. The root is a word or part of the word through which other words grow. For
example words like verity, veracity, verisimilitude, veritable all come from the same root
ver/veri, which means truth. Similarly, grouping of words in different categories like
synonyms or antonyms also helps.

3. Visualize

It is believed that our visual memory is better than verbal. You can use your imagination
to visualize a word. For example, while learning the word ‘assiduous’, which means
hardworking, you can imagine a picture of a farmer toiling on his farm. When you make
visual associations with words, you are less likely to forget the meanings of new words
that you learn every day.

3. Visualize

It is believed that our visual memory is better than verbal. You can use your imagination
to visualize a word. For example, while learning the word ‘assiduous’, which means
hardworking, you can imagine a picture of a farmer toiling on his farm. When you make
visual associations with words, you are less likely to forget the meanings of new words
that you learn every day.

4. Number does not matter

Almost everyone has this question: How many words should I learn on a daily basis?

The number of words does not matter. What matters is the number of words that one
can retain. There is no point in memorizing 50 words a day when you can’t recall their
meanings after a few days. So, learn only those many words which you can remember.
Even if you know 60-70% of the vocabulary, you can do almost 90% of the questions
using the elimination method.

5. Regularity

Being regular is important. Make sure that you learn new words on a regular basis. At
the same time, it is important to revise the words and use them again and again in your
written and oral communication. Regularity, revision, and reuse will help you remember
words.

Happy Learning!