Reading is one of the best ways to improve your vocabulary and comprehension.
Your score on the Graduate Record Examination, or GRE, can be the deciding factor in whether you are admitted to the graduate school of your choice. The score you receive on the verbal section of the GRE can be particularly important for admission to some graduate schools. You can take some steps to improve your verbal scores and improve your chances of entering the school you want to attend.
Instructions
1. Read more often. Reading is the best way to increase your vocabulary and verbal comprehension. Concentrate your reading on material that is intended for an adult, intellectual audience, including newspapers, textbooks, classic and literary fiction, nonfiction and scholarly journals.
2. Practice active reading. Buy several hundred small index cards. Write out a card for any word encountered while reading that you cannot define. On the front of the card write the word and on the back write the most succinct version of the definition possible. Review these cards daily. After you finish a section of reading, quiz yourself on what you have just read. Determine the main idea of the paragraph, the position the author took on the subject and what might weaken or strengthen the argument being made.
3. Download and use the free Powerprep software that is available to all test takers on the GRE website. Take both of the practice tests as though you were sitting at a computer taking the actual test. This will give you a chance to practice the format in which you will take the test, learn and practice the different question formats and become familiar with the directions.
4. Practice the questions. Every day practice several questions of each verbal question type. You can find several hundred free questions online by searching for "Free GRE Verbal Questions." For each question you answer incorrectly, review the definition of the words involved. For reading comprehension questions, review the article and try to determine why the correct answer was different from your own. This should adequately prepare you for the type of thinking involved in the test, while also increasing your vocabulary.
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