![\"manhattan-prep-gre-vocabulary-prep-tips-best-strategy\"](\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2020\/04\/manhattan-prep-gre-vocabulary-prep-tips-best-strategy-1024x536.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
What are the best ways to study vocabulary on the GRE? I’ve compiled my top strategies for getting the most out of your GRE Vocab prep.<\/span><\/p>\n Also, be sure to check out our GRE Word of the Day Vocab Series<\/a><\/strong> on YouTube!<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I\u2019m often asked, \u201cHow many new words should I learn?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My answer:<\/strong> As many as you can. I think it\u2019s hard to learn more than 70 words per week, or 10 per day. That\u2019s an ambitious goal for anyone. If your test is 10 weeks away, you could theoretically learn 700 new words. If it\u2019s three weeks away, you could learn 210. Again, this is an ambitious goal! It\u2019s fine to go for less\u201430-50 per week is pretty standard.<\/span><\/p>\n RELATED READING:\u00a0<\/strong>What are the most common GRE Vocabulary words?<\/a><\/p>\n I\u2019m often asked what definitive list of GRE words people should learn, and the truth is that there is no definitive list. There are words that you\u2019re likely to see on the GRE, and there are words you may be unfamiliar with because they are used more academically than colloquially in everyday life, and where these two categories overlap is where GRE word lists are created.<\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re in a ManhattanPrep course, you are given word lists for each week of your course. In that case, you should start with these lists. If you aren\u2019t in a ManhattanPrep course, you can purchase our flashcards or use our app, which are both good sources of words. (If you\u2019re using the cards, I\u2019d start with the Essential deck and move to the Advanced. But don\u2019t sweat this decision either\u2014if you\u2019ve already started with the Advanced, you\u2019re fine.)<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWait, seriously? Why on earth would I do that?\u201d If you\u2019re thinking either of those questions, hear me out\u2014while, yes, it takes more time to make a flashcard than to use a pre-made one, flashcards you make yourself are <\/span>stickier<\/span><\/i>: you\u2019ll have to review them fewer times. I\u2019ve known people (myself) to make a flashcard and only have to review it a <\/span>single time <\/span><\/i>before they (I) have memorized it! This has to do with encoding\u2014how your brain stores information. The act of making the card creates more and stronger pathways in your memory, causing your brain to flag the word as important in a way that it doesn\u2019t when you\u2019re just reading a pre-made card and flipping it over.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Plus, by making your own cards, you can make better cards. Here\u2019s what I would put on the back:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n You can make your own cards even if you\u2019re using pre-made cards to source your words. And perhaps this doesn\u2019t need to be said, but you only should make cards for words you don\u2019t know. If you already know the word, you don\u2019t need to study it.<\/span><\/p>\n As soon as you make a card, it should go into a deck you\u2019re going to call Deck 1. Deck 1 you will review everyday or every other day (depending on your schedule). Whenever you feel like you\u2019re starting to learn a word, it should move to Deck 2. Deck 2 you\u2019ll review every 3-4 days. When a word in Deck 2 starts to feel solid, it should move to Deck 3 which…you guessed it, you review <\/span>less <\/span><\/i>often: once a week or so. And finally, when you\u2019re really nailing a word every time you review it in Deck 3, it gets to retire. Congratulations! You know it for life.<\/span><\/p>\n The goal of this method is for you to spend more time reviewing words you <\/span>don\u2019t <\/span><\/i>know and less time reviewing words you <\/span>do <\/span><\/i>know. In the same way that while working out you want to feel the burn in order to build muscle, when you\u2019re studying, you want to <\/span>feel <\/span><\/i>a mental struggle (\u201cI\u2019m working hard trying to recall this word…\u201d). That means you\u2019re actually learning. When it\u2019s easy\u2014when you\u2019re just flipping through card after card\u2014it may <\/span>feel <\/span><\/i>good (\u201cI\u2019m killing this!\u201d), but you aren\u2019t learning. You\u2019re basically just giving yourself a pat on the back. And listen, there\u2019s always a need for us to give ourselves pats on the back\u2014but let\u2019s not mix that up with studying.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Remember, the GRE Verbal section is as much about strategizing around words you don\u2019t know by using context clues and reading comprehension skills as it is about knowing vocabulary\u2014but there\u2019s no question that improving your vocabulary can boost your Verbal score.<\/span><\/p>\n READ NEXT:\u00a0<\/strong>Top 10 GRE Vocab Tips<\/a><\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget that you can attend the first session of any of our online GRE courses absolutely free. We\u2019re not kidding!\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Check out our upcoming courses here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Mary Richter is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Nashville, Tennessee.\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Mary is one of those weirdos who loves taking standardized tests, and she has been teaching them for 15 years. When she\u2019s not teaching the LSAT or GRE for ManhattanPrep, she\u2019s writing novels under the last name Adkins. You can find them wherever you buy books.\u00a0<\/i>Check out Mary\u2019s upcoming GRE prep offerings here!\u00a0<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What are the best ways to study vocabulary on the GRE? I’ve compiled my top strategies for getting the most out of your GRE Vocab prep. Also, be sure to check out our GRE Word of the Day Vocab Series on YouTube!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":183,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[921840,6],"tags":[191,1364973,192],"yst_prominent_words":[1365275,1365278,1365283,1365276,1365284,1365280,1362627,1365295,1365293,1365303,1363341,1365282,1365277,1365285,1365274,1365296,1365304,1362949,1365281,1362692],"class_list":["post-12824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gre-prep-2","category-gre-strategies","tag-gre-vocab","tag-gre-vocab-strategies","tag-gre-vocabulary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12824","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\/183"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12824"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12933,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12824\/revisions\/12933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12824"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=12824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How many GRE Vocab words should you learn?<\/h3>\n
GRE Vocab Prep Strategy #1: Don\u2019t sweat the list<\/h3>\n
GRE Vocab Strategy #2: Make your own flashcards<\/h3>\n
\n
GRE Vocab Strategy #3: Use three decks for your cards<\/h3>\n
\n![\"Mary](\"https:\/\/cdn2.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2020\/01\/mary-green-close-up-1-150x150.jpg\")
<\/p>\n