<p>In prepping for the GRE it seems to me like a lot of the words used in the analogies and antonym questions are very difficult. A lot of them are words I have never even seen before. It is kind of intimidating. The GRE prep book I read says that the test isn't supposed to measure if you're a walking dictionary, but how diverse of a vocabulary you have. But it seems like the only way to familiarize yourself with a lot of the words used on the test is to study a dictionary or thesarus. How else are you supposed to answer the questions if you have no clue what the words mean. Any helpful strategies?</p>
<p>Your prep book should have a list of high-frequency words. At the very least, make flashcards of the words you don't know and go through them. Discard ones that you learn so well you can immediately recall their meanings. Keep rotating through the difficult stack.</p>
<p>Ah the GRE vocab. How much I hated it. Still have not seen the words alacrity and inimical in Grad school. And I thought I needed to know them to succeed!!</p>
<p>If the GRE is anything like the SAT, there will be certain words that appear repeatedly. See if your book has a list and yes, go ahead and memorize them. If it doesn't, buy flashcards or get yourself another book...Amazon.com has tons.</p>
<p>Yeah, my book does have those lists. It has lists of common words and also it has lists of words that mean relatively the same thing. Looks helpful.</p>
<p>look at the word lists in kaplan, princeton review, arco, and barron's (the 300 most tested words, NOT their several thousand word list). a lot of the words are common to all. learn all of them - probably a total of 600 words.</p>
<p>Yeah, I have the Kaplan prep book and I think it has a big big word list in the back, but in the main sections is has the common words list. I'll be studying that a lot.</p>
<p>What sort of verbal score are you aiming for? </p>
<p>Just keep in mind that GRE scores are often considered the least important aspect of your application. I'd just study the high frequency word lists you have in your prep book (this worked great for me) and not worry about it too much.</p>
<p>I kno I am still a high school senior yet to experience undergrad, but, if theres still a lot of time, I suggest doing vocab little by little. I made flash cards piecemeal over two years before my junior year in high school, and now I know practically every word on the SAT word list. Knowing vocab is one of the best things ever because it opens a whole new world of sophisticated reading.</p>
<p>But is that really true that GRE scores aren't really that important? I mean, if I get a terrible GRE score, yet i have a strong GPA, letters of rec., resume, personal statement, do you really think I'd get into an Ivy league or top notch school? I think GRE is more important than people think.</p>
<p>GRE scores can definitely keep you out of a program, but they won't get you in.</p>
<p>I had a 720Q/660V. For engineering, that's a pretty weak quant score (I think the average here is like 780), and yet I got into Princeton, Cornell, and UPenn (I go to Princeton now). So yeah, GRE scores don't matter as much as some people think.</p>
<p>The dictionary thing really helps. It's actually not hard to do at all because you know most of the words in there and others are just useless(like the name of african tribes,etc.). I studied the entire dictionary last summer in about 26 days and actually remembered the meanings of the words when i was done- but i didn't follow it up with reading or taking GRE practice tests so i ended up forgetting most of the words. But i'll definitely do it again before i take the GRE's next fall. High frequency words are good too.</p>
<p>You can, but be forewarned, that thing has almost no discernable plot.</p>
<p>I thought general GRE didn't matter too much in admission.. no? I heard many people saying to "just take it" and get it over with, since no one looks at the scores anyways..</p>
<p>hopefullyIvy,</p>
<p>It depends on your field. In most humanities fields, GREs matter a lot. If they're low, that could be a problem. If they're high, you could qualify for a fellowship.</p>