![\"gre-vocabulary-questions\"](\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2019\/10\/gre-vocabulary-questions-1024x536.jpg\")
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If you want to master the GRE, think like a scientist. Each practice text completion or sentence equivalence question you miss gives you two new pieces of data. When you put enough data together, you learn, grow, and improve.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The first piece of data is the right answer, which tells you something about how GRE problems work. The second piece of data is even more important: reviewing tells you about your own behavior as a test-taker. Do you read too quickly or too slowly? Do you fall for <\/span>theme traps<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>choose answers that aren\u2019t synonyms<\/span><\/a>? When you review a problem, you don\u2019t just learn what answer you were supposed to come up with. You also learn from examining the way that you solved it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t mean you should only review problems you got wrong, by the way. If you have a chance, review every problem you do! But, the most important problems to review are the ones that you got wrong, but <\/span>could<\/span><\/i> have gotten right. Not the absolute hardest, most ridiculously complicated problems \u2014 but the ones that challenged you just a little. Identified one of those problems? Here\u2019s what to do with it.<\/span><\/p>\n The first step of review is redoing the problem. Don\u2019t look at the right answers immediately after you finish a set of problems. Before you check the answers, go back and quickly try the problems a second time. You can take it easier this time: don\u2019t use a timer, and feel free to look up definitions of vocabulary words.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The point of doing it like this is to challenge your brain to do more of the \u201cheavy lifting.\u201d You\u2019re much more likely to remember something you figure out (at least partially) on your own, compared to something that you passively read. So, if it\u2019s possible, try to figure out the right answer, or at least make a reasonable guess.<\/span><\/p>\n Before you move on to reading the explanation, glance at the right answer(s). If the right answer isn\u2019t what you expected, you may still be able to convince yourself of why the right answer was right. But, if you get stuck, use the explanation for assistance.<\/span><\/p>\n This first redo should happen shortly after you first try the problem. Once you\u2019ve redone the problem for the first time, take some notes. Here\u2019s how.<\/span><\/p>\n If you don\u2019t have a problem log already, start one now<\/span><\/a>. Here\u2019s how to take great notes on a Text Completion or Sentence Equivalence problem.<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s do a Sentence Equivalence problem from the <\/span>5lb. Book of GRE Practice Problems<\/span><\/a> to get on the same page. Try this problem before you keep reading:<\/span><\/p>\n The answer to this one is <\/span>disingenuous<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>artful<\/span><\/i>. If that\u2019s not what you picked, look up those definitions first and see if you can convince yourself! Here\u2019s the official explanation, too. Don\u2019t read it until you\u2019ve figured out as much as you can on your own.<\/span><\/p>\n The first step of problem logging, regardless of whether you\u2019re doing Text Completion or Sentence Equivalence, is to jot down any notes you have about the structure and meaning of the sentence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Student A <\/b>missed the second meaning of the word \u201cimpressed\u201d when she first read the sentence. Here are her notes:<\/span><\/p>\n Impressed isn\u2019t always positive! It can be neutral and mean \u201cmade a certain impression\u201d or can even be negative (\u201cShe impressed me as a liar.\u201d)<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Student B <\/b>picked the opposite of the right answer, because she focused on only one part of the sentence. Here are her notes:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Get the meaning of the entire sentence before you decide! The second part said \u201cdid not believe she was naive,\u201d but I only focused on \u201cnaive.\u201d But, the first part should say that she probably wasn\u2019t naive, because that\u2019s what \u201cdid not believe\u201d implies.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The next step is also important for both Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence. Every GRE vocabulary problem includes clues in the sentence that point to the right answer. When you review a problem, especially if you missed it, <\/span>identify those clues<\/b> and how they led you to the right answer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Here are <\/span>Student A\u2019s<\/b> notes on the clues:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2018Education and experience\u2019 = opposite of naive. But, she\u2019s acting naive. So, she\u2019s either a liar or an actor.<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Here are <\/span>Student B\u2019s<\/b> notes:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Finally, take some notes on the answer choices. In a Sentence Equivalence problem, this will be a little more involved than in a Text Completion problem, since the right answers have to be synonyms.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If you picked the wrong answer, identify <\/span>what thought process caused you to pick it<\/b>, if you haven\u2019t already. For instance, did you not know some of the definitions? Did you fall for a trap? Did you make an incorrect assumption? Also, if there were words you didn\u2019t know among the answer choices, write them down so you can make flashcards later.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Here are <\/span>Student A\u2019s <\/b>notes on the answer choices. She picked <\/span>accomplished <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>artful<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Here are <\/span>Student B\u2019s <\/b>notes on the answer choices. She picked <\/span>innocent<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>guileless<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Finally, if you learned any general lessons from the problem, jot those down as well. For instance, if you read too quickly and skipped part of the sentence, make a note of that! This is how you identify patterns and key areas to practice for later.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve written some notes in your problem log, set it aside for a while. Every week or two, schedule a study session where you <\/span>only<\/b> redo old problems. You don\u2019t need to redo every problem a second time, but you should definitely revisit the ones that taught you the most.<\/span><\/p>\n Every couple of days, you should also glance over your problem log without redoing the problems. Just reread your notes. This is a great thing to do quickly when you have a little bit of downtime, and will help you reinforce what you\u2019ve been working on.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Finally, when you practice Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence problems, you\u2019ll inevitably run into (and write down) vocabulary words you don\u2019t know. What you do with these words depends on what they are. Maybe the unknown word was just a super obscure, rare piece of jargon that you don\u2019t really need to learn, or maybe it\u2019s actually worth learning. If you see an unknown word more than once, definitely make a flashcard for it! You can also get a sense of the value of a vocabulary word by looking up its meaning. A word that means \u201cunpleasant\u201d is more likely to show up on the GRE than a word that means \u201crelated to flooding.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Are you already pretty comfortable with the vocabulary-focused problems? Then just briefly jot down a few takeaways on any problem that manages to trick you. But if Text Completion and\/or Sentence Equivalence are weak areas, make your review more intense for a couple of weeks, even if that means you get through fewer problems overall.<\/span><\/p>\n [ Related:<\/strong>\u00a0How to Review a GRE Quantitative Comparison Question<\/a> ]<\/strong><\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free. We\u2019re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Chelsey Cooley<\/a> If you want to master the GRE, think like a scientist. Each practice text completion or sentence equivalence question you miss gives you two new pieces of data. When you put enough data together, you learn, grow, and improve.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7,22,13],"tags":[191,192,1363335],"yst_prominent_words":[1362796,1362793,1364774,1364771,1364773,1364548,1364775,1364772,1364777,1362634,1363231,1362948,1363243,1362795,1362792,1362791,1364770,1364769],"class_list":["post-12610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gre-strategies","category-how-to-study","category-sentence-equivalence","category-vocabulary","tag-gre-vocab","tag-gre-vocabulary","tag-gre-vocabulary-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12610"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12631,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12610\/revisions\/12631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12610"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=12610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Redoing a Text Completion or Sentence Equivalence Problem<\/b><\/h3>\n
Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence Problem Logging<\/b><\/h3>\n
![\"gre-vocab-practice-question\"](\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2019\/10\/gre-vocab-practice-question.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"gre-vocab-practice-question-explanation\"](\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2019\/10\/gre-vocab-practice-question-explanation.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"gre-vocab-practice-question-explanation-2\"](\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2019\/10\/gre-vocab-practice-question-explanation-2.png\")
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What to do next<\/b><\/h3>\n
\n![\"Chelsey](\"https:\/\/cdn2.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/11\/chelsey-cooley-150x150.jpg\" "\\"Chelsey")
<\/a>\u00a0is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Seattle, Washington.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/i><\/b>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\u2019s degree in linguistics, a 790 on the GMAT, and a perfect 170Q\/170V on the GRE.\u00a0<\/em><\/i>Check out Chelsey\u2019s upcoming GRE prep offerings here<\/a>.<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"