GRE: A Blueprint for Verbal Ability
We are now equipped with many indispensable aspects pertaining to the verbal ability segment of GRE. We will now learn some important things to remember before and while taking the exam. First and foremost we all should know that the Verbal Ability segment of GRE measures your ‘Reasoning Ability’ than anything else. Questions posed at GRE are usually picked up from a diversified range of sources mainly from humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.
The four sections pertaining to Verbal Ability in GRE are:
- Antonyms
- Analogies
- Sentence Completion
- Reading Comprehension
Antonyms: You all would love to know that Antonyms are generally restricted to Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives. This lessens your burden of preparation for quite an extent. In GRE you will never find an exact answer. You will always find an answer choice that is very close an option. So here lies your challenge. You have to judiciously sift the options for the right answer choice. This sifting requires elimination of irrelevant, inappropriate or wrong answer choices. Sometimes it might happen that you suddenly forget the meaning of a word. You can then try to define that word by using it in a sentence. Try that way. This will help you in establishing the meaning of a word. Questions sometimes might be indirect. In a situation like that also try deriving the ‘secondary meaning’ of a particular word. If you are unaware of the meaning of a word, try guessing the meaning considering the root, prefix and suffix of the word.
Analogies are slightly tougher, for the fact that you need to precisely establish the relationship between word pairs. Analogies measure your ability to recognize
- Relationships among words and concepts they represent
- Parallel relationships
Things you should never forget while answering Analogies:
1. Read the question and ‘all’ the answer choices at least once thoroughly
2. Do not jump to conclusion
3. Try to draw a connecting link between the two words given as question
4. Apply the same connecting link to all the answer choices
5. The word pair that takes the connecting link perfectly is your answer choice
Read more: GRE: Analogy Segment (Strategies and Techniques)
Sentence Completions
ETS Says:
Sentence completions measure your ability to recognize words or phrases that both logically and stylistically complete the meaning of a sentence.
Important points to remember while answering the Sentence Completion questions
1. Read the incomplete sentence completely, once or twice to understand the meaning better
2. Identify the tone of the sentence. The tone of the sentence could be neutral, acerbic, ironic, descriptive or critical
3. Your answer choices are in harmony with the tone of the sentence. For example a critical tone will never take neutral options as answers.
4. When a sentence has conjunctions like ‘and’ your answer choices are usually synonymous
5. When a sentence has words like but, however, yet, in spite of, nevertheless, the answer choices are usually antonymous. These words also indicate a change of thought, a twist of thought rather
6. Do not jump to hazardous conclusions while answering
7. See that both the options fit into the sentence mellifluously. Sometimes only one option fits into and students hastily select that, without realizing that it was a trap laid by the ETS. Beware!!
8. Please do not be in a haste to complete the segment and jump to the next!
Read more: Sense and Sentence Completion: Crack GRE Verbal with a Bang!
Reading Comprehension Questions
The ETS says:
Reading comprehension questions measure your ability to
- Read with understanding, insight, and discrimination
- Analyze a written passage from several perspectives
The passages for Reading Comprehension are mainly taken from humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.
Some Effective reading techniques for GRE- RC:
1. Lip-sync while reading
2. Read with a sense of inquiry
3. Predict the future of the passage
4. Remember the 5 Ws
5. Guess the meanings of the words ( you don’t know) in broader context
6. Do a progressive reading not a regressive one
7. Jot down the important dates/data on a rough paper
Read more: http://learnwordlist.com/blog/gre-reading-comprehension/2009/08/gre-word-list-test-blog-barrons-vocabulary
With the GRE Verbal Ability Blueprint in your hand you can now aim for an inspiring score. Please do read the strategies once again to perform well in the exam. Once you have grip over the fundamentals try practicing some model GRE questions. This will help you evaluate your performance. And do take all the tests designed exclusively for you on the site. These tests help you gauge your performance.
In case you have queries please do get back to us without apprehensions.
Regards,
Anu Veluri
Manager- learnwordlist.com
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28 Responses to “GRE: A Blueprint for Verbal Ability”
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Dear Sir/Madam
i am also preparing for the upcoming GRE. and i found this webite very useful and i have taken alot of the help from it.
Hey Farooq when are you appearing for GRE? Pls do keep us informed..
I am Prparing For GRE.When will it held .It is very useful site.
I am preparing to take paper based GRE test on Feb 6/2010. I am doing question from GRE big book plus Barron’s and other materials that I got from a friend who took GRE twice. My friend has not scored nice and I feel I have to do much better by using different tactics. I am using also Cambridge Thesaurus and Vocaboly software. Knowing the meaning of a word or synonym is not enough unless you practice a lot and know the logic behind each answer. I have one question Do you think the ” GRE big book” reflect the current status of GRE exam?
The Big Book has all the previous GRE test papers..I did not get what u meant…
Hi Anwar, GRE is held all through the year..to check the dates surf the official site of GRE..it is http://www.ets.org..
What I meant is, Do u think the verbal questions on Big Book reflect similar kind of difficulty level like the one on current GRE exam? May be ETS change the kind of questions that appear on GRE. The question on big book are obsolete like 20 years old.
The Big Book is an official publication by the ETS..ETS pretty well intimates the changes in the exam..well in advance that too..practicing the Big Book model papers is one best thing u could do as an aspirant..
Thanks for your help.
Thanks too…hey but tell something more about you..
dear anu,
i am so happy to see your postings in the blog. they are really handy. Anu, i m having gre in this jan. i want your tips… after seeing your blog, i felt like i have a source to stand with…
will be waiting for your reply,
best regards
sri harsha.
Hi Annu
I am currently doing my Msc in Microbiology in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I am very much interested to work on immunology of infectious disease particularly Tuberculosis and host response to it. I took TOEFL on October 17, 2009 and score the following, 603 and TWE= 3. I am not sure if a score of 3 on TWE would get me to grad school. However, I am doing my best to score high on GRE and continue PhD in USA. I found this website very helpful. Thanks for LEARN WORD LIST group members. It means a lot for those of us who have not any means preparing for GRE.
Hi Sri Harsha, it feels gr8 to know that..in fact all the blogs are related to GRE…I request you to run through all the blogs as such..and yes pls do comment to..I also encourage you to start new topics on forum and invite some meaningful discussion..
Thanks Tewodros, you passion will certainly take you places. I am almost sure..:)..I wish you all the best for GRE. Do take all the tests available on the site and read the other blogs too…
dear anu,
sure, i’ll give my best to this blog. inspired by you…
happy new year …
regards
sri harsha.
Hey Harsha I wish you a very happening New Year ..yes pls do that….do come and participate in the forum too..:-)
Dear Anu,
i really love the English language but cant seem to do better in the GRE TRIALS. I set d trials using exam conditions. What can i do to improve? Happy new YEAR!
Chioma
Hey Chioma, by GRE trials u mean practicing model GRE papers?? Pls clarify this..
Sorry, would you mind to help me to answer this arithmetic’s Questions,
I would really appreciate that , THANK YOU!!…
I got the answer, but I don’t have any idea, where this answer came from, I don’t know the applied method or applied logic , Could you help me?…
2. If Sally can paint a house in 4 hours, and John can paint the same house in 6 hour, how long will it take for both of them to paint the house together?
A.- 2 hours and 24 minutes
B. 3 hours and 12 minutes
C. 3 hours and 44 minutes
D. 4 hours and 10 minutes
E. 4 hours and 33 minutes
9. If Steven can mix 20 drinks in 5 minutes, Sue can mix 20 drinks in 10 minutes, and Jack can mix 20 drinks in 15 minutes, how much time will it take all 3 of them working together to mix the 20 drinks?
A. 2 minutes and 44 seconds —?
B. 2 minutes and 58 seconds
C. 3 minutes and 10 seconds
D. 3 minutes and 26 seconds
E. 4 minutes and 15 seconds
Hi Joanne..we are coming up with the Math segment shortly..we will get back to u on this..
Dear Sir/ Madam
I love learnword because it has made it for me to prepare for my examination. Thanks so much.
Hi Richard, which exam..are u talking about GRE? Pls do get back..:-)
Hope for best. I love English language very much but i can not do better in English. What can i do?
Sajib are you appearing for GRE?..
these tips are too good and so inspiring for preparation of GRE. i really get benefit from this site. i m very thankful to u
which stage will i get to for me to be able to write the exams?
Hey Amreen read all the tips..there are so many blogs that deal with GRE preparation exclusively..hey do register in the forum too..u can participate in the academic discussions there..
Esther did not get ur question..:(