Have you ever wondered how some aspirants easily handle tricky verbal questions while others get stuck between two confusing options? The difference often comes down to vocabulary. Students who are not native to speaking the English language often lack vocabulary skills, which prevents them from scoring higher on the GRE. However, vocabulary preparation for the GRE online exam is not a matter of memorising an endless list of words, but rather knowing the application of various words in various contexts. The correct approach and consistency will result in a significant improvement in your vocabulary.
Let’s discuss 7 useful and practical tips that will help you improve your GRE verbal score.
Table of Contents
The Importance of Vocabulary in Improving Your Score
Vocabulary is an important factor for scoring well in the GRE Verbal Reasoning section. When you have a good command of words, you can identify the difference between two similar options and understand the passage better.
Here’s how vocabulary directly impacts your performance:
- Essential for questions related to Text Completion
- Crucial for Sentence Equivalence
- Improves Reading Comprehension accuracy
- Helps decode context clues
- Reduces confusion between close options
- Supports faster decision-making
Practical Tips to Strengthen Your Vocabulary
Developing a good vocabulary takes effort and appropriate methods. The following are some of the practical ways of enabling you to develop your vocabulary for the GRE:
1. Read With Intention & Not Just Speed
Reading during your preparation process is important, but with only passive reading, your score will not increase. Read editorial & long-form journals and when you come across unfamiliar words, note them down. Attempt to guess the meaning from the surrounding lines before checking the definition of the word. This practice strengthens your contextual understanding, and this is exactly how challenging questions are framed.
2. Use a Dictionary Like a Tool
Looking up a meaning and moving on is ineffective. Many advanced words have multiple definitions, and the GRE often tests less common usages of the word.
Pay attention to the following aspects of the word
- Tone
- Noun, verb or adjective
- Example sentences
- Synonyms & antonyms
Try to understand the meaning of the word in different contexts, so it becomes easier to differentiate between similar options.
3. Understand Word Roots
A large number of English words share common roots with Greek and Latin. When you recognise these root words, it becomes easier to understand and retain the word. This understanding also helps you make an accurate guess even if you have never seen the word itself.
Examples of some common roots:
- mal means bad
Malicious, malfunction
- cred: relates to belief
Credible, incredulous - dict: means to say or speak
Dictionary, contradict - vid/vis: means to see
Visible, vision, evidence
When you remember the root word, identifying the meaning of the entire sentence becomes easier. Through this process, learning new words does not seem challenging and appears to be logical.
4. Maintain a Notebook for Vocabulary
Create a separate notebook for new words that helps you turn disorganised learning into an organised system. This notebook works as a reference to track your progress. Besides, it is better to have the words written, as this way your brain will remember them longer. Your notebook must contain the definition in simple terms, a sentence or two explaining how to use words.
Also, mention a synonym and an antonym for each word that you write. When the number of words increases, revise a few words every couple of days. This will keep the old words strong while adding new words to the list.
5. Learn Words Through Context
Vocabulary is easy to retain when you learn it through meaningful context rather than memorising everything separately. Instead of learning words, focus on understanding their definition. Collect example sentences from articles or practice questions. Try modifying the sentence slightly while keeping the word correct. This helps you understand the meaning of the word, which is essential in sentence equivalence and text completion tasks.
6. Use Repetition Methods Instead of Just Rereading
Just looking at your word list is an ineffective method for remembering words. Many researches suggest that reviewing words at longer intervals, called “spaced repetition,” can have a very strong effect on long term retention. Try going back and reviewing the word you learned that day, then after the intervals of 2, 5 and 7 days and again after a week. The best GRE classes recommend this method as it is very useful to help your brain recall words and memorise them for a long time.
7. Build Vocabulary Through Meaning-Based Word Grouping
One big mistake students make is memorising words separately, but the GRE questions don’t work that way. The GRE tests how words connect to ideas and logic inside a sentence. A smarter way to learn words is to understand them through meaning-based word grouping. For example:
- Words that show criticism are censure, reproach and denounce
- Words that express praise are extol, laud and commend
When you study like this, your brain starts noticing patterns automatically. In Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence, you won’t just think “What does this word mean?” You’ll think, “Does this match the tone and direction of the sentence?” This shift from memorising meanings to recognising word behaviour is what actually makes vocabulary useful on the test day.
Conclusion
Strong vocabulary skills do not develop overnight, it improves through steady reading, active revision, and actually using words in meaningful contexts. This creates a natural learning cycle over time.
For students who prefer structured guidance and expert feedback, Jamboree’s GRE test preparation online course offers an organised approach. Their focus on concept clarity and targeted training helps students move step by step from preparation to performance.
With the right direction from Jamboree, your vocabulary improvement will start reflecting clearly in your score. Consult with Jamboree’s expert mentors today!