How to Really Remember a GRE Vocabulary Word
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Think about your least favorite GRE vocabulary word. You know the one—every time you see it in your flashcards, you get that sinking feeling of dread. You always get this one wrong. You know it’s important, but for some reason, it just won’t stick in your head.
Okay, do you have a word in mind? Let’s conquer it—right here and now.
My least favorite GRE vocabulary word is dissipation. I missed this flashcard about ten times in a row the last time I studied for the GRE. The problem is that it sounds like a lot of other, more familiar words: dissolve, disperse, disintegrate. Those words all refer to similar concepts: something is breaking into smaller pieces and being washed or blown away. Dissipation, though, is the odd man out. It usually refers to drunkenness, debauchery, or wildness. Somebody with a dissipated lifestyle thinks only about what brings them pleasure. Figure out why you’re struggling with your word. This will help you overcome it.
Next, do some free association based on your least favorite GRE vocabulary word. What does it sound like? What does it make you think of? Because dissipation sounds similar to other words, but has a different meaning, I’ll need to specifically think about what makes it different from those words. It has a similar beginning to those words—diss—but a different ending. Here are my notes:
Disaster, discipline, diss (insult), patient (medicine), patient (attitude), patent, pay, shun, disparage, disco
Hang on to these notes for a second—we’ll come back to them soon. Right now, let’s talk about things your brain likes to remember. Your brain really loves remembering four things:
- Personal experiences
- Strong emotions: anger, sadness, joy, frustration, disgust
- Sensory experiences: smell, taste, sound, touch
- Shocking, surprising, unusual, bizarre, obscene, or disgusting images
I vividly remember one day in elementary school when I lost my lunch box and had to eat a sandwich from the school cafeteria. I remember it because it was a personal experience (not something abstract that I learned in class), because it inspired strong emotions (embarrassment, frustration), because it was a sensory experience (it involved taste and smell), and because it was surprising and disgusting (the sandwich, unlike the ones I brought from home, was wet and soggy). If you picture your own early childhood memories, the most vivid ones also probably fall into these categories.
Okay, let’s use both of the ideas we’ve been developing. Let’s take the free association we did earlier, and create a memorable image.
For my least favorite GRE vocabulary word, dissipation, I’ll use the associations diss, patient, pay, and shun. Let’s try to come up with a shocking, bizarre, sensory image that relates these associations with this word.
A medical patient is waiting in the doctor’s office… he’s bloated and sickly because he lives a dissipated lifestyle—he drinks too much alcohol and eats too much food. The doctor tells him to stop his dissipation, but the patient becomes furious! He screams at the doctor, telling him not to diss or shun him for his lifestyle. He refuses to pay for the visit because he didn’t get the advice he wanted.
Can you come up with something similar for your own word? Keep two things in mind: weirder is better (nobody ever has to see this exercise except for you!), as long as it strongly relates to the word. My own association works, because it involves strong emotions (the screaming patient), vivid imagery (the sickly-looking patient, the sights and smells of a doctor’s office), and is weird and shocking (the idea of screaming at a doctor). Importantly, it all relates back to dissipation—that’s what caused the patient’s problems.
Okay, do you have something? Add it to your flashcard. You can jot down a brief story or even draw a picture to remind you of this exercise. And if you’d like, share your least favorite word (and how you conquered it) in the comments! ?
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Chelsey Cooley
is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Seattle, Washington. Chelsey always followed her heart when it came to her education. Luckily, her heart led her straight to the perfect background for GMAT and GRE teaching: she has undergraduate degrees in mathematics and history, a master’s degree in linguistics, a 790 on the GMAT, and a perfect 170Q/170V on the GRE. Check out Chelsey’s upcoming GRE prep offerings here.