Strategies for Building Vocabulary

To keep yourself on the straight and narrow path to your first-choice graduate program, heed the following pieces of advice for building your vocabulary. Learn Words in Groups That Mean Something You can always chip away diligently at long alphabetical word lists. (In fact, you may have already starting doing that.) But that’s not the most effective way to fix new words in your memory. It makes more sense to learn words by groups according to what they mean or what they look like. There are all sorts of possibilities for word groups:

• A group of words that are similar in meaning (words that share the same root or prefix make an ideal group)
• A group of synonyms along with a group of their antonyms
• A group of words that look or sound similar but are unrelated in meaning (for example, “felicitous,” “filaceous,” and “fallacious”)
• A group of words that involve the same theme or subject (for example, “motion,” “tools,” or “money”)

Do you really think those lists of words that supposedly appear most frequently on the test will continue to appear “most frequently” on future exams? Of course they won’t. Yes, some words from any “top 500” list will show up from time to time on future exams, and a few might even show up on yours, so go ahead and learn them. Just keep in mind that these words are not any more likely than a host of other test-worthy words to appear on your exam.

As you know, most comprehensive books contain lists of vocabulary words. If you compare books side by side, you’ll notice that the lists are very much the same from book to book. That’s because these lists are compiled from the same older exams that were already administered and have now been published. What does this mean? The key is not how many lists are at your disposal, but rather the kinds of lists you use. Go the Extra Vocabulary Mile for Those Extra Points

If you start early enough and make the effort to learn as many new style words, roots, and prefixes as you reasonably have time for, some of those words will undoubtedly appear on your exam. How many? Maybe two, or maybe as many as five. If you don’t think these numbers make it worth your effort to learn new words for the , think again. As you well know, even a few additional correct answers can make the difference in your chances for admission to the most competitive programs. But don’t take this advice too far. Ferreting out every single test-worthy word the English language has to offer is simply not worth the extra time, which is better spent on other tasks. (See the next two tips.)

A strong vocabulary is important in helping you raise your score, but keep your vocabulary review in perspective. You can know the precise meaning of every word on everyVerbal Reasoning section and still score miserably low. Unless you know how to draw analogies and can recognize logical connections between sentence parts, don’t expect a competitive Verbal Reasoning score.

The English language includes many thousands of tough and test-worthy words. Be forewarned: You will encounter at least a few new and unfamiliar words on your exam, no matter how thoroughly you’ve prepared. If you believe otherwise, you’re either kidding yourself or you’ve committed to memory Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary. Sure, go ahead and learn as many words as you reasonably have time for. But make sure you devote just as much time to learning roots and prefixes, which might help you guess the meaning of those unfamiliar words you’re bound to encounter on the test. Remember: When the test designers choose especially obscure word for the chances are they’ve selected the word because it contains a root or prefix that will help you guess the word’s meaning (assuming you know the root or prefix).

You’ll learn a few new words as you review your practice tests, but taking practice tests is more useful for applying test-taking skills—such as analyzing Antonyms, Analogies, and Sentence and Complex Text Completions and developing strategies for responding to them—than it is for improving vocabulary.

Let’s say that you’ve compiled your vocabulary resources and have taken inventory of what you need to review. Now you need to set up a sensible schedule that will allow you to cover everything by exam day. Work your vocabulary-building schedule into your regular prep schedule. Rather than trying to learn hundreds of words in one session, try tackling just twenty to thirty words a day. Start your study each day by learning those words, then review them at the end of your study session.

Unless you have a photographic memory, it’s not enough to “learn” a word (or a root or prefix) once. Unless you review it, the word might vanish from your memory banks. So your study schedule should include daily review of some of the words you learned during previous days or weeks.

Most of what you’ve read about vocabulary up to this point assumes you have several weeks to gear up for the . But if you’re short on time, prioritize and keep your perspective. Your first priority should be to learn roots and prefixes, because they appear in so many different words. Next, learn as many meaningful word groups as you have time for. Finally, keep in mind that the strategies presented in the Verbal Reasoning part of this book are more important than rote vocabulary.After all, the is designed as a reasoning test, not a vocabulary quiz.