THE PERKS AND DOWNSIDES OF GRE VOCABULARY
PERKS - Flaunt your vocab in front of your friends and "baffle" them. Just like this! :D
DOWNSIDE - Come to terms with the harsh truth that your vocab prior to the GRE was just 0.1 percent of the words in the dictionary.
Ensconced on my bed, an idea popped up in my head. I sat down to expatiate the ordeal I went through while learning the coveted, GRE vocabulary, to help all of you planning to take up the GRE. Rusty after a long gap, I disinterred from deep within, my ken on the subject.
English being my favourite subject, with great aplomb, I started trying to solve the Text Completion questions, but to my consternation, I knew only a modicum of the words I first saw. Though the journey ahead seemed bleak, my dismay was ephemeral. I looked forward to learning new words. But learning words and their meanings alone was very prosaic. It felt like reading out of a dictionary. I found some techniques which might help you in the long run.
1. Pair up with your friends and share the words you learn. It stays longer on your memory.
2. USE the words in everyday conversation.
3. Put up Whatsapp statuses and show some swag :D
4. Become a voracious reader, esurient for new words.
5. Learn word roots. This helps with unknown words that come up on the test.
6. ASSOCIATE words with people around you or come up with your own whacky cartoon or image to go with it.
7. Be cognizant at all times. Words are ubiquitous.
8. Most importantly, though this technique may seem quaint, I cannot stress enough on its importance. Write down all the new words you come across and keep refreshing your memory.
9. Also, learn the contextual meanings and their use in the sentence. Categorise as positive, negative and neutral words. As we know, Extremely negative words are always the wrong answer choice.
10. Watch a lot of English Sitcoms ( As if it needs saying ;) ) Copious GRE words can be learnt from your favourite stars.
The accretion of words by the end of it all, will leave you with indelible happiness!
MY PERSONAL FAVOURITE WORDS:
1. AUGUST, Adj ('Coz it's my birth month :D) - Having a majestic quality
2. PERIPATETIC, Adj ('Coz I love travelling) - Travel around, especially on foot.
3. SPARTAN, Adj ( A group all of us have admired) - Strict self discipline
4. SINECURE, Noun( Just for its meaning) - A well paying job requiring little work. ( A dream job for most of us)
5. PECCADILLO, Noun (Sounds cute, doesn't it?) - A small sin or offense
6. HUSBAND, Verb (Wait, what? It has another meaning? YES!!) - Use economically (haha!)
7. KOWTOW, Verb - To act in a sycophantic manner
8. PARIAH, Noun ('Coz It is a word of Indian Origin B-) ) - A social outcast
9. NABOB, Noun ('Coz It's an Indian Origin word too) - A wealthy, influential person (Easy to remember too- NAWAB)
10. VERACITY, Noun (' Coz it's easy to remember) - Truthful ( Remember Veritaserum from Harry Potter?)
BEST PLACES TO START FROM:
1. Youtube Magoosh's Vocab Wednesdays.
2. Download Magoosh's GRE Flashcards.
3. Articles from the New Yorker. (Helps with AWA too)
4. Follow "WORDINAIRE" on Instagram. (The best pictorial depiction of words you will ever find)
5. Memrise web app.
And of course, the usual Barron's word list, Princeton's hit parade and the like.
As a sagacious gentleman once rightly said, "A little progress everyday adds up to big results." And I Stress on it again, learn a few words everyday. DO NOT try to read it all at once! Hope you learnt a few words out of this today! :) Happy Learning! :)
