Below are five straightforward GRE verbal reasoning tips to help boost your score to the top of the GRE score range.
1. Know your vocabulary
There is no way around it. To do well on the GRE you have to know your vocabulary. There are plenty of word lists that can help you get started. Flashcards are also a great way to help you learn GRE vocabulary. To help you find the right flashcard set for your vocab level, we’ve created this quiz! Just answer a few questions, and we’ll recommend the right FREE GRE vocabulary flashcard set for you!
Also, make sure to learn how to go about learning GRE vocabulary. Reading through a word list simply won’t hack it, you’ve got to have vocabulary study strategies.
2. Speak GRE-ese
The verbal section is not filled with entertaining writing. Far from it. What you’ll get is dry, academic type of passages. The Text Completions (the fill-in-the-blank sentences) will also contain dry writing, much of which is complex and sophisticated.
To really wrap your head around such writing, you have to immerse yourself in GRE-level writing. This can be as simple as doing plenty of practice questions or reading from sites such as aldaily.com.
Of course the speak element doesn’t mean speaking like a GRE passage—at least not at first. It does relate to using GRE-level vocabulary as much as possible. So don’t just learn the words in word lists but use them (perhaps not in public – but at least pepper your inner monologue with a GRE word or two).
Here are a few GRE words you can try out:
3. Learn pacing
All of us have been there—not being able to let go of that difficult question, burning minutes agonizing between (B) and (C). To do well on the test you have to get a sense of pacing, so you don’t spend most of your time on just a few questions.
To develop a sense of pacing do plenty of practice sets. There are a few GRE practice tests out there that will help you get a handle on any timing issues. Both Magoosh and Manhattan GRE also have mock tests.
4. Become a word detective
Everywhere you look, GRE words abound. Listen to some of the words characters use on television (I heard ‘subterfuge’ and ‘disingenuous’ recently); open up your local newspaper. Of course most of us are loath to look up words we see in writing (are you going to look up ‘loath’?). Now that you are prepping for the GRE, you need to think of yourself as word detective. Every time you see a word you don’t know look it up.
5. Think as the test writers do
To do well on the verbal section requires more than just knowing a lot of fancy words. You have to make sure not to get trapped by the answer choices. Known as ‘distractors’, wrong answer choices are sneaky. Learn what makes wrong answer choices wrong and right answer choices right. You’ve got to think like the test makers!
Of course the typical reaction to missing a question is outright disbelief—how, we exclaim, can (B) be the correct answer. It is clearly (C). Such a response can lead us to harbor resentment to the test. We think the questions are arbitrary and unfair.
Rather, figure out—in an equanimous manner (that’s GRE-speak for ‘cool-headed’)—why the correct answer was right, and why your original answer was wrong.
Hi Chris,
I have been troubled by GRE verbal section for two months. I got 142 in my verbal section but my goal score is 150+. Maybe I will retake the exam a month later. I think I am quite weak in GRE vocabularies because I cannot find the right way to memorize those unfrequent words. Actually I do not enjoy recitation. I am good in English grammar and writing but it is not the point of GRE verbal. So how can enlarge my vocabulary? Could you please give me some suggestions?
Thanks!
Hi Jimmy! Vocab learning isn’t fun, but you can learn a lot with a little work every day. The most important part of vocab learning is repetition. I would start with our vocab app to get a sense of which words need work. Next, make paper flashcards of the words you don’t know. The act of physically writing the words and definitions will help you memorize them. Finally, repeat the same words over and over, adding new words every day. One time through won’t be enough. Next, make sure to read real-world text every day, such as news articles or a book chapter. Record any words you don’t know and add them to your list. Consistent daily practice can make a huge difference, so keep at it!
Hey Chris !
I am GRE premium student and I have my exam in next 15 days and as I am continuously taking tests but scoring around 136 -139 in verbal. Can you please help me to score good within 15 days of time.
Hi Sushma,
Since you’re a Premium student, I’m going to forward this email on to our team of tutors. You’ll receive an email with an answer shortly. As a reminder, you can always email us at help@magoosh.com if you have questions like this 🙂
Hi Magoosh,
I am an premium student and I have taken GRE with score of 291 (Quants 157 and verbal 135)
Could you please suggest some steps to improve my score drastically . Mainly verbal focused which will increase my current score by 10-15 marks and quants score by 5-7 marks
Hi Rohan!
Since you’re a Premium student, I’m going to forward your message on to our team of tutors, who can give you a more personalized answer based on the information in your profile! You should hear from someone soon 🙂
Hi Magoosh
I am an premium student and I have taken the GRE ( quant 148 and verbal 135). If can you also send me information to increase my score in verbal via 10 points and quants via 3 points. Please help me! My exam is in less than a month.
Hi Enrika!
Because you’re a Premium student, I’ve forwarded your message to our Test Prep team. 🙂 They’ll be able to give you some advice.
Just a heads up, you’ll get a response in a different message (e-mail).
Hi Chris,
I have got only 136 in verbal in my gre exam. Iam planning to give exam within 2 months again and I intend to score 155+. Iam a magoosh premium user. Can you please suggest me or give me tips to improve my score.
Hi Fahad,
Since you’re a Premium student, I’m going to forward your message on to our team of tutors, who can give you a more personalized answer based on the information in your profile! You should hear from someone soon 🙂
Thanks. I go to work and have been preparing for GRE simultaneously. I would need your help in improving my verbal score to 155+ as Iam planning to take the exam again after 2 months from now.
Hi Chris,
I am facing a little difficulty in the verbal section .Can you please tell me how to practice for verbal. My estimated score for verbal section according to Magoosh is 148 to 153(range).I want to improve it to 154 to 159(range).
Hi Mihir,
Since you are a Premium student I have forwarded this question on to a tutor who will email you with specific feedback and tips. You should hear from us soon!
Hi,
I am also struggling with the verbal part. I need help as soon as possible!
Hi Aziz,
If you are a premium member, please email help@magoosh.com with details about your situation and one of our test prep experts will get back to you ASAP. 🙂
how can I improve my verbal section ….I take passages in depth and get the answers wrong
please help me.
Hi Rabiya,
Glad to help!
GRE RC Strategies
To help you on your journey to GRE Reading Comprehension domination, I am giving you some resources that will help you to succeed. Each one tackles a different aspect of reading comprehension, and if you want to read actively and understand the passage in front of you, dive into these resources:
Introduction to Reading Comprehension (Strategies and Pacing)
How to Approach Questions
Example of How a Passage is Outlined
Identifying Patterns in Passages
Pacing Strategies
Active Reading Strategies for the GRE
Reading Recommendations
In addition to practicing the strategies explained in these resources, you should be reading all the time to prepare for the GRE. Read. Read. Read. This will help you to learn new words, see different passage structures, and become familiar with the forms and styles employed by authors 🙂 As you read, make flashcards of the vocabulary words that you don’t know. Pause every so often, and recap the main message in your own words. Here are some suggested reading materials:
The New York Times
BBC
The Economist
Arts & Letters Daily
The New Yorker
For some specific articles suggestions, I’d recommend browsing through our “GRE Article of the Month” series. About once a month, Chris selects an GRE-level article and provides both GRE vocabulary for you to focus on as you read, as well as a brief discussion of the piece.
And if you would rather read books than articles, check out this post for fiction and non-fiction book recommendations!
For tips on how to use these reading sources to learn really vocabulary in context, check out these blog posts:
Vocabulary in Context
Reading Vocabulary in Context: Where Should I Start?
Truly, reading is the BEST way to improve your reading comprehension skills, I promise!
Pacing on GRE RC
In terms of improving your speed on GRE RC passages, I’d recommend first practicing without the timer–slow down, and try to truly understand the passage. You might think that time is lost when you read the passage too carefully, but in reality most time is wasted on questions that you don’t know the answer to because you read the passage too quickly. So step one, slow down, take notes on the passage, practice without the timer. Practice using all of the strategies you have learned, and don’t pay attention to the clock.
Next, once you feel your accuracy is improving on RC questions, start using the timer again. The more confident you become in your reading skills, the faster you will be able to answer questions.
Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence
Text completion (TC) questions can be difficult and hard to understand, clearly! Fortunately, we have some great resources to help you understand what to do.
On top of knowing vocabulary words, you need to be able to read a passage and decipher its meaning. Part of improving will be based on learning new words and part of improving will be based on learning about signal words in English that tell you about the relationship of ideas. Words like “because” or “however” or “more than” tell you about the relationship of ideas in a sentence and these are crucial to choosing the correct word to fill-in a blank.
You want to make sure that you read passages that are similar to the ones you will find on the GRE. Some of the best places to look for good articles and writing are at The New York Times and The New Yorker. The style, tone, and level of writing will be very similar to what you will see on the test, so make it a point to read these news sources—and/or others of their caliber—everyday.
Besides that, strategy is key! We have many blog posts that outline exactly how you should be tackling text completions and give some great examples (of course, that’s beside what’s in our lesson videos!). You can see those here:
GRE Text Completion
Magoosh Blog: Text Completion
Hey, I am finding problem with verbal section. It looks like I will get 0 in verbal.
Hi Arushi,
Don’t think this way! You have to believe in yourself. In addition, if you need more structure in your studies, I would recommend that you utilize a test prep resource, whether it is Magoosh or another test prep. Then, check out our pre-made study schedules as well. I hope these help. You can do this Arushi! 😀
Hi Chris,
Could you please tell us about AWA section? Thank-you.
Hi Asma,
Good question! 🙂
First, start with this introductory post on the AWA. You could then venture to the whole writing section of this blog which has many articles about the AWA.
I hope that helps! 🙂
“(perhaps not in public – but at least pepper your inner monologue with a GRE word or two).”
Hilarious.
how is one supposed to read of aldaily like pleasure reading or intense timed GRE style reading.
Hi Aketh,
Good question! Well, I think that might be somewhat of a false dichotomy for most, since aldaily.com doesn’t quite fit the bill as pleasure reading. Yet, I don’t want to imply that you should time everything you read on this site. The thing is the brain learns when you are doing something in a leisurely fashion. And that’s what I hope readers get when reading aldaily.com. Of course, they will want to assiduously look up words they don’t know and ask themselves after the article–or even a couple of paragraphs–what they were reading. This latter will hope fend off our natural tendency to start linking words together, without thinking of the meaning.
Hope that helps!
Hi Chris,
I have spent my entire summer studying for GRE verbal since i will take the exam on upcoming December. However, due to the fact that I am not a native language speaker, it seems that i have serious issues regarding the vocabulary, especially on sentence equivalence portion.
For example, among the list of possible vocabs, I always know the one correct word, but I frequently fails to get the correct pair. Is there any tip for me to narrow down the choices?
Thank you so much in advance!
Hi Harry,
It sounds like building your vocab is going to be a big component in improving your SE skills. My question is do you choose a second word because you are not sure what it means, or are you not sure what the other words mean?
See, if you tend to pick words that are familiar, even though they don’t create synonymous sentences with the first word you picked, that is an error you can guard against. In other words, don’t pick a familiar word because it kind of makes sense, pick/guess between the words you don’t know, because one of them will most likely be the answer.
If you are already doing that, then double down with the vocab prep. Our Vocabulary Builder is a great place to start:
http://gre.magoosh.com/builder/vocabulary
Hope that helps 🙂
Hi Chris,
Will you please elaborate what exactly did you mean by “think in the way as writers do”?
Thanks
Hi Chris,
I am a pretty slow reader, I have had issues with completing the verbal section in time. How can i improve my reading speed
Hi Samyak,
A good idea is to think in terms of active reading. What this means is to read not by connecting one word to the next, hoping to make it to the end, but rather to think about what you’re reading: looking for big ideas, connecting one sentence to the next, and even anticipating what comes next. This skill takes a while to perfect. Indeed, you will first be reading slower than before. But as your brain starts to connect ideas and get the general meaning, you’ll find yourself scanning with greater ease. The best part is your understanding of the passage will be much deeper.
Hope that helps!
If I had to choose between. Mgre and magoosh words which to choose ??
Either–but I’d study both (and there is a lot of overlap).
If you really forced to choose one, what you should do is study about 50 of each and then decide which one works better for you. Perhaps, you like the example sentences in Magoosh better (or maybe find them annoying!). Maybe you like the fact that MGRE provides synonyms with many words.
Hope that helps!
Hi Christ,
I am pretty slow computer test taker, so what is a good advice for me taking the GRE?
Hi Charly,
Practice–you’ll get faster quickly. Very few people have practice taking tests on a computer, so it is daunting for many at first. So take a few practice tests online. ETS has two, MGRE has 6, and Magoosh offers mock tests (as well as entire question base that is computer only). Spend a week with one of these and you’ll probably notice a significant improvement in your confidence and speed.
Good luck!
Hi Chris,
I have learned 1000 words list, which i formed my self from GRE material and many of them matched to you Wednesday Vocabulary. Is this vocabulary enough to score perfect on the GRE verbal or I have to increase my vocabulary?. If I should increase my vocabulary then tell me how much and where from. Is it ‘ll be a good way to learn those words which are from your Wednesday vocab and missed on my world list.
Thanks & Regards,
Sam
Hi Sam,
I think a better question is, “If I study these 1,000 words will I know every word on the test.” See even if you know every single word on the verbal section, you can still get tripped up the Text Completion sentence structure, or by the fact that you misinterpret the sentence and choose the wrong answer. Then there is always the reading comp. section.
That said, if your vocabulary was already pretty strong when you started prepping, I’d say those 1,000 words will allow you to recognize between 70 and 80% of the words on the test. Which is no small feat. Often that is enough to get the answer right for a Text Completion or a Sentence Equiv. question. I don’t think it would hurt if you picked up a stack of Manhattan GRE flashcards. Many of the words will be redundant but you’ll def. get a few more useful ones in the process.
Hope that helps!