GRE Vocabulary Tips & Tricks

Mugging up the 3,500 long word list can be a big pain especially when we come across words which would not seem relevant to our domain. Professionally I am a Senior Software Engineer and when I come across words like "Scuttle" which means "Sink", I wonder who would actually say "My ship 'scuttled' "! or may be "We just 'scuttled' the enemy ship!" I wouldn't go through the pain of actually mugging up such a word and then present it to a person who would only be seeing stars unless if he is some verbal scholar! I was trying to find out some solution to this. Here is my observation.

1) Mug up the root words [about 300 roots, suffixes and prefixes] before getting into any words.

2) On the first attempt, don't waste more than 2 minutes on a word. Believe me, 2 min. or 10 min. would not make much difference after 15 days. The focus should be on categorizing the difficulty level.
a) Have you come across the word? If yes, can you recollect it? If yes for the former two then it should be in the easiest category.
b) You have come across the word but cant seem to recollect it even after going through it for 2 - 4 min. It should be a difficult word. Move on! Don't be stuck on to it. Note it down in a separate pocket book or something and name the book as Difficult Vocab.
c) You have come across a word you think would never stick into your memory for a lifetime. Categorize it as Insane and have a look at the word and meaning and think why GOD why! Who would use it and move on! :) Similarly note this down in a separate pocket book or something and name the book as Insanely
Vocab.

3) So now once you have gone through the entire 3500 Master Word List, study the entire list for the 2nd time. Now see if the easy words were actually easy or was it your short term memory playing tricks on you! If yes, then place that word in your Difficult book list. Next go through the difficult word and just
for fun the insane ones. Believe me you would remember the insane ones better than the difficult ones!

4) Once the 2nd iteration is over you know for sure, the "Easy", "Difficult" and "Insane" words! Now try to split the difficult words into roots, suffixes et al and see if you can find a pattern. You can also use Mnemonics to help yourself remember these words. You can go through this site which might be of help for
mnemonics - mnemonic dictionary

5) Now after the 2nd iteration, your confidence would be low! You might start wondering that your going nowhere. Just a handful of those difficult words seem very easy now. Don't worry, you are heading the right path!

6) Now for the 3rd iteration! Research has it that you need to read a new subject a minimum of 3 times to actually start feeling comfortable with it. The 4th time, you start recollecting it and the 5th and 6th time you start singing the words as though you were born with a Dictionary in your arm pit!

7) But for a 6 time revision schedule, if you are a working professional, make sure that you have at least 2 years ahead of you! If you are a student, you should have at least 1 year. Remember, even if you complete the 3500 word list in 3 months that is not the end of it. You will have to start experimenting with it.

8) Start using it with your friends or colleagues. Start showing it off to your Boss! If he keeps nagging shoot out some explanation with these words. The next time he would be like carrying a dictionary when he speaks to you >:] Believe me such experiences help you retain these words for a lifetime!

Enjoy learning new words! Hope you can crack the GRE verbal analogies and antonyms with some hard and smart work!