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GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary

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GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   10 Sep 2010, 04:53
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A guide to building your vocabulary for GRE



WORK IN PROGRESS...

For the GRE exam, probably the biggest challenge is to build your vocabulary. This is especially true for non-native English speakers ( like me).

The vocabulary involves learning about 4000+ new words. The real challenge is to remember them.

Watch out !! There are tons of recommendations of "Magic vocabulary building kits/softwares" and claims of - " How to learn 1000 words in a day" :shock: . Stay away from those!! There is really no shortcut. The only way to improve your vocabulary is to come up with an organized study schedule, apply them in real life, do more practice questions and revise, re-revise & re-revise words till your exam.

Step-by-step approach


Note: Give it about 2 months of time for building your vocabulary. GRE Math is not as tough as GMAT . So, if you have decent Math skills,trust me, though it sounds like a lot, learning the words is 60% of the battle done.

  1. Start with reading the book Word Power Made Easy. There is no other book that helps you build your vocabulary and is actually interesting to read :-D . This book is based on etymology and teaches you words based on root-words. Getting a grasp of this approach helps a lot in remembering words and deriving new words. Later in your study, even when you come across unfamiliar words, you will be able to attempt breaking up the word into root words and guessing a sensible meaning.
  2. Start with the Barrons book - Barron's GRE with CD-ROM. Barrons has 50 wordlists of about 4000 words ordered alphabetically. The Barrons wordlists are trusted resources and a long time favourite among GRE students. It is the most comprehensive list of GRE words.

I suggest that you take a xerox copy of these wordlists. So that you can scribble, tick,cross on it rather than on the book. Also, it is easier to carry around.

Approach to study wordlists


  1. Day 1 - Plan on doing 1 wordlist per day.
    Read thru the wordlist 1st round. Tick words you know.
  2. Read the wordlist 2nd round and check each unfamiliar word. Read the example and see if that is clear. If it is not clear,check out one of the following online dictionaries or wikipedia (yes, wikipedia has great explanations)
  3. Flash Cards - My best friend
    Take notes and an example of this word in a flash card.
    Check out "How to make GRE Flashcards" https://www.ehow.com/how_4609404_make-flash-cards-right-way.html
  4. Revise the flash cards as and when you get time on Day1.
  5. Day 2 - Start with the flashcard of previous day(s), scramble it and see if you remember them. If you dont, keep it for further revision.
  6. On Day 2, do the next wordlist and prepare flashcards for the new words, combine them with the set of flashcards you cant remember from Day1 and keep revising this.
  7. Keep doing these steps till you are done with the wordlists and can retain all words.


Note: Barrons wordlists is the most comprehensive wordlist for GRE and I recommend those. However, if you have to cram, try the following wordlists -

  1. Majortests.com (1500 words) https://majortests.com/word-lists/
  2. Barrons high frequency words (333) - In the barrons book
  3. The Princeton Review - Hit Parade Cracking the GRE with DVD
  4. Kaplan wordlist
  5. Nova wordlist
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   08 Dec 2012, 20:37
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resh wrote:

A guide to building your vocabulary for GRE



WORK IN PROGRESS...

For the GRE exam, probably the biggest challenge is to build your vocabulary. This is especially true for non-native English speakers ( like me).

The vocabulary involves learning about 4000+ new words. The real challenge is to remember them.

Watch out !! There are tons of recommendations of "Magic vocabulary building kits/softwares" and claims of - " How to learn 1000 words in a day" :shock: . Stay away from those!! There is really no shortcut. The only way to improve your vocabulary is to come up with an organized study schedule, apply them in real life, do more practice questions and revise, re-revise & re-revise words till your exam.

Step-by-step approach


Note: Give it about 2 months of time for building your vocabulary. GRE Math is not as tough as GMAT . So, if you have decent Math skills,trust me, though it sounds like a lot, learning the words is 60% of the battle done.

  1. Start with reading the book Word Power Made Easy. There is no other book that helps you build your vocabulary and is actually interesting to read :-D . This book is based on etymology and teaches you words based on root-words. Getting a grasp of this approach helps a lot in remembering words and deriving new words. Later in your study, even when you come across unfamiliar words, you will be able to attempt breaking up the word into root words and guessing a sensible meaning.
  2. Start with the Barrons book - Barron's GRE with CD-ROM. Barrons has 50 wordlists of about 4000 words ordered alphabetically. The Barrons wordlists are trusted resources and a long time favourite among GRE students. It is the most comprehensive list of GRE words.

I suggest that you take a xerox copy of these wordlists. So that you can scribble, tick,cross on it rather than on the book. Also, it is easier to carry around.

Approach to study wordlists


  1. Day 1 - Plan on doing 1 wordlist per day.
    Read thru the wordlist 1st round. Tick words you know.
  2. Read the wordlist 2nd round and check each unfamiliar word. Read the example and see if that is clear. If it is not clear,check out one of the following online dictionaries or wikipedia (yes, wikipedia has great explanations)
  3. Flash Cards - My best friend
    Take notes and an example of this word in a flash card.
    Check out "How to make GRE Flashcards" https://www.ehow.com/how_4609404_make-flash-cards-right-way.html
  4. Revise the flash cards as and when you get time on Day1.
  5. Day 2 - Start with the flashcard of previous day(s), scramble it and see if you remember them. If you dont, keep it for further revision.
  6. On Day 2, do the next wordlist and prepare flashcards for the new words, combine them with the set of flashcards you cant remember from Day1 and keep revising this.
  7. Keep doing these steps till you are done with the wordlists and can retain all words.


Note: Barrons wordlists is the most comprehensive wordlist for GRE and I recommend those. However, if you have to cram, try the following wordlists -

  1. Majortests.com (1500 words) https://majortests.com/word-lists/
  2. Barrons high frequency words (333) - In the barrons book
  3. The Princeton Review - Hit Parade Cracking the GRE with DVD
  4. Kaplan wordlist
  5. Nova wordlist





I took the GRE quite a long time ago and really didn't study much for it. I probably spent around 30 hours total on it, but I scored a 640 ~90+% on the verbal. This isn't because I am brilliant, or an English major as I thought I bombed the verbal part while I was taking it. Instead I attribute it to the fact that I was a biology major and new most of the latin root words and so was able to figure out what words meant without actually knowing or using them.

I would suggest studying the Latin and Greek roots to improve the GRE verbal. Just my $0.02. Good luck!
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulory [#permalink] New post   10 Sep 2010, 04:55
Note : This post is work-in-progress..........
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   22 Sep 2011, 03:29
what about Building Vocabulary for College, 8th Edition , and Cambridge - English Vocabulary In Use - Advanced ? do they help ?
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   03 Dec 2011, 11:13
can any one send link for gre quant quest
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   09 Feb 2012, 10:49
This post is very helpful to me I visited the links provided that links contains very informative posts.
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   25 Mar 2012, 06:45
Does the new GRE pattern require memorizing of 4000 words?
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   23 Apr 2012, 10:59

Thanks for the your helpful post.
Yesterday, I 've installed few programs in my iPhone, they might be helpful for you as well;
-GRE Flash Cards , with about 5000 most commonly appearing words in a GRE
-GRE Buzz Flash Cards.
-GRE Runner, with 1000 essential words in GRE.

:)
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   24 Apr 2012, 03:49
vdbhamare wrote:
Does the new GRE pattern require memorizing of 4000 words?


Hi vdbhamare,

You'll be pleased to know that the new GRE would require you to get to know about 500 words only. Well there are 1000 required but there are 500 most frequent ones. That's a relief. I recommend the Manhattan GRE Sentence Equivalence and Text Completion strategy book as a very trusted source for this.

Regards,

Shouvik.
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   03 May 2012, 00:00
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We just released a GRE Vocab eBook with 200+ words grouped interesting ways. And with additional information on how to continue to improve your vocabulary: GRE Vocab eBook
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   25 May 2012, 04:57
dontb wrote:
can any one send link for gre quant quest


<removed - marketing of unapproved materials is not allowed in the forums>
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   13 Jun 2012, 21:20
Try this website: vocabularygre . It identifies your strengths and weaknesses over time and then poses the words which you are weak in. That way you get more practice in those. I saved quite a few hours using this website.
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   01 Aug 2012, 13:56
One way you could work and build on your vocabulary is to get a tutor. Princeton Review tutors offer you with 18 hours of one–on–one instruction, a program that is completely customized to your needs, goals, schedule and learning style. It is the most elite offering with the greatest degree of flexibility.

Find out prices and other details about Princeton Review tutoring in your area with this link:https://www.princetonreview.com/grad/gre-test-preparation.aspx
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2012, 14:36
why don't you people edit your prep materials for revised GRE and correct mistakes in MSTs online before marketing your products via the net?

just curious?
PrincetonReviewAnt wrote:
One way you could work and build on your vocabulary is to get a tutor. Princeton Review tutors offer you with 18 hours of one–on–one instruction, a program that is completely customized to your needs, goals, schedule and learning style. It is the most elite offering with the greatest degree of flexibility.

Find out prices and other details about Princeton Review tutoring in your area with this link:https://www.princetonreview.com/grad/gre-test-preparation.aspx
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   05 Oct 2012, 10:19
I took the GRE a long time ago, but the technique I used should still work for many others.

For those of you who are visual thinkers, try to picture the word as you're studying it. Regular mnemonics just don't fit my way of thinking, so I don't remember a word like cloister by saying "Carl praying in the cloister", I remember it by actually picturing monks living in a cloister. Even today when I hear a word that sounds familiar but I can't quite remember the meaning or vocalize a definition, I can often picture things related to the word and figure it out from that.

Another tip I would give that I didn't have at that time is to use iphone or android apps. I like learning obscure words so now I have some android apps that test vocabulary. These are great for those moments in the day when you have some free time, but can't exactly pull out study materials in the bathroom...
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   30 Nov 2012, 11:17
Hello, can you please tell me how can i do my words in a weeks time? And which is the most trusted source for the new GRE's word list?

Also, i gave my GMAT and got 37 in Quant so do you think i will be able to manage GRE quant in a weeks time?
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   10 Dec 2012, 00:24
This is great information -- thanks for all the advice.
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   03 May 2013, 01:45
Great thread..Thanks for the useful tips.
One of the things that has really worked for me is getting up in the morning,learning a few words ,writing them down and then trying to make sentences throughout the day that use those words. So basically I give my mind enough opportunities to get the word ingrained. I also read the editorials and opeds in the newspaper and that really helps me do well.
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   06 May 2013, 13:33
Expert Reply
A valuable ongoing resource about which folks learning GRE vocab should know is the Magoosh Vocab Wednesday video series --- a new video every Wednesday. Here are the past few:
https://magoosh.com/gre/2013/gre-vocab-w ... le-on-t-v/
https://magoosh.com/gre/2013/gre-vocab-w ... ocabulary/
https://magoosh.com/gre/2013/gre-vocab-w ... und-words/
https://magoosh.com/gre/2013/gre-vocabul ... gre-words/

BTW, GMAT students who think they need to learn vocab for the GMAT should read the following:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-vocab ... -the-wise/

Mike :-)
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink] New post   27 Nov 2013, 09:33
Quote:
A guide to building your vocabulary for GRE

Actually, is there the list of words typically encountered in GRE?
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Re: GRE preparation - How to build your vocabulary [#permalink]
27 Nov 2013, 09:33
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