{"id":3369,"date":"2013-02-08T09:00:24","date_gmt":"2013-02-08T17:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/?p=3369"},"modified":"2020-01-15T10:50:05","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T18:50:05","slug":"gmat-vocabulary-words-to-the-wise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/gmat-vocabulary-words-to-the-wise\/","title":{"rendered":"GMAT Vocabulary: Words to the Wise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you need to study GMAT vocabulary?<\/h4>\n

The short answer:<\/p>\n

No.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Need I say more?<\/p>\n

OK, I’ll say a little more, but that single word is really the take-away message.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s that other graduate admission test, GRE<\/a>, that scours the most difficult words in the English language.\u00a0 The web abounds with massive GRE vocab lists.\u00a0\u00a0 So, while you may find a few things labeled as “GMAT vocabulary lists” here and there, studying vocabulary is not particularly important for most would-be GMAT takers.\u00a0 For the vast majority of GMAT takers, your time is much better spent elsewhere.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Business vocabulary<\/h2>\n

Think about it.\u00a0 The GRE is a test that every novelist<\/a> and poet<\/a> and literary critic<\/a> has to take —- those are people whose very point in life is to express difficult ideas in obscure ways!\u00a0 The GMAT is for practical-minded business folks.\u00a0\u00a0 Business folks, as a group, are not known for their advanced vocabulary.\u00a0 Business reports typically are not peppered with verbal acrobatics.\u00a0 Yes, you have to know the vocabulary of business and economics —- if you have absolutely no idea about basic Economics 101 ideas, say, the Law of Supply and Demand<\/a>, then you have some homework to do.\u00a0 If a typical article from the Wall Street Journal<\/i><\/a> is loaded with economic terms you don’t understand, take that as an indication that you should bone up a bit.\u00a0 Then again, if you know absolutely nothing about business or economics, it begs the question —- why are you applying to business school in the first place?\u00a0 I imagine knowing basic economic & business vocabulary will not be a problem for the vast majority of folks who have decided to take the GMAT.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Words in GMAT Verbal<\/h2>\n

Beyond a limited vocabulary of basic economic and business words, beyond the words you would regularly see in, say, the Economist Magazine<\/i><\/a>, you don’t need to study vocabulary for the GMAT Verbal section<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 The GMAT Verbal section is not about grilling your vocabulary with a host of difficult words.<\/p>\n

The GMAT Verbal section is about the skills you will need in business.\u00a0 In business you will need to distinguish valid vs. faulty arguments<\/a> (after all, every sale is an argument!)\u00a0 In business, you will need to express yourself with powerful, direct, grammatically correct language<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In business, you will need to read challenging material and extract the information<\/a> you need to formulate your strategies.\u00a0\u00a0 In business, you will not<\/i> need to know whether ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny<\/a>.\u00a0 In business, you will not<\/i> need to distinguish metonymy<\/a> from synecdoche<\/a>.\u00a0 You will not need to know difficult words and obscure vocabulary.\u00a0 If you love difficult vocab, take the GRE and go to academic grad school.\u00a0 If you are headed for the GMAT and business school, then learn the crucial verbal skills you will need on Critical Reasoning, Sentence Correction, and Reading Comprehension, but don’t worry about vocabulary.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Summary<\/h2>\n

At Magoosh, we don’t have a “GMAT vocab list” because we don’t consider that an important focus for our students.\u00a0 We do have, say, a “GMAT idiom list,” even an idiom ebook<\/a>, available to users, but we don\u2019t want our students spending a ton of time memorizing long list of difficult vocabulary words.\u00a0\u00a0 There are much more important things to do when you study for the GMAT!<\/p>\n

Let us know below if you have experiences with words you felt were difficult on the GMAT, or any questions about the GMAT & vocabulary!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you need to study GMAT vocabulary? The short answer: No.\u00a0 Need I say more? OK, I’ll say a little more, but that single word is really the take-away message.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s that other graduate admission test, GRE, that scours the most difficult words in the English language.\u00a0 The web abounds with massive GRE vocab lists.\u00a0\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13209],"class_list":["post-3369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-verbal"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGMAT Vocabulary: Words to the Wise<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Should GMAT vocabulary be part of your study plan? Are there GMAT words you need to study? 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Beyond standardized testing, Mike has over 20 years of both private and public high school teaching experience specializing in math and physics. In his free time, Mike likes smashing foosballs into orbit, and despite having no obvious cranial deficiency, he insists on rooting for the NY Mets. 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He was also featured as \"member of the month\" for over two years at <a href=\"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/mike-mcgarrys-gmat-experience\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GMAT Club<\/a>. Mike holds an A.B. in Physics (graduating <em>magna cum laude<\/em>) and an M.T.S. in Religions of the World, both from Harvard. Beyond standardized testing, Mike has over 20 years of both private and public high school teaching experience specializing in math and physics. In his free time, Mike likes smashing foosballs into orbit, and despite having no obvious cranial deficiency, he insists on rooting for the NY Mets. Learn more about the GMAT through Mike's <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/MagooshGMATChannel\/featured\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Youtube <\/a>video explanations and resources like <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/whats-a-good-gmat-score\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">What is a Good GMAT Score?<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/gmat-diagnostic-test\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GMAT Diagnostic Test<\/a>."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3369"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}