memory issues learning vocab

[wallace758]

I'm having the problem of remembering words that I just learned. Does anyone have specific approach to this problem? I'm trying to figure out what exactly I can do to fix this problem. For Instance, I will believe I learned a word and then when I see it again, I have no idea what it means. It's aggravating me to the fullest! Barrons words list is awesome by the way! hehe

[cristofer]

Writing them down in a journal with the definition, synonyms, and word roots will help you internalize the words. The act of writing is good for memory. You can also start a blog of the words you learn and just add a few words every day. Doing something active with your knowledge will help you retain it better. Good luck!

[yarrum]

I memorized barron's 5000 in 2 months. Here is how to do it..
Need a question / answer format, formatted like this

Word: Defn.
ubiquitous ;alksdjf;alksjdf
nadir as;dlfkj;lajsdf
etc. etc.

I formatted mine in microsoft excel. Second. print out the whole thing..should be 100 pages. now, you are going to memorize 4 pages per day..That is it. schedule
wake up in morning and pick 4 pages up. Read down the pages and cross off words you already know. now you are left with 4 pages of words you don't know. Go to computer. Start with first word you don't know no page 1 and type in google images (the word) and on another tab go to freeonlinedictionary.com and look up the word. DONT try to memorize, try to understand the word in its full meaning, try associating word with picture. Basically, goal here is to just understand word. Do this for all 4 pages..... then take a lunch break. Now, you have to memorize them, start with page 1 again, now.... COVER UP the defn on the right with blank paper so you can't see defn. but can see word, test yourself on this word...if you know the answer, move on... doo this, you would be suprised but about 20% of them you will know BUT don't cross them off. the words you still don't know, but a circle or star next to. keep on doing this,, increasing the nubmer of stars next to words you don't get. after about 7 hours of this...you will memorize them.

Now... the key is cycling what you remembered. come back to your memorized pages and review questions using the paper cover method and review only the words with one or many stars as freqently as ylou can. should take you 5 miniutes per printed page. at the end of the week. do a comprehensive review.

keep moving, almost there.. next 4, next 4, next 4.....keep cycling a review. if your to page 30, take a 2 day break and review only htese pages.

This will work... trust me.... my final gre score
Q790 V710 AW 5.5
The ONLY studying i did for verbal was memorize the list...for AW i spent 1 day reviewing the format.. and that is it. Verbal and AW were my WEAKEST areas. my anticipated scores before test
q760 V. 580-610 AW 3 - 4.5

Good luck....

[rose0550]

hi yarrum,
can u tell me which books and practice test you prepared?

[yarrum]

VERBAL: what i said before plus power prep verbal: THAT IS IT.. i did not take any other verbal test or read another books. However, Princeton Review is actually the best review for AW, but for nothing else. DO NOT use PR for any other section than AW. Also, on powerprep, it has like 10 writing samples...but,, don't be fooled by lenght. Key to AW: you have to know 3 basic logical fallacies, hasty generalizaiont, unrepresentative sample, and reverse causality: make sure you know why statisticians require a sample greater than 30, importance of unrep sample,, and how to talk about hasty generalizationl agink PReview is best for this
Sure, First, i skimmed through ets' gre book 10 ed, at barnes and nobles, for free, i didn't buy it, and reviewed there math.
Second. BUY BARRON'S gre. This is what will make or break your score. Don't read in order: START wit h math review, slowly, then go back to test taking strategies.
Third: you need to fill in some missing elements from Barron's namely. Probability: learn how to do shorthand binomial probabiliyt: hard to learn, easy once you get it. factorial problems, basic probability, etc. RATIO BOXES: which princeton review actually covers and how to extrapulate to triangles: i.e. ratio table for 30 60 90 triangeL

30 60 90
1 sqrt(3) 2

thus if you are given triangle with side of 2 corresponding to 30 degree side, you have the following setup

30 60 90
1 sqrt(3) 2
2 x y

Thus, we multiplied 1 which corresponds to 30 by 2 to get 2, hence, x and y will be generated by multipliing sqrt(3) and 2 by 2 as well;

30 60 90
1 sqrt3 2
2 2*sqrt3 4

and that is it! LEARN THIS LOGIC and especially how to do ratiotable

also, research how to do solutions problems, again, hard to learn,, easy to remember once you know it.

Also, research not only probabilty, but permuation, combination, and many different ways to use it. i.e. how many words formed by mississippi, the birthday problem

MASTER the remainder problem

MASTER RATE Problems and how to do them with proportion set up
Best place for htis is BARRONS' agian, complicated to learn but will help tremendously.

The idea, is to use POWER PREP questions, Barron's test questions, and ANY other test question you see as a guideline for what you will run into.. and then fill in the gaps that BARRON's does not cover with personal reserach and notes.

That said, Find and download
GRE bible....math review here is redudant, just use it as a test bank...
possibly download some free tests on a torrent site such as kaplans CD , or Princeton review CD or nova CD and just get many questions for the purposes outlined abov.e

Now, go to Spark notes and complete the entire math review: this review is EXCELLENT.. trust me... but don't rush it.. do barron's first

Basically, you will get the feel of what i am saying once you start: then just keep on doing it until you have developed proficiency nad shortcuts for EVERY type of problem you come across.

So, it is not just a set of books that you need to buy, remember, you can go to barnes and nobles, sit in cafe, and take all the practice tests you can

Finally: master the art of beating a CAT,,,,not a CBT... know the difference; experiment on powerprep to get the idea of how they work . basiclaly, first time i took powerprep quant i missed 8 questions and got 770, second time i missed 5 and got 720.....seriously... the key is to work real hard on first 10 questions, which will get you to "difficult quesions" i.e. probl etc. then try to get those right... note that the "difficult questions" are the hardest to LEARN, but easiest to ACE. i.e. only so many things you can do with slope of line, probability, statistics.

Oh yeah... know everything about STAND DEVIATION; know stuff like this right off of bat: i.e. 3, 4, 5, and 3+x, 4+x, and 5+x, have diff medians and means, clearly, but hte SAME STANDARD DEVIATION......

Agian, you wil get hang of it as you follow my "strangte method"

Bottom line: dedicate your life to the GRE, it is the only way to ace it. Second, the practice tests you see..other than powerprep, are WAY WAYH harder than actual test. DO NOT LISTEN to these people on test magic that say it is super tough, don't psych yourself out. again, i thought i was the person who would do horribly in this test...but i just worked each and every day for 4 months or so,, and BAM. Believe it or not... during the test... i thought i was doing so bad, that i spent my 1 minute break seeing what time i could retake it.. i thoguht max on quant would have been like 680...when 790 showed up on screen... i literally blew off my chair. The biggest sign that you are going to ace it is how worried you are about it.. If you are worried, flustered, this is good. it means that it matters to you.

Listen to me when i say this, be confident in yourself. Test day will come, and you will be prepared. this test is all about work ethic...

summary:
go buy PR and Barrons' : Again, you will want pr. for AW section...people will disagree with me...but unless they can beat a AW of 5.5, then what can they really say.

download GRE BIBLE
Download Tests / cd's etc. ,,,, from whatever sources
Maybe, one more book worth buying is REA..very difficult questions, but more importantly,,,, comprehensive.

look, i can't tell you everything i did, if i could, you wouldn't need to buy these books, you would just read my post. But,,, if you get started like i say, in about 1 to 2 weeks you will pick up on what i say, and yo uwill be rocking and rolling.
note: plan test date appropriately. note, that if you take test nov 29, you can take it again dec 1. but if you take it nov. 1, you can't retake it until dec. seriously.

Just one more thing. that stuff a bout writing words down and internalizing doesn't work.. it is all aobut 1) compeltely understanding a word as an IDEA and PICTURE i.e. follow my method... and using a mnemonic and repetition to get it into long term memory. i cannot stress enough that by doing thyis.. by the end of day one you will know every word on those 3 pages or so...the key is to come back freqently and review these.....VERY IMPORTTANT.

get started with this, keep me updated.

Edit: just wanted to add one thing.....the current trend in GRE is the movt. towards coordinate geometry. i would suggest a complete mastery of this issue.

[neromhe]

Originally Posted by yarrum

VERBAL: what i said before plus power prep verbal: THAT IS IT.. i did not take any other verbal test or read another books. However, Princeton Review is actually the best review for AW, but for nothing else. DO NOT use PR for any other section than AW. Also, on powerprep, it has like 10 writing samples...but,, don't be fooled by lenght. Key to AW: you have to know 3 basic logical fallacies, hasty generalizaiont, unrepresentative sample, and reverse causality: make sure you know why statisticians require a sample greater than 30, importance of unrep sample,, and how to talk about hasty generalizationl agink PReview is best for this
Sure, First, i skimmed through ets' gre book 10 ed, at barnes and nobles, for free, i didn't buy it, and reviewed there math.
Second. BUY BARRON'S gre. This is what will make or break your score. Don't read in order: START wit h math review, slowly, then go back to test taking strategies.
Third: you need to fill in some missing elements from Barron's namely. Probability: learn how to do shorthand binomial probabiliyt: hard to learn, easy once you get it. factorial problems, basic probability, etc. RATIO BOXES: which princeton review actually covers and how to extrapulate to triangles: i.e. ratio table for 30 60 90 triangeL

30 60 90
1 sqrt(3) 2

thus if you are given triangle with side of 2 corresponding to 30 degree side, you have the following setup

30 60 90
1 sqrt(3) 2
2 x y

Thus, we multiplied 1 which corresponds to 30 by 2 to get 2, hence, x and y will be generated by multipliing sqrt(3) and 2 by 2 as well;

30 60 90
1 sqrt3 2
2 2*sqrt3 4

and that is it! LEARN THIS LOGIC and especially how to do ratiotable

also, research how to do solutions problems, again, hard to learn,, easy to remember once you know it.

Also, research not only probabilty, but permuation, combination, and many different ways to use it. i.e. how many words formed by mississippi, the birthday problem

MASTER the remainder problem

MASTER RATE Problems and how to do them with proportion set up
Best place for htis is BARRONS' agian, complicated to learn but will help tremendously.

The idea, is to use POWER PREP questions, Barron's test questions, and ANY other test question you see as a guideline for what you will run into.. and then fill in the gaps that BARRON's does not cover with personal reserach and notes.

That said, Find and download
GRE bible....math review here is redudant, just use it as a test bank...
possibly download some free tests on a torrent site such as kaplans CD , or Princeton review CD or nova CD and just get many questions for the purposes outlined abov.e

Now, go to Spark notes and complete the entire math review: this review is EXCELLENT.. trust me... but don't rush it.. do barron's first

Basically, you will get the feel of what i am saying once you start: then just keep on doing it until you have developed proficiency nad shortcuts for EVERY type of problem you come across.

So, it is not just a set of books that you need to buy, remember, you can go to barnes and nobles, sit in cafe, and take all the practice tests you can

Finally: master the art of beating a CAT,,,,not a CBT... know the difference; experiment on powerprep to get the idea of how they work . basiclaly, first time i took powerprep quant i missed 8 questions and got 770, second time i missed 5 and got 720.....seriously... the key is to work real hard on first 10 questions, which will get you to "difficult quesions" i.e. probl etc. then try to get those right... note that the "difficult questions" are the hardest to LEARN, but easiest to ACE. i.e. only so many things you can do with slope of line, probability, statistics.

Oh yeah... know everything about STAND DEVIATION; know stuff like this right off of bat: i.e. 3, 4, 5, and 3+x, 4+x, and 5+x, have diff medians and means, clearly, but hte SAME STANDARD DEVIATION......

Agian, you wil get hang of it as you follow my "strangte method"

Bottom line: dedicate your life to the GRE, it is the only way to ace it. Second, the practice tests you see..other than powerprep, are WAY WAYH harder than actual test. DO NOT LISTEN to these people on test magic that say it is super tough, don't psych yourself out. again, i thought i was the person who would do horribly in this test...but i just worked each and every day for 4 months or so,, and BAM. Believe it or not... during the test... i thought i was doing so bad, that i spent my 1 minute break seeing what time i could retake it.. i thoguht max on quant would have been like 680...when 790 showed up on screen... i literally blew off my chair. The biggest sign that you are going to ace it is how worried you are about it.. If you are worried, flustered, this is good. it means that it matters to you.

Listen to me when i say this, be confident in yourself. Test day will come, and you will be prepared. this test is all about work ethic...

summary:
go buy PR and Barrons' : Again, you will want pr. for AW section...people will disagree with me...but unless they can beat a AW of 5.5, then what can they really say.

download GRE BIBLE
Download Tests / cd's etc. ,,,, from whatever sources
Maybe, one more book worth buying is REA..very difficult questions, but more importantly,,,, comprehensive.

look, i can't tell you everything i did, if i could, you wouldn't need to buy these books, you would just read my post. But,,, if you get started like i say, in about 1 to 2 weeks you will pick up on what i say, and yo uwill be rocking and rolling.
note: plan test date appropriately. note, that if you take test nov 29, you can take it again dec 1. but if you take it nov. 1, you can't retake it until dec. seriously.

Just one more thing. that stuff a bout writing words down and internalizing doesn't work.. it is all aobut 1) compeltely understanding a word as an IDEA and PICTURE i.e. follow my method... and using a mnemonic and repetition to get it into long term memory. i cannot stress enough that by doing thyis.. by the end of day one you will know every word on those 3 pages or so...the key is to come back freqently and review these.....VERY IMPORTTANT.

get started with this, keep me updated.

Edit: just wanted to add one thing.....the current trend in GRE is the movt. towards coordinate geometry. i would suggest a complete mastery of this issue.

thanks for the advice

[vocabset]

why dont you try a vocabulary builder software?, in such softwares they try to use psychological methods for memorizing new words better, I use VocabSet

[mad_dy]

@ wallace,

Learn the roots of the words, that will make it easier for you to remember them. Take a lot of exercises (like the ones in The Big cd Flash cards workbook), that will help you retain the meaning and antonyms of words while also helping you in making use of those words in the writing section.

Hope the above helps.

mad_dy