Those looking to join a university in the United States for a post-graduate program must first write either GRE or GMAT along with TOEFL or IELTS. Most institutions require one to submit their GRE/GMAT and TOEFL/IELTS score along with their other academic credentials. A good score in these exams is guaranteed to take you to the school of your dreams! The common denominator is a verbal reasoning section. The best way to get started with that is to improve your vocabulary.
GRE and GMAT both contain verbal reasoning sections along with analytical writing sections.
A vital aspect of training for the above-mentioned exams is improving your vocabulary, because many of the passages in the verbal reasoning sections may contain words that you haven’t encountered before.
It is important to note that for you to improve your vocabulary, it takes a long time. This is most certainly not a result of memorising words at the last minute. It is therefore crucial that you first set a date for your examination such that you have at least 3-5 months to prepare for it. You also must brush up your analytical writing and quantitative reasoning in parallel.
Keeping the timeframe of 3+ months in mind, here are a few ways you can improve your vocabulary:
Read.
This tip could refer to books, newspapers, magazines, and even science papers! The easiest way to learn words is by coming across them in while reading something interesting. Novels are a great choice for this purpose because they are not only entertaining, but also a treasure trove of new words. Regardless of the medium, make sure to underline the words you don’t understand. Maintain a diary with all these words and their meanings so you can easily refer to them while revising for the exam.
Make a synonym-antonym list.
It is very likely you may get synonym-antonym questions on the GRE. Pick up a new word each day/week, and list out all its synonyms and antonyms. By associating similar words, you are more likely to remember more of them. This also makes for a very handy reference when revising for your GRE. Antonym-synonym based questions are very easy marks for those who come prepared.
Use flashcards to improve your vocabulary.
Flashcards are an age-old trick to remember words. These work like a charm because you can carry them around everywhere for a quick brush up during travel time. This in conjunction with the synonym-antonym categorisation is the perfect way to expand your vocabulary in a systematic way.
Discuss with your peers.
Study tricks like flashcards work best with a peer. Collaborate with your classmates to build an extensive database of words, and categorise it as many ways as you can think of. Refer to this database time and again, and be sure to quiz each other on these words frequently. You can drastically improve your vocabulary this way. This will help you cover a wider base, and will definitely introduce you to more ways of categorising words than you could have thought of yourself.
Take many mock tests
The above tips still seem to be hinting towards memorising a large number of words. Put your memory to test by writing a weekly GRE mock test, in order to test your retention capacity. This should be able to help you plan your study method in a way that will maximise results. Getting used to the format is crucial to succeed in any competitive exam. Learning new words through passages in mock tests will improve your vocabulary as well.
Don’t be afraid to guess with GRE
The most important point when it comes to vocabulary in GRE in particular is that there is no negative marking. So, if there is a question you are completely unsure about, do not leave it blank. Try guessing what the answer might be based on the context of the sentence it may be in, or by eliminating your options. There is a 25% chance you will be right.
Don’t stress out!
With a comfortable timeframe of 3+ months, armed with these tips and the right attitude, you can definitely achieve the perfect GRE score of 340/340. Be disciplined, as regular and persistent hard work will achieve the best results. Just stay focused, be confident, and do not stress out. Make sure to get into a good sleep cycle months ahead of the exam. Do not study anything new on the day of the exam, but revise a little if required. Reach the exam centres on time, and give it your 100% concentration.
EXTRA HELP:
It is difficult to manage your work and studies while also preparing for these exams. To reduce the stress on your shoulders, you can opt for online coaching on many Indian platforms for a reduced rate at your convenience.
One such wonderful platform is Edureify. Edureify provides a topic-wise set of questions that are tailored to your needs, with sub-topics such as proverbs, sentence completion, etc.
The platform also has teachers who specialise in English, so you can request help from them improve your performance. With over 650000 questions per topic, Edureify challenges you while also helping you find the answers in your own time. This is a very convenient option as compared to heading to a coaching centre after a long day of college at odd timings.
Edureify solving sets are designed in levels of increasing difficulty designed to test your preparation- this is especially helpful in the computer-adaptive tests. In addition to this, be sure to participate in the game-quizzes that are full of higher-order-thinking questions.
With hard work, determination, and a little help, you can definitely get the perfect GMAT score, and entry to the college of your dreams. To know more, visit edureify.com.
