How to Maximize Your Vocab Prep
What are the best ways to study vocabulary on the GRE? I’ve compiled my top strategies for getting the most out of your GRE Vocab prep.
Also, be sure to check out our GRE Word of the Day Vocab Series on YouTube!
How many GRE Vocab words should you learn?
I’m often asked, “How many new words should I learn?”
My answer: As many as you can. I think it’s hard to learn more than 70 words per week, or 10 per day. That’s an ambitious goal for anyone. If your test is 10 weeks away, you could theoretically learn 700 new words. If it’s three weeks away, you could learn 210. Again, this is an ambitious goal! It’s fine to go for less—30-50 per week is pretty standard.
RELATED READING: What are the most common GRE Vocabulary words?
GRE Vocab Prep Strategy #1: Don’t sweat the list
I’m often asked what definitive list of GRE words people should learn, and the truth is that there is no definitive list. There are words that you’re likely to see on the GRE, and there are words you may be unfamiliar with because they are used more academically than colloquially in everyday life, and where these two categories overlap is where GRE word lists are created.
If you’re in a ManhattanPrep course, you are given word lists for each week of your course. In that case, you should start with these lists. If you aren’t in a ManhattanPrep course, you can purchase our flashcards or use our app, which are both good sources of words. (If you’re using the cards, I’d start with the Essential deck and move to the Advanced. But don’t sweat this decision either—if you’ve already started with the Advanced, you’re fine.)
GRE Vocab Strategy #2: Make your own flashcards
“Wait, seriously? Why on earth would I do that?” If you’re thinking either of those questions, hear me out—while, yes, it takes more time to make a flashcard than to use a pre-made one, flashcards you make yourself are stickier: you’ll have to review them fewer times. I’ve known people (myself) to make a flashcard and only have to review it a single time before they (I) have memorized it! This has to do with encoding—how your brain stores information. The act of making the card creates more and stronger pathways in your memory, causing your brain to flag the word as important in a way that it doesn’t when you’re just reading a pre-made card and flipping it over.
Plus, by making your own cards, you can make better cards. Here’s what I would put on the back:
- Clear, simple definitions
- Any examples from your personal life that will aid you in remembering the word (“My brother is so ostentatious!”)
- Other GRE words that are synonyms
- …and anything else you want—it’s your card!
You can make your own cards even if you’re using pre-made cards to source your words. And perhaps this doesn’t need to be said, but you only should make cards for words you don’t know. If you already know the word, you don’t need to study it.
GRE Vocab Strategy #3: Use three decks for your cards
As soon as you make a card, it should go into a deck you’re going to call Deck 1. Deck 1 you will review everyday or every other day (depending on your schedule). Whenever you feel like you’re starting to learn a word, it should move to Deck 2. Deck 2 you’ll review every 3-4 days. When a word in Deck 2 starts to feel solid, it should move to Deck 3 which…you guessed it, you review less often: once a week or so. And finally, when you’re really nailing a word every time you review it in Deck 3, it gets to retire. Congratulations! You know it for life.
The goal of this method is for you to spend more time reviewing words you don’t know and less time reviewing words you do know. In the same way that while working out you want to feel the burn in order to build muscle, when you’re studying, you want to feel a mental struggle (“I’m working hard trying to recall this word…”). That means you’re actually learning. When it’s easy—when you’re just flipping through card after card—it may feel good (“I’m killing this!”), but you aren’t learning. You’re basically just giving yourself a pat on the back. And listen, there’s always a need for us to give ourselves pats on the back—but let’s not mix that up with studying.
Remember, the GRE Verbal section is as much about strategizing around words you don’t know by using context clues and reading comprehension skills as it is about knowing vocabulary—but there’s no question that improving your vocabulary can boost your Verbal score.
READ NEXT: Top 10 GRE Vocab Tips
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Mary Richter is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Nashville, Tennessee. Mary is one of those weirdos who loves taking standardized tests, and she has been teaching them for 15 years. When she’s not teaching the LSAT or GRE for ManhattanPrep, she’s writing novels under the last name Adkins. You can find them wherever you buy books. Check out Mary’s upcoming GRE prep offerings here!