A key part of GRE preparation is mastering the Verbal Reasoning section, particularly its focus on vocabulary. This article dives deep into the vocabulary-related question types on the GRE, helping you understand what to expect and how to prepare effectively for Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence questions.
There are four types of Verbal questions on the GRE:
Text Completion (TC) and Sentence Equivalence (SE) questions essentially test vocabulary, so these are the two question types we will delve into.
Text completion questions have one to three blanks. To get any points, the test taker needs to select the correct answer for all the given blanks. The answer choices may be a single word or a short phrase.
The format of GRE text completion questions is unique to the GRE exam, which was developed by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). There are several reasons for this, but the main one is that the number of blanks in the original sentence can change from question to question. The second main difference is that for multiple blank text completion questions, you will need to select ALL the correct answers to receive any marks for the question. In other words, no partial credit is awarded if only one answer is identified correctly.
For more analysis on text completion, read our practice page on GRE text completion.
Sentence equivalence questions require test takers to know the textbook definitions of uncommon words. Difficult vocabulary words not only appear in the answer choices but in the questions. For this section, if you do not know words, you will be completely guessing.
A major skill set measured by this GRE question type is the ability to correctly identify the two answer choices that best fit the meaning of the original sentence and result in a complete coherent sentence. Successfully developing and harnessing this softer-skill ability is an area where many students tend to struggle.
Sentence equivalence questions are different from text completion questions in the sense that you are not just required to pick the word(s) that best fit the meaning of the overall sentence but also select a pair of words that have essentially the same meaning (i.e. synonyms).
To learn more about tackling this question type, read our practice page on official GRE sentence equivalence sample questions.
When you start studying for the vocabulary portion of the GRE, words should be split up into one of three “buckets.”
| Bucket #1 | Bucket #2 | Bucket #3 |
| Totally know | Sort of know | Totally don’t know |
If you have perfect knowledge of a vocab word, it should go in the first bucket. If you recognize something about the word (maybe you’ve seen, heard, read it before), you can put it in bucket #2. Finally, if you have never seen the word and could not even make an educated guess as to its meaning, it should go in the third bucket.
This allows you to narrow down the pool of words you need to study and shows you which words you need to focus on most.
One problem some test takers have is overconfidence, believing that they do not need to study for this portion of the test due to their existing knowledge.
However, even if you’re a native English speaker with a broad vocabulary, you will still have to expand your vocabulary by hundreds or even thousands of words, because the GRE is testing extremely high-knowledge and challenging words.
When students are faced with exam questions that include vocabulary words they honestly don’t know (in bucket #3), they are in trouble. There is no great solution path in this case, turning the question into purely a guessing game.
So, test takers should prioritize moving as many words as possible to bucket #2, because if they at least kind of know the word, it is possible to use certain strategies to identify the correct answer (like word association, elimination of non-matches, etc.).
Menlo Coaching’s GRE curriculum provides students with a database of approximately 1,200 words from the ETS Official Guide (OG).
Vocabulary building in our GRE tutoring program revolves around this database.
First, the database only includes words that have actually appeared on past exams.
It is important to study real GRE words that have appeared on previous exams, since the GRE is a standardized test. This means that it is likely that words used on past GRE exams may be used again.
Next, students benefit greatly from the size of the database, which includes over 1,200 words. The Menlo Coaching approach to vocab study is based on the law on high numbers, meaning that widening your knowledge of real GRE vocabulary words through self-study increases the probability you’ll know some words that will appear on the actual exam.
Finally, Menlo Coaching’s unique database organizes words by how frequently they’ve appeared on past exams. Since popular words from past exams are more likely to appear in the future, students are able to use the database in their study process to prioritize learning the most important words.
In addition to the database, our tutoring program includes a lesson for students to learn best-practice vocab tips (some of which are discussed below!) and an error log review session, where each tutor goes through the errors of each individual student and gives personalized tips to troubleshoot what they’re potentially doing wrong.
There is no single best way to learn vocabulary. Rather, the best way is to use a combination of methods. For example, rather than just studying with flashcards, you could try studying with flashcards and using the words in everyday speech and writing out words you find difficult.
Here are some of his tips for test takers:
If you’ve put in the effort to prepare for this portion of the GRE, you will likely find that the vocabulary questions are relatively basic, meaning if you know the definitions of the vocab words, you’ll have no trouble picking out the right answer (or answers).
Generally, having a wide vocabulary is useful in any vocation, so any time spent studying can be seen as an investment into becoming a more knowledgeable member of society.
Even though vocabulary is not the greatest measure for whether or not you’ll thrive in business school, it is still a large part of the GRE exam and should be prioritized accordingly.
