Following are some tips that you can follow in order to achieve complete 800 in verbal section:

Rule 1: Mug up all the 3500 words given in Barron’s book because mostly words that come in actual test are from Barron’s book. You can also study Peterson’s book. When you are done with Primary meaning of words then start learning Secondary meaning of words. ETS deliberately traps students with extremely tempting options. So you need to prepare thoroughly.

Rule 2: You should start your preparation at least six months before the actual test. Build a proper time table to study, devote at least 2 hours daily. If you are working then make your docket accordingly and follow it religiously.

Rule 3: To score decent in AWA section, do essay writing. Practice regularly as you can not improve your writing skills overnight.

Rule 4: Besides working on your GRE vocabulary list, you must also spend some time in enhancing your language and grammar.

Rule 5: Do Active Reading to solve comprehension questions .Active reading means  you should stop at every paragraph of passage, and think carefully whether you understand the meaning of  those lines or not.

Rule 6: Do practice one type of test question on week night, like Analogy Questions. Jot down your mistakes in a spreadsheet or on note cards, and find what types of mistakes you are making. Sometimes you might be rushing things and making stupid mistakes, and other times it may be grammar rules, etc.

Rule 7: There is no Negative Marking in GRE test, So, never leave any question unanswered .If you are not Sure or don’t know the correct option then you can do logical guess for answer( don’t depend on this tactic to solve all questions).

Rule 8: In GRE test you are not allow to go back and forth within any section so analyze thoroughly before you answer. Lack of concentration can erode away your valuable time.

Rule 9: Don’t try to learn all the words at previous day of your test .Make sure you are fresh enough to take test at the final day.

Rule 10: Never panic. Even if you see that your scores are not improving as you wanted or you are not learning a lot, stick in there. Never give up and you will learn all this things eventually. Don’t ever panic even in the exam .If the presented set of words are tough then the marking will be easy. So just try staying there. You guys will make it finally.

Rule 11: Even when you are in practice phase never follow a tactic to answer question by guess. Since the GRE test is a computer-adaptive test, if you answer incorrect at the beginning, the computer will provide you easier questions, which will reduce your chances to score well.

Wishing you all, success!!!

Warm Regards,

Shipra Srivastava

Team Learnwordlist.com

* Purchase a good pocket dictionary regardless if you already have a large one, and always carry it with you.

* Regular reading of newspapers, novels, books, magazines and other formal and informal manuscripts can surely help you in improving vocabulary.

* Be alerted for new words and when come across some new word then consult your dictionary, both for its meaning and the nearest opposite meaning word.

* Try to guess the meaning of a new word by analyzing it’s root, stem, suffixes then cross check your guessed meaning with dictionary meaning. This exercise will surely help you in learning new words.

* Try to form all the possible sentences by using all the possible meaning of new words.

* Use mnemonics or memory trick to learn the meaning of a new word.

* Try to relate a new word with words that you already know. For example, Impropriety meaning not proper other words related to this can be improperness, unsuitable, indecorum. Now make a list of words that can be considered as Impropriety.

* Play word games like: Scrabble, Boggle, Mad Libs and do solve crossword puzzles.

* Always learn vocabulary with its contextual meaning as isolated vocabulary can create confusion. For example, take a word ‘garnish’ ,which you may have heard in many cookery shows ,when chef says ,” Now garnish Parsley with boiled potatoes. This context clarifies the meaning of garnish.

* A genuine interest in words is mandatory to improve vocabulary. Never let go any opportunity to learn a new word.

* Make flashcards of the words and run through them regularly. You can also visit learnwordlist.com for on line flash cards.

* Create images of word using your imagination.

* Simply talking with other peoples and watching television can help you in learning new words.

* Last but not the least take all the vocabulary test on learnwordlist.com .And do register yourself with learnwordlist.com for regular vocabulary updates.

Regardless, what technique you follow train yourself beforehand to deal with all types of vocabulary questions that may appear in GRE exam. With the intention of excellent GRE score, you will need to learn words at a much faster rate. Now, I hope you must have found some word of advice to improve your vocabulary. Kindly share your views by posting your comment in feedback section, below this blog.

Wishing you success!!

Regards,

Shipra Srivastava
Learnwordlist.com

Hi everybody!! First and foremost let me thank you all for the very good support you have been offering. Your participation in the earlier tests was amazing! I stand motivated. Owing to that I come up with another small exercise for you. The exercise is similar to the earlier one that you had taken and performed convincingly. You will now find a set of 25 words. You need to suggest the ‘opposite’ of the word beginning with ‘G’ The only difference is, you have to now begin your word (opposite) with ‘G’. Earlier it was a synonym or meaning beginning with ‘P’. All you need to do is ‘think’ for a while and I am sure you will find the right answer. Besides thinking, I also suggest you having a scribbling pad, a dictionary (Oxford Advanced Learner’s preferably), and an Oxford Thesaurus (A thesaurus helps you find out the synonyms and antonyms of a given word!!).

Vocabulary learning tips

Many students keep asking me whether it is better to learn words by heart or to write, scribble and then put it in contextual usage and memorize it. I always suggest them the latter method. Words are like relatives, a mere Hi! Hello! will not bring them closer to you. When you spend substantial time with them, remember they will never betray you. A mere ‘mug up’ business will land you nowhere. On the contrary you will find yourself exactly at the point you started your journey of vocabulary learning. Is that not a sheer waste of time and resources?! So please bear in mind that there is no shortcut to success. You need to slog and put in all your mental and physical energy to see yourself reaching the coveted goal!!

The test

Dear aspirants, here goes the list. I want you to give me the opposites of these words beginning with the letter ‘G’. I display the answers of the first two words to make you understand how it works. I wish you all the best!

Important: Every answer (opposite) must start with the letter G.

1. lose ( answer: gain, get, garner, grab, grasp)
2. midget ( answer: giant)
3. special
4. lady
5. take
6. moron
7. sad
8. boy
9. happy
10. plain
11. hello
12. here
13. bad
14. ugly
15. stingy
16. awkward
17. little
18. rough
19. bride
20. ripe
21. generous
22. unprotected
23. experienced
24. scarcity
25. unappreciative

Please do not rush to answer. As I suggested ‘think’ and work on a particular word, savor its beauty and treasure it in your memory forever. I am sure you will come up with ‘all right answers’ this time around.

Remember- you can increase your vocabulary faster and more easily than you may realize.

Wishing you success!

Regards,

Anu Veluri

Learnwordlist.com

Answer Keys of the Test

Types of meaning

A. Basic meaning: when you look up a word, the main thing that you want to know is its basic meaning. For ex, in ‘She has fair hair, the word fair= light, opposite of dark or in It’s time to wind up the discussion now, the words wind up= end’.

However, there are lot of other aspects of meaning that it is important to be aware of, particularly when you are studying in more advanced level of English.

B. Polysemy or multiple meanings: A great many words in English have more than one meaning. Look at fair and wind up and their different meanings in these examples:

1. That wasn’t a very fair thing to say (adjective: just)

2. The handsome knight fell in love with the fair maiden (adjective: beautiful)

3. His knowledge of French is fair (adjective: neither very bad nor very good)

4. She has a fair chance of winning the prize (adjective: reasonable)

5. Fair weather is forecast for tomorrow (adjective: dry and pleasant)

6. There is a fair on at the park this week (noun: public event with games and rides)

1. Don’t forget to wind up your watch (turn a knob on a clock work watch so it keeps going).
2. She seems to enjoy winding him up. ( tell someone something in order to deliberately annoy)
3. If he carries on like this he’s going to wind up in prison. ( end up in an unpleasant situation)

C. Synonymy: English has a lot of different words with similar and slightly different meanings. Look these words that are synonymous with fair and wind up (with the meanings illustrated in A):

Fair- light, blonde, colorless, pale, bleached

Wind up- end, finish, complete, close, close, conclude, terminate, discontinue, and abort

D. Collocation: words are used with each other in fairly fixed ways in English. You cannot, for example use all of the synonyms in C as replacements in the example sentences in A. Hair ca be fair, light, blonde or bleached (though each of these has a slightly different meaning) but it is not usually described as pale or colorless. Skin can be fair, light and pale but it is not usually described as blonde, colorless or bleached. Colorless collocates with, for example gas or liquid.

E. Connotation: Words do not only have meanings, they also have associations. At an advanced level of English, it is important to develop an impression of what connotations certain words have. The sentence ‘who is fairest of them all’, for example, immediately makes English speakers think of the wicked step mother in the children’s fairy tale Snow White and the fairer sex refers to women. Fair meaning beautiful or attractive is an old-fashioned word and it has associations with fairy tales and stories about the past.

F. Register: It is important also to note whether any words you are learning have a particular register. For example, apparel is a formal or literary word and to wind up someone is both British and informal.

I want you all to come up with similar words like fair/wind up and their usage.

I shall wait for your response.

Kind Regards,

Anu Veluri

Manager, Learnwordlist.com

]]> http://learnwordlist.com/blog/experts-say/2009/05/gre-word-list-test-blog-barrons-vocabulary/feed 9