Vocabulary approach

The GRE doesn’t test vocabulary as a separate skill. However, to score well on the Verbal Reasoning section, you do need enough vocabulary to tell apart challenging words and understand how they’re used in context.

This course includes over 250 vocabulary words that commonly appear on the GRE. Learning 250 words is a lot, and you won’t learn them all at once. To make this manageable, we’ve split the words into 10 groups of 25 and spaced them throughout the course alongside other topics.

Each vocabulary page includes:

Definitions for each word
Supplementary information (such as part of speech)
Example sentences

Be sure to take the quiz at the end of each vocabulary page.

Sidenote

Vocabulary flashcards are NOT an effective way to study!

Flashcards are a common study tool, and you may have used them before. However, they’re usually not the most effective way to learn GRE vocabulary. Here are two main reasons:

You can feel like you know the word when you don’t. It’s easy to look at a card and think, “Yeah, I know this,” then flip it over and realize your definition was only close. It’s also easy to tell yourself, “That’s what I meant,” and move on. The problem is that this can reinforce an incorrect or incomplete definition. A quiz forces you to commit to an answer, so it’s clear whether you truly know the word or need more review.
It’s hard to know what to review and when. You can build a deck and run through it, but then what? Unless you track your performance carefully, you won’t know which words need the most attention. Even if you do track it, you still have to decide when to review each card. If you review too often, you waste time. If you wait too long, you forget and have to relearn the word.

Achievable GRE includes an alternative to flashcards: memory-tracked vocabulary quizzes.

These quizzes work like flashcards, but they’re more targeted. The system tracks your mastery of each word and uses research-backed memory algorithms to schedule reviews at the best time. This makes your studying more efficient and helps you retain the words for test day.

Take the vocabulary quiz at the end of each chapter, then use your dashboard to review words when the course recommends.