Can you really improve a GRE Verbal score?

[angrawa]

Hi All,

I decided to retake the GRE in order to try to get above my 430 score into a more respectable score. I am content with my Q score at 720 and am worried that is going to fall. I took it Dec 07 and am scheduled to take it again Jan 15, 08. I keep reading things that since the V section is based on Vocab, its really hard to improve your score in this section. Has Anyone raised their verbal significantly and if so how?

Thanks and Happy New Year!

[rinneron]

Yes you certainly can! But GET STUDYING!

I improved my verbal score from 590 to 690 with a lot of vocab studying. I took a Princeton Review course, and memorized every damn word they gave me. Most of the verbal section is vocab, even if it doesn't seem like it, so studying words till they're coming out of your ears is really worth it. Pick up one of the review books -- again, Princeton Review is best, as they base their vocab on the actual test and what words come up often -- and study study study till test time.

Hope that helps!

[bogfrog]

I think the most effective way to do this in a short period of time is to get a book on word prefixes, suffixes, language origins, etc. This is more efficient than just memorizing huge word lists.

I can't remember the title, but when I studied for the SAT I had a great book that discussed all the language origins of many english words. Once you get these down, guessing is quite easy. (Most "learned" words are not really English at all.)

Also try something like Verbal Advantage. It's much easier to read than the dry lists printed in Kaplans, Princeton, etc.

[angrawa]

Yes you certainly can! But GET STUDYING!

I improved my verbal score from 590 to 690 with a lot of vocab studying. I took a Princeton Review course, and memorized every damn word they gave me. Most of the verbal section is vocab, even if it doesn't seem like it, so studying words till they're coming out of your ears is really worth it. Pick up one of the review books -- again, Princeton Review is best, as they base their vocab on the actual test and what words come up often -- and study study study till test time.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the words of encouragement rinneron...i'll bite the bullet and see how far I can get!

[angrawa]

I think the most effective way to do this in a short period of time is to get a book on word prefixes, suffixes, language origins, etc. This is more efficient than just memorizing huge word lists.

I can't remember the title, but when I studied for the SAT I had a great book that discussed all the language origins of many english words. Once you get these down, guessing is quite easy. (Most "learned" words are not really English at all.)

Also try something like Verbal Advantage. It's much easier to read than the dry lists printed in Kaplans, Princeton, etc.

Thanks. I have been looking at the root words and it seems everytime I go to apply it, It happens to be the "exception"-Go figure! There is a book that was recommended to me called Word Power Made Easy that seems to be pretty good and I have been using online flash cards and Kaplans Vocab in a box. Thanks for the tip

[rinneron]

Thanks for the words of encouragement rinneron...i'll bite the bullet and see how far I can get!

Of course! And if I can improve my score (I have a terrible memory and absolutely zero talent for vocab on a regular basis without my handy little dictionary and thesaurus) anyone can. Good luck!!

[limeinthecoconut]

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[jackassjim]

Lifehacker published an article recently on another website you might find interesting:

http://lifehacker.com/5122433/verbalear ... your-vocab

[misterpat]

I used Princeton Review's WordSmart for the GRE. I read about 20 words a day and did the exercises, then the next day (on top of reading 20 more), made flashcards for all the words that I didn't know prior to reading the book from the previous day. I kept sets of flashcards handy while I watched TV and flipped through them during commercials, or did them during down time at work. I improved from a 600 to a 680.

Word roots are a good idea, but they can only take you so far. The GRE puts a lot of double prefixes and all kinds of annoying stuff in the words to distort the word away from the root's definition. Since your score was pretty low to begin with, the roots might help you a bit. But if you're aiming for 90th+ percentile, it isn't enough on its own.

Also, make sure you consult lists of the words that appear most commonly on the GRE. My Verbal section was FILLED with the GRE Verbal's "Greatest Hits," if you want to call them that.

Good luck. That test is evil.

[aec]

I used the Kaplan Vocab book that has flash-card type pages and literally learned/memorized (whatever you want to say) all of the 500 words and very few of them were on my tests. There are very few questions ultimately, so learning words is a gamble. If you have the time roots, prefixes, etc... are the way to go, but if I had it to do over I would probably just try to get a few more words and work on the reading comp more (it was my least favorite aspect of the test).

[limeinthecoconut]

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[misterpat]

Yeah, I forgot to add that. Do as many tests as possible. I did like, all the tests my Kaplan book had, all of the Powerprep tests and exercises, and some tests from a Peterson's book I got at the library. Which was terrible, by the way.

Did anyone else use Peterson's? I found the words used were substantially more difficult than those on the test. I think Kaplan might have been closer to the actual difficulty of the test, if not slightly easier.

[commoner]

The GRE verbal is most definitely a vocab test. Go through one or two different books on how the GRE questions work. Standardized tests must ask each question similarly to the other questions in the section or they cannot be validated together as showing any statistical meaning. This means that there are patterns and ways you can approach each question that will help you even if you are not 100% sure about each word's meaning. At the same time, you must work through the word lists. Roots are better for SAT than for GRE. The Kaplan books are easy to read and help out quite a bit. There should be a top 200 word list in the book. For the second time I took the test, I bought the Kaplan flash cards. Went through the 500 words over a few months. Score went from 580 to 710.

Remember that there are two parts to each question: content and format. Study them both.

[angrawa]

Thanks everyone for the tips!

[Billy1]

i really think you should be able, tho I have no evidence

Learn word roots, and focus on getting up to speed on sentence completion and Rcomp. Antonyms are a bit of a pain, but with long enough, you should be flying.

Good luck.

[DanielEdwards]

Find the GRE strategies that work best for you. Go through GRE strategy books, and find the strategies that you feel most comfortable with, and most importantly, earn you a higher score on GRE practice tests. After you've found your strategy, practice it until it becomes second nature.

[domanda]

not for me....i took it twice and canceled the second one. i felt like crap seeing all those unknown words for the second time.

i'm not a native speaker and how the fuck would i know words like "teeter" or whatever. those simple words aren't even covered in any prep material. i have nightmares of my application getting thrown out because of my subpar gre score. i wish they set a different line for non-native speakers. my english isn't half bad and i've lived here for long enough, but those weird words nobody i know uses bug me every time.

[younglions]

I improved my GRE verbal score quite substantially to a 790. There was a 2 year break in between my two tests. The most helpful thing for me was definitely the website flashcardexchange.com. Just search for GRE and you will find a wealth of study sets. Also, during those two years I had a lot more free time than I did when I was in university + working so I found a lot of time to read. Books and quality news publications are a great way to improve your verbal score if you have the time. Instead of reading Newsweek (which has a very low level of vocab) for current events, read the ny times or the economist.

[ohheygradschool]

Try this free website as well. I used their Vocab Builder. It worked for me:

http://www.number2.com

Love this site.

[40404]

yes. My first try I only got 450. A studied a bit and got it a little higher to 510 so just imagine if I had more time to study for it. You can do it for sure! I even took some memory enhancers. LOL!

[tikitikitumble]

I boosted my verbal from 480 to 600 by using the Kaplan verbal workbook.

[zhukora]

i'm not a native speaker and how the fuck would i know words like "teeter" or whatever. those simple words aren't even covered in any prep material. i have nightmares of my application getting thrown out because of my subpar gre score. i wish they set a different line for non-native speakers. my english isn't half bad and i've lived here for long enough, but those weird words nobody i know uses bug me every time.

Can you take the TOEFL? It seems like most schools put less weight on the verbal section of the GRE if you have decent TOEFL scores.

[amalexander]

I went from a 690 to a 730, and didn't actually study vocab at all... but between the first and second times I took the GRE, I did teach SAT courses for 3 years and go to law school. So I'm guessing I'm not a very good example.

[plisar]

You really retook the test so you could go from a 97th percentile to a 99tth percentile?

Man, that's like that guy all of us knew in HS who retook the SAT so he could increase his 1580 to a 1600.

[amalexander]

No, my scores had expired, so I had to retake it. I originally took the test in 2002, and then again last summer. Plus, the real issue was my Quant score, which was HORRIBLE. And still is.