{"id":9525,"date":"2012-06-01T09:00:26","date_gmt":"2012-06-01T16:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/?p=9525"},"modified":"2014-08-19T16:27:35","modified_gmt":"2014-08-19T23:27:35","slug":"gre-verbal-study-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/gre-verbal-study-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"GRE Verbal Study Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to study GRE Verbal<\/h2>\n

Preparing for the New GRE Verbal section can be daunting. First off, the verbal section has undergone major changes: antonyms and analogies have been replaced with paragraph long fill-in-the-blank question known as Text Completions; Reading Comprehension questions have been given the treatment as well.<\/p>\n

Then there is the simple fact that the GRE Verbal Section has always entailed learning thousands of words and reading passages that, for many, is about as exciting as watching paint dry.<\/p>\n

Below, I am going to cover how to study for the GRE verbal section<\/a> without losing your mind. Indeed, if you follow the five guidelines below, you will, in a sense, gain a mind: one full of academic-level words and esoteric facts regarding the life of phytoplankton.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Use the best GRE Verbal practice materials<\/h2>\n

With the proliferation of the web and ubiquity of smart phones, hundreds of newcomers have flooded the GRE market. Some promise perfect scores \u2013 but are little more than a sham. Others promote the New GRE \u2013 but use content for the old test.<\/p>\n

Then there are the usual suspects, popular brand name prep companies that quality-wise run the gamut from jaw-droppingly awful to pretty decent.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the prep sources you choose are going to significantly affect your score, so don\u2019t waste time with junk. Try to use the best GRE book<\/a> you can find.<\/p>\n

Read our new GRE book reviews<\/a> here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Read beyond the Verbal section of the prep book<\/h2>\n

Here is the perhaps the biggest readjustment in thinking you will need: In prepping for the new GRE, you are not simply learning a few rules. You essentially have to to prove your ability to understand words in an academic context.<\/p>\n

The best way to do this is to read. And by read, I don\u2019t mean comic books, or the latest pulp thriller (I also am not implying that you have to read academic papers on the proliferation of phytoplankton in the North Sea).<\/p>\n

Instead, choose a publication such as the New York Times, The New Yorker, or The Economist<\/a>. Read something that interests you, taking notes of what you read. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Up your GRE Verbal score: learn words \u2013 not definitions<\/h2>\n

A common preconception\u2014though not necessarily a misconception\u2014is that one only needs to study a set list of high-frequency words and he or she is ready to ace the test. As somebody who has tutored the GRE for many years, I\u2019ve never met a person for whom that method worked.<\/p>\n

First off there is no one magic list. Secondly, learning from a list is very unproductive. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you do not know a word just because you can cough up some word-for-word definition, as in:<\/p>\n

Belie<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 fail to give a true notion or impression of (something); disguise or contradict.\u00a0\u00a0 -New Oxford Dictionary<\/em><\/p>\n

The real question is this: can you use the word in a sentence, and can you identify when the word is being correctly used in a sentence? \u00a0For instance, if I said the children belied themselves as ninjas during Halloween, you could very well look at the part of the sentence that says \u2018disguise\u2019 and think, hey, that\u2019s right.<\/em><\/p>\n

The only way to understand a complex word like belie is to understand how the word functions in context. Reading from newspapers and magazines (such as the ones quoted above) is a perfect way to do so. I’d also recommend using our free Vocabulary eBook<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Targeted practice<\/h2>\n

Don\u2019t just prep at random. Take a look at these excellent study plans<\/a>, which can guide you through strategies that can help you boost your GRE verbal score percentile.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get involved – find a GRE Verbal Study Buddy<\/h2>\n

\u201cNo man is an island\u201d is an expression that can be applied to the GRE aspirant. So do not barricade yourself behind a mountain of GRE prep books (especially bad ones). Instead find a study partner. You can quiz each other on words. If you don\u2019t know anybody prepping for the GRE, then ask a family member to quiz use with flashcards (make sure you give them convincing example sentences).<\/p>\n

Finally, there always the forums. Urch.com allows you to help the community out by answer GRE questions posed in the forums. And if you are stuck yourself, then feel free to ask your question on the forums. All these forms of interaction will help strengthen your GRE skills.<\/p>\n

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

How to study GRE Verbal Preparing for the New GRE Verbal section can be daunting. First off, the verbal section has undergone major changes: antonyms and analogies have been replaced with paragraph long fill-in-the-blank question known as Text Completions; Reading Comprehension questions have been given the treatment as well. Then there is the simple fact […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,71],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[12264],"class_list":["post-9525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-verbal","category-verbal-tips"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGRE Verbal Study Tips<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The GRE Verbal section is one of the hardest English tests you'll take. So how do you prepare for GRE Verbal? 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He's been quoted as a subject expert in many publications, including<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/education\/best-colleges\/slideshows\/10-test-prep-tips-for-sat-and-act-takers\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> US News<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mba.com\/exams-and-exam-prep\/gmat-exam\/why-take-the-gmat-in-2021-when-many-schools-are-test-optional\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> GMAC<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessbecause.com\/news\/gmat\/3263\/mba-admissions-gre-challenges-gmat\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Business Because<\/a>.\r\n"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9525"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=9525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}