If you have plans to go to graduate school to increase your employment marketability or advance your career, you will inevitably have to take the GRE. While you don’t have to be a math genius to do better than average on the quantitative reasoning section of the exam, it is paramount that you have excellent verbal communication skills to tackle the verbal reasoning portion of the test. Here are 3 strategies that you can use to get a great GRE score.
- Use Vocabulary Flashcards
The GRE is famous for using very complex, highly academic language in the verbal reasoning section. The smartest way to prepare for this is to buy or make flashcards that contain the hundreds of vocabulary words you are most likely to encounter. To ensure that you get the vocabulary words engrained into your brain, take 30 minutes to 1 hour each day to practice reviewing your flashcards. This is one strategy that will most definitely be key to securing a high GRE score.
- Read, Read, Read
Read everything you can as often as you can. The GRE will test your reading speeds and comprehension, and one thing that can help you prepare for this is to find time to consume the written word. Make time to read the newspaper, online articles, as well as fiction and non-fiction. If you can’t spare the time to read entire novels, practice reading sections of them and then retelling what you read to a friend, roommate, or family member. This small but important exercise will be critical to developing the level of proficiency you need to ace the GRE and get into the graduate school of your choosing.
- Polish Your Writing
On the Analytical section of the GRE, you will be asked to demonstrate your ability to write critically and technically. If you have been using commas and apostrophes incorrectly since high school, or still occasionally confuse “your” and “you’re,” now is the time to make those corrections. Purchase a grammar guide to writing, and practice writing using the vocabulary words that you’re reviewing with your flashcards. This is one strategy you can’t dismiss, and once you start implementing it you will see major progress towards getting a great score on the GRE.
