Some words have an ineffably quality to them, a certain beauty that, through the mere connection of their respective syllables, evokes a world of associations. To me diaphanous conjures up a fairy-tale kingdom; lugubrious something pitifully comical; gossamer could be a spell Harry Potter casts to vanquish the vile Voldemort. Indeed all the words below have tickled me over the years  and so have made my Favorite Words list.

Gossamer

Spiders are not popular with most. Their webs though aren’t quite as icky (unless you are some hapless bug.) It is from a spider’s web that we get one of English’s most beautiful, magical sounding word: gossamer.

Gossamer does not mean of or relating to a spider web (as that would make for an odd GRE Text Completion). While inspired by arachnid silk, gossamer more broadly means: light, delicate, insubstantial (and is usually used in a more poetic sense).

Here dreams were mere gossamer: upon waking they vanished into the recesses of her mind, perchance to be plucked anew come the waning of the light.

Diaphanous

Interestingly, gossamer and diaphanous are very similar words. Diaphanous can mean light and insubstantial as well.  Typically diaphanous means translucent; able to be seen through. A fly’s wings her diaphanous, as is certain fabric.

Troglodyte

Oh woe on the poor soul who is called a troglodyte. Yes, even if he has never heard the word, he will know he is not being complimented. Nevertheless, the insult is not quite as damning as the sound of the word would lead you to believe. A ‘troglodyte’ is a cave dweller. While such a word would be limited utility (beyond an insult), troglodyte has taken on two definitions. It can describe anyone who is out of touch with the times, or one who wants to be left alone.

Lugubrious

Oh lugubrious, how aptly your sound reflects your meaning. Just by pronouncing the lu- followed by the ‘gu’ I cannot help but feel a sadness wash over me, a sadness that is comical to the observer (much like when a six-month old can’t find her pacifier, she let’s a ‘lu’ and a ‘gu’ (the ‘brious’ will have to wait a few years).

So lugubrious describes a mournfulness, one that is overdone and theatrical, and yes, slightly comical.

Pulchritude

This is perhaps one of the ugliest words in the English language. Even pronouncing the word silently, I have a nauseous feeling well up in the pit of my stomach. Perhaps it is the word’s phonetic proximity to ‘puke.’ Or maybe it is those first two syllables, which sound like the grinding of teeth, or nails on a chalkboard (or maybe they are just an onomatopoeia for puke).

So why, you implore, could I possibly like this word? Well, its definition is so ironic, I always get a chuckle out of it. Pulchritude is beauty, and beauty pulchritude (to paraphrase Keats). That’s right, if you see a beautiful person, say Angelina Jolie, you can call her pulchritudinous (though I don’t know if she’d be particularly flattered).

Many quake in their boots when they hear that there will be Statistics covered on the GRE. They run to their college stats textbooks, dust off the cover, roll up their sleeves, and start computing the standard deviations of a list of twenty, three-digit numbers. Stop, if this in anyway describes you.

The Statistics on the GRE is much simpler, and does not test your aptitude at crunching numbers as much as it does your ability to think about Statistics. That is you will rely more in intuition than computation on statistics questions on the GRE.

To illustrate take a look at the following question.

1- The standard deviation on a test was 12 points, and the mean was 70. If student X scored 95 points, then student X scored higher than approximately what percent of students?

1. 2%
2. 13%
3. 48%
4. 96%
5. 98%

Answering this question correctly requires understanding standard distribution (that refers to the distribution of scores along the familiar bell-curve). To understand how standard deviation relates to the bell-curve take a look below:

1 Standard Deviation Above = 34%
1 Standard Deviation Below = 34%

2 Standard Deviations Above = 13.5%
2 Standard Deviations Below = 13.5%

3 Standard Deviations Above = 2%
3 Standard Deviations Below = 2%

In the problem above, 34% of students scored between 70 and 82. Likewise, 34% of students scored between 58 and 70. This symmetry is very important, and you will notice that the bell curve is symmetrical (or even) on both sides. So, given a large enough sample size, the number of students who scored three standard deviations below the average of 70 (34) is the same as the number who scored three standard deviations above the average (106).

Returning to the actual question, we want to find how many standard deviations above the average a score 95 of points is: 95 – 70 = 25, which is a tiny bit more than two standard deviations. The question is asking for an approximation, so we can round down 25 to 24.

Looking at table above, we can see that two standard deviations above the norm is better than 34% + 13.5%. The trick here is to not forget to account for the left side of the bell-curve, which is 50% (after all, half the score are on the left side and the other half on the right side—don’t forget the symmetry of the bell-curve).

That gives us a total of 50% + 47.5 = 97.5, which approximates to (E) 98%.

Let’s try another problem.

2. The reaction time of 1000 Rhesus monkeys was measured. The average time it took the monkeys to respond to a quickly moving object in their visual fields was .135 seconds, with a standard deviation of .021 seconds. If one of the geriatric monkeys had a reaction time of  .205 seconds, then that monkey’s reaction time is how many standard deviations from the mean?

1. 0 – 1 standard deviations
2. 1 – 2 standard deviations
3. 2 – 3 standard deviations
4. 3 – 4 standard deviations
5. 4 – 5 standard deviations

This is exactly the sort of daunting problem that the GRE likes to throw at you. Believe it or not, there is very little math involved. Again, you want to rely on intuition more than math.

.205 – .135 = .07. If the standard deviation is .021, we can determine the number of standard deviations the monkey’s reaction time is from the mean: .07/.021, which equals approximately 3.4. Therefore (D) –  the geriatric monkey’s reaction time is 3 – 4 standard deviations from the mean.

Takeaway

To do well on statistics questions on the GRE, you have to rely more on intuition than on number crunching. Having a strong sense of standard distribution and how standard deviation relates to standard distribution will help you immeasurably.

Before launching into the six different types of Critical Reasoning questions mentioned in this series, you should familiarize yourself with how best to approach them.

Let’s take the following sample. The part in italics is called the argument. The question below the argument is called the question (that part’s easy!).

The Malbec grape, originally grown in France, has become the main varietal in Argentina. This is surprising because most Malbec grown in Argentina is grown at high altitudes, whereas the Malbec grape once was grown at low altitudes. Therefore, Argentinian winegrowers should grow the Malbec grape at low elevations.

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the conclusion of the argument?

(A)  The Bordeaux grape is the most popular grape in France but is rarely, if ever, grown in Argentina.

(B)  Some varietals are unable to grow at high altitudes.

(C)  The soil at high altitudes is filled with nutrients that help the Malbec grape grow.

(D) The Malbec vine is susceptible to phylloxera, a plant louse that only grows at low altitudes.

(E)  Malbec has recently enjoyed a surge in popularity, and can be found in many different countries.

Step #1 – Identify the parts of the argument

An argument is built on premises. Premises are facts on which the conclusion rests.  That is, without the premises, the conclusion could not be validly drawn.

In the argument above the premises are as follows:

Premise 1: The Malbec grape in Argentina is grown at high elevations.

Premise 2: The Malbec grape was originally grown in low elevations in France.

The conclusion is based on these two premises. The conclusion is usually easy to spot, because it typically uses ‘therefore’ or ‘thus’ to begin a sentence.

Conclusion:  Therefore, Argentinian winegrowers should grow Malbec grape at low elevations.

Step #2 – Simplify

Once you’ve gotten the hang of spotting the premises and conclusion, you should get in the habit of simplifying the argument. After all, the argument has a lot of verbiage and usually contains words that are foreign or difficult to pronounce.

In addition to abbreviation (Malbec grape can be shortened to M.G.), make sure to also simplify how the argument arrives at the conclusion:

M.G. originally grown low altitudes; in A. grown high altitudes; therefore, M.G. should be grown at low altitudes in A.

If you are just starting off, you should definitely write down your simplification of the argument. Once you’ve got the hang of it, you can simplify the argument in your head.

So what is the point of simplifying the argument? Well, when you do steps #3 and #4, not having to constantly refer back to the argument, but having a working sense of the argument in your head, will help you answer the question more quickly and accurately.

Step #3 – Anticipate the answer

To anticipate the answer, you of course have to read the question. The better you understand the different question types, the easier it will be to anticipate the answer.

By anticipating the answer, I don’t mean to come up with an answer hoping for an exact match with the correct answer. That most likely is not going to happen. Rather, in anticipating the answer you have to ask yourself: What must the correct answer do? In the case here, the correct answer must provide a reason why growing the Malbec grape at low elevations is a bad idea.

Step #4 – Know what makes an answer choice wrong

In looking for the correct answer, you should always have a sense of why the wrong answers are wrong. Luckily, wrong answers typically fall into one of several buckets.

Out of Scope

This is another way of saying irrelevant. Basically, the answer choice, while providing interesting information, doesn’t directly bear on what is being asked. For the Malbec argument, an Out of Scope answer choice could mention other grape varieties, other countries, are anything relating to the wine industry (while of course omitting any mention of the Malbec grape and Argentina).

Does the Opposite

This wrong answer choice only applies to certain types of Critical Reasoning questions. In the case with weaken/strengthen, the type the Malbec grape question falls into, an answer choice that strengthens a ‘weaken question’ or an answer choice that weakens a ‘strengthen question’ is doing the opposite. These can be tempting because they are definitely relevant to the argument. So be on our guard.

Now let’s see if we can correctly identify the wrong answers (and, of course, choose the right one!).

Close But not Quite

The trickiest of the batch, this wrong answer type is definitely not Out of Scope. It sort of provides an answer. Remember, however, that you are looking for the best answer.

The Close but not Quite usually requires you to make some assumptions in order to make the answer truly work. So, when you are confronted by an answer choice, and think, ‘Well that kind of works, if I assume…’ then you are usally dealing with a Close but not Quite.

(A)  The Bordeaux grape is the most popular grape in France but is rarely, if ever, grown in Argentina.

Out of Scope – We are focusing on the Malbec grape.

(B)  Some varietals are unable to grow at high altitudes.

Out of Scope – Again, we are focusing on the Malbec grape and no not care about other types of wine/varietals.

(C)  The soil at high altitudes is filled with nutrients that help the Malbec grape grow.

This is by far the most tempting wrong answer, and unsurprisingly falls into the Close But not Quite category. Answer (C) gives us a reason why the Malbec grape can also flourish at higher elevations. However, just because it CAN grow at high elevations, doesn’t mean it can’t grow, and perhaps even flourish better, at low elevations.

We want a strong answer that gels with our Anticipation of the Answer: Why moving the Malbec grape to low elevations would be a bad idea. Close but not Quite.

(D) The Malbec vine is susceptible to phylloxera, a plant louse that destroys the grape and only grows at low altitudes

Answer: Here we have a great reason why the Malbec grape cannot be grown at low altitudes: The phylloxera will destroy the grape.

(E)  Malbec grows best near the ocean, because the amount of relative humidity found here helps the grape flourish.

Here we have a reason that would strengthen the argument. That is, moving the Malbec grape to low elevations would be a good idea. Does the Opposite.

Takeaway

The Critical Reasoning question is a difficult question type. Make sure to follow the steps above so you can avoid being confused for either the argument or the answer choices.

Time is of the essence, they say. There are few areas in life in which this cliché is more pertinent than it is to the GRE.

Clever time saving strategies cannot fill in any deficits of knowledge the way learning a vocabulary list can. They can, however, help you perform much better on the anxiety-provoking GRE.

Skip the Long Passage

Each verbal section will have a long, difficult passage. You may be tempted to dive right in and give it your best. After all, tests are sequentially numbered. Shouldn’t you follow the order?

Not at all. You should attempt to answer the easier questions first, or at least those that aren’t time consuming. Determining the difficulty of a question, or how time-consuming it will be, is difficult. But when you are dealing with a 70-line passage based on the changing role of serfs in 14^th Century England, you know for sure that the passage and the questions are going to take a long time.

So save time, and brainpower, by skipping the long passage and coming back to it at the end. Your mind will be fresher for other questions on the test, and perhaps, most importantly, you won’t have that dejected feeling that usually follows after slogging through four inference questions.

Skip the Tough Text Completions

With the GRE you want to attack the easy questions first, leaving the most time-consuming ones for later. For Text Completions the most time-consuming ones are the three-blank questions, which always come at the end. For instance, have a look at the PowerPrep test or the free on-line test. The eight-line, three-blank Text Completion comes at the very end.

Feel free to read it, and if you get it right away, great! If not, do not spend time stewing in the muddle of sentences. Later, if you have time to come back to it, your brain should be more likely to discern the paragraph’s meaning (after all, you have already read it once). If you don’t have time, don’t worry. That monster Text Completion is worth the same number of points of the easy one-blanker.

Come Back to a Tough Math Problem

Much like coming back to a long, tough Text Completion can help you save time so can returning to a tough math problem. What exactly constitutes tough differs for people. If you read and reread a question to no avail, then that is a tough question. If you keep looking at the answer choices but they do not match the answer you came up with, move on. If there is time you can have another go at it. Agonizing over one problem will only lead you to get frustrated. And there are few things more crippling than frustration on a standardized exam.

Gregarious vs. Garrulous

These two words are commonly confused because they not only begin with a ‘g’ but they have very similar meanings. However, they are not quite the same. To be gregarious is to sociable. The word comes from Latin for flock, and retains some of its avian roots (think of geese, which are always in groups. They are gregarious).

To be garrulous, on the other hand, means to be chatty. True, social types tend to be chatty, but when is the last time you encountered a chatty goose. On the other hand you can have one of those unsociable curmudgeons who hang outside the subway station babbling on about the imminent apocalypse.

Enormity vs. Enormous

Oh boy, is this a controversial one. People are truly divided on how to define enormity. Traditionally, enormity has meant great wickedness, and NOT really, really big/enormous. However, over the years the use of enormity to mean enormous has become so prevalent that even Barack Obama himself has used the word in this way.

Indeed, even the estimable NYTimes.com abounds in use of enormity (as long as you don’t look too far back in the archive).

As GRE test takers we should know both definitions, but we should also know that ETS tends to pretty traditional on such matters, and in all likelihood will only use ‘enormity’ to mean great wickedness.

Unconscionable vs. Unconscious

Unconscionable does not mean to be hit over the head and black out (that would be unconscious). ‘Unconscionable’ means totally unreasonable. It is usually used to describe an action and carries with it a negative connotation.

That he would steal from the very firm that had paid him such a generous salary was unconscionable.

It was unconscionable for an esteemed author to use ‘enormity’ to mean ‘enormous.’

This definition shouldn’t be that surprising if we remember that conscience means to have a sense of right and wrong. If something goes against conscience, then it is un-conscience-able.

Unconscionable can also mean excessive, as in:

He made unconscionable demands on her time, forcing her to quit.

Impending vs. Pending vs. Pendulous

Something that is pending is uncertain. Something that is impending is about to happen, or is imminent. To complicate things, pending, as a second definition, can also meaning impending.

Until the trial is held is guilt is pending.

The trial is pending, and will take place soon.

(Sorry, not my most eloquent sentences!)

You’ve noticed that I’ve invited another word to this confusing party of ‘pends.’ Pendulous relates to neither of these words, save for the ‘pend.’ Something that is pendulous is hanging.

Bracing against an impending winter the flowers became pendulous, drooping so low their withered crowns touched the scarred earth. 

Yesterday ETS made some important announcements regarding score submissions. During a Q&A session that followed, it also discussed the release of some new products that many GRE aspirants will be interested in.

Official Guide 2^nd Edition

Coming this August to a local bookstore near you (of which there are precious few) is The Official Guide for the revised GRE test. Though ETS is mum on just how many new questions the book contains, a CD-ROM offering an update to the PowerPrep test is included.

I hope that ETS includes a decent number of fresh questions, instead of recycling most of them (for those who are also studying for the GMAT, you may notice that this lack of fresh question is exactly what the 13^th Edition Official Guide tried to pull off).

Fresh question should give us more insight to how the GRE has changed, and how it may probably change in the future. My guess, mainly based on student feedback, is that the content on the verbal section especially is different from that in the current Official Guide. Reading passages tend to be more convoluted; Text Completions run for as many as six sentences.

Updated PowerPrep II

The updated PowerPrep II software will be released in Aug. 2012, along with the Official Guide. The good news is the test will contain two tests. If one of those tests is the existing GRE test, ETS is not divulging (at least to the best of my knowledge).

The new PowerPrep software will not indicate the level of difficulty of each question. However, the test will still be section-adaptive. So after completing the first section you will get either an easy or difficult section. That said, it appears that there are three level of difficulty on the second section for both verbal and math.

While ETS has not explicitly admitted this, it seems, based on fiddling around a bit with the existing PowerPrep test, that there are indeed easy, medium and difficult sections.

Text Completions on the Revised GRE love to discuss theories. A physicist has refuted longstanding beliefs; fossil remains found in Kenya undermine prevailing wisdom; an ascendant theory in plate tectonics is not without its detractors.

Whatever the spin on the verbiage may be, you can bet at least one of the questionstest day will discuss a theory. Then there is the entire Reading Comprehension passage, which is filled with words such as the ones below.

Let us know if you have any suggestions for next week’s theme for Vocab Wednesday! Also, we just released our Vocabulary eBook, which compiles all of the lists (like the one below) we have on the blog, so definitely go download it if you like this kind of word list

Supporting a Theory

Back

Nope it’s not the opposite of front. To back a theory is to support it.

Posit

To posit means to state an idea that forms the basis of a theory. Forward and advance are good synonyms here. Notice that to forward a theory is to offer it up. To back a theory does not mean to come up with a theory but support somebody else’s theory.

Bolster

Bolster has a wide application. Indeed most of these words do not only apply to theories (though on the GRE that’s typically where you will encounter them).

Maintain

To maintain means to assert. You wouldn’t maintain a theory (at least stylistically this is not how the word is used). Rather you would maintain that X. Where X can stand for any idea or theory that you want to put forward or advance.

Hold

Yep, all these secondary definitions – no wonder the GRE loves questions about theories. Hold is a synonym for maintain.

Proponents

Those who back a theory are proponents of that theory.

Going Against a Theory

Undermine

To undermine a theory is to weaken it.

Refute

Many people tend to improperly define this word, thinking that refute means to disagree. In reality, refute is a much stronger word, and it means to disprove entirely.

Despite all the controversy it has engendered, the theory of evolution is unlikely to ever be refuted by hard science alone.

Debunk

Debunk is typically reserved to show that a theory or claim was specious all along.

Claims of Big Foot, the Loch Ness monster, and the Yeti will in all likelihood never be truly debunked, as it is difficult to disprove the existence of something that never existed.

Explode

Explode is a good synonym for debunk and/or refute. The only reason I’m putting it here is, like ‘hold’ above, the use of explode in this context is surprising. But you can explode a theory or a claim.

Detractors

Those who try to refute a theory or claim are detractors of that claim.

Ask and you shall receive! Based on the many requests from our students (thank you, as always, for your suggestions!), we’ve compiled the best of our word lists into a one-stop vocabulary resource for the revised GRE in eBook form.

It includes:

• Instructions on how to use word lists
• How to not use word lists!
• Themed lists, organized by category
• 300+ of the most common GRE vocabulary words
• Recommended resources for finding/learning new words
• A total of 92 pages!

And it’s free So feel free to share with friends, print it out, and use it to learn some new vocabulary words on the go. Enjoy!

Click here to download.

Let us know if you have any suggestions or feedback (love it? hate it? let us know!) by leaving us a comment below.

A subset of the Reading Comprehension on the GRE is called Critical Reasoning. At least that is what I refer to it as, and anybody who has prepped for the GMAT or LSAT is familiar with the description. ETS, in revising the GRE, has been far more mum about it, slipping the question type in under the radar. Nevertheless, I shall refer to any short paragraph as a Critical Reasoning question.

Critical Reasoning questions contain a short to medium length paragraph, called the argument. The argument is followed by a question and five answer choices. In this post I am going to cover the various questions you can expect to see on the Revised GRE. Knowing these question types can help you navigate both the argument and the answer choices, and, ideally, home in on the correct answer.

Weaken/Strengthen

This question type asks you to choose an answer choice that would either strengthen or weaken the argument. The incorrect answer choices, that is the other four answers, will either be irrelevant to the argument or do the opposite to the argument. That is, if you want to strengthen the argument an answer choice may weaken the argument, and vice versa.

Evaluate Argument

In this question type there is a gap in the argument. You must pick an answer choice that will help you fill this gap in the argument so that the argument can be effectively evaluated.

Paradox

The paradox question type (sometimes called Discrepancy) is found in an argument that presents a counterintuitive finding (the paradox). Your job is to find an answer choice that best explains the discrepancy.

Assumption

Oftentimes there is a major gap in the argument. That is for the argument to make sense it has to address the gap. Assumption questions are similar to ‘Evaluate the Argument’ questions, but instead of choosing an answer that helps determine whether the argument is valid, Assumption questions require that you simply identify the logical gap in the argument.

Bold-Faced

One of the more difficult question types on Critical Reasoning requires that you identify what function in the argument two bold-faced sentences play.

Fill-in-the-blank

A rare question type, fill-in-the-blank is just what you’d expect. An argument is about to state its conclusion, but instead there is a big blank. Your job is to choose the answer that best completes the argument.

If all of this seems a bit abstract, I will be posting an example of each of the different questions types. Stay tuned for these posts!

GRE Data Interpretation Practice Set

The following pie chart shows the breakdown of revenues for a particular grocery store over the first quarter of this year.  The bar chart shows the detail of breakdown for frozen foods.

1) What is the dollar amount of sales of canned goods in the first quarter of this year?

(A) $6,000

(B) $9,000

(C) $18,000

(D) $36,000

(E) $90,000

2) Frozen prepared meals constitute what percentage of the total sales for the first quarter this year?

(A) 2%

(B) 9%

(C) 20%

(D) 36%

(E) 54%

3) During the first quarter this year, this particular grocery store was finishing its construction of an expanded bakery facility, which, when opened at the beginning the second quarter, will offer dozens of new cakes and pies, a whole new line of pastries, and several flavors of gourmet coffee.  Assume that in the second quarter, the bakery sales triple, and all other sale stay the same.  Bakery would then account for what percentage of total sales in the second quarter?

(A) 8.7%

(B) 12%

(C) 16.1%

(D) 18%

(E) 25.3%

Explanations

1) This is a straightforward read-data-off-the-chart question.  The pie chart tells us canned goods sales constitute 18% of $200,000.  Don’t go to the calculator for such a straightforward percent question!

     Answer = D

2) From the bar chart, prepared meals account for about $18,000 in sales.  This $18,000 is what percent of $200,000?  Again, please don’t jump to the calculator for this.

Answer = B

3) This is a tricky question, because there’s a tempting wrong answer.  The bakery accounts for 6% of the total sales in first quarter, so if you triple that, it’s 18%, right? Wrong!  The new amount would be 18% of the total sales in the first quarter, but we want to know what percent would it be of the total sales in the second quarter?  That’s a new total because, even though everything else stayed the same, bakery sales increased.

We don’t need to consider the actual numbers: we can just work with the percents.  Bakery sales triple from 6% to 18% — that’s the new “part.”  Since the bakery goes up 12% from 6% to 18%, and all other sales stay the same, the new total is 112% — that’s the new “whole.”

     You can use the calculator if you like, although you could also approximate that the answer will not be 18% but rather something a little below 18%, because the “whole” has increased a bit.  Either way, the answer = C.